NTIS Elimination Act

Bill: 114-s-787
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [D-MO]
Introduced: 2015-03-18
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Department of Commerce

Economic performance and conditions

Executive agency funding and structure

General science and technology matters

Government information and archives

Government studies and investigations

Scientific communication
Latest action: action_date: 2015-03-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-03-18
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>NTIS Elimination Act</strong></p> <p>Repeals the National Technical Information Act of 1988, which provided for establishment of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), effective one year after the enactment of this Act. </p> <p>Directs the Secretary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United States, and the Comptroller General to consult with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to determine if any NTIS activity or function is critical to the national economy and is not being carried out by any other federal government agency, instrumentality, or contractor. Authorizes the the Secretary to transfer responsibility for any such activity or function to another office within Commerce. Directs the Secretary, before one year after enactment of this Act, to certify that all other NTIS operations have been terminated. </p> <p>Defines as &quot;critical to the national economy&quot; an activity or function that promotes U.S. economic growth by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery.</p> <p>Authorizes Commerce to continue to maintain a permanent repository of nonclassified scientific, technical, and engineering information, which shall be publicly available and searchable in a format useful to American industry, business, libraries, and research institutions. Requires all federal entities to send electronic copies of all nonclassified scientific, technical, and engineering reports and information to Commerce for inclusion in the repository. </p> <p>Directs the Department of the Treasury to transfer all unexpended balances in the NTIS Revolving Fund to Commerce to be expended solely for the maintenance of the repository and to dissolve the Fund.</p>

tv_txt: II 114th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 787 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 18, 2015 Mrs. McCaskill (for herself and Ms. Ayotte ) 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. Short title This Act may be cited as the NTIS Elimination Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The National Technical Information Service (referred to in this Act as NTIS ), the National Archives and Records Administration, the Government Accountability Office (referred to in this Act as GAO ), and the Library of Congress all collect, categorize, and distribute government information. (2) NTIS was established in 1950, more than 40 years before the creation of the Internet. (3) NTIS is tasked with collecting and distributing government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information and reports. (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 repository 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 either 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. . (D) 95 percent of the reports available from sources other than NTIS were available free of charge. . (6) No Federal agency should use taxpayer dollars to purchase a report from the National Technical Information Service that is available through the Internet for free. (7) In 1999, Secretary of Commerce 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 revenues soon would not be sufficient to recover all of NTIS’ operating costs ; and (C) attributed this decline to other agencies’ practice of making their research results available to the public for free through the Web . (8) According to the November 2012 GAO report referred to in paragraph (5)— (A) NTIS product expenditures exceeded revenues for 10 out of the past 11 fiscal years. ; (B) The agency lost, on average, about $1.3 million over the last 11 years on its products. ; and (C) The decline in revenue for its products 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 viable. . (9) NTIS has compensated for its lost revenue by charging other Federal agencies for various services that are not associated with NTIS’s primary mission. (10) Future technological advances will ensure that the services offered by NTIS are even more superfluous for essential government functions than they are today. 3. 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 Secretary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United States, and the Comptroller General of the United States shall consult with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to determine if any activity or function of the National Technical Information Service— (A) is critical to the national economy; and (B) is not being carried out by— (i) any other agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government; or (ii) a contractor of the Federal Government. (2) Transfers authorized (A) In general Before the effective date set forth in subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to transfer the responsibility for any NTIS activity or function that is critical to the national economy and not otherwise being carried out (as determined under paragraph (1)) to another office within the Department of Commerce. (B) Congressional notification Before transferring any activity or function pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate , the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate , the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives , the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives that— (i) identifies the activities or functions that will be transferred; and (ii) provides the rationale for determining that such activities or functions are critical to the national economy. (3) Defined term As used in this subsection, an activity or function that is critical to the national economy promotes the economic growth of the United States by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery. (c) Repository of nonclassified information (1) In general The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to continue to maintain a permanent repository of nonclassified scientific, technical, and engineering information that contains reports that are scientific, technical, or engineering in nature. (2) Item to be included (A) In general All Federal entities shall send electronic copies of all nonclassified scientific, technical, and engineering reports and information to the Department of Commerce for inclusion in the repository referred to in paragraph (1). (B) Notification requirement If any Federal entity regularly fails to comply with the requirement under subparagraph (A), the Secretary of Commerce shall notify— (i) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate ; and (ii) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives . (3) Public availability The repository referred to in paragraph (1) and any document therein shall be publicly available and searchable, including bibliographic information, in a format that is useful to American industry, business, libraries, and research institutions. (4) Digital copies The Secretary shall provide digital copies of any document in the repository referred to in paragraph (1) to the public free of charge. (5) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to maintain the repository referred to in paragraph (1). (d) Bibliographic information The Secretary of Commerce shall continue to make selected bibliographic information products available in a timely manner to depository libraries as part of the Depository Library Program of the Government Publishing Office. (e) Use of technology The Secretary of Commerce shall utilize available technology to ensure that the Department of Commerce is collecting all nonclassified scientific, technical, and engineering information to the best of its ability. 4. NTIS Revolving Fund Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall— (1) transfer all unexpended balances in the National Technical Information Service Revolving Fund (referred to in this section as the Fund ), established pursuant to the Department of Commerce Appropriations Act, 1993 (title II of Public Law 102–305 ; 15 U.S.C. 3704b note), to the Department of Commerce to be expended solely for the maintenance of the repository described in section 3(c); and (2) dissolve the Fund. 5. Secretary of Commerce certification Before the effective date set forth in section 3(a), the Secretary of Commerce shall submit a written certification to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives that all of the operations of the National Technical Information Service, except for the activities or functions transferred pursuant to section 3(b)(2)(A), have been terminated.