incentive funds. In short, contractual conduct is 

 not a primary performance indicator for Soviet insti- 

 tutions or a significant force in Soviet economic 

 life. Furthermore, contractual relationships and 

 commitments between performer and consumer establish- 

 ments do not include supply organizations and hence 

 do not influence the latter' s behavior in meeting the 

 needs of contracting parties. 106 The system of con- 

 tracts as such does not and cannot insure the mutual 

 responsibility for the fulfillment of assumed tasks. 

 It is not an effective legal instrument for conduc- 

 ting business. Its basic deficiencies are a contin- 

 ual reminder that the Soviet system is fundamentally 

 a system of administrative rules and plans, not a 

 system of law, at least in the Western sense of the 

 term. 



Multiagency Programs 



Earlier in this chapter we discussed the procedure 

 and criteria for designating important S&T problems. 

 By design, all elements of the problems are delineat- 

 ed with relatively little consideration of the organ- 

 izational infrastructure supporting research and de- 

 velopment. The leadership intends that the problems 

 be defined on technical and economic grounds and not 

 be artificially circumscribed by organizational con- 

 siderations. Partly as a result, most problems are 

 of interbranch importance, sometimes involving facil- 

 ities from all of the R&D hierarchies. Hence, spe- 

 cial plans or programs are developed to direct work 

 on such problems. 



In the Eighth (1966-1970) and Ninth (1971-1975) 

 Five-Year Plans the main managerial device for inte- 

 grating the whole complex of tasks and projects in- 

 volved in solving a priority S&T problem was called a 

 "coordination plan." In the Tenth Plan coordination 

 plans have been replaced by "scientific and technical 

 programs," which are generally more comprehensive 

 and specify more clearly the introduction of results. 

 There were approximately 240 coordination plans and 

 are now about 200 programs, the reduction in number 

 largely accounted for by the greater comprehensive- 



138 



