Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Read, this DIDS receiver, the thing that turns on the TV set in the hall, was that developed under a Federal research and development contract?

Mr. READ. Yes, sir.

Mr. MOORHEAD. Who was the contractor?

Mr. READ. RCA had one of the principal contracts and now Westinghouse has the follow-on, finishing up contract.

Mr. MOORHEAD. Could you give us the amount of the total research and development contract?

Mr. READ. The total to bring DIDS to the point of prototype was about $7 million. The investment in the home receiver itself was $100,000 for the RCA contract, and the Westinghouse contract, to finish up the development, just recently awarded was $375,000.

Mr. MOORHEAD. Is there any patent ownership involved in this device?

Mr. MANNING. With respect to all parts of the system, we have filed the patent applications.

Mr. MOORHEAD. "We" meaning?

Mr. MANNING. Our contractors-we have so instructed our contractors, or alternatively have separately contracted for patent applications to be filed on the system and its components.

Mr. MOORHEAD. Ultimately, who will be the owner of the patent? Mr. MANNING. The Government.

Mr. MOORHEAD. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Read. Thank you, gentlemen, very much.

Mr. MANNING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MOORHEAD. You have shown what good can be done with this system and we agree with you, it should not be abused.

Our next witness will be Ms. Joan C. Riordan, Coordinator of the Federal Information Centers, General Services Administration.

STATEMENT OF JOAN C. RIORDAN, COORDINATOR, FEDERAL INFORMATION CENTERS PROGRAM, GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION; ACCOMPANIED BY ED STEPHAN, AUTOMATED DATA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE, GSA

MS. RIORDAN. I would like to introduce Ed Stephan of GSA's Automated Data and Telecommunications Service.

Mr. MOORHEAD. We are glad to have both of you here.

Ms. Riordan, would you proceed at your own pace?

Ms. RIORDAN. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to appear before the subcommittee on behalf of the Honorable Arthur F. Sampson, Acting Administrator of General Services. My name is Joan Riordan, Coordinator of the Federal Information Centers-FIC-program.

My appearance is at the request of Chairman Moorhead to the Administrator to discuss the Federal Information Centers and the ways in which information and communications technology are now used and may in the future be used to improve our service.

Perhaps unlike the other witnesses who appear before you today, I am here to describe a system made possible by people, not computers or other technological advances. However, technology is used to a degree to enhance our service.

The Federal Information Centers, operated by the General Services Administration, in cooperation with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, are a part of the effort to improve Government service to the public. FICs are clearinghouses for any and all types of questions about the Government. They serve the citizen who is lost in the necessary maze of Government offices and doesn't know where to turn in order to get the assistance he needs. That person can turn to a Federal Information Center where an information specialist will provide the answer to his question or direct him to the correct and closest Government office that will be able to help him.

Mr. Chairman, I am sure that you and the other members are acutely aware of the frustration and bewilderment which people have in dealing with the Government. The Federal Information Centers cannot change agency policies or procedures, but they can at least put an end to the multiplicity of referrals from office to office which people all too often have experienced. Before an FIC directs an inquirer to another office, the information specialist has done whatever research and has made as many calls as necessary to ascertain that the individual will get assistance and will have to make no further unnecessary calls.

In this way, the Federal Information Centers provide a vital link between the citizen and his Government and help make Government truly responsive to people's needs.

The program began in 1966 with the first FIC in Atlanta, Ga. Eight centers were added in the next few years. In 1969, President Nixon directed a rapid expansion of the program to every major metropolitan area. Today, there are 36 Federal Information Centers throughout the country. Additionally, residents of 37 other cities are provided the services of an FIC through toll-free telephone connections to the nearest center.

In fiscal year 1972, the centers handled 4,404,129 inquiries, a 20 percent increase over the previous year. Fifty percent of the inquiries were by phone, 49.8 percent by people who come to our offices and .2 percent by mail. In the current fiscal year, the 36 FICs average 100,000 inquiries per week. In fiscal year 1973 we expect to exceed our fiscal year 1972 total number of inquiries by at least 1 million.

Most often people come to us with questions about income tax, Federal job information, passports, immigration and naturalization, Social Security, and veterans' benefits. However, the full range of questions defies categorization. We have been asked if the Government knows anything about the migratory habits of jellyfish; if the Government auctions buffalo; and if it is necessary for a zoo to acquire a permit to import black-faced gray kangaroos from Australia. We have also become involved in helping a distraught young man who had not received his veteran's education payments for 4 months and a mother whose son was stranded in Rotterdam because he had lost his passport, could not cash any traveler's checks and therefore could not get home. There are currently 103 information specialists employed full-time throughout the country, with two to four people at each center. Selection of FIC staff members is the most critical step in assuring the success of a center. It is imperative that each one possess a pleasant personality, a great deal of patience, ingenuity, and commonsense, and a strong concern for helping others. Bilingual ability is required if there

is a significant foreign-speaking population in the city. The staff must become generally familiar with Government services offered in their locale, which enables them to answer many questions immediately. However, a subject directory of Government programs in the area which is prepared and updated at each center is the prime reference tool used to research the sources of answers to questions. Our reference resources are not foolproof; the Government is large, complicated, and forever changing. However, the information specialists are dedicated to serving the public and to the best of their abilities do whatever research and make as many calls as necessary to locate an office which can help with a particular problem. Many times, we refer people to State and local government or to private groups for assistance. The program is financed by the annual contributions of 16 Federal agencies. These are the agencies about which the public most frequently inquires. Our current budget is $1,408,000; in fiscal year 1972 it was $1,168,000. Personnel costs account for 85 percent of the expenses. Any expansion of the program is accomplished within the FIC annual resources.

In fiscal year 1974, we hope to add one Federal Information Center and three tielines to our system. However, we recognize that we are reaching the point of marginal diminishing returns as far as additional Federal Information Centers and tielines are concerned. The largest metropolitan areas have FIC service now, and as we expand further, we reach smaller metropolitan areas and therefore we reach fewer people for essentially the same cost. We are currently investigating alternate means of expansion, primarily toll-free telephone service through WATS-Wide Area Telecommunications Service. However, our current resource level does not allow us to implement or even to test these alternate avenues for bringing the FIC service to more people.

We are now in the process of establishing a Washington, D.C. Federal Information Center. Because the size and complexity of Federal activity in the Nation's Capital is so many times greater than any other city in this country, this center will differ from our others in many respects.

Most relevant to our discussion today is the fact Washington will have an automated directory system rather than a manually prepared one. The system contains data on approximately 30,000 Federal organizational elements located in the Washington metropolitan area and identifies program areas and services of interest to the public. It will serve as the primary reference tool for identifying sources of assistance in answering the public's questions. Let me make clear, however, that this directory does not contain substantive program information, regulations, adjudications, procedures, et cetera. It only contains basic information on organization elements: their names, telephone numbers. locations and identifies the program areas in which the organization is involved.

The size of this data base is enormous and changes to it will be frequent. For that reason, it is imperative that automation be employed in the development and maintenance of the directory. At this stage, information will be stored and undated on a computer. We will not have automated data retrieval; instead, the information will be printed in directory form from computer tapes.

This venture is being undertaken in conjunction with GSA's Automated Data and Telecommunications Service which is responsible for the Government's directory assistance operation. They will be sharing use of a certain portion of the data base; namely, the organization information, and are therefore assuming some of the costs.

To have undertaken the task of producing the organization and subject directories in Washington as we have in our other centers, essentially a manual operation, would have cost an estimated $21,000 a month, based on a 5-year allocation of the initial cost. The automated directory system will cost an estimated $3,500 per month, again based on a 5-year allocation of the initial cost.

We are currently investigating the application of automated technologies to information retrieval for the Washington, D.C. Federal Information Center.

This would replace manually searching through a printed directory of as many as 2,000 pages. Preliminary indications are that these technologies will result in increased service as well as net savings in operational expenses. However, we have reached no firm conclusions at this point.

At this stage, we do not anticipate tying our other FIC locations into the Washington, D.C. directory data through cathode ray tubes similar to the demonstration you received from Dr. Bitzer on December 10, or other direct means. Perhaps, surprisingly, the 36 FIC combined need to turn only about 135 times per day to sources of assistance located in Washington, D.C. It is comforting to know that in most cases a person can find help closer to home. Terminals at 36 centers directly accessing the Washington data bank would cost approximately $15,000 per month; while 1,700 telephone calls per month to consult with the staff members at the District of Columbia FIC who have direct access to the data cost in the neighborhood of $2,500 per month.

Mr. Chairman, our program is rather unique in that it provides an opportunity to apply computer and communication technology for the purpose of making Government more accessible to the public, not to aid the Government in recording information for its own internal use. As we have tried to describe, the Federal Information Center program exists solely to serve the needs of the public. Primarily, we provide information about agency services, those services which are appropriate for the questions and problems which people bring to us. A Federal Information Center does not unilaterally distribute information to the public about the Government as an agency's public information office does; instead, we are there to provide answers in response to the questions people bring to us. Most often, people request functional information about the Government: How do I get a passport? My social security check has been lost; what do I do? Where can I complain about a worm I found in a can of food? In these cases, we provide the fullest direction possible to the sources of assistance.

On occasion, we also are asked questions which fall in the area of public education, that is, what publications, reports, or films does the Government have on a given topic? In these cases, we identify, if possible, the specific publications, et cetera, and inform the people to the Agency who would have the best information on the topic. We also

have a limited number of Federal publications available at the Center. Most of these are consumer product information publications which are distributed by GSA's Consumer Product Information Center. Pamphlets issued by Federal agencies describing their program which are in large public demand-that is, Federal income tax preparation forms and guides, national park guides are also available at our centers and serve, in a way, as public education.

On occasion also, we are asked for information on the status of a given policy decision by an Agency, what you might call information about the decisionmaking process of the Agency. With this type of inquiry, as with others, our role is to identify where an individual could obtain the information he needs.

There should be little concern about the Federal Information Centers invading the privacy of individuals. We do not seek out questions; instead, we assist people who seek out our advice. Furthermore, we keep no records of the individuals who ask us questions. Nor can Federal Information Centers be used for propaganda purposes. We only give out factual information, not opinions. And, to the best of our abilities, we direct people to all sources of assistance, if there may be more than one.

Mr. Chairman, we were also asked to comment upon the need for interconnecting our system with others-in and out of Government.

We are at present closely connected with other organizations-Federal, State, municipal, quasi-government and private by the telephone. Just as individuals contact us for assistance with their personal dealings with the Government, so do organizations, seeking direction in resolving their business questions. Your own offices are occasional and, I hope, satisfied users of the FICS.

And the relationship is mutual. Our Federal Information Centers very frequently call other organizations, both in and out of Government, in their job of seeking appropriate sources of assistance with a particular problem. The Centers also consult with each other on a regular basis, again by telephone.

As for the future and the potential of providing the Federal Information Centers direct access to other automated data banks, it is somewhat difficult to speculate. Given the present role of the Federal Information Centers in providing information to the public primarily on a referral basis and given the nature of questions which people bring to us, it does not appear that electronic interconnections would be in order. To the best of our knowledge, most of the questions which we are asked by the public cannot be answered by existing automated data banks, but require personal attention by employees of the appropriate agency.

Automated information systems with which we are familiar are limited to a particular type of information. Given the relatively low frequency of questions we receive on one given topic for which information may be automated, we do not believe at this time that direct access by the FIC to that data bank is in order. For instance, we now enjoy the speed, convenience, and accuracy of information which the FIC can obtain from the House Bill Status System by a telephone call. However, we doubt that it would be justifiable for the FICs to have terminals which would enable them to directly access that information.