of various East European states who are members of 

 the Soviet-led Council for Mutual Economic Assis- 

 tance. 108 



While the GKNT has a central role in establishing 

 methodology for program formulation, in approval of 

 draft plans, in authorization of funding, and in mon- 

 itoring implementation, the branch ministry or organ- 

 ization selected as the lead agency is accorded pri- 

 mary operational authority and responsibility. The 

 lead agency drafts the plan or work program for the 

 problem, distributes specific assignments, arranges 

 for financial and material support, and accepts the 

 completed work from the various performers. In pre- 

 paring the plan, the head ministry creates a commis- 

 sion of experts from various organizations which 

 works in close collaboration with the scientific- 

 technical council and the technical administration 

 of the ministry as well as the R&D facility selected 

 by the ministry to be the lead scientific organiza- 

 tion for the problem. Through the expert commission, 

 the ministry sets preliminary assignments, determines 

 possible performers, including organizations under 

 its own jurisdiction and subordinate to other minis- 

 tries to whom certain portions of the work can be 

 contracted out, and fixes approximate deadlines for 

 implementation. These are then sent to the appro- 

 priate ministries and agencies which, directly with 

 their R&D units, consider the possibility of meeting 

 the targeted technical goals within suggested time 

 and cost constraints. Some performers come back with 

 counterproposals regarding deadlines, financing, and 

 technical criteria. To settle unclear issues and to 

 facilitate final agreement, the head ministry organ- 

 izes bilateral and multilateral discussions. Any dis- 

 putes that cannot be resolved by interagency bargain- 

 ing are arbitrated at the GKNT. The final draft ver- 

 sion of the plan or program is also sent to the GKNT 

 for adjustment and approval. The organization of 

 work on a basic S&T problem is illustrated in Fig- 

 ure 10-4. 



One issue which is still not settled is the extent 

 to which the lead agency can impose its authority 

 over the facilities of another ministry in the event 



140 



