A government agency that sells information to the federal bureaucracy that is often available for free over the Internet or elsewhere is the subject of proposed federal legislation. The bill's authors believe the National Technical Information Service's practice of selling government documents to other federal agencies is wasteful and should be ended.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) named the “Let Me Google That For You Act" after the sarcastic website that teaches users how to use Google's search engine.
According to the legislation, "No Federal agency should use taxpayer dollars to purchase a report from the National Technical Information Service that is available through the Internet for free."
The NTIS, run by the Department of Commerce, is a repository of 3 million documents related to science, technology, engineering, and business.
A 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on NTIS operations found that, “Of the reports added to NTIS's repository during fiscal years 1990 through 2011, GAO estimates that approximately 74 percent were readily available from other public sources.” Such sources included either the issuing organization’s website, the federal Internet portal (www.USA.gov), or another online resource.
reader comments
68