Book Description

This report conveys the results of our review of the Department of Commerces National Technical Information Service (NTIS). As you know, NTIS is a permanent repository and principal disseminator of scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information. NTIS acquires such research reports primarily from federal agencies and their contractors and grantees as well as from international sources. As requested, our objectives were to determine (1) NTIS various functions; (2) the quantity, age, and demand trends of reports in NTIS repository; (3) the extent that reports in NTIS repository are readily available from other public sources; and (4) whether federal agencies are sending their reports to NTIS for sale to the public, as required by law, and, if not, the reasons for this lack of compliance. To determine NTIS functions and the quantity, age, and demand trends for reports in its repository, we interviewed agency officials and analyzed various reports. To determine the extent that research reports in NTIS repository were readily available from other public sources, we randomly selected 600 reports from the repository and searched for them on World Wide Web sites at the issuing organization and the Government Printing Office (GPO). 1 We also searched at FirstGov.gov and at a private searchv.