[Rdap] FW: NTIS tries to refocus on data -- FCW

[Daureen Nesdill]

FYI - Daureen
I have not seen where federal agencies are now working with NTIS on open "for a fee" data.
Anyone have additional information?

Daureen Nesdill
U of Utah

NTIS tries to refocus on data -- FCW<http://fcw.com/articles/2015/07/15/ntis-refocus-on-data.aspx?m=1>
Posted: 17 Jul 2015 12:27 AM PDT
"Despite repeated efforts by Congress and others, the National Technical Information Service just won't go away. In a Senate hearing a year ago, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) told NTIS Director Bruce Borzino that 'our goal is to eliminate you as an agency.' Fast-forward to 2015: Coburn is retired, and NTIS is looking to refocus its outmoded mission of collecting and disseminating scientific, engineering and technical research to government agencies and the public. The new plan is for NTIS to become a hub of the government's Open Data policy, connecting public and private sector data initiatives, working with the private sector to imagine new products that could be based around government data, and support the delivery of data to end users. NTIS collects fees for its services. This model may have worked fine when the agency was established under the Truman administration as the Office of the Publication Board. However, the advent of online publishing has put a bit of a dent in the ability of NTIS to collect revenue. The Government Accountability Office estimates that '74 percent of the reports added to NTIS's collection from fiscal year 1990 through 2011 were available elsewhere, and 95 percent of these were available for free.' Currently the NTIS has about 145 full-time government employees, per its fiscal 2016 budget request. Lately, NTIS revenues have come from supplying other agencies with services rather than technical information. Those services include web hosting and cloud computing, online training support, distribution of printed materials published by other agencies, digitization and scanning of documents and microforms, and billing and collection services. The agency expects to obligate $122 million in 2016 ..."
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