[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 1 (Monday, January 3, 1994)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6-12]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 93-32098]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: January 3, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Technical Information Service

15 CFR Part 1180

[Docket No. 921242-3202]
RIN 0692-AA12

 

Transfer by Federal Agencies of Scientific, Technical and 
Engineering Information to the National Technical Information Service

AGENCY: National Technical Information Service, Technology 
Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule establishes procedures for federal agencies to 
transfer unclassified scientific, technical and engineering information 
resulting from federally funded research and development activities to 
the National Technical Information Service. This rule is issued 
pursuant to the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1991. Its 
purpose is to facilitate public access to the vast amount of 
scientific, technical and engineering information that is produced by 
and for federal agencies.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This regulation is effective February 1, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Donald W. Corrigan (703) 487-4636.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 11, 1993, the National Technical 
Information Service (NTIS) published a proposed rule (58 FR 27681) to 
implement Section 108 of the American Technology Preeminence Act (ATPA) 
of 1991 (Pub. L. 102-245). Section 108 of the ATPA requires all federal 
agencies to submit to NTIS in a timely manner unclassified scientific, 
technical and engineering information (STEI) resulting from federally 
funded research and development activities. This final rule establishes 
procedures for employees of agencies to follow and those contractors 
and grantees who are authorized by agencies to transfer products 
directly to NTIS.
    These regulations should significantly expand NTIS' collection of 
more than two million printed reports and documents, videotapes, 
computer software and computerized data files on tape, diskette, and 
CD-ROM. Such information can be purchased from NTIS by the research and 
development community, business, and the general public. This expansion 
should significantly improve public access to STEI and contribute to 
NTIS's ability to operate on a self-sustaining basis without 
appropriations.
    The major features of these regulations include (a) a system of 
``affiliates'' to serve as NTIS agents to receive information on behalf 
of NTIS; (b) a system of federal agency ``liaisons'' to work with NTIS 
to ensure cost-effective compliance; (c) an optional system by which 
agencies may allow their contractors and grantees to transfer 
information directly to NTIS; (d) an optional system by which agencies 
may allow NTIS to ride their production orders; (e) a method for 
granting waivers if transfer of STEI products would be inappropriate; 
and (f) a requirement that certain copyright information be provided to 
NTIS so that it does not inadvertently make available a product for 
which the Government lacks appropriate dissemination rights.
    A number of technical and clarifying changes have been made to the 
proposed regulations, most of which are intended to make it clearer 
that certain provisions are optional at the discretion of individual 
agencies. The most important amendment alerts agencies that compliance 
with these procedures in no way relieves them of their responsibilities 
for distributing publications to the Depository Library Program 
established by Chapter 19 of Title 44 of the United States Code and 
establishes a procedure through which NTIS can assist agencies in 
meeting that responsibility with respect to STEI submitted to NTIS 
under this regulation.

Comments and Decisions

    A number of comments involved inquiries relating to internal NTIS 
processes or procedures of the commenting agency and did not propose 
specific changes to the regulation. They are included in this section 
to the extent they raise matters of general interest.

General Comments

    Comment: Authors should clear publications printed by contractors 
and grantees prior to public dissemination.
    NTIS Response: These regulations apply only to products that are 
available for public dissemination. How that determination is made is 
up to individual agencies and is beyond the scope of the ATPA and these 
regulations.
    Comment: The regulations do not appear to take into account that 
some government-funded research products may be published in 
professional journals and other publications produced by the private 
sector or that some STEI produced by non-federal employees may be 
protected by copyright.
    NTIS Response: Section 1180.7(a) of the final regulations now 
explicitly states that agencies are not required to take any action to 
transfer to NTIS agency generated articles published in privately 
produced journals or federally funded STEI for which no license 
permitting distribution by NTIS has been reserved to the Government. 
Both categories had been included in Sec. 1180.7(b) as examples of 
potentially inappropriate transfers, so no significant substantive 
change is intended.
    Comment: NTIS and the Government Printing Office should exchange 
electronic bibliographic records to facilitate bibliographic control 
activities.
    NTIS Response: The recommendation, if implemented, should provide 
the customers of each agency with enhanced ability to find and order 
government information. NTIS will be pleased to discuss an exchange of 
tapes with the Superintendent of Documents at any time.
Section 1180.2
    Comment: The definition of ``agency'' permits certain subunits of 
the parent agency to deal directly with NTIS and bypass the cabinet 
officer above them.
    NTIS Response: To ensure general consistency with other Technology 
Administration programs, the final regulations adopt the definition of 
``federal agency'' employed in the Stevenson-Wydler Technology 
Innovation Act of 1980. However, NTIS recognizes that this definition 
contributes to the problem described in the comment at least insofar as 
it specifically identifies the military departments as agencies even 
though they are part of the Department of Defense, which is itself an 
agency within the meaning of that Act. Accordingly, the final 
regulations include a statement in section 1180.11 (``Relation to Other 
Laws and Procedures'') clarifying that agencies that are subunits of 
other agencies must comply with the procedures of the parent agency. 
NTIS will not deal directly with these subunits as freestanding 
agencies except as approved by the parent.
    Comment: By referring to STEI ``which results from federally funded 
research and development activities'' in the definition of the phrase 
``federally funded,'' the regulation may be interpreted to refer only 
to products generated under R&D funding categories.
    NTIS Response: The quoted language appears in section 108 of the 
ATPA and nothing in that section suggests a narrow reading that 
conditions the requirement on technical funding categories.
    Comment: The definition of ``final'' should not automatically 
exclude interim STEI reports as they often contain valuable information 
and the final report may not be issued for some time.
    NTIS Response: The definition of ``final'' in section 1180.2 has 
been modified to indicate that such reports may be transferred.
    Comment: The definition of ``product'' should not include software 
because that would unduly disrupt the agency's software distribution 
mechanism.
    NTIS Response: Section 108 of the ATPA expressly refers to software 
and NTIS cannot read that out of the statute. Section 1180.7 contains a 
procedure for exempting products or categories of products in 
appropriate cases, such as harm to a dissemination program.
    Comment: The definition of STEI is too broad in that it sweeps in 
significant amounts of business-related information.
    NTIS Response: The definition of STEI is not intended to cover all 
business-related information. The second part of the definition is 
obtained from a 1954 Comptroller General opinion (34 Comp. Gen. 58) 
construing the Act of September 9, 1950, 64 Stat. 823, as amended (15 
U.S.C. 1151 et seq.), which required the Secretary of Commerce to 
maintain a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of STEI. 
According to the opinion, ``technical information'' can embrace matters 
beyond the restricted field of applied science and mechanical arts. 
However, the definition in the Comptroller General opinion should 
itself be read as limited to information which has a direct 
relationship to business, industry or technology. Also, the second part 
of the definition in the rule limits STEI to information that would be 
of value to consumers of scientific or engineering information, as 
determined by the agency transferring the information. Most 
importantly, NTIS will work with liaison officers to ensure that the 
results of applying the definition under this rule are not burdensome 
to agencies or to NTIS.
Section 1180.4
    Comment: The requirement that product formats conform to NTIS 
guidelines is burdensome.
    NTIS Response: The guidelines simply catalog existing formats in 
order of preference by NTIS. However, they are only guidelines, not 
requirements. The language has been modified to make it clearer that 
the formats are to be used to the extent practicable.
    Comment: The requirement to advise NTIS of the terms of copyright 
licenses reserved to the Government are unnecessary because some 
agencies surrender all rights in exchange from royalty-free government 
purpose rights.
    NTIS Response: The regulation in no way tells agencies what rights 
they should or should not retain. Agency practices vary and the 
regulation is simply intended to ensure that nothing is transferred to 
NTIS that NTIS is precluded from disseminating because the Government 
lacks appropriate dissemination rights.

    Note: Section 1180.4(a) also contains a new paragraph relating 
to material not printed by the Government Printing Office. The 
purpose of this addition is explained more fully in the analysis of 
comments pertaining to Sec. 1180.11.
Section 1180.5
    Comment: The regulation requires final STEI products to be 
submitted within fifteen days of public dissemination but is silent as 
to when summaries of new and on-going research described in section 
1180.3 is to be submitted.
    NTIS Response: The final regulation clarifies that the fifteen day 
requirement also pertains to unclassified research summaries that have 
been made available for public dissemination through any distribution 
channel.
    Comment: Transfer within fifteen days of public dissemination may 
be impractical or inappropriate.
    NTIS Response: Providing NTIS with a copy of a product two weeks 
after it has been made available for public dissemination is not 
unreasonable and reflects the direction in section 108 of the ATPA that 
federal agencies transfer covered materials in a timely manner.
Section 1180.6
    Comment: The size and scope of the agency's programs make it 
difficult to give NTIS pre-production notice so as to allow it to ride 
printing orders.
    NTIS Response: Section 1180.6 has been slightly modified to make it 
clear that this procedure is permissive and need not be used by 
agencies that conclude that it would be unduly burdensome.
    Comment: The regulation should exempt the commenting agency from 
the requirement to allow NTIS to ride its production orders for 
security reasons.
    NTIS Response: Section 1180.6 has been modified to clarify that 
this requirement is not mandatory. However, agencies that do not use 
this method must find alternative means of ensuring that NTIS receives 
copies of all products required to be transferred.
    Comment: NTIS should work with the commenting agency to ride its 
printing requisitions and make arrangements to share costs recovered 
from the dissemination of products.
    NTIS Response: NTIS will consider all appropriate proposals from 
agencies to achieve these purposes.
Section 1180.7
    Comment: The regulation should not apply to STEI products available 
through the Government Printing Office.
    NTIS Response: NTIS has a statutory mandate to maintain an STEI 
information clearinghouse, to establish and maintain a permanent 
repository of unclassified STEI, and to operate on a cost recovery 
basis without recourse to appropriations. NTIS achieves these different 
objectives by maintaining a comprehensive collection that is of 
particular value to business and other consumers who want access to a 
broad range of materials in and out of print, who want them quickly, 
and to whom time spent shopping in various places is a significant 
cost. The practical effect of this suggestion would be to reduce the 
value of NTIS' collection and essentially leave it with those 
unprofitable items that GPO cannot sell. The enactment of Section 108 
of the ATPA suggests that Congress wanted to strengthen, not weaken, 
NTIS' ability to serve the needs of STEI users and industry and to 
operate on a self-sustaining basis.
    Comment: This section inappropriately allows NTIS to overrule 
agency decisions as to whether information ought to be released and to 
overrule agency decisions to use dissemination channels other than 
NTIS.
    NTIS Response: The regulation leaves discretion to agencies to 
determine whether information should be released. The regulation 
expressly disclaims the intent to preclude agencies from also using 
other channels (Section 1180.11(b)). However, the regulation does 
preclude agencies from unilaterally bypassing NTIS when the agency has 
decided that the information should be disseminated. It is expected 
that agencies and NTIS will negotiate cooperatively to identify 
products or classes of products that the agency intends to make 
available through channels other than NTIS.
    Comment: Provisions calling for agreement between the agency head 
and NTIS regarding alternative methods of compliance or whether 
transfers would be inappropriate are issues that should be in the sole 
discretion of the agency.
    NTIS Response: NTIS has an obligation to ensure that the basic 
requirements of the American Technology Preeminence Act are satisfied 
and does not believe that agencies can unilaterally exempt themselves 
from its provisions. NTIS will work closely with agency liaisons to 
resolve problems that may from time to time arise. However, as noted 
above, the basic issue of whether a product should be publicly 
disseminated is up to the agency and is unaffected by Section 1180.7.
    Comment: The regulation should specifically exempt the commenting 
agency's ongoing research because national security concerns preclude 
public dissemination.
    NTIS Response: The regulations apply only to unclassified 
information and only to information intended for public dissemination.
Section 1108.8
    Comment: A reference in Sec. 1180.8(a)(1) to items produced at 
Government facilities should be changed to refer to items produced by 
the Government as the latter is more inclusive and production site is 
largely irrelevant.
    NTIS Response: NTIS has made the suggested change.
    Comment: To preclude proliferation of affiliates within an agency, 
the concurrence of an agency's initial and primary affiliate should be 
required before additional affiliates are appointed.
    NTIS Response: Section 1180.8 has been amended to adopt this 
recommendation.
    Comment: A commenting agency requested that the regulation 
explicitly designate it as an affiliate.
    NTIS Response: NTIS will designate a number of affiliates over 
time. Designating them by regulation is impractical. NTIS expects that 
the Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical 
Information, the Department of Defense's Defense Technical Information 
Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 
Scientific and Technical Information Office will be among those 
organizations initially designated as affiliates by NTIS.
Section 1180.11
    Comment: This section should be expanded to clarify the relation of 
the regulation to a number of other laws and procedures relating to the 
release, protection, and dissemination of Government information, such 
as the Freedom of Information Act, requirements to protect certain 
sensitive material, and requirements to make information available for 
distribution to Depository Libraries (which issue is discussed in more 
detail in the following comments).
    NTIS Response: NTIS has made the suggested changes and has 
reorganized Sec. 1180.4 to reflect them more clearly.
    Comment: To ensure compliance with agency clearance procedures, the 
regulation should specify for certain agencies the identity of the 
offices that are required to approve direct transmissions of STEI 
products to NTIS by contractors, grantees, and employees.
    NTIS Response: NTIS has concluded that the identification of an 
agency's appropriate clearance officials should be left to individual 
agencies through their internal procedures and should not be covered by 
NTIS regulations. The final regulation does not adopt this 
recommendation but NTIS has modified the proposed regulation to delete 
the one specific reference that had been included.
    Comment: The regulation will weaken the effectiveness of the 
Depository Library (DL) Program if agencies erroneously assume that 
STEI products submitted to NTIS will automatically be supplied to the 
Libraries by NTIS. Various recommendations were made, such as 
clarifying that submission to NTIS in no way relieved agencies of their 
obligations to provide documents to the Libraries or requiring NTIS to 
make such products available to the Libraries on behalf of the 
originating agencies.
    NTIS Response: NTIS has added new provisions that (1) reemphasize 
agency responsibilities for compliance with all DL requirements 
(Section 1180.11(a)(5)); (2) provide DL's with information about new 
products added to NTIS' inventory (Section 1180.11(d) (1)-(2)); and (3) 
establish a procedure through which NTIS can assist agencies in meeting 
their DL requirements with respect to STEI submitted to NTIS under this 
regulation (Section 1180.4(a) and 1180(d) (3)-(6)).
    The final regulations contain a new Sec. 1180.4(a)(4) which 
requires agencies, when preparing a product for transfer to NTIS, to 
advise NTIS as to whether products not printed by GPO have been made 
available for depository distribution by GPO. In addition, it has added 
a new Sec. 1180.11(d) which establishes a general framework for 
handling products so identified.
    Under this framework, DL's will be provided free online access to a 
current listing of all products that NTIS accepts as part of its 
permanent respository (Section 1180.11(d)(1)). They will be given a 
reasonable time to order products not previously made available to them 
(Section 1180.11(d)(2)). NTIS will bundle the requests and refer them 
back to the originating agency to be filled (new Sec. 1180.11(d)(3)) or 
fill the order itself if NTIS and the originating agency have entered 
into appropriate agreements regarding reimbursement (Section 
1180.11(d)(4)).
    In the near future NTIS expects to develop a system through which 
DL's, at no charge to them, may have electronic access to full texts of 
STEI products. When this is operational, agencies will be able to 
fulfill their obligations to the DL's effortlessly and at no additional 
cost simply by providing NTIS with the product in a format prescribed 
by NTIS as suitable for online dissemination under this system (Section 
1180.11(d)(5)).
    The new regulations will also obligate DL's to protect the 
information provided to them (Section 1180.11(d)(6)). This is important 
because the improper disclosure of this valuable information could 
seriously erode NTIS's ability to operate on a self-sustaining basis. 
For example, improper dissemination of the list of products could 
significantly reduce the rental value of NTIS's bibliographic database 
as an income-producing asset.
    Comment: The regulation should clarify that the requirement to make 
publications available under the Depository Library Program extends to 
publications in electronic formats.
    NTIS Response: NTIS cannot issue interpretations of statutes it 
does not administer and that would be binding on other agencies. Such 
matters are more appropriately covered by OMB Circular A-130.
Appendix
    Comment: The Appendix should be modified to indicate that it is 
inapplicable to a commenting agency's contractors and grantees.
    NTIS Response: The Appendix includes model language that agencies 
may choose to employ if they elect to allow their contractors and 
grantees to submit products directly to NTIS. The regulations already 
make clear that contractors and grantees of this agency must obtain 
prior agency approval from an identified office before submitting such 
information directly to NTIS.

Executive Order 12866

    This regulation has been reviewed by the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget under 
Executive Order 12886.

Executive Order 12372

    NTIS has determined that these procedures do not affect directly 
any state or local government and that consultations with state and 
local officials are not required.

Executive Order 12612

    NTIS has determined that these procedures do not contain policies 
with any federalism implications within the meaning of this Order.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The General Counsel has certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy 
of the Small Business Administration that this rule, which applies only 
to the transfer by federal agencies of federally funded STEI, will not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This rule does not contain any information collection requirement 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Environmental Evaluation

    NTIS has determined that this regulation will have no significant 
impact on the quality of the environment and that neither an 
environmental assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is 
needed.

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 1180

    Scientific, technical and engineering information.

    Issued in Springfield, Virginia, on December 28, 1993.
Ron Lawson,
Acting Director.

    Accordingly, title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended 
by adding part 1180 as follows:

PART 1180--TRANSFER BY FEDERAL AGENCIES OF SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL 
AND ENGINEERING INFORMATION TO THE NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION 
SERVICE

Sec.
1180.1  Purpose and scope.
1180.2  Definitions.
1180.3  General rule.
1180.4  Preparing a product for transfer.
1180.5  Timeliness.
1180.6  Production of additional copies.
1180.7  Exceptions.
1180.8  Appointment of Agency Liaison Officers.
1180.9  Affiliates.
1180.10  NTIS permanent repository.
1180.11  Relation to other laws and procedures.

Appendix to Part 1180--Sample Funding Agreement Clause for Direct 
Submission of Products

    Authority: Sec. 108 of Pub. L. 102-245, 106 Stat. 7 (15 U.S.C. 
3704b-2).


Sec. 1180.1  Purpose and scope.

    (a) The purpose of this regulation is to facilitate public access 
to the vast amount of scientific, technical and engineering information 
(STEI) that is produced by and for federal agencies.
    (b) This regulation provides a variety of methods for federal 
agencies to adopt to ensure the timely transfer to the National 
Technical Information Service (NTIS) of all unclassified STEI that is 
available for public dissemination and that results from federal 
funding. It is issued pursuant to the authority contained in Section 
108 of the American Technology Preeminence Act (Pub. L. 102-245).


Sec. 1180.2  Definitions.

    Agency means a federal agency as that term is defined in Section 4 
of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, as amended 
(15 U.S.C. 3703(8));
    Director means the Director of the National Technical Information 
Service.
    Federally funded refers to STEI which results from federal research 
and development activities funded in whole or in part with federal 
funds, whether performed by the agency itself or by contractors, 
grantees, cooperative research partners, joint venture partners, or 
under any similar arrangement involving federal funds.
    Final when used to describe an STEI product means a product that 
the originating agency or contractor/grantee thereof intends for public 
dissemination and may exclude interim status reports routinely 
furnished to agencies by contractors and grantees for monitoring and 
other internal purposes and which are not intended for public 
dissemination.
    Product includes, but is not limited to, any report, manual, 
standard, specification, book, paper, chart, map, graph, data 
collection, data file, data compilation, software, audio/video 
production, technology application assessment generated pursuant to 
Section 11(c) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 
(15 U.S.C. 3710(c)), as well as materials pertaining to training 
technology and other federally owned or originated technologies, and 
applies to items produced in-house or outside the agency through the 
Government Printing Office, its contractors, Federal Prison Industries 
or any other producer, provided that such material is intended by the 
agency for public dissemination.
    Scientific, technical and engineering information means--
    (1) Basic and applied research that results from the efforts of 
scientists and engineers in any medium (including new theory and 
information obtained from experimentation, observation, instrumentation 
or computation in the form of text, numeric data or images), and
    (2) Information that bears on business and industry generally, such 
as economic information, market information and related information, if 
the agency determines such information would be of value to consumers 
of the information described in paragraph (1) of this definition.
    Summary means information relating to an ongoing research project 
likely to result in a final product.


Sec. 1180.3  General rule.

    Unless an exception applies under section 1180.7, each federal 
agency shall, within the time period specified in this regulation, 
transfer to NTIS--
    (a) At least one copy of every final STEI product resulting from 
the agency's federally funded research and development activities, and
    (b) A summary of the agency's new and on-going research that is 
likely to result in a final STEI product

if such final product or summary is unclassified and is intended by the 
agency for public dissemination.


Sec. 1180.4  Preparing a product for transfer.

    (a) Every final STEI product or summary shall, to the extent 
practicable, be prepared in a format that is consistent with one of the 
various formats found in NTIS guidelines. In addition, every such 
product shall--
    (1) Be accompanied by a report documentation page (SF 298) or its 
electronic equivalent;
    (2) Be in a form capable of high quality reproduction appropriate 
to the medium;
    (3) In the case of software, be accompanied by relevant 
documentation, such as operating manuals, but not including printed 
source code; and
    (4) In the case of a product not printed by the Government Printing 
Office, be accompanied by a statement as to whether the product has 
been made available for depository distribution by the Government 
Printing Office.
    (b) Each federal agency shall transfer or have transferred to NTIS 
those STEI products funded by it that are protected by copyright only 
if there is a license reserved to the Government. In such cases, the 
agency shall inform NTIS of the terms of the license. Suggested 
language for inclusion in agency funding instruments is contained in 
the Appendix to this part.
    (c) If an agency has generated or funded an STEI product which 
should be available for public dissemination but has embedded within it 
any copyrighted material, the designated liaison appointed pursuant to 
Sec. 1180.8 should work with NTIS to determine if it would be 
appropriate to seek a license from the copyright holder in order to 
make the STEI product available.


Sec. 1180.5  Timeliness.

    A single copy of a final product or summary described in 
Sec. 1180.3 must be transferred to NTIS within fifteen days of the date 
it is first made available for public dissemination through any 
distribution channel, and, whenever practical, as soon as it has been 
approved by the agency for final printing or other reproduction, unless 
the agency and the Director have otherwise agreed.


Sec. 1180.6  Production of additional copies.

    Unless the agency determines that such action would not be 
feasible, it shall make appropriate arrangements to enable NTIS, from 
time to time and at NTIS's own discretion and expense, to ride agency 
printing and other reproduction orders.


Sec. 1180.7  Exceptions.

    (a) An agency shall not be required to take any further action to 
submit a copy of a final STEI product to NTIS or one of its affiliates 
if--
    (1) It has designated NTIS to receive a single copy of each STEI 
product once it has been produced, has made the arrangements specified 
in Sec. 1180.6, if appropriate, and has made arrangements to receive 
appropriate certification from a contractor, grantee or other external 
performer of federally funded research that a copy has been sent to 
NTIS or one of its affiliates within the appropriate time period 
pursuant to obligations incurred in the applicable funding agreement 
(see Appendix to this part) or pursuant to such other system as the 
agency has established to ensure timely transfer;
    (2) The agency and the Director have executed an appropriate 
agreement or memorandum of understanding establishing an alternative 
system for compliance; or
    (3) The federally funded STEI is protected by copyright for which 
no license has been reserved to the Government that would allow 
distribution by NTIS;
    (4) The product is an agency generated article that is published in 
a privately produced journal; or
    (5) The agency and the Director, pursuant to paragraph (b) of this 
section, have agreed that the transfer of a product otherwise covered 
by these regulations would not be appropriate.
    (b) An agency and the Director shall be deemed to be in agreement 
within the meaning of paragraph (a)(3) of this section if the Director 
has not objected within 30 days to an agency's written notification of 
its determination that timely transfer of a product or category of 
products would not be appropriate under section 108 of the American 
Technology Preeminence Act. Examples of inappropriate transfers 
include:
    (1) Transfers that could cause significant harm to an agency's 
existing dissemination program that is operating on a cost recovery 
basis, is operating in compliance with the policies described by OMB 
Circular A-130, and for which special arrangements that would permit 
supplemental distribution by NTIS cannot be negotiated.
    (2) Federally funded STEI that has received, or is likely to 
receive, widespread distribution to most potential users at no charge.


Sec. 1180.8  Appointment of Agency Liaison Officers.

    The head of each agency shall appoint or designate an officer or 
employee to serve as the STEI Liaison. The Liaison shall, to the extent 
authorized by the head of the agency--
    (1) In cooperation with the Director, determine what products or 
summaries produced by the Government shall be transferred to NTIS on an 
ongoing basis;
    (2) Determine which funding agreements are to require contractors 
and grantees to submit products directly to NTIS (for which purpose the 
Appendix to this part contains suggested language that agencies may 
wish to include in applicable funding instruments);
    (3) Appoint additional liaison officers for major units or 
components of an agency if the Director and Liaison officer agree this 
would further the purposes of this regulation; and
    (4) Enter into appropriate agreements with the Director and perform 
any other agency responsibilities described in this regulation.


Sec. 1180.9  Affiliates.

    (a) The Director may recognize any federal agency or component of 
an agency as an affiliate for the purpose of receiving, on behalf of 
NTIS, any STEI product that is required to be transferred under these 
regulations if NTIS has entered into a memorandum of understanding with 
the Liaison Officer under which the recognized affiliate agrees to the 
ongoing transfer of all STEI products to NTIS in a timely manner and 
otherwise agrees to assume the role of an affiliate.
    (b) A transfer by an agency to an approved affiliate shall be 
deemed a transfer to NTIS within the meaning of these regulations.


Sec. 1180.10  NTIS permanent repository.

    A product, or category of product, will normally be accepted and 
maintained as part of NTIS' permanent repository as a service to 
agencies unless the Director advises the Liaison Officer that it has 
not been so accepted. In general, transferred products will not be 
accepted if they have not been properly prepared as required by Section 
1180.4 or if NTIS believes that the cost of adding them to the 
repository will significantly exceed anticipated benefits to the public 
as measured by foreseeable demand. A product announced by NTIS as being 
available from NTIS shall be deemed to have been accepted by NTIS as 
part of its permanent repository.


Sec. 1180.11  Relation to other laws and procedures.

    (a) Nothing in these regulations shall be deemed to exempt an 
agency from any of the following requirements:
    (1) Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552);
    (2) Compliance with any requirements to protect material that 
contains classified national security information;
    (3) Compliance with requirements to protect personal or other 
information that may not be disclosed without appropriate authority 
under applicable laws and procedures, such as the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 
552a);
    (4) Compliance with laws and regulations applicable to federal 
records under Title 44 of the United States Code or regulations issued 
by the National Archives and Records Administration (36 CFR, chapter 
XII);
    (5) Compliance with requirements to distribute publications through 
the Depository Library Program either directly or through NTIS as 
prescribed in subsection (d) of this section; and
    (6) In the case of an agency that is also a component of an agency 
as that term is defined in Sec. 1180.2, compliance with all applicable 
requirements and procedures of the parent agency regarding these 
regulations.
    (b) Nothing in these regulations shall be deemed to require an 
agency to take any of the following actions:
    (1) To use NTIS as an agency's exclusive distribution channel;
    (2) To transfer to NTIS information on matters that are 
specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive 
Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign 
policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive 
Order; or
    (3) to transfer, produce, or disseminate any other information that 
is required by law to be withheld, which the agency is authorized to 
withhold, or which is not intended by the agency for public 
dissemination.
    (c) No contractor, grantee, or employee of a Federal agency shall 
submit a final STEI product directly to NTIS unless authorized to do so 
by the Liaison or the Liaison's designate, which authorization may be 
provided in an approved funding agreement (see Appendix to this part).
    (d) In order to facilitate cooperation between agencies and the 
Depository Libraries--
    (1) NTIS will, as soon as possible, but not later than six months 
from the effective date of these regulations, provide each Depository 
Library at no charge, online access to a current list of all final STEI 
products provided to NTIS under these regulations that have been 
entered into the NTIS system.
    (2) The online system described in subsection (d) of this section 
will include an option that will allow each Depository Library thirty 
days from the date a product is added to the online listing to identify 
a product that it wishes to receive and that has not otherwise been 
made available to it.
    (3) NTIS will accumulate these requests and, within a reasonable 
time, transfer them to the originating agency for fulfillment of each 
of the identified products.
    (4) In lieu of the procedures described in paragraph (d)(3) of this 
section, NTIS will offer to enter into simple cost recovery 
arrangements with the originating agency to duplicate and ship the 
identified products to the requesting Libraries in the format that the 
agency determines to be most cost effective, including microfiche, 
paper, diskette, or disc.
    (5) NTIS will also establish, as soon as practical, a system of 
full text online access to final STEI products for the Depository 
Libraries at no charge to them. Those final STEI products provided to 
NTIS in a format prescribed by NTIS as suitable for online 
dissemination under this system will be made available to the Libraries 
at no charge to the originating agency, will be maintained online 
indefinitely, and will be available to the Libraries without regard to 
the thirty day selection time limit described in paragraph (d)(2) of 
this section.
    (6) The services in this paragraph will be provided to Depository 
Libraries on the condition that they agree to ensure that online access 
to the NTIS listing described in paragraph (d)(1) of this section is 
restricted to the Library and its staff and that the full text products 
provided online pursuant to paragraph (d)(5) of this section are 
available only to the community served by that Library.

Appendix to Part 1180--Sample Funding Agreement Clause for Direct 
Submission of Products

    Agencies electing to allow for their contractors, grantees, etc. to 
submit final products directly to NTIS are encouraged to employ a 
provision similar to the following in the applicable funding agreement:

    ``The (contractor)/(recipient) shall certify to the 
(contracting) (grants) officer--
    ``(1) a copy of all scientific, technical and engineering 
information products created or finalized in whole or in part with 
the funds requested has been or will be transferred to NTIS or a 
recognized affiliate (at the same time that it is provided to the 
sponsoring agency) (when the agency has determined that the product 
is approved for public dissemination) but no later than fifteen days 
after it is first made available for public dissemination through 
any other distribution channel, and
    ``(2) NTIS, or a recognized affiliate, has been advised as to 
whether the product is protected by copyright and, if so, a copy of 
the terms of any licenses reserved to the Government has been sent 
to NTIS, along with a copy of the SF 298.''

[FR Doc. 93-32098 Filed 12-29-93; 1:02 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-04-M