ACCOUNTING OFFICE, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE, AND MANY IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT OTA'S RESOURCES WILL PERMIT IT TO INITIATE WORK ON NO MORE THAN 10 OF THESE ITEMS DURING 1979. THE OTHER 20 ITEMS WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR CONSIDERATION IN 1980. A REVISED LIST WILL BE ISSUED AT THE START OF EACH YEAR. THE DOCUMENT, "OTA PRIORITIES - 1979," ALSO CONTAINS A BRIEF WRITE-UP OF ALL CURRENT ACTIVITIES OF OUR OFFICE AND THIS CONCLUDES MY PREPARED REMARKS. I WILL BE PLEASED TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. YOU MAY HAVE. Mr. BENJAMIN. Mr. De Simone, will you go ahead and highlight that? We will appreciate it. Mr. UDALL. I will stay and participate, if I may. REDUCED BUDGET REQUEST Mr. DE SIMONE. Mr. Chairman, the initial budget submission of OTA, as Chairman Udall indicated, requested $12.5 million for fiscal year 1980, plus 20 additional full-time staff. And as Chairman Udall indicated, that was reduced to $11.2 million because the board felt that we ought to hold the line and come to the Appropriations Subcommittee with a level funding request. Mr. Chairman, you have already made note of these revisions. RECENT CHANGES IN OTA Before discussing the substance of our fiscal year 1980 budget request, I would like to make note of some of the changes that have taken place at OTA during the past year, highlighting the points made in Dr. Peterson's formal statement. To improve communications and management control, OTA has been reorganized into three divisions, each headed by an assistant director. These divisions cover broad areas of responsibility, and are flexible to meet the changing needs of Congress. The three divisions are the Energy, Materials, and Global Security Division; the Health and Life Sciences Division; and, thirdly, the Science Information and Transportation Division. To be sure that projects approved by OTA's board are delivered on time within cost and with high quality and technical excellence, new management and budgetary accounting procedures have been set up, as Chairman Udall indicated. In addition to appointing three assistant directors, talented new staff persons have been recruited to augment managerial, technical, and intellectual skills across the board at OTA and to provide the holistic perspective required to address the long-term, comprehensive problems assigned to OTA. Through the experience gained in the past 5 years, as Chairman Udall indicated, OTA has learned to effectively carry out its assignment. We have learned through experience how to avoid pitfalls and how to improve our operations, and we feel that we are well equipped at the present time to deal with the increasingly complex technological questions that come before the Congress. The growing need to restrain the growth of the Federal budget calls for an increased attention to improved decisionmaking so that the dollars are expended more effectively. According to a recent evaluation, OTA has been a valuable tool in helping Congress in this decisionmaking. OVERSIGHT REPORT OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Mr. Chairman, in December of 1978 the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology of the House Science and Technology Committee issued its report covering the first extensive oversight evaluation of OTA. That report concluded, and I quote, Mr. which is, A, essential; B, not capable of being duplicated by the other legislative entities; and, C, proving useful and relied upon. OTA should retain its basic operating method of depending to a large extent on out-of-house professional assistance in performing its assessments. Continued congressional suppport for OTA is warranted." The subcommittee chairman, at that time Representative Ray Thornton, stated that the survey "doesn't leave much doubt that the office is a valuable asset to the Congress." To improve OTA's ability to respond to the needs of congressional committees, we have inaugurated the procedure of meeting with the staffs of House and Senate and joint committees. By year end, we had pretty much completed the first round of such meetings. LIST OF OTA ASSESSMENT PRIORITIES In an effort to fulfill, to a large extent, our mandate to provide the Congress with early indications of the beneficial and adverse impacts of technological applications, we undertook in the spring of 1978 a major program to develop a priority list of issues of critical concern to the United States and the world that were not currently under study by OTA or any other legislative agency. In January 1979 OTA published its first such list of 30 priority topics. This list was developed in consultation with the staffs of committees of Congress, OTA's board and OTA's advisory council, the General Accounting Office, the Congressional Research Service, and many persons in the public and private sector. It will be used as a checklist in selecting specific projects for submittal to the board for their approval. It is anticipated that OTA's resources will permit it to initiate work on no more than 10 of these items during 1979. The other 20 items will have to wait for consideration in 1980. A revised list will be issued at the start of each year. The document in question, "OTA Priorities-1979," Mr. Chairman, also contains a brief write-up of all current activities of our office and a list of our completed assessments. You or your staff may find it helpful in reviewing our work. USE OF OTA ASSESSMENTS-EXAMPLES In addition, I would like to submit for the record additional material pertaining to Dr. Peterson's statement which describes some of OTA's accomplishments during the past year. Mr. BENJAMIN. Do you have that with you? Mr. DE SIMONE. Yes, I have, Mr. Chairman. Mr. BENJAMIN. We will accept that for the record, if I may show it to Mr. Rudd. |