Comparison of National Science Foundation bills-Continued
USE OF FUNDS

CASE

H. R. 1815 (Mr. Da5e), H. R. 1830 (Mr. Mills),
H. R. 1834 (Mr. Priest), H. R. 2027 (Mr. Hays),

Scholarships and fellowships to be awarded for cientific studies at nonprofit institutions of higher 'earning in the United States or abroad.

In case of equal ability, equitable distribution among States to be determining factor.

Register of scientific personnel to be maintained by Administrator. No individual to be listed without his consent.

H. R. 942 Mr. Celler)

Not less than 15 percent of appropriation earmarked for national defense.

Not less than 25 percent for apportionment among States to be spent in tax-supported universities.

Not less than 25 percent to be apportioned to nonprofit organizations.

Scholarships and fellowships to be awarded for scientific studies at nonprofit or other institutions of higher learning in the United States or abroad.

Quotas to insure equitable selection of applicants from among States.

Federal employees may qualify and shall not lose seniority status.

Register of scientific personnel to be maintained by Administrator. No individual to be listed without his consent.

The CHAIRMAN. We also have the benefit of a study that has been made by Mr. Mills with reference to the four identical bills. It will be made a part of the record at this point.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF BILLS S. 526, H. R. 1830, H. R. 1815, H. R. 1834, AND H. R. 2027, ALL OF WHICH ARE IDENTICAL IN TERMS

(Submitted by Mr. Mills)

Section 1.-Name: The name, "National Science Foundation," is carried over from the bills S. 1850, which passed the Senate in the Seventy-ninth Congress, second session, and from H. R. 6448, which was introduced in the House at that session. Both of those bills had the same basic objectives as the bills presently under consideration.

Section 2.-Establishment of National Science Foundation: This section establishes a new and independent executive agency for the support of basic research, the award of scholarships and for other purposes. Most of Foundation's functions will be of types not performed by any existing governmental agency. However, it will in fundamental research, touch subjects presently dealt with in other aspects, by several existing agencies.

Section 3.-Membership of Foundation: The ultimate responsibility and authority of the Foundation is to be vested in a board of 48 members, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In nominating members, the President is expressly requested to consider recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences and other scientific or educational organizations. Certain qualifica

tions are established with respect to appointments, namely, that the members must be outstanding persons with distinguished records in the fields of the fundamental sciences, medical science, engineering, education, or public affairs. Moreover, appointments are to be made in such a way that scientific opinion in all areas of the Nation is fairly represented. The bill provides, however, that political, social, or religious factors are not to be considered in making appointments.

The term of office of each member is 8 years, with a provision that no person who has served as a member for more than 4 years may be reappointed until after the expiration of 4 years from the end of his previous term. The terms of office of the various members are to be staggered so that after the initial establishment of the Foundation, one-quarter of the members shall be appointed every 2 years. This arrangement assures continuity of policy and program while at the same time permitting the constant influx of young men with fresh initiative and imagination who will be abreast of the latest developments in the various fields of science, public affairs, and education.

Section 4.-Powers and duties of the Foundation: The Foundation is authorized to formulate, and to encourage the pursuit of, an over-all national policy for scientific research and scientific education. It is the intent of this clause (sec. 4 (a) (1)) that the Foundation may, to the extent feasible, encourage governmental and private research agencies and educational institutions to adopt and follow programs which will not conflict with each other and which will lie in the most fruitful fields. The Foundation is not to dictate or control all research or education in the Nation. It is expressly prevented by sections 14 (b) and 15 (i) from exercising mandatory control over the research programs of other Government agencies and it lacks the affirmative power so to do with respect to the programs of nongovernmental organizations.

A corollary to any program of research is that the results be made widely available. In the case of basic research of the type with which the Foundation will be concerned, availability will involve making such results public to the maximum extent consistent with national security. Accordingly, the Foundation is authorized not only to make generally available to scientists and others, the results achieved by its research programs (see sec. 10) but also to foster the general interchange of scientific information among scientists in the United States and abroad. Such general interchange will provde the intellectual crossfertilization essential to productive research.

One of the Foundation's most important functions is to initiate and support basic research in the various sciences and, also, applied as well as basic research on matters related to the national defense. The specific fields of research in which the Foundation is to participate, are necessarily left to its discretion. However, it is not to compete with the programs of other researchers, public or private, but is to fit its research activities into areas not otherwise covered. It is authorized to carry out these research programs by means of contracts or, where desirable, by grants, loans, or other forms of assistance.

Another basic purpose of the Foundation is to assure to the Nation an adequate body of well-trained scientists by awarding to our ablest young men and women, scholarships and graduate fellowships in science.

The members of the Foundation will meet, at the call of its Chairman, once a year, or more often if necessary or desirable, to review and evaluate the operations of the Foundation and to apply the wiedly diversified experience and intelligence of 48 emininent men and women from all parts of the country, to the formulation of its broad over-all policies.

Section 5.-Creation and powers and duties of the executive committee: The Foundation shall elect biennially from its own membership an executive committee of nine members. The executive committee shall choose its chairman and vice chairman and meet, at least six times a year, at the call of its chairman or as it may prescribe. The executive committee shall exercise the powers and duties of the Foundation and have authority to delegate the same to its officers, employees, and divisions. In addition, the committee may establish advisory committees to consider and evaluate the programs of the Foundation. The executive committee shall render an annual report of its activities and plans to the Foundation for submission to the President and the Congress.

The executive committee will, in practice, act as the operating arm of the Foundation. It will, however, be responsible to the full membership of the Foundation by reason of its election by that body and its annual report. Moreover, since the chairman of the executive committee is also ex officio chairman of the full Foundation, meetings of the latter may be called whenever desirable.

Section 6.-Director of Foundation: Subject to the supervision of the executive committee, the administrative affairs of the Foundation will be controlled by a full-time, paid Director appointed by the committee with the approval of a majority of the Foundation. The Director will perform such functions as may be assigned to him by the executive committee and follow the policies established from time to time by the committee and the Foundation.

Section 7.-Divisions within the Foundation: It is anticipated that the activities of the Foundation in its several fields of endeavor will be operated by several administrative divisions, each devoted to a separate general field. Initially the Foundation shall consist of five Divisions, namely (1) Medical Research, (2) Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, (3) Biological Sciences, (4) National Defense, and (5) Scientific Personnel and Education. The Foundation may, however, abolish any of these Divisions except the Division of National Defense, and create new divisions as necessary or desirable in order to meet changing circumstances.

Section 8.-Divisional committees: Except for the Division of National Defense, there will be attached to each division of the Foundation, a committee of not less than five persons appointed by the Foundation. The members of each Such committee may or may not be members of the Foundation, but it is expected that each member will be appointed on the basis of his familiarity with the field of science or education with which the division to which he is appointed is concerned. The divisional committees are to keep in close contact with the actual operations of their respective divisions and will advise and consult with, and make recommendations to, the Director with respect to the conduct of the research in their assigned fields.

The Committee for the Division of National Defense is established on a different basis from the other divisions because of the specialized nature of its activities, and the fact that those activities involve most of the different fields of scientific endeavor. Accordingly, it is provided that the Committee for the Division of National Defense shall be made up of not more than 40 persons of whom one-half are to be civilians appointed by the Foundation, one-fourth are to be representatives of the War Department, and one-fourth are to be representatives of the Navy Department. In order that this Committee may operate effectively, provision is made for an executive committee of five members. The chairman of the full Committee will serve as the chairman of the executive committee. Two of the members are to be civilians elected by the civilian members of the full Committee, while the additional two members shall be appointed, respectively, by the Secretaries of War and Navy. In addition to functions similar to those performed by other division committees, the Committee for the Division of National Defense shall establish regulations and procedures for the security classification and control of information and property related to the activities of the Foundation which are of military significance.

Section 9.-Scholarships and graduate fellowships; register of scientific personnel: The Foundation is authorized to award scholarships and graduate fellowships for scientific study or scientific work at accredited colleges and universities, both American and foreign. The bill expressly provides that awards shall be made solely on the basis of ability. However, in the event that there are more applicants than available scholarships, the awards as between applicants of equal ability shall be made so as to assure wide distribution of scholarships among the several States.

In order to maintain a record, in case of future need, of scientific and technical personnel, and in order to assure the optimum utilization of such personnel, the Foundation is to maintain a register of such men and to act as a central clearing house for information concerning them. No charges of gestapo techniques or of regimentation can validly be made since the bill expressly provides that no individual shall be listed in this register without his consent.

Section 10.-Authority of Foundation: This section in general empowers the Foundation to do all things necessary to carry out the provisions of the act. In addition, it contains certain specific authority and exemptions from presently existing legal restrictions, some of which should be called to your attention. Subsection (d) of this section authorizes the Foundation to enter into contracts or other arrangements and amendments thereto without legal consideration, without performance or other bonds, and without regard to the provision of law requiring advertising for bids (3709 of the Revised Statutes, 41 U. S. C., sec. 5). It is contemplated that the Foundation will be supporting basic re

search in matters so new that their scope and the results of such research cannot be anticipated. The Foundation therefore cannot reasonably require its contractors to produce any particular specified results. Consequently, performance bonds and proposals of contractors in response to advertisements would have no meaning. Similarly, under this provision, legal questions of failure of consideration or of lack of full legal consideration for amendments, increases of available funds, etc., will not arise to hamper the Foundation's operations or to cause hardship to grantees of fellowships, or to educational or other institutions.

Since a large part of the research sponsored by the Foundation will inevitably be done by academic institutions, and since such institutions by and large, lack freely available working capital, subsection (e) of the bill provides that the Foundation may make advance and progress payments to finance their research. Existing regulations for itemization and substantiation of vouchers claiming payment from the Government, are generally difficult to apply to research expenditures, particularly with respect to research done by academic institutions. Ordinarily the quantities of materials used from day to day in a given project will be so smal! that a requirement that the claim for reimbursement for the cost of each item must be separately itemized and substantiated by a certified paid invoice, would be disproportionately costly. Moreover, accounting systems in use by academic institutions are usually substantially different from those commonly used by industrial organizations. For these reasons, the bill provides that, with the approval of the Comptroller General, the Foundation may prescribe its own regulations with respect to controls over expenditures to fit the special circumstances of its activities and the administrative procedures of its contractors and grantees (see subsec. j).

Under the provisions of section 87 of the act of January 12, 1895, as amended by section 11 of the act of March 1, 1919 (44 U. S. C. 111), it is required that all printing and binding for the Government shall be done at the Government Printing Office, except in certain cases with the permission of the Joint Committee on Printing. The pressure of business on the Government Printing Office is such that it sometimes cannot render prompt service. Moreover, it does not have facilities for securing the specialized distribution of its output which would be necessary in connection with the Foundation's duty to promote the interchange of scientific information as provided in section 4 (5). The Foundation is,therefore, authorized in subsection (h) to publish or arrange for the publication of scientific and technical information without regard to the provisions of the acts above cited. In this way medical information, for example, can be placed in existing channels reaching medical men with assurance that it will be given adequate but not wasteful circulation.

Another special authorization which should be called to your attention is that the Foundation is authorized to acquire, hold, and dispose of real and personal property of all kinds necessary for or resulting from scientific research, without regard to the provisions of law relating to the acquisition, holding, or disposition of property by the Government (see subsec. f). It may be expected that at the termination of each research project or contrract, relatively small amounts of miscellaneous equipment will be on hand. Moreover, much equipment will probably have been hand-made in the course of various projects and will not only defy description but also be practically unsalable. The Foundation is therefore given authority to dispose of such property without resorting to the normal Government procedures. Moreover, in connection with its function of strengthening nonprofit institutions in all parts of the country (see sec. 15 (h)), it may in many cases be desirable to give to them equipment which they otherwise might not be in a position to purchase or build.

Two related provisions permit the Foundation to accept the voluntary cooperation of private persons in order that the teamwork between Government and private citizens may be complete. Subsection (g) enables the Foundation to receive and use any funds which may be donated to it by anyone for the general purposes of the Foundation provided that no other restrictions are attached to such donation. Subsection (i) provides that the Foundation may utilize the services of voluntary and uncompensated personnel. This latter provision also permits the payment of the travel and subsistence expenses of such personnel.

Section 11.-Patent rights: Since the subject of Government patent policies is under separate consideration, no specific instructions are contained in these bills to control the disposition of rights in inventions made in the course of