II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2206 

To streamline the collection and distribution of government information. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 3, 2014 

Mr. COBURN (for himself and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To streamline the collection and distribution of government 

information. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Let Me Google That 

5 For You Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The National Technical Information Service 

9 (referred to in this Act as ‘‘NTIS’’), the National 

10 Archives and Records Administration, the GovernVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:16 Apr 05, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2206.IS S2206

smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2206 IS

1 ment Accountability Office (referred to in this sec2 tion as ‘‘GAO’’), and the Library of Congress all col3 lect, categorize, and distribute government informa4 tion. 

5 (2) NTIS was established in 1950, more than 

6 40 years before the creation of the Internet. 

7 (3) NTIS is tasked with collecting and distrib8 uting government-funded scientific, technical, engi9 neering, and business-related information and re10 ports. 

11 (4) GAO found that NTIS sold only 8 percent 

12 of the 2,500,000 reports in its collection between 

13 1995 and 2000. 

14 (5) A November 2012 GAO review of NTIS 

15 made the following conclusions: 

16 (A) ‘‘Of the reports added to NTIS’s re17 pository during fiscal years 1990 through 2011, 

18 GAO estimates that approximately 74 percent 

19 were readily available from other public 

20 sources.’’. 

21 (B) ‘‘These reports were often available ei22 ther from the issuing organization’s website, the 

23 Federal Internet portal (http://www.USA.gov) 

24 or from another source located through a web 

25 search.’’. 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2206 IS

1 (C) ‘‘The source that most often had the 

2 report [GAO] was searching for was another 

3 website located through http:// 

4 www.Google.com.’’. 

5 (D) ‘‘95 percent of the reports available 

6 from sources other than NTIS were available 

7 free of charge.’’. 

8 (6) No Federal agency should use taxpayer dol9 lars to purchase a report from the National Tech10 nical Information Service that is available through 

11 the Internet for free. 

12 (7) As far back as 1999, Secretary of Com13 merce William Daley— 

14 (A) admitted that the National Technical 

15 Information Service would eventually outlive its 

16 usefulness and be unable to sustain its revenue17 losing profit model; 

18 (B) explained that ‘‘declining sales reve19 nues soon would not be sufficient to recover all 

20 of NTIS’ operating costs’’; and 

21 (C) attributed this ‘‘decline to other agen22 cies’ practice of making their research results 

23 available to the public for free through the 

24 Web’’. 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2206 IS

1 (8) According to the November 2012 GAO re2 port— 

3 (A) ‘‘NTIS product expenditures exceeded 

4 revenues for 10 out of the past 11 fiscal 

5 years.’’; 

6 (B) ‘‘The agency lost, on average, about 

7 $1.3 million over the last 11 years on its prod8 ucts.’’; and 

9 (C) ‘‘The decline in revenue for its prod10 ucts continues to call into question whether 

11 NTIS’s basic statutory function of acting as a 

12 self-financing repository and disseminator of 

13 scientific and technical information is still via14 ble.’’. 

15 (9) NTIS has compensated for its lost revenue 

16 by charging other Federal agencies for various serv17 ices that are not associated with NTIS’s primary 

18 mission. 

19 (10) Future technological advances will ensure 

20 that the services offered by NTIS are even more su21 perfluous for essential government functions than 

22 they are today. 

23 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE. 

24 (a) REPEAL.—Effective on the date that is 1 year 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the National 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2206 IS

1 Technical Information Act of 1988 (subtitle B of title II 

2 of Public Law 100–519; 15 U.S.C. 3704b) is repealed. 

3 (b) TRANSFER OF CRITICAL FUNCTIONS.— 

4 (1) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.—The Sec5 retary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United 

6 States, the Comptroller General of the United 

7 States, and the Commissioner of Social Security 

8 shall consult with the Director of the Office of Man9 agement and Budget to determine if any function of 

10 the National Technical Information Service is crit11 ical to the economy of the United States. 

12 (2) GAO CERTIFICATION.—The Comptroller 

13 General of the United States shall determine which 

14 of the critical functions identified pursuant to para15 graph (1) are not being carried out by any other 

16 agency or instrumentality of the Federal Govern17 ment. 

18 (3) TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED.—Before the ef19 fective date set forth in subsection (a), the Secretary 

20 of Commerce may transfer the responsibility for any 

21 critical function of NTIS (as identified under para22 graph (1)) that is not otherwise being carried out 

23 (as determined under paragraph (2)) to another of24 fice within the Department of Commerce. 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2206 IS

1 (c) ABOLITION OF FUNCTIONS.—Except for the func2 tions transferred pursuant to subsection (b), all functions 

3 of the National Technical Information Service immediately 

4 before the repeal date described in subsection (a) are abol5 ished on such repeal date. 

6 SEC. 4. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE CERTIFICATION. 

7 Before the effective date set forth in section 3(a), the 

8 Secretary of Commerce shall submit a written certification 

9 to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Com10 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep11 resentatives that all of the operations of the National 

12 Technical Information Service have been terminated. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS