(2) NTIS was established in 1950, more than 
40 years before the creation of the Internet. 
(3) NTIS is tasked with collecting and distrib-
uting government-funded scientific, technical, engi-
neering, and business-related information and re-
ports. 
(4) GAO found that NTIS sold only 8 percent 
of the 2,500,000 reports in its collection between 
1995 and 2000. 
(5) A November 2012 GAO review of NTIS 
made the following conclusions: 
(A) ‘‘Of the reports added to NTIS’s re-
pository during fiscal years 1990 through 2011, 
GAO estimates that approximately 74 percent 
were readily 
available 
from 
other 
public 
sources.’’. 
(B) ‘‘These reports were often available ei-
ther from the issuing organization’s website, the 
Federal Internet portal (http://www.USA.gov) 
or from another source located through a web 
search.’’. 
(C) ‘‘The source that most often had the 
report [GAO] was searching for was another 
website 
located 
through 
http:// 
www.Google.com.’’. 
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(D) ‘‘95 percent of the reports available 
from sources other than NTIS were available 
free of charge.’’. 
(6) No Federal agency should use taxpayer dol-
lars to purchase a report from the National Tech-
nical Information Service that is available through 
the Internet for free. 
(7) As far back as 1999, Secretary of Com-
merce William Daley— 
(A) admitted that the National Technical 
Information Service would eventually outlive its 
usefulness and be unable to sustain its revenue- 
losing profit model; 
(B) explained that ‘‘declining sales reve-
nues soon would not be sufficient to recover all 
of NTIS’ operating costs’’; and 
(C) attributed this ‘‘decline to other agen-
cies’ practice of making their research results 
available to the public for free through the 
Web.’’. 
(8) According to the November 2012 GAO re-
port— 
(A) ‘‘NTIS product expenditures exceeded 
revenues for 10 out of the past 11 fiscal 
years.’’; 
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(B) ‘‘The agency lost, on average, about 
$1.3 million over the last 11 years on its prod-
ucts.’’; and 
(C) ‘‘The decline in revenue for its prod-
ucts continues to call into question whether 
NTIS’s basic statutory function of acting as a 
self-financing repository and disseminator of 
scientific and technical information is still via-
ble.’’. 
(9) NTIS has compensated for its lost revenue 
by charging other Federal agencies for various serv-
ices that are not associated with NTIS’s primary 
mission. 
(10) Future technological advances will ensure 
that the services offered by NTIS are even more su-
perfluous for essential government functions than 
they are today. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE. 
(a) REPEAL.—Effective on the date that is 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the National 
Technical Information Act of 1988 (subtitle B of title II 
of Public Law 100–519; 15 U.S.C. 3704b) is repealed. 
(b) TRANSFER OF CRITICAL FUNCTIONS.— 
(1) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.—The Sec-
retary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United 
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States, the Comptroller General of the United 
States, and the Commissioner of Social Security 
shall consult with the Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget to determine if any function of 
the National Technical Information Service is crit-
ical to the economy of the United States. 
(2) GAO 
CERTIFICATION.—The Comptroller 
General shall determine which of the critical func-
tions identified pursuant to paragraph (1) are not 
being carried out by any other agency or instrumen-
tality of the Federal Government. 
(3) TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED.—Before the ef-
fective date set forth in subsection (a), the Secretary 
of Commerce may transfer the responsibility for any 
critical function of NTIS (as identified under para-
graph (1)) that is not otherwise being carried out 
(as determined under paragraph (2)) to another of-
fice within the Department of Commerce. 
(c) ABOLITION OF FUNCTIONS.—Except for the func-
tions transferred pursuant to subsection (b), all functions 
of the National Technical Information Service immediately 
before the repeal date described in subsection (a) are abol-
ished on such repeal date. 
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SEC. 3. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE CERTIFICATION. 
Before the effective date set forth in section 2(a), the 
Secretary of Commerce shall submit a written certification 
to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep-
resentatives that all of the operations of the National 
Technical Information Service have been terminated. 
Æ 
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