CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) was established by the Congress on March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449). This organic act initially placed NBS in the Treasury Department, but in 1903 it was transferred to the Department of Commerce.

The organic act, as amended, authorizes NBS to undertake the following:

--Developing, maintaining, and disseminating standards of physical measurements.

--Determining physical materials properties and physical

constants.

--Developing test methods for materials, mechanisms,
and structures.

--Establishing standard practices in cooperation with
Government agencies and the private sector.

--Providing advisory services to Government agencies.

Numerous other laws have been enacted which supplement the authorities included in the organic act. Rather than giving NBS more authority, these laws direct that NBS carry out certain activities. Commerce's Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology is responsible for NBS activities.

NBS headquarters is located on a 576-acre site in Gaithersburg, Maryland. This site has 27 buildings, including 7 general purpose laboratories, a nuclear reactor used in various research programs, a fire research facility, a building for sound measurements, and other buildings devoted to special research needs. In Boulder, Colorado, NBS shares a 205-acre site with two other Commerce organizations. Boulder is where NBS work on time and frequency, cryogenics, and electromagnetic measurements is performed. NBS also operates two radio stations that broadcast time and frequency information--one in Colorado and the other in Hawaii.

A major NBS reorganization became effective April 1978. The current organization is shown in appendix I. There are three major organizational units responsible for the NBS scientific and technical programs--National Engineering Laboratory, National Measurement Laboratory, and the Institute

for Computer Sciences and Technology. The goals of these units are shown in appendix II.

NBS has two major administrative organizations. The Associate Director for Programs, Budget, and Finance is responsible for planning, developing, and evaluating NBS-wide programs; developing and carrying out policies on programmatic, budgetary, and financial matters; and developing and executing the budget. Most other NBS-wide administrative functions are the responsibility of the Director of Administrative and Information Systems. In addition, some of the Laboratories/Institute staffs carry out administrative and management functions for their respective major operating organizations.

The NBS appropriation for fiscal year 1979 was $86.5 million and $92.6 million for fiscal year 1980. During fiscal year 1979, about 45 percent of the work NBS performed was for and funded by other Federal agencies.

At September 30, 1979, NBS had 3,113 full-time permanent employees of which 2,730 were at Gaithersburg, Maryland, and 383 at Boulder, Colorado. The scientific staff consisted of:

Since 1959 the National Research Council, under a contract between the National Academy of Sciences and NBS, has continually evaluated NBS functions and operations. In discharging this responsibility, the National Research Council selects and appoints members to a series of evaluation panels. Members usually serve for 3 years but never longer than 6 years. The scientific disciplines of the members encompass almost all physical science fields.

In appointing members to the panels, the Council attempts to get about 50 to 55 percent of the members from industry and the remaining members from government and academia. Usually, the Council attains this objective or takes action to correct an imbalance.

The NBS organic act provides for the Secretary of Commerce to appoint a five-member Statutory Visiting Committee. The committee is required to visit NBS at least once a year

Commit

and report to the Secretary on the efficiency of NBS'
scientific work and the condition of its equipment.
tee members are prominent individuals from industry and
academia and are appointed for a 5-year period.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

Our review was made pursuant to a joint request dated October 10, 1978 (see app. III), from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and its Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space.

In a followup joint letter dated February 28, 1979 (see app. IV), the committees expressed particular interest in (1) the problems faced by NBS because of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) "lead agency" concept, (2) user satisfaction with NBS research efforts, and (3) an evaluation of the effects of the major reprograming at NBS. ther, to assist the Senate committee in its oversight responsibilities and consideration of legislation to reauthorize NBS activities beyond fiscal year 1980, we were asked to study the numerous acts which assign responsibilities to NBS. The committees were interested in being advised which of these acts (1) overlap, duplicate, or are in conflict with other acts and (2) should be amended or rescinded.

In January 1978 we briefed the committee offices on how NBS fulfilled its responsibilities under 13 specific laws. On March 21, 1979, we furnished the committees with a report (CED-79-29) providing information and observations on the more important aspects of how NBS is administered. port also explained some complexities of a major scientific organization. In April 1979 we reported to the committees that NBS needed better management of its computer resources to improve program effectiveness (CED-79-39).

We performed our work at the NBS headquarters and main laboratories in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We interviewed key NBS officials and program managers and visited selected laboratories and other NBS facilities. We studied the NBS basic organic act and other specific acts which directly affect NBS operations.

To obtain information on user satisfaction with NBS efforts (research/testing, calibrations, Standard Reference Materials, and Standard Reference Data), we used a mail questionnaire. We received about an overall 90-percent response to the 838 questionnaires mailed. In addition, we interviewed 36 members of the NBS evaluation panels and the Statutory Visiting Committee in the Washington, D.C.;

Boston, Massachusetts; New York City; and California areas to obtain their views and comments on (1) user satisfaction with NBS efforts, (2) the lead agency concept, (3) the NBS major reprograming, and (4) an overall evaluation of NBS.

We coordinated our work with the Office of Technology Assessment in connection with its then-ongoing study assessing national laboratories and with the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. We discussed pertinent matters included in the report with OMB officials.