The Commerce Department's proposal to close the National Technical Information Service was poorly planned, a lawmaker said at a Senate hearing Thursday.
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., blasted the Commerce Department for deciding to close the agency, which collects and disseminates technical government documents, without first discussing the idea with employees, Congress, other agencies, or NTIS customers.
"No stakeholders were consulted," Moran told the Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space.
Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., also questioned Commerce's proposal. NTIS is located in Springfield, Va.
Under the Commerce Department plan, NTIS would close at the end of fiscal 2000 and its collection of technical documents would be transferred to the Library of Congress. In written testimony, the Library of Congress said it is now reviewing the Commerce Department's proposal to transfer NTIS' documents to the library.
Since 1987, when Congress mandated that NTIS become self-sustaining by charging fees for its reports, the agency has suffered from financial woes, Deputy Commerce Secretary Robert Mallett told the subcommittee Thursday. In recent years, the rise of the Internet has adversely affected NTIS sales, as agencies simply post reports on their Web sites for free.
"The growth of the Internet has rendered outmoded the business model NTIS uses to carry out its core mission," Mallett said.
While the Library of Congress is considering Commerce's proposal, the Government Printing Office has volunteered to take over NTIS' responsibilities.
"The similarities in function between GPO and NTIS, the fact that both are experienced in operating on revolving funds, the potential for valuable synergies of technologies and staff expertise that could benefit public access to Government information-all of these are reasons for a realignment of NTIS functions with GPO," said Public Printer Michael DiMario.
Mallett said the Commerce Department would not be opposed to a GPO takeover of NTIS's responsibilities, though the Library of Congress seemed a better fit to Commerce officials.
NTIS employees, meanwhile, are trying to save their agency. Bill Clark, a representative of Local 1627 of the National Federation of Federal Employees, complained that the union was not involved in the decision to close the agency and contended that NTIS is not as financially troubled as the Commerce Department claims.
Joan Challinor, a member of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, said Congress and the executive branch should hold off a decision on NTIS' fate until the government develops a coherent policy on the dissemination and storage of scientific and technical documents.
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