NTIS not financially stable, but far from closed

The National Technical Information Service could be in big financial trouble if it cannot adapt its business model to the information age, according to a new General Accounting Office report.

Former Commerce Secretary William M. Daley launched a plan to close NTIS by September, transfer all of its holdings to the Library of Congress and require that agencies post federal reports on the Internet. But the shuttering of the 55-year-old archive is far from a done deal. In fact, the powerful Senator who chairs the committee overseeing NTIS has commissioned a plan that could ensure the agency's survival.

The GAO report, "Information Policy: NTIS' Financial Position Provides an Opportunity to Reassess Its Mission," is the result of an fiscal 2000 budget rider that called for a study of the financially struggling agency, which is charged with making scientific, technical and business information available to the public.

"(NTIS') solvency beyond fiscal year 2003 remains in doubt," the report concludes. "Because of this, Congress may want to address the question of whether the government still needs NTIS, or another agency, to serve as a permanent repository and disseminator for research reports."

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., asked the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences (NCLIS), to address such issues and recommend a course for the future of government information dispersal and, in particular, NTIS. But McCain steered conspicuously clear of mentioning the possibility that the agency might be eliminated.

The commission released a preliminary assessment of Daley's plan to close the service in March, urging that Congress eliminate the provision that requires NTIS to support itself solely on its own revenues. The NCLIS recommended an annual $5 million outlay for the service that would replace the current fee-based scheme.

"The $5 million estimated annual appropriation requirement represents less than 1/100th of 1 percent of the total annual budget for the federal government's research and development investment, which NTIS is charged with reporting," the commission noted.

From 1988-when the requirement that NTIS be self-sustaining was imposed-until 1994, the service actually accumulated a $5.8 million surplus. The dawn of widespread Internet access halted this trend almost overnight. The remainder of the decade yielded a $4.2 million net loss for NTIS.

The GAO report cited several areas in which the service seems out of step with the challenges, and opportunities, of the electronic revolution. For example, NTIS sells a December 1997 GAO report for $27 plus $5 for handling, but the report is available on the Web for free. Still, some portions of NTIS remain profitable, in particular the dissemination and collection services that the agency offers to other federal offices, which earned the agency an all-time high profit in 1999.

With Daley having moved on to head Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, and with the legislative calendar dwindling down, it's unlikely NTIS will be shut down soon. Despite promising in August of 1999 to file legislation abolishing NTIS, Daley's office has never officially submitted such a bill to Congress.