NIST Appropriations Pass House; Space Station Hearing
NIST APPROPRIATIONS:
H.R. 3814, the FY 1997 appropriations bill which funds the Department of Commerce, was approved by the whole House on July 24. Funding for NIST’s intramural and extramural programs remained unchanged from that passed by the House Appropriations Committee on July 16 (see FYI #113, 114.) However, Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Harold Rogers (R-KY) succeeded in passing an amendment to clarify bill language relating to NIST’s Advanced Technology Program (ATP.) Rogers’ amendment specifies that the $110.5 million provided for ATP, as well as any carryover funds from the previous year, “may be used only for the purposes of providing continuation grants for competitions completed prior to October 1, 1995" and that such grants “shall be provided only to single applicants or joint venture participants which are small businesses.” The amendment continues that “such funds...are provided for the purposes of closing out all commitments for such program.”
While similar language was included in the Appropriations Committee’s report, which is not legally binding, this amendment inserts the language directly into the bill. The bill language, once agreed upon by both the House and Senate, will become law if signed by President Clinton. Rogers had warned NIST officials in an April hearing that new ATP funding was only intended for the continuation of previously-awarded grants, but in May ATP announced a new competition (see FYIs #76, 90.)
Recent reports indicate that the Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee, which marked up the bill yesterday, provided only $60 million for ATP (the Administration’s request was $345 million.) The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up H.R. 3814 tomorrow. Further details will be provided when the committee’s report language is available.
SPACE STATION HEARING:
NASA’s space station program is one and one-half years from first element launch, with 45 percent of the hardware completed. Since its 1993 redesign, the program has stayed within its planned cost and schedule reserves. However, a number of issues still threaten the program, including recent delays by the Russian Space Agency and several potential cost problems. The General Accounting Office (GAO) identifies these concerns in a July 1996 report, “Space Station: Cost Control Difficulties Continue” (GAO/NSIAD-96-135.)
A representative from GAO, Thomas Schultz, had the opportunity to enumerate these concerns, and NASA had the chance to defend the program, at a July 24 hearing of Sen. Conrad Burns’ (R-MT) Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee. Wilbur Trafton, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Flight, stated that recent meetings between NASA head Daniel Goldin and Russian Space Agency officials “have solved virtually every issue that existed” with respect to Russian participation, and NASA has “gotten a full commitment from the highest levels” of the Russian government.
Schultz raised a number of concerns that the GAO believes “warrant continued oversight,” including changes made to the prime contract and unfavorable cost and schedule trends. The GAO report recognizes that NASA has maintained sufficient reserves and identified enough cost savings to keep the program within its budget caps so far. Although NASA is confident it will keep to its cost and schedule goals, Schultz said, “we do not share NASA’s confidence.” Trafton responded that he did not deny the points raised by GAO, but “you can’t build a program on pessimism and expectation of failure.”
To access the GAO report on the Internet, send an email message with the word “info” in the body to: info@www.gao.gov or visit GAO’s Website at: http://www.gao.gov
