[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 4, 1994)]
[Notices]
[Pages 294-295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-70]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: January 4, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket No. 931218-3318]

 

Opportunity To Join a Cooperative Research and Development 
Consortium To Develop Virtual Library and Document Interchange 
Technology

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of opportunity to join a cooperative research and 
development consortium .

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
seeks industrial and academic parties interested in entering into a 
cooperative research consortium on the development of open systems 
technology for virtual libraries and electronic document interchange. 
This program will be undertaken within the scope and confines of The 
Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (15 U.S.C. 3710a), which 
provides federal laboratories including NIST, with the authority to 
enter into cooperative research agreements with qualified parties. 
Under this law, NIST may contribute personnel, equipment, and 
facilities--but no funds--to the cooperative research program. Members 
will be expected to make contribution to the consortium's efforts in 
the form of materials, equipment, personnel, and/or funds. The research 
program is expected to last two to three years. This is not a grant 
program.

DATES: Interested parties should contact NIST at the address or 
telephone number shown below no later than (please insert date which is 
sixty (60) days from the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register).

ADDRESSES: Dr. Lawrence A. Welsch, Manager Office Systems Engineering 
Group, Building 225, room B-254, National Institute of Standards and 
Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dr. Lawrence A. Welsch, (301) 975-3345, National Institute of Standards 
and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Institute of Standards and 
Technology seeks industrial and academic parties interested in entering 
into a cooperative research consortium on the development of open 
systems technology for virtual libraries and electronic document 
interchange. NIST wishes to pursue interoperable and portable open 
systems that will improve the use of information technology in 
conducting government programs and in providing services to the public, 
and, in particular, improve the use and exchange of electronic 
documents in many forms as an aid to the performance of daily business 
activities and research activities.
    The open information systems movement is gaining momentum because 
many researchers and users realize that no single vendor can supply all 
the needs for an information-based society. Open systems are needed to 
provide for interoperability of software, hardware, and communications 
systems products, and for portability of data and applications across 
heterogeneous computing environments. While there is a strong movement 
to standards for interconnecting hardware, software and network 
systems, there are many proprietary products and systems in use. NIST 
has developed the application Portability Profile (APP), the U.S. 
Government's Open system Environment Profile, which integrates 
standards and other specifications to address a broad range of 
information technology requirements.
    The purpose of this consortium is to develop technology that will 
promote the exchange of electronic documents and improve user access to 
information in various forms and locations. This technology will fit 
into the APP framework.
    This program is being undertaken within the scope and confines of 
the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-502, 15 U.S.C. 
3710a) which authorizes government owned and operated federal 
laboratories, including NIST, to enter into cooperative research and 
development agreements (CRADAs) with qualified parties. Under the law, 
a CRADA may provide for contributions from the federal laboratory of 
personnel, facilities, and equipment, but not direct funding.

    Dated: December 28, 1993.
Samuel Kramer,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 94-70 Filed 1-3-94; 8:45 am]
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