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091755 1 (1970-07-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacwdm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 CIVIL DIVISION JUL 3 0 1970 Dear Dr. Tribus: The General Accounting Office has reviewed the financial administration of the Research Associate Program of the National Bureau of Standards, Depart- ment of Commerce. Our review was perforced at the Burean's hedqAarters of te-- in-G ai-thersburg, Maryland. -Wedid not evaluate the scientific aspects of the program. On January 15, 1970, we requested comments from the Secretary of Commerce on our proposed report on certain costs of the Research Associate Program-not collected, National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce. In the draft report, we concluded that (1) the Bureau had not followed its established pol- icy of consistently charging research associate sponsors for overhead costs and that, consequently, certain sponsors were receiving preferential treatment, (2) the Bureau did not have adequate justification for its policy of not obtain- a.ng reimbursement for overhead charges in the first 2 years of sponsorship, and (3) the Bureau's method of financing the Research Associate Program was contrary to the Bureau's policy that the Bureau's appropriations rather than other users would bear the cost of services for which charges are not made. On the basis of our conclusions, we proposed that the Secretary of Com- merce require the Bureau, as a general practice, to (1) charge sponsors con- sistently for overhead costs according to the policy in effect at the time tnat the agreement with a sponsor is signed, (2) obtain reimbursement for overhead costs from research associate sponsors from the beginning of their sponsorships, and (3) support from Bureau appropriations the cost of any work for which charges are not made. In the Department's comments to us dated April 7, 1970, the Bureau stated that it agreed with our conclusions that there had been inconsistent applica- tion of its stated policy on charging overhead costs to research associate sponsors. However, our proposal on this matter has prompted the Bureau to reexamine its policy and to conclude that research associates should not be charged overhead on the grounds that they perform work which will be of suffi- cient benefit both to the B.reau and to many of its customers. In regard to the Bureau's method of financing the Research Associate Pro. gram, the Bureau stated that it recognizes that the mechanics of the distri- bution of overhead will result in the application of a portion of the uncol- lected charges to other agency and private customers. The Bureau stated, however, that this procedure is not inappropriate since the benefits derived

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