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B-200171 1 (1980-11-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabjxi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON D.C. 20548 November 18, 1980 /6 The Honorable Harrison'. Williams Chairman, Committee on Human Resources United States Senate C o/j700 Dear Mr. Chairman: S---In response to your request for comments, we believe that'41.R. 7689, the-lesearch and Development Authorization Estimates Act, would be an important step toward multi-year planning, authorizing, and funding of research and development programs. Over the years, (GAO has strongly encouraged the Congress to think, debate, and act with a longer term perspective and to focus more attention on crosscutting national policy areas such as science and technology) I strongly supported an earlier version of the Research and Development Authorization Estimates Act in my 5 4c/fO testimony to the House Science and Technology Committee on June 4, 1980, which I have enclosed. I am also enclosing a copy of my response to supple- mentary questions from the Committee following the testimony. The 2-year budget estimates required by H.R. 7689 would be an important step toward longer range planning and more stable management for research and development. Because the executive branch would be required to identify and defend budget decisions over a longer time period than the annual budget cycle, congressional committees would be in a better position to make the longer range assessments necessary for multi-year authorizations. This longer range perspective is particularly important for looking at similar research and development programs in different agencies and for 'examining management issues that cut across agency lines.> The research and development budget is currently pieced together from numerous independent entities in the executive branch, so it lacks sufficient information about many important questions. The present budget does not have enough data and analysis to compare similar or related programs in different agencies, sufficient rationale for decisions made concerning changes in priorities, or adequate explanation of relationships between Federal and industrial support of research and development. The Federal research and development funding should reflect a long-term investment plan and provide a stable base of funding. When we responded to the House Science and Tech- nology Committee's supplementary questions, we noted that the most appropriate form of multi-year authorization may be different for different types of research and development programs. We described a rolling multi-year authorization process that could increase stability and continuity by always projecting authorizations a year beyond the current budget year. 73 6) B-200171 ~4o ~OO(#I) /T -V7 - __ is- 0/?

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