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(5) Financial support for the construction and operation of a regional center 
is best provided by a pair of grants (or a pair of contracts), one to support 
construction, the other the operation of the center. 
(6) Instead of making a general announcement and invitation to the public to 
submit applications, it is better for the granting agency, with the advice and 
assistance of consultants, to seek out the most qualified potential host insti- 
tutions and negotiate with them grant applications or pre-contract proposals. 
Applications from unsolicited sites would also be accepted and allowed to compete 
for available funds. 
(7) The centers need not be identical in their program orientations or in the 
pattern of their facilities; however, there should be certain basic similarities 
to their organizational structures. There should be an optimum balance be- 
tween constraint and flexibility. 
(8) A considerable amount of overlapping in research program activities 
should be acceptable, avoiding only unproductive and useless duplication. 
(9) The "regional" or "national" aspects of a center should be interpreted 
broadly; in general, narrow, restrictive definitions should be avoided. 
(10) Each "regional" center must be welcome in the locality and have respon- 
sible local cooperation and backing from institutions in the area. 
(11) A regional center should be established only an a long-term basis. Only 
under special and exceptional circumstances would it be reasonable to make 
large investments in a regional center on a short-term basis. 
(12) A regional research center would, in general, be better located if it 
were closely associated with and geographically near a qualified academic 
institution. 
(13) Multiple sources of support should be available to regional centers, but 
limitations and conditions of support must exist if the original purpose of 
the center is to be maintained and the "control" of the center is to remain 
unified. 
(14) Initial agreements and understandings should be incorporated into a 
document signed by the appropriate parties, in order that future misunder- 
standings may be avoided. 
(15) The granting agency should not interfere in the local solutions of local 
difficulties; it should intervene only as a last resort to resolve a problem. 
However, the granting agency should work at all times with the center director 
and principal investigator (or others) and be ready to render assistance. 
