101 



ment Act of 1978 as are permanent employees of the Foundation in equivalent posi- 

 tions. 



SEC. 128. EDUCATIONAL LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR ACTIVE DUTY. 

 In order to be eligible to receive funds from the Foundation after September 30, 

 1995, an institution of higher education must provide that whenever any student 

 of the institution who is a member of the National Guard, or other reserve compo- 

 nent of the Armed Forces of the United States, is called or ordered to active duty, 

 other than active duty for training, the institution shall grant the member a mili- 

 tary leave of absence from their education. Persons on military leave of absence 

 from their institution shall be entitled, upon release from military duty, to be re- 

 stored to the educational status they had attained prior to their being ordered to 

 military duty without loss of academic credits earned, scholarships or grants award- 

 ed, or tuition and other fees paid prior to the commencement of the military duty. 

 It shall be the duty of the institution to refund tuition or fees paid or to credit the 

 tuition and fees to the next semester or term after the termination of the edu- 

 cational military leave of absence at the option of the student. 

 SEC. 129. PROHIBITION OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES. 



None of the funds authorized by this title shall be available for any activity whose 

 purpose is to influence legislation pending before the Congress, except that this 

 shall not prevent officers or employees of the United States or of its departments 

 or agencies from communicating to Members of Congress on the request of any 

 Member or to Congress, through the proper channels, requests for legislation or ap- 

 propriations which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of the public busi- 

 ness. 



In response to these provisions, NSF has taken the following actions: 



• NSF has included a reference to NSF Important Notice No. 91, "Principles Related 



to NSF-Supported Research Instrumentation and Facilities" in the Foundation's 

 Grant General Conditions, (GC-1) as was recommended by the NSF Inspector 

 General. The Foundation added the following language into the October 1995 

 edition of our Grant General Conditions (paragraph 7b8): 

 Use of NSF-Supported Research Instrumentation and Facilities. Grantees should 

 follow the guidelines contained in GPM 544 regarding use of NSF-supported re- 

 search instrumentation and facilities. 



Section 544 of the NSF Grant Policy Manual (NSF 95-26) states: 

 In March 1983, the National Science Board adopted Principles Related to NSF-Sup- 

 ported Research Instrumentation and Facilities (Important Notice 91) and ap- 

 proved guidelines to aid grantees in their implementation. (See Exhibit V-l.) 

 Those principles and guidelines address the use of NSF-supported research instru- 

 mentation and facilities in providing services for a fee in direct competition with 

 private companies that provide equivalent services. Grantees should implement 

 those principles and guidelines in a reasonable manner and provide fair and ade- 

 quate consideration of any complaints about use of instrumentation and facilities. 

 The Foundation remains alert to any indication that its grantees are not comply- 

 ing with the principles and guidelines of Important Notice No. 91. 



• NSF is now requiring incoming Intergovernmental Personal Act (IPA) employees 



to agree to be bound by the Ethics and Government Act (EGA) financial disclo- 

 sure regulations and the Standards of Ethical Conduct to the same extent as 

 regular NSF employees. 



• Issues related to the "reservists" and "lobbying" provisions are under review by the 



Foundation. 



OUTYEAR PROJECTIONS OF NSF'S MAJOR ACCOUNTS 



QUESTION: As I requested at the hearing, please provide to the Sub- 

 committee the outyear projections for NSF's major accounts between FY 97 

 and FY 2002 in CBO scored numbers. 



ANSWER: The budget proposals presented in the President's budget for NSF 

 were developed using outlay rates that have been agreed upon by NSF, OMB, and 

 CBO. It is our understanding that OMB and CBO do not differ on the scoring issue. 

 Therefore, the outlay proposals displayed for all years are consistent with both OMB 

 and CBO scoring. However, OMB and CBO disagree on certain economic assump- 

 tions for Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002. As a result, the budget presents two sets of 

 tables, one of which displays proposed budget authority and outlays through FY 

 2002 using the Administration's economic assumptions, and one which displays out- 

 lays through FY 2002 using only the CBO assumptions. 



