Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 1.djvu/512

 90 STAT. 462

PUBLIC LAW 94-282—MAY 11, 1976 ties, cooperative relationships should be established which encourage the appropriate sharing of science and technology decisionmaking, funding support, and program planning and execution. (5) The Federal Government should support and utilize engineering and its various disciplines and make maximum use of the engineering community, whenever appropriate, as an essential element in the Federal policymaking process. (6) Comprehensive legislative support for the national science and technology effort requires that the Congress be regularly informed of the condition, health and vitality, and funding requirements of science and technology, the relation of science and technology to changing national goals, and the need for legislative modification of the Federal endeavor and structure at all levels as it relates to science and technology. (c) PROCEDURES.—The Congress declares that, in order to expedite and facilitate the implementation of the policy enunciated in subsection (a) of this section, the following coordinate procedures are of paramount importance: (1) Federal procurement policy should encourage the use of science and technology to foster frugal use of materials, energy, and appropriated funds; to assure quality environment; and to enhance product performance. (2) Explicit criteria, including cost-benefit principles where practicable, should be developed to identify the kinds of applied research and technology programs that are appropriate for Federal funding support and to determine the extent of such support. Particular attention should be given to scientific and technological problems and opportunities offering promise of social advantage that are so long range, geographically widespread, or economically diffused that the Federal Government constitutes the appropriate source for undertaking their support. (3) Federal promotion of science and technology should emphasize quality of research, recognize the singular importance of stability in scientific and technological institutions, and for urgent tasks, seek to assure timeliness of results. With particular reference to Federal support for basic research, funds should be allocated to encourage education in needed disciplines, to provide a base of scientific knowledge from which future essential technological development can be launched, and to add to the cultural heritage of the Nation. (4) Federal patent policies should be developed, based on uniform principles, which have as their objective the preservation of incentives for technological innovation and the application of procedures which will continue to assure the full use of beneficial technology to serve the public. (5) Closer relationships should be encouraged among practitioners of different scientific and technological disciplines, including the physical, social, and biomedical fields. (6) Federal departments, agencies, and instrumentalities should assure efficient management of laboratory facilities and equipment in their custody, including acquisition of effective equipment, disposal of inferior and obsolete properties, and cross-servicing to maximize the productivity of costly property of all kinds. Disposal policies should include attention to possibilities for further productive use. •>,., -,,tt.<r?u •'::, ---.^^ - -• • < -.•, »' - •^-''

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