though he sometimes grants an extension of time 

 without going hack to the committee. The Users 

 Organization elects an executive committee whose 

 chairman is invited to meet, if he or she wishes to 

 do so, in closed session with the board of trustees 

 of URA at any of its meetings. This device per- 

 mits the board to hear first-hand any complaints 

 from the high-energy physics community on the 

 way the laboratory is run.'' 



Environmental Protection Agency 



The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

 reports that, in 1977, only 5 percent of its $21.2 

 million basic research program is intramural. EPA 

 operates a group of four laboratories in Research 

 Triangle Park. N.C., another group of four in Cin- 

 cinnati, Ohio, and eight other laboratories. The 

 laboratories run the total basic research program, 

 both intramural and extramural. Each is headed by 

 a director who is a Public Health Service officer or 

 a civilian at about the GS-16 level. In case of va- 

 cancy the new director is selected by the appropri- 

 ate Deputy Assistant Administrator (DA A), of 

 which there are four located at EPA headquarters 

 in Washington. Programs are developed by the 

 laboratory directors with guidance from their 

 DA A, who exercises final approval of the program. 

 A director has considerable discretion to follow 

 new leads within the scope of the approved pro- 

 gram. 



National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration 



The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- 

 tration (NASA) reports that, in 1977, 49 percent 

 of its $319.7 million basic research program is in- 

 tramural. The Ames, Lewis, and Langley Centers 

 are the largest components, followed by the God- 

 dard Space Center and the Jet Propulsion Labora- 

 tory (JPL), an FFRDC operated for NASA by the 

 California Institute of Technology. Considerably 

 less basic research is done at the five remaining 

 centers and at the National Space Technology 

 Laboratory. Each center has a director who is 

 appointed by the Administrator. The contractor 

 appoints the director of JPL and sets his salary; 

 formal approval by NASA is required in the con- 

 tract. Programs of both in-house laboratories and 

 JPL are based on research and techology objec- 



tives plans (RTOP's). These are submitted by the 

 field to headquarters, where they are considered 

 for approval. Directors have considerable flexibili- 

 ty as long as they stay within the program objec- 

 tives and approved funding. 



Some other basic research activities of NASA 

 are performed under a contract with Universities 

 Space Research Association (USRA), a nonprofit 

 corporation that is a consortium of 51 universi- 

 ties. USRA operates the Lunar Science Institute 

 (LSI) in Houston, Tex., and the Institute for 

 Computer Applications for Science and Engineer- 

 ing (ICASE), which uses NASA space and facili- 

 ties at the Langley Research Center. USRA also 

 arranges peer review for several NASA intramur- 

 al programs and is assisting in the collection and 

 evaluation of proposals for inclusion in two space 

 shuttle experiments, the Atmospheric Cloud Phys- 

 ics Laboratory and the Materials Processing in 

 Space Project. LSI, with an annual budget of $1 

 million, is hard to distinguish from an FFRDC and 

 hence is included here. Directory of LSI and 

 ICASE are appointed and their salaries set by 

 USRA; NASA has not retained any veto authority 

 under the contract. Programs are developed by 

 the institutes and submitted to NASA for approv- 

 al. » 



National Science Foundation 



The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a 

 basic research program estimated at $605.8 million 

 for 1977, 12 percent of which is reported as intra- 

 mural. The intramural portion represents the ad- 

 ministrative costs of operating the extramural 

 program, since under existing law NSF is not 

 permitted to operate any laboratories. NSF does 

 have six FFRDC's, which performed 7 percent of 

 NSF's basic research in 1977. Visiting investiga- 

 tors at an FFRDC may be funded by NSF or by 

 another agency. 



One FFRDC is the National Center for Atmos- 

 pheric Research (NCAR), operated by the Uni- 

 versity Corporation for Atmospheric Research 

 (UCAR), a consortium of 45 universities. NCAR 

 includes a High Altitude Observatory (HAO) a 

 few miles from its main laboratories and offices in 

 Boulder, Colo., and the National Scientific Bal- 

 loon Facility in Palestine, Tex. NSF's other 

 FFRDC's are all observatories that provide the 

 Nation's astronomers and others with unique fa- 

 cilities for research. Chief among these are the 



'Mulerial on ERDA's FFRDC's is taken from the operating 

 contracts and discussions with officers of the consortia. 



'^Information based on "A Brief Introduction to Universities 

 Space Research Association." USRA, November 1977, and 

 conversations with USRA corporate officers. 



BASIC RESEARCH IN AGENCY LABORATORIES AND FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS 249 



