Information Policy

The National Technical Information Service (NTIS), part of the Commerce Department, has been for more than 55 years a principal collector and disseminator of federal research, scientific, and technical reports to the public. But during the last several years, many federal agencies have begun to make their reports publicly available at no charge by using the Internet. Revenues from NTIS sales of reports have declined, and its solvency beyond the year 2003 is in doubt. Policymakers may want to address the question of whether the government still needs NTIS. To help in this assessment, congressional committees could benefit from the annual financial and operational reports that Commerce is required to submit to Congress but has not submitted since 1995. GAO also found that NTIS' World News Connection, which provides for a fee an online foreign news service, does fall within the agency's mission to disseminate technical information, but that it may have a detrimental effect on private sector firms offering similar service because NTIS does not pay to obtain or translate foreign news or pay taxes as private firms do.

GAO noted that: (1) NTIS may be able to remain self-sufficient for a few years, but its solvency beyond fiscal year (FY) 2003 remains in doubt; (2) solvency for a few years may be possible because the Department of Commerce and NTIS officials acted in FY 1999 to reduce costs when it appeared there would not be sufficient funds to operate; (3) for example, Commerce officials transferred 45 NTIS employees to other agencies within the department; (4) these actions allowed NTIS to report a $600,000 profit in FY 1999, and NTIS officials project an estimated $1 million in profit for FY 2000; (5) however, NTIS' solvency beyond FY 2003 is in doubt based on GAO's forecast of NTIS' revenues and costs that suggests that losses will begin in FY 2001 and continue; (6) if these losses are realized, retained earnings from previous years' operations could be absorbed, and NTIS could run out of operating funds after FY 2003; (7) however, if any of three events not included in GAO's financial analysis occur, they could cause financial reversals that would threaten NTIS' self-sufficiency before FY 2003; (8) the 5-year decline in NTIS' revenues from selling reports may accelerate, as larger segments of the public gain access to the World Wide Web and as more agencies make their research reports available for free over the Web; (9) NTIS' costs may increase faster than accounted for in GAO's financial analysis because NTIS officials say they have nearly exhausted their plans to reduce costs; (10) the fees that federal agencies pay NTIS for various brokerage and Web services may begin to decline rapidly if agencies decide to obtain those services elsewhere because of an announced plan to close NTIS or for other reasons; (11) because of NTIS' precarious financial position, policymakers may want to address the question of whether the government still needs NTIS (or another agency) to serve as a permanent repository and disseminator for research reports; (12) to help in this reassessment, congressional committees could benefit from the annual financial and operational reports on NTIS that Commerce is required to submit to Congress but has not submitted since FY 1995; (13) WNC's foreign news service falls within NTIS' statutory mission to disseminate technical information; and (14) nevertheless, WNC's service may have a detrimental impact on private sector firms that offer similar electronic news services because NTIS does not pay to obtain or translate the foreign news, or pay taxes as private firms do.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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