CONTENTS Transfer of Programs to ESSA. Program-Planning- Budgeting Activities. Office of Engineering Stand- ards Liaison and Analysis Established. Legislation History. Site Location. Laboratory Planning. Final Design. General Purpose Laboratories. Special Purpose Laboratories. Scheduling. Costs. Sum- THE NATIONAL STANDARD REFERENCE Nuclear Data. Atomic and Molecular Data. Solid State Data. Thermodynamic and Transport Data. 59 THE INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH Research Materials Standard Reference Materials Materials Property Data and Measurement Methodology THE INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY Engineering Measurements and Standards 69 79 Measurement and Standards 89 67 80 86 93 Invention and Innovation Systems Analysis 94 Technical Assistance to Others 96 Exploratory Research 98 Automatic Data Processing 99 DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT MANAGEMENT PROGRESS During the 1966 fiscal year several management changes were made which will help the Bureau better to fulfill its primary responsibilities. These changes were primarily required by the constantly changing state of science and technology. The central mission of the Bureau has remained substantially unchanged, but external factors in government, industry, and commerce have required adjustments in orientation and emphasis for the NBS staff. Several of these are described below. Transfer of Programs to ESSA The primary organizational change was the formal transfer in October of the Bureau's Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL) in Boulder, Colo., to the Commerce Department's new Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). ESSA is the result of a reorganization and combining of CRPL, Weather Bureau, and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. In addition to the transfer of CRPL, a new Geoacoustics Group was formed in ESSA's Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy by the transfer of fifteen staff members from the NBS Sound Section. This group will continue studies of the propagation of sound waves through the atmosphere and other media and investigations of the interactions between sound waves and other geophysical phenomena. Program-Planning-Budgeting Activities Implementation of the newly promulgated Government-wide Program-Planning-Budgeting System at NBS began in December 1965. A series of meetings was held to identify program categories appropriate to the Bureau's output, to examine related resource needs, to identify pertinent program issues, and to plan and initiate additional studies and activities as needed. The categorization of Bureau programs went through a series of revisions as a result of management study and discussion. Program memoranda describing the Bureau's activities, objectives and plans, together with a Program and Financial Plan projecting costs for the next five years, were submitted to the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of the Budget on May 1. Most of the Bureau's programs were classified either under the category "Advancement of the Economy through Industry and Commerce" or the "Basic Measurements System." Office of Engineering Standards Liaison and Analysis Established An Office of Engineering Standards Liaison and Analysis was established to serve as a focal point for NBS assistance to engineering standards-making bodies throughout the Nation. The new Office will aid in making the Bureau's technical resources available to strengthen private standards organizations, manufacturers, and government agencies concerned with the development of performance standards and test methods for industrial products. The Bureau has always played a key supporting role in the development of engineering standards (specifications, standards of practice, and methods of test) for technological devices, products, and services. Most of this work has been done in cooperation with technical societies and standardization groups such as the United States of America Standards Institute and the American Society for Testing and Materials. Normally the Bureau assists by providing expert advice and technical assistance on both national and international engineering standards committees. In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the importance of engineering standards, both domestic and international, to the economic development of the country. This feeling has been strengthened within the past year by the publication of the recommendations of the Department of Commerce Panel on Engineering and Commodity Standards, under the chairmanship of Francis L. LaQue. Among other things, the Panel recommended greater participation by Federal agencies in certain aspects of the development of engineering standards by nongovernmental organizations, recognition of the importance that U. S. industry's participation in international standardization can have on the national economy, and communication of the importance of such participation to industry. The Office of Engineering Standards Liaison and Analysis will aid in the achievement of these objectives through a program of active liaison with other standardizing organizations and by general review and analysis of the engineering standardization activities of the Bureau staff. It will endeavor to find new ways to increase the effectiveness of NBS technical assistance in the development of engineering standards and to match NBS technical resources to the needs of outside organizations. It will also |