planning, supply, finance, and other administrations. 

 Targets are subsequently transmitted to the institute, 

 design bureau, association, and enterprise, and form 

 the core of plans at that level. There, too, respon- 

 sibility is similarly distributed. R&D and innova- 

 tion plans are the province of technical departments 

 which similarly cooperate and coordinate with other 

 functional departments. 



We know relatively little about the criteria for 

 selection of a particular facility to conduct a given 

 project. According to Soviet science policy experts, 

 the main factors that govern the distribution of as- 

 signments in the Academy, for example, are the gener- 

 al specialized profile of an institute, the qualifi- 

 cations of scientific personnel, and the potential of 

 an organization "to deliver." 102 Other evidence sug- 

 gests that the nature of the task and the responsible 

 management organ virtually predetermine facility se- 

 lection. The Soviets have long stressed extreme spe- 

 cialization by institutional performer to eliminate 

 "wasteful" duplication of effort. Hence, the optimal 

 facility may be apparent. If several facilities 

 should be attractive candidates, another criterion 

 takes over. The "autarchy" of Soviet bureaucracies 

 has long been noted. If facility selection is not 

 made at the highest levels, delegation of the task to 

 an Academy department, industrial ministry, or the 

 Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Educa- 

 tion probably settles the matter. Given the strong 

 sense of "branch patriotism" and jealously guarded 

 departmental domains, the advantage of an "outside" 

 facility must be very great before a management organ 

 will choose it over one of its own organizations. In 

 some instances, tasks are assigned and conducted on 

 the basis of "competition," and two or more facili- 

 ties are enlisted to work on a particular problem. In 

 general, competition is resorted to only when there 

 are very great complexities and uncertainties sur- 

 rounding a given problem. The military sector has 

 been known to use this device, as has the aviation 

 industry in the design of new aircraft. 



134 



