[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 143 (Thursday, November 2, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGES

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, in 1998, I co-authored section 
3137 of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261), which dealt with research and 
other activities conducted at Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories 
and facilities for other entities.
  Section 3137(b)(2)(A) allows the Secretary of Energy to impose a 
federal administrative charge in an amount not to exceed 3 percent of 
the cost of the research carried out by Federal agencies and other 
entities at DOE laboratories and facilities. My preference in putting 
forward this language was to eliminate such charges altogether, but I 
agreed to some flexibility so that such a change could be phased in. We 
are now in fiscal year 2001, and the President has signed a bill 
providing for full appropriations for the Department. I would urge at 
this point that the phase-out of administrative costs be completed by 
DOE. For example, it makes little sense to have one Federal agency 
racking up administrative charges against other Federal agencies for 
the privilege of using Federal facilities. We should encourage such 
sharing of common assets in the name of efficient administration, 
instead of keeping incentives to have each agency build its own 
duplicative equipment and facilities. Additionally, it is in the public 
interest to encourage outside use of DOE facilities by other entities. 
This is because outside entities that want to use DOE laboratory 
facilities are likely to have similar research interests and aims with 
the DOE researchers at the labs who also use these facilities. The 
opportunity for enhanced scientific interaction from facilitating their 
use of these facilities can result in additional scientific 
efficiencies that will benefit the government.
  Accordingly, Mr. President, I urge that the Secretary of Energy 
reduce these administrative costs to zero for fiscal year 2001 and each 
succeeding fiscal year.

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