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Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
on general management and oversight issues at NASA
and NSF
July 24, 1997
On July 24, 1997, the Senate Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee held a hearing on general
management and oversight issues at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science
Foundation (NSF). Witnesses testifying on NASA management
issues included: Daniel Goldin, Administrator, NASA;
Roberta Gross, Inspector General, NASA; Thomas Schultz,
Associate Director, GAO. Witnesses testifying on NSF
management issues included Joe Bordogna, Deputy Director,
NSF; Philip Sunshine, Deputy Inspector General, NSF;
and Susan Kladiva, Associate Director, GAO.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) chaired the NASA portion
of the hearing, and discussion focused primarily on
agency downsizing and privatization of certain functions,
the International Space Station (ISS) and Shuttle
Mir safety, information technology, and procurement
and contract management. The majority of the debate
centered on containing costs and ensuring Russian
participation in the ISS, as well as preventing the
safety problems that have plagued Mir. Throughout
the hearing, Administrator Goldin reassured the Committee
that NASA has learned a substantial amount from Mir
that will help the agency ensure safety on the International
Space Station.
Senator Bill Frist acted as the chair during the NSF
discussions and asked a series of questions on duplication
in the Small Business Research (SBIR) Program, the
National Science Foundation's role in the management
of Internet domain name registration and the Foundation's
implementation of the Government Performance and Results
Act (GPRA). During their testimony, Philip Sunshine
and Susan Kladiva summarized their primary issues
with the National Science Foundation. Such issues
included the registration of domain names, NSF hiring
practices, the SBIR program, GPRA and the Year 2000
Computer problem. Dr. Joe Bordogna highlighted the
valuable role that the National Science Foundation
plays in supporting merit-based, cutting-edge research
and education, demonstrating how this mission drives
the Foundation to maintain highly efficient and effective
management.
With regard to Senator Frist's concerns about duplication
in the SBIR program, all witnesses agreed that preventing
duplication in the SBIR program is an interagency
problem. Dr. Bordogna pointed out specifically that
NSF's recent internal check for duplication revealed
a small percentage of duplication.
In response to questions on the NSF's role in domain
name registration, Dr. Bordogna relayed the Foundation's
belief that its strength and expertise lies in the
support of merit-based, cutting-edge research and
education in such areas as the Next Generation Internet
and Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence, rather
than in the management of the commercial operation
that domain name registration has become. He described
the interagency working group -- of which NSF is a
member -- which formed to determine if there should
be some continuing form of Federal oversight of Internet
addresses. He assured Senator Frist that the working
group expects to have a recommendation several months
before the NSF's cooperative agreement with NSI expires
next March.
Finally, Dr. Bordogna discussed the means by which
the National Science Foundation is implementing GPRA.
He pointed out that the impacts of research and development
investments are difficult, but not impossible, to
measure. Nonetheless, he assured the Senator that,
while tracking the outcomes of its investments may
be difficult, the Foundation is determined to take
on such a challenge. One of the means by which it
is measuring its impact is by looking retrospectively
to determine what previous investments have produced.
The development of the Boeing 777, which can be traced
back, in part, to a National Science Foundation grant,
is only one example of how initial investments can
have dramatic and often unpredictable outcomes.
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