President's FY 2000 Budget Seeks $746 Million for Technology Administration to Power Programs for Economic Growth

President Clinton’s fiscal year 2000 budget request for the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration is $746 million, Commerce Secretary William Daley announced today.

Daley said, "We are in a new era, with a new kind of economy—one driven by technology. In the 21st century, to be economically competitive, all Americans and all American businesses must be technologically sophisticated. The President—and his budget for our Technology Administration—are firmly investing in the nation’s technology base in order to strengthen our economy, create new and better jobs, and ensure our future competitiveness."

Led by the Under Secretary for Technology, the Technology Administration includes the Office of the Under Secretary for Technology (including the Office of Space Commercialization), the Office of Technology Policy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Technical Information Service.

Highlighting the FY 2000 budget request are:

• $95 million—including an increase of $55 million from FY 1999—for construction of the Advanced Measurement Laboratory at NIST’s Gaithersburg, Md., facility; an increase of $41.2 million from FY 1999 for the NIST Advanced Technology Program to continue current projects and conduct a new competition open to all areas of technology;
• $5.5 million for three initiatives in NIST’s Measurement and Standards Laboratories to remove standards barriers to expanded global trade, protect the information technology elements of critical national infrastructures and begin work on a program to foster professional development of mathematics and science teachers in Grades K-12;
• $1 million to gather, promote and effectively deploy to all NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers the highest-priority best practices in areas such as employee development and service delivery; and
• $1 million to enable the Office of the Under Secretary for Technology/Office of Technology Policy to expand analysis and advocacy of current and proposed policies, help the nation meet the rapidly growing demand for information technology workers and build on existing programs to help U.S. industry seize opportunities presented by the development of new automotive technologies.

The President’s FY 2000 request for TA breaks down as follows:

• $9 million for the Office of the Under Secretary for Technology and the Office of Technology Policy to support (1) oversight activities of TA’s components; (2) TA’s lead role in the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles; (3) TA’s leadership in the U.S. Innovation Partnership; and (4) the OTP’s role as the Executive Branch’s principal civilian technology policy analyst and advocate. NIST’s challenge is to anticipate, develop and provide American industry with the technology, measurements and standards support it needs now and in the future.
• $735 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to operate—in close partnership with the private sector—civilian technology support programs that focus on a key element for the nation’s continued economic growth and global competitiveness: the best science and innovation in the world.
• $2 million for the National Technical Information Service to partially fund the agency’s activities to acquire, organize and store the 70,000 information items it adds annually to its permanent clearinghouse.

Following are detailed descriptions of the three requests summarized above:

Office of the Under Secretary for Technology/Office of Technology Policy

The FY 2000 request will enable US/OTP to serve: (1) as the federal government’s primary advocate for innovation and industrial competitiveness, analyst of civilian industrial technology issues, and incubator of new models of domestic and international technology cooperation; (2) as the government Secretariat of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, a collaboration among the federal government, the auto industry, universities and hundreds of suppliers to aggressively develop technologies such as hybrid-electric vehicle drive systems, direct-injection engines, fuel cells and lightweight materials that will enable the production of highly fuel-efficient vehicles; (3) in the development of new national space policies; and (4) as administrator of the National Medal of Technology.

The FY 2000 request includes a decrease of $1.7 million for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology. EPSCoT, a program to stimulate technology commercialization and partnerships in states traditionally under-represented in federal R&D funding, will have completed two grant competitions by FY 2000, and most of the projects funded under the first competition will be complete or nearing completion. In FY 2000, US/OTP will assess the program’s direction and effectiveness.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

The FY 2000 budget request for NIST is divided into three appropriations:

• $290 million for efforts under the Scientific and Technical Research Services (STRS) appropriation that includes funding for (1) the NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories and (2) the Baldrige National Quality Program. This request includes:
  • $285 million for the Measurement and Standards Laboratories. Included is $5.5 million to support three initiatives:
    • Export Promotion: $2 million to remove or avert technical barriers to trade by increasing worldwide recognition of U.S. measurements and standards, and increasing U.S. representation in the international standards arena;
    • Critical Infrastructure Protection: $3 million to work with the information and communications industries to improve the security, survivability and reliability of information technology systems supporting critical national infrastructures; and
    • Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Program: $500,000 to develop a program of instruction and hands-on experience for K-12 science and math teachers focusing on scientific measurement, tests and standards development; industrial competitiveness and quality; manufacturing; technology transfer and other key areas of NIST expertise.
  • $5 million for the Baldrige National Quality Program to manage the annual award competition, conduct the annual Quest for Excellence conference where Baldrige award winners share their performance excellence strategies, maintain a comprehensive database on state and local quality awards, and facilitate information sharing among all sectors of the U.S. economy.
• $339 million for technology development and industrial outreach under the Industrial Technology Services (ITS) appropriation that includes (1) cost-shared funding to industry for high-risk research and development through the Advanced Technology Program; and (2) more widely distributed services and expanded hands-on technical assistance to smaller manufacturers through a nationwide network of centers under the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. This request provides:
  • $239 million for the Advanced Technology Program. This includes an additional $41.2 million over FY 1999 funding for the program which promotes industry’s ability to make technologically challenging efforts that have broad economic benefits. The funding, when combined with anticipated carryover and prior year recoveries, will permit approximately $73 million for new awards in FY 2000.
  • $100 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The request will permit NIST to continue providing the federal share of funding needed to support the network of centers serving smaller manufacturers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The overall decrease of $7 million from FY 1999 appropriations reflects a lower federal share of the centers’ operating costs since the federal share decreases as centers mature; the number of centers is not expected to change.
  • The request includes $1 million to gather, promote and effectively deploy to all MEP extension centers the highest-priority best practices.
• $107 million for improving NIST’s 30- to 45-year-old research facilities to ensure a safe working environment for NIST staff and the continued capability to keep the nation competitive with cutting-edge science and technology. NIST maintains about 50 specialized laboratory, office and support buildings at its two main sites in Gaithersburg, Md., and Boulder, Colo., and the majority of these are deteriorating at an accelerating rate. NIST’s master facilities plan is designed to guide the replacement, renovation or repair of these buildings.
  • Of the $107 million requested, $95 million would be combined with $108 million previously appropriated in FY 1998 and 1999 for construction of the Advanced Measurement Laboratory in Gaithersburg, Md., which will house the institute’s most advanced metrology, physics, chemistry, electronics, engineering and materials science research. The AML will provide stringent controls on particulate matter, temperature, vibration and humidity that are currently unattainable in NIST labs.
  • The remaining $12 million would be used to address the highest priority projects among a substantial backlog of critical safety and maintenance needs.

National Technical Information Service

During its 50-year lifetime, NTIS has amassed more than 3 million items related to U.S. government research and compiled the most comprehensive collection of data and results from federal R&D. The agency had been able for many years to cover all necessary costs through fees for its products and services. In FY 2000, however, NTIS is requesting $2 million to partially fund activities to organize and preserve its information clearinghouse.