Earth Science Information Network: Relationship of Consortium to Federal
Agencies (Letter Report, 10/27/95, GAO/NSIAD-96-13).
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the activities of the
Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN),
focusing on: (1) its mission and funding; (2) the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration's (NASA) oversight of CIESIN work on the human
dimensions of global change (HDGC); (3) the similarities between CIESIN
and the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Centers for HDGC; and (4)
CIESIN building requirements.
GAO found that: (1) CIESIN enhances scientists' and decisionmakers' use
of information on human interactions in the environment through access
to HDGC databases worldwide; (2) 4 federal agencies have provided most
of the $82 million in CIESIN funding; (3) although they are satisfied
with its performance, 3 of the agencies will cease CIESIN funding due to
budgets constraints and higher priority needs; (4) NASA will continue
funding CIESIN so that it can to develop and operate a Socioeconomic
Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) which will incorporate
socioeconomic data into its Earth Observing System Data and Information
System; (5) federal funding reductions will cause CIESIN to compete for
grants and contracts from other sources; (6) NASA believes it can
appropriately oversee CIESIN SEDAC activities; (7) there is no
duplication of effort between NSF centers for HDGC and CIESIN because
CIESIN does not conduct or sponsor basic research; (8) Congress
appropriated about $42 million in fiscal year (FY) 1993 to build CIESIN
headquarters, but has subsequently withdrawn all but about $3 million;
(9) NASA can support only those CIESIN leased facilities that support
SEDAC activities; and (10) to maximize the usefulness of CIESIN work and
to justify NASA noncompetitive contracting decisions, CIESIN work needs
to be evaluated for its usefulness to federal programs.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: NSIAD-96-13
TITLE: Earth Science Information Network: Relationship of
Consortium to Federal Agencies
DATE: 10/27/95
SUBJECT: Non-profit organizations
Budget cuts
Earth sciences data systems
Information dissemination operations
Data collection operations
Competition limitation
Federal procurement
International cooperation
Earth sciences research
Future budget projections
IDENTIFIER: NASA Earth Observing System Data Information System
U.S. Global Change Research Program
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Report to the Chairman, Committee on Science, House of
Representatives
October 1995
EARTH SCIENCE INFORMATION NETWORK
- RELATIONSHIP OF CONSORTIUM TO
FEDERAL AGENCIES
GAO/NSIAD-96-13
Earth Science Information Network
(709107)
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
CIESIN - Consortium for International Earth Science Information
Network
HDGC - human dimensions of global change
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SEDAC - Socioeconomic Data Applications Center
Letter
=============================================================== LETTER
B-259468
October 27, 1995
The Honorable Robert S. Walker
Chairman, Committee on Science
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Chairman:
As you requested, we reviewed the activities of the Consortium for
International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and
identified (1) the nature of CIESIN's mission, (2) CIESIN's past and
prospective funding, (3) the way the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) will oversee CIESIN's work on the human
dimensions of global change (HDGC),\1 (4) the similarity of
activities between CIESIN and the National Science Foundation's
Centers for HDGC, and (5) CIESIN's building requirements.
--------------------
\1 Human activities, such as industrialization and urbanization, have
contributed to such environmental impacts as ozone depletion and
greenhouse gases.
BACKGROUND
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1
CIESIN (pronounced "season") was established in 1989 as a private,
nonprofit organization chartered by the state of Michigan. It is
structured as a consortium of university and nongovernmental research
organizations. The current members of the consortium are
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan;
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan;
Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, Michigan;
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland;
Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York; and
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
RESULTS IN BRIEF
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2
CIESIN's mission is to provide access to, and to enhance the use of,
information related to human interactions in the environment by
scientists and policy decisionmakers. In support of this mission,
CIESIN provides the means that enable access to HDGC databases
worldwide.
CIESIN has received almost all of its funding--a total of over $82
million made available through June 1995--from the federal
government, primarily under congressional appropriations specifically
designated, or earmarked, for CIESIN. Most of this funding came from
four federal agencies--NASA, the Department of Agriculture, the
Department of Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The
Departments of Agriculture and Defense and the Environmental
Protection Agency, although generally satisfied with CIESIN's
performance, will cease funding CIESIN once the remaining funds are
spent, principally because of tight budgets and higher priority,
mission- related requirements. Because of the pending loss of most
of its current funding sources, CIESIN has instituted a strategy for
competing for grants and contracts from federal, state, and local
government agencies; private companies; foreign governments; and
international organizations. As of June 1995, CIESIN officials told
us they had submitted or were planning to submit 29 competitive
proposals.
NASA will continue to provide funds for CIESIN to incorporate
socioeconomic data as an essential part of its Earth Observing System
Data and Information System\2 and develop and operate a Socioeconomic
Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). The SEDAC mission focuses on
data related to human interactions in global environmental change and
the integration of this data with earth science information in the
Earth Observing System Data and Information System.
NASA officials believe they can appropriately oversee the management
of a SEDAC. To help CIESIN focus on the human interactions of global
change, NASA has established a SEDAC users' working group, consisting
of social scientists and other experts from universities, state and
federal agencies, and environmental groups and other private
institutions.
Under congressional direction, the National Science Foundation is
establishing centers for HDGC research and teaching. CIESIN is
competing for a Foundation grant to archive the basic research
results produced under the Foundation's grants for dissemination to
and use by the HDGC research community and others. There would be no
duplication, however, between the functions to be performed by the
Foundation's HDGC centers and CIESIN's work for federal agencies
since CIESIN provides researchers with access to data and
information; it does not do or sponsor basic research.
Congress appropriated about $42 million in fiscal year 1993 to build
CIESIN's headquarters. However, over several years, Congress
withdrew the money. Recently, the balance of $27 million was
rescinded. Although federal funding of a CIESIN headquarters
facility is no longer applicable, NASA's support of CIESIN's
facilities infrastructure is still an open issue. Under
governmentwide cost principles, NASA will only be able to support
CIESIN's current leased facilities to a level sufficient to support
SEDAC activities.
In the course of our work, we noted two matters that could help
maximize the usefulness of CIESIN's work and ensure that NASA's
noncompetitive approach to contracting for the SEDAC was
appropriately justified. The Departments of Agriculture and Defense
and the Environmental Protection Agency will have spent over $15
million by the time they terminate their current relationships with
CIESIN. The products that CIESIN has provided, however, have not
been examined for their potential usefulness to the U.S. Global
Change Research Program.\3 Such an examination could help identify
any CIESIN products relevant to the needs and priorities of the
Research Program. Also, NASA justified awarding a noncompetitive
contract to CIESIN for creation and operation of the SEDAC on the
basis that it was directed by statute. We disagree with NASA's basis
for the noncompetitive award. Prior to exercising the next 1-year
option on the contract that is due to occur in June 1996, NASA should
determine whether there is justification for a noncompetitive award
to CIESIN.
--------------------
\2 Earth Observing System: Funding Requirements for NASA's EOSDIS
(GAO/AIMD-95-153FS, June 8, 1995).
\3 The U.S. Global Change Research Program was established by
Congress in 1990 to provide a U.S. research program to understand
and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.
A committee of 15 federal entities was created to increase the
effectiveness of federal global change research efforts.
CIESIN'S MISSION
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3
According to CIESIN officials, CIESIN's mission is to provide access
to, and enhance the use of, information worldwide on human
interactions in the environment and to serve the needs of scientists
and public and private decisionmakers. CIESIN uses computer and
communications technology to provide tools to search for, obtain and
understand data. Some of its current activities include (1)
providing information on the human aspects of global environmental
change to the research and policy communities; (2) furnishing
computer tools for data access, research, and analysis across
academic disciplines; (3) serving as a bridge between the
socioeconomic and natural science research communities; (4) operating
the SEDAC; (5) managing the U.S. Global Change Research Information
Office; and (6) continuing the development of its Information
Cooperative.
The Information Cooperative is being developed to enable worldwide
cataloging of data archives to be shared over the Internet. It is
intended to enable rapid access to information about human activity
and its relationship to the environment through a network of U.S.
federal entities, including NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection
Agency, and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; state
and regional environmental information systems; U. N. agencies,
such as the World Health Organization; other multilateral entities,
such as the Organization of American States and the World Bank;
individual foreign countries, including China and Poland; and
selected nongovernmental organizations and international scientific
research programs. Members of the Information Cooperative work with
CIESIN to make their HDGC-related databases compatible with and
accessible through CIESIN's computer network and to maintain those
databases. CIESIN plans to continue to work on broadening the
database capabilities and data sources supporting its mission.
Further information on CIESIN's Information Cooperative is in
appendix I.
CIESIN'S FUNDING
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :4
To date, CIESIN has received most of its funding from federal
agencies, including the Departments of Defense and Agriculture, the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Science and Technology
Policy, and NASA, primarily through earmarked
appropriations--portions of lump-sum amounts appropriated to agencies
for general purposes. Appropriations for CIESIN through fiscal year
1995 totaled over $89 million, exclusive of over $42 million provided
for building a CIESIN headquarters facility, which was subsequently
withdrawn. Through June 1995, CIESIN was furnished over $82
million\4 by federal agencies and had used almost $74 million, as
shown in table 1. Nonfederal sources of funding for CIESIN totaled
about $505,000 through June 1995. Most of this funding has been fees
from members of CIESIN.
Table 1
CIESIN's Federal Sources of Funds
(Dollars in millions)
Funds made Time frame when
available Funds spent funds will no
through 6/ through 6/ Funds longer be
Funding source 30/95 30/95 remaining available
------------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ -----------------
NASA $64.64 $59.90 $4.74 Mid-fiscal year
1996 for grants;
SEDAC contract
extended until
June 1996--then
year to year
Department of 6.55 5.03\a 1.52 December 31, 1995
Defense
Environmental 6.33 4.46 1.87 Summer 1996
Protection Agency
Department of 2.43 2.17 0.26 September 1996
Agriculture
Office of Science 2.00 0.08 1.92 Early 1999
and Technology
Policy
Miscellaneous 0.19 0.19 0 June 1995
grants/contracts
================================================================================
Subtotal 82.14 71.83 10.31
Encumbrances and 0 2.08 -2.08
commitments
================================================================================
Total $82.14 $73.91 $8.23
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a $1.13 million of these funds had been made available to CIESIN,
but had not been spent as of 6/30/95.
Because CIESIN funding was largely specifically designated, the
funding agencies initially had to work with CIESIN to find functions
or activities for CIESIN to perform that related to their missions.
These agencies used various mechanisms, including grants, cooperative
agreements, and contracts, to provide funds to CIESIN for work that
generally fell into three main categories: (1) obtaining data sets,
(2) integrating data systems, and (3) developing software support
retrieval and analysis of data. For example, CIESIN's work for the
Department of Agriculture includes five tasks under that agency's
Global Change Data Assessment and Integration Project: (1) data
survey, assessment, integration and access; (2) data rescue; (3)
Geographic Information Systems; (4) knowledge transfer; and (5)
laboratory support.
Officials at the federal agencies providing significant funding for
CIESIN told us that, in the absence of actual or anticipated
earmarks, funding of CIESIN would not have been requested because
budgets were tight and that they all had higher priority,
mission-related requirements. Of the federal agencies currently
funding CIESIN, only NASA plans to do so after the remaining funds
are used.
NASA's continued funding of CIESIN is for developing and operating a
SEDAC. The SEDAC is one of nine Distributed Active Archive Centers
under NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System.\5
The SEDAC is to develop and implement innovative activities that
integrate data from both the social and natural sciences and respond
to high priority information needs of policy decisionmakers. The
SEDAC is also to make the HDGC data it holds--and the information
about the earth science held by the eight other centers-- easily
available to the scientific community.\6
NASA noncompetitively awarded the SEDAC contract to CIESIN in June
1994 for 1 year with up to four 1-year extensions. In June 1995,
NASA exercised the first of these extensions, which runs to June
1996. NASA officials told us that, subject to an annual review, they
plan to fund the SEDAC at about $5.7 million each year. This total
amount is less than half of the average annual funding CIESIN
received from federal agencies prior to fiscal year 1995.
CIESIN had an increasing flow of operating funds through fiscal year
1992. However, federal agencies' funding has been decreasing in
recent years, as shown in table 2.
Table 2
Funding Available to CIESIN from Federal
Agencies
(Dollars in millions by fiscal year)
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
-------------------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------
$3.90 $9.35 $29.83 $23.74 $11.49 $3.84\a
----------------------------------------------------------------------
\a As of 6/30/95.
As a result of decreasing funding and in anticipation of the pending
loss of most of its current funding sources, CIESIN has been
developing and implementing a strategy to find new customers from
domestic, international, governmental, and commercial sources. As of
June 1995, CIESIN had submitted 17 proposals and was preparing 12
more. The submitted proposals went to federal agencies, state and
local government agencies, and the United Nations. The planned
proposals would be funded by a mixture of private corporations,
foreign countries, and state or federal agencies.
CIESIN has also competed for and won peer recognition. For example,
CIESIN won a competition against 22 other nominees for the
Computerworld Smithsonian Award in the category of Environment,
Energy, and Agriculture for its Gateway software, which is briefly
described in appendix I. This award honors creative and innovative
uses of technology from throughout the world.
In addition, the National Research Council's Committee on Geophysical
and Environmental Data has recommended consideration of CIESIN as a
World Data Center to the International Council of Scientific
Unions.\7 The recommendation was agreed to at an early 1995 meeting
of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
Other awards that CIESIN has competed for, and/or won, are identified
in CIESIN's letter found in appendix III.
--------------------
\4 The difference between the $89 million appropriated and the $82
million received by CIESIN, as of June 30, 1995, is related to
federal agencies' retaining funds in electronic accounts until they
are needed.
\5 These nine centers are currently online and interoperable with
each other. The SEDAC provides HDGC data; the other eight archive
space and ground based earth science measurements.
\6 Since at least the late 1980s, scientific advisory groups have
been supporting the need for HDGC data to help evaluate global
change. For example, in 1992 the National Academy of Sciences,
Committee on the HDGC, recommended "that the federal government
should establish an ongoing program to ensure that appropriate
datasets for research on the HDGC are routinely acquired, properly
prepared for use, and made available to researchers on simple and
affordable terms."
\7 World Data Centers are currently operating in the United States,
Australia, Russia and China. The purpose of these centers is to
provide a free and unrestricted exchange of data among scientists
around the world.
NASA'S OVERSIGHT OF CIESIN
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :5
In 1994, NASA brought CIESIN under a contract, in place of a grant,
to ensure the development and operation of a SEDAC. As the SEDAC
operator, CIESIN is primarily responsible for providing users with
access to HDGC data and information. It neither does nor sponsors
basic HDGC research.
In early 1994, NASA's Associate Administrator for Mission to Planet
Earth wrote that "by rescoping CIESIN's mission to include only
SEDAC-related activities, NASA now possesses the necessary expertise
to manage CIESIN. Because the context within which SEDAC will
operate is data management and integration, NASA is more uniquely
qualified for this role than any other federal agency."
To help it oversee CIESIN's management of the SEDAC, NASA established
a SEDAC Users Working Group in November 1994. The working group
consists of social scientists and other experts from universities,
state and federal agencies, and environmental groups and other
private institutions. According to one of the co-chairs of the
working group,\8 the working group has significant influence over the
SEDAC, and it makes sure the SEDAC serves the needs of both the earth
sciences and socioeconomic segments of the global change research
community. The working group has thus far offered several
recommendations for improvements.
--------------------
\8 The other co-chair is the SEDAC project scientist--a CIESIN
employee.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION'S
HDGC CENTERS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :6
In the Conference Report explaining the Veterans Affairs and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1995,\9
Congress provided the National Science Foundation with $6 million ".
. . for a global climate change initiative for a center or
consortium for the human dimensions of global climate change." In
December 1994, the Foundation announced the special funding
opportunity to facilitate HDGC research, promote HDGC education, and
foster interdisciplinary research collaborations on HDGC issues. The
Foundation intends to sponsor a variety of HDGC activities under the
funding opportunity.
The Foundation received 52 proposals for its funding opportunity
competition. One was from CIESIN, in which it proposed to provide a
data archive and resource center for the HDGC research community.
Thus, as HDGC researchers work under Foundation grants, CIESIN would
provide electronic data and software support services. When the
research is completed, CIESIN would archive and provide access to the
research data.\10 Consequently, there would be no duplication between
the functions to be performed by the Foundation's HDGC research
centers and research teams and the functions CIESIN would perform.
--------------------
\9 H.R. Rep. 103-715 at 50 (1994).
\10 It is the policy of the National Science Foundation not to
provide information on how well a proposal has competed, during a
competition. Therefore, no information was available as of September
14, 1995.
CIESIN'S BUILDING REQUIREMENTS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :7
Through the early part of fiscal year 1993, Congress had appropriated
over $46 million for the proposed CIESIN building but in subsequent
years gradually withdrew the funding. In the fiscal year 1993
Veteran Affairs and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, Congress
earmarked $42 million for the CIESIN headquarters facility.\11 Later,
in July 1993, Congress reduced the amount of available appropriations
to $37 million.\12 In October of that same year, Congress directed
that another $10 million\13 not be used until completion of a NASA
Inspector General report.\14 The fiscal year 1995 appropriations act
specifically rescinded $10 million.\15 The balance of $27 million was
recently rescinded by law.\16 The earmarked items in NASA's fiscal
year 1991 and 1992 appropriations included a total of $4.4 million
for planning and designing a headquarters facility for CIESIN. In
February 1994, as a result of its Inspector General's report, which
questioned the need for the building, NASA issued a stop-work order
on the engineering design work, freezing finalization of the building
design. In all, over $3 million was spent on planning and designing
the facility. Another $75,000 to $150,000 will be spent to terminate
the facility contract. The balance of over $1 million will remain
with NASA in the appropriate account for expired unobligated
balances.
Although the question of federal funding of a headquarters facility
for CIESIN is no longer applicable, the question of NASA's support
for CIESIN's facilities infrastructure is still an open issue,
primarily because, as previously noted, CIESIN's support from federal
agencies has been declining. Unless CIESIN is successful in its
efforts to generate new business, further reductions will occur with
the cessation of the current support CIESIN is receiving from the
Departments of Agriculture and Defense and the Environmental
Protection Agency. Such prospects raise the issue of the extent of
NASA's future support of CIESIN's infrastructure under the SEDAC
contract, especially under governmentwide guidance for federal
agencies' use in determining the cost of work performed by nonprofit
organizations, such as CIESIN.\17
Under the government's cost principles for nonprofit organizations,
the costs of idle capacity are allowable for a reasonable period of
time--ordinarily not to exceed 1 year--if the facilities were
necessary when acquired but are now idle due to changes in program
requirements. CIESIN is currently located in various leased
facilities in Washington, D.C., and Ann Arbor and University Center,
Michigan. NASA has not yet evaluated the extent to which it should
support CIESIN's infrastructure for SEDAC purposes once other federal
agencies' funding of CIESIN ceases. If NASA must reduce its support
of CIESIN's facilities, it could consider the cost/benefit of various
alternatives, including reducing the overall space at currently
leased facilities, consolidating activities at fewer existing
facilities, and relocating to reasonably accessible vacant federally
owned space.
NASA officials at the Goddard Space Flight Center told us they would
be examining the continuing need for NASA's support of CIESIN's
current management structure, as well as its facilities, under the
SEDAC contract.
--------------------
\11 H.R. Rep. (Conf.) No. 102-902 at 70 (1992).
\12 P.L. No. 103-50, 107 Stat. 266 (1993).
\13 H.R. Rep. (Conf.) 103-273 at 35 (1993).
\14 The final report was entitled CIESIN, Lewis Research Center, NASA
Office of the Inspector General, Mar. 28, 1994.
\15 P.L. No. 103-327, 108 Stat. 2326 (1994).
\16 P.L. No. 104-19, 109 Stat. 239 (1995).
\17 Office of Management and Budget Circular A-122, "Cost Principles
for Nonprofit Organizations."
THE VALUE AND FUTURE USE OF
CIESIN'S COMPLETED WORK HAVE
NOT BEEN DETERMINED
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :8
Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and
Department of Agriculture officials expressed general satisfaction
with CIESIN's performance, including the technical quality and
timeliness of its work. These agencies will have spent over $15
million by the time they terminate their current relationships with
CIESIN. The products they receive from CIESIN's efforts have not
been examined for their potential usefulness to the U.S. Global
Change Research Program. Federal agency officials we spoke with said
such an examination would be useful in identifying the products
relevant to the needs and priorities of the global research
community.
NONCOMPETITIVE SEDAC CONTRACT
REQUIRES REJUSTIFICATION
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :9
NASA's award to CIESIN for the SEDAC was not competed. NASA based
its justification for other than full and open competition on the
belief that the award of a sole-source contract to CIESIN for the
SEDAC was statutorily authorized\18 and, therefore, was an
appropriate exception to the competitive requirements set forth in
the Competition in Contracting Act. However, we believe that the
award to CIESIN was not directed by statute.
The Comptroller General has held that language in congressional
committee reports and other legislative history about how funds are
expected to be spent do not impose legal requirements on federal
agencies.\19 Only the language of the enacted law imposes such
requirements. In this instance, the conference report, rather than
the law, called for CIESIN to function as a SEDAC. Thus, the
noncompetitive award to CIESIN could not properly be justified on the
basis that it was statutorily authorized.
The next opportunity NASA will have to determine whether the
noncompetitive award to CIESIN can be justified as an exception to
the competitive requirements in the Competition in Contracting Act on
a basis other than that it was statutorily authorized is prior to
exercising the next 1-year option in June 1996.
--------------------
\18 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5).
\19 55 Comp. Gen. 307, 319 (1975).
RECOMMENDATIONS
----------------------------------------------------------- Letter :10
We recommend that the NASA Administrator direct
procurement officials at the Goddard Space Flight Center to
determine, by the end of fiscal year 1996, the extent of the
CIESIN infrastructure that should be supported under the SEDAC
contract and, if this determination shows that a reduction in
NASA's support is warranted, NASA should examine the
cost/benefit of various alternative actions, including
relocating the SEDAC to excess federally owned space that is
reasonably accessible to the SEDAC-user community;
program officials, in conjunction with the U.S. Global Change
Research Program's Subcommittee on Global Change Research and
other appropriate interested parties, to evaluate, and
incorporate into Earth Observing System Data and Information
System, any useful CIESIN products developed for the Departments
of Agriculture and Defense and the Environmental Protection
Agency; and
procurement officials at the Goddard Space Flight Center to
reexamine the Competition in Contracting Act exemptions to full
and open competition and, prior to exercising the next 1-year
option on the contract, determine whether an appropriate
exemption justifies continuation of the noncompetitive award of
the SEDAC contract to CIESIN.
AGENCY COMMENTS
----------------------------------------------------------- Letter :11
We obtained formal written comments from both NASA and CIESIN. NASA
agreed with our recommendations. NASA officials stated that they
appreciated our effort to review CIESIN. (See app. II for NASA's
comments.) CIESIN generally agreed with the report and elaborated on
various points discussed in the report. (See app. III for CIESIN's
comments.)
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
----------------------------------------------------------- Letter :12
Our methodology included examining applicable laws, regulations, and
policies; interviewing CIESIN and federal agency officials; reviewing
plans, contract files, and financial and program reports; and
accessing and testing CIESIN's databases. Specifically, we discussed
the nature of CIESIN's mission and its past, present, and potential
future activities with CIESIN officials. Also, we obtained
documentation of its funding sources from CIESIN and the federal
agencies involved. The material reviewed included federal awards
audit reports, audited financial statements, Defense Contract Audit
Agency reports, and NASA and Department of Agriculture Inspector
General reports.
In evaluating CIESIN's future funding level and building
requirements, we discussed future funding plans for CIESIN with
federal agency officials, obtained information on CIESIN's ongoing
and planned activities, and discussed the funding levels needed to
perform the SEDAC mission with NASA headquarters and Goddard Space
Flight Center officials. Further, we reviewed documents associated
with the establishment and negotiation of the SEDAC contract, visited
CIESIN's main operating facilities, and obtained information on
current and planned staffing levels from CIESIN officials.
We discussed NASA's role in overseeing work on the human dimensions
of global change with NASA, National Science Foundation, and Office
of Science and Technology Policy officials. We also reviewed
documents and held discussions with National Science Foundation and
CIESIN officials related to (1) the National Science Foundation's
approach to carrying out congressional direction to establish HDGC
centers or a consortium and (2) the relationship of such centers to
CIESIN activities.
We conducted our review at CIESIN in University Center and Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and Washington, D.C.; NASA headquarters, Washington, D.C.,
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland; NASA
Inspector General at the Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio; the
Department of Defense, Washington, D.C.; Environmental Protection
Agency, Washington, D.C., and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina;
Department of Agriculture headquarters, Washington, D.C., and
Greenbelt, Maryland; Office of Science and Technology Policy,
Washington, D.C.; Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C.;
National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia; and the U.S.
Global Change Research Program, Arlington, Virginia. We conducted
our review from October 1994 to August 1995 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.
--------------------------------------------------------- Letter :12.1
Unless you announce its contents earlier, we plan no further
distribution of this report for 30 days from its issue date. At that
time, we will send copies to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation and of the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees; the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology
Policy, Executive Office of the President; the NASA Administrator;
the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Defense; and the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. We will also
provide copies to others upon request.
Please contact me at (202) 512-8412 if you or your staff have any
questions. The major contributors to this report are listed in
appendix IV.
Sincerely yours,
David R. Warren
Director, Defense Management
and NASA Issues
CONSORTIUM FOR INTERNATIONAL EARTH
SCIENCE INFORMATION NETWORK'S
INFORMATION COOPERATIVE
=========================================================== Appendix I
The Information Cooperative has been developed and is being expanded
by the Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network
(CIESIN) to allow the cataloging of data archives worldwide, which
will be shared over the Internet. The Information Cooperative
facilitates CIESIN's accomplishing its mission of providing access to
worldwide information on human interactions in the environment. The
data may be in the form of the actual data, or information about the
data and how best to obtain the information from its original source.
The Information Cooperative
provides a means for communication and coordination between global
change research organizations,
fosters common standards to access data, and
makes data available to nations with developing and transitional
economies.
An important part of the Information Cooperative is the Gateway
software, which is a single means of entry to a large number of
databases by using state-of-the-art search software and Internet
access. Because various databases around the world are often
incompatible, the Gateway allows users to simultaneously search many
different databases and to rapidly identify and obtain data from
various database sources without knowing where the data are coming
from--seamless searching.
Much of the Information Cooperative is still under development. The
connection points currently online, in addition to CIESIN, include
the SEDAC, the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection
Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Global Change Master
Directory, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social
Research, Great Lakes Regional Environment Information System, Great
Lakes Information Management Resource, World Health Organization,
Roper Center, World Bank, and the country of Estonia.
Further information about CIESIN can be obtained from CIESIN's World
Wide Web site on the Internet (http://www.ciesin.org).
(See figure in printed edition.)Appendix II
COMMENTS FROM THE NATIONAL
AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
ADMINISTRATION
=========================================================== Appendix I
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)Appendix III
COMMENTS FROM THE CONSORTIUM FOR
INTERNATIONAL EARTH SCIENCE
INFORMATION NETWORK
=========================================================== Appendix I
(See figure in printed edition.)
See comment 1.
See comment 2.
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
The following are comments on the CIESIN letter dated September 11,
1995.
GAO COMMENTS
1.Our focus was on the initial time period when CIESIN and the
agencies began to have a technical and business relationship. Most
agencies, at that time, had structured their on-going activities
without considering a role for CIESIN. When funding for CIESIN was
earmarked, they had to adjust their activities to do so.
2.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and our
office held numerous discussions about the basis of the justification
NASA cited for exemption from the Competition in Contracting Act.
However, any decision about the justification for exemption from
other than free and open competition would be NASA's.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS REPORT
========================================================== Appendix IV
NATIONAL SECURITY AND
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DIVISION,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
James F. Wiggins, Associate Director
Frank Degnan, Assistant Director
David W. Rowan, Evaluator-in-Charge
Lawrence A. Kiser, Senior Evaluator
OFFICE OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
AND COMMUNICATIONS, WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Elizabeth F. Blevins, Librarian
Carol F. Johnson, Librarian
William F. Tuceling, Librarian
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