[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 3 (Monday, January 25, 1993)]
[Pages 65-66]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 12832--Amendments Relating to the National Research 
Council

 January 19, 1993

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, and in order to update the 
National Research Council, it is hereby ordered that Executive Order No. 
2859, as amended, is further amended to read as follows:
    ``National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences
    ``Whereas (1) the congressional charter of the National Academy of 
Sciences (`Academy') charges it, upon call from any U.S. Government 
Department, to investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any 
subject of science or art and (2) the actual expenses of the Academy for 
such investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports shall be 
paid to the Academy through one or more of the following: private gifts 
and bequests; appropriations for the benefit of the Academy; grants-in-
aid, contracts, and other forms of financial agreement with executive 
departments and agencies, provided that the Academy shall receive no 
compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United 
States; and
    ``Whereas the National Research Council (`Council') was organized in 
1916 at the request of the President by the National Academy of 
Sciences, under its congressional charter, as a measure of national 
preparedness; and
    ``Whereas the Council is the principal operating agency of the 
National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, 
the latter having been established in 1964 under the charter of the 
National Academy of Sciences; and
    ``Whereas the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of 
Sciences, established in 1970 under the Academy's charter, conducts its 
programs and activities under the approval, operating, and review 
procedures of the Council; and
    ``Whereas in recognition of the work accomplished through the 
Council in organizing research, in furthering science, and in securing 
cooperation of government and nongovernment agencies in the solution of 
their problems, the Council has been perpetuated by the Academy as 
requested by the President in Executive Order No. 2859 of May 11, 1918; 
and
    ``Whereas the effective prosecution of the Council's work may 
require the close cooperation of the scientific and technical branches 
of the Government, both military and civil, and makes participation by 
officers and employees of the Government in the work of the Council 
desirable; and
    ``Now, Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President by the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is ordered 
as follows:
    ``1. The functions of the Council shall be as follows:
    ``(a) To stimulate research in the mathematical, physical, 
biological, environmental, and social sciences, and in the application 
of these sciences to engineering, agriculture, medicine, and other 
useful arts, with the object of increasing knowledge, of strengthening 
the national security including the contribution of science and 
engineering to economic growth, of ensuring the health of the American 
people, of aiding in the attainment of environmental goals, and of 
contributing in other ways to the public welfare.
    ``(b) To survey the broad possibilities of science, to formulate 
comprehensive projects of research, and to develop effective means of 
utilizing the scientific and technical resources of the country for 
dealing with such projects.
    ``(c) To promote cooperation in research, at home and abroad, in 
order to secure concentration of effort, minimize duplication, and 
stimulate progress; but in all cooperative undertakings to give 
encouragement to individual initiative, as fundamentally important to 
the advancement of science.
    ``(d) To serve as a means of bringing American and foreign 
investigators into active cooperation with the scientific and technical 
services of the Federal Government.
    ``(e) To direct the attention of scientific and technical 
investigators to the importance of military and industrial problems in 
connection with national security, to the importance of environmental 
problems in connection with public health and the economy, and

[[Page 66]]

to aid in the solution of these problems by organizing specific 
research.

    ``(f) To gather and collate scientific and technical information, at 
home and abroad, in cooperation with governmental and other agencies, 
and to disseminate such information to duly accredited persons and the 
public.

    ``2. Scientists, engineers, and other technically qualified 
professionals who are officers or employees of departments and agencies 
of the executive branch of the Government are encouraged to participate 
in the work of the Council as requested by the Council to the extent 
authorized by the head of the officer's or employee's agency or 
department and permitted by law.

    ``3. To the extent permitted by law and regulation, and in 
accordance with the congressional charter of the Academy, the actual 
expense of investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports by the 
Academy for the executive branch of the Government shall be paid to the 
Academy through one or more of the following: private gifts and 
bequests; appropriations for the benefit of the Academy; grants-in-aid, 
contracts, and other forms of financial agreement with executive 
departments and agencies. The Academy shall receive no compensation 
whatever for any services to the Government of the United States. 
Further, the Academy shall be subject to all provisions of OMB Circular 
A-122, `Cost Principles for Non-Profit Organizations,' and to such other 
requirements regarding or limiting the Academy's recovery of costs as 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget may specify from 
time to time in writing to the Academy and to agencies and departments 
of the Government.

    ``4. When a department or agency of the executive branch of the 
Government determines that the Academy, because of its unique 
qualifications, is the only source that can provide the measure of 
expertise, independence, objectivity, and audience acceptance necessary 
to meet the department's or agency's program requirements, acquisition 
of services by the Academy may be obtained on a noncompetitive basis if 
otherwise in accordance with applicable law and regulations.''
                                                   George Bush
The White House,
January 19, 1993.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:54 a.m., January 21, 
1993]

Note: This Executive order was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on January 20, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
January 22.