Doing Business With: National Institute of Standards and Technology
<FONT SIZE=2>Address: 100 Bureau Drive</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3460</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>(301) 975-6478</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>http://www.nist.gov</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Founded: </FONT><FONT SIZE=2>March 3, 1901</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Director: </FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Arden Bement Jr.</FONT>
XXXSPLITXXX-
Address: 100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3460
(301) 975-6478
http://www.nist.gov
Founded: March 3, 1901
Director: Arden Bement Jr.
Employees: About 4,600
What it does: NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency. Its main goal is to develop and promote measurements, standards and technology to enhance productivity, trade and the quality of life in the United States. There are four main areas: laboratories for conducting research; the Baldrige National Quality Program, which promotes excellence among U.S. manufacturers, service companies, educational institutions and health care providers and gives annually the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, offering technical and business assistance to smaller manufacturers; and the Advanced Technology Program, which co-funds research and development partnerships with the private sector.
Major subagencies: NIST is a subagency of the Commerce Department. It has two main locations: the headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., and another in Boulder, Colo.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
2002 budget: $680.8 million
2003 request: $577.5 million
Biggest changes of late: NIST's budget request for 2003 is about $103 million less than the 2002 budget. However, according to information on the Web site, funds for key science and technology initiatives are actually increasing to $76 million.
ATP MISSION
NIST's Advanced Technology Program awards grants for research and development projects in a broad range of areas.
The projects funded by NIST in information technology must track with the industry's changing needs and priorities for a new IT infrastructure.
NIST attempts to identify opportunities for advances in IT that will improve the quality of life and accelerate the development of innovative IT and applications. Another IT-related research area is electronics and photonics.
The programs' goals include increasing productivity in multiple industries and encouraging broad application of the technologies developed.
THINGS TO NOTE
*Of the 2003 budget request, $5 million is directed at NIST's homeland security efforts. It divides into: $2 million toward public and private partnerships to improve the safety of buildings, occupants and first responders; $2 million to up the security of critical infrastructures; $1 million for the Computer Security Expert Assist Team, which helps agencies identify and fix weaknesses in their IT systems.
*Also in the 2003 request, almost $121 million has been earmarked for technology development and industrial outreach under the Industrial Technology Services appropriation. Of this, about $108 million is to go toward the Advanced Technology Program, and almost $13 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
*NIST has one of the most organized Web sites I've seen. I found all the information I needed quickly and in obvious places, as opposed to having to dig for it. The "Work with us" section on its homepage has complete information for anyone seeking to work with the agency, from companies to academics.
Hometown: Washington
Home now: Brookeville, Md.
Family: "Two kids, lots of animals."
Hobbies: Working on his cars.
Currently reading: "Centennial" by James Michener
Alma mater: Bachelor's degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland
Are the technology needs of NIST different from those of other agencies? In what ways?
They are different from most government organizations because we are a research and development organization, and R&D in almost any physical science today is very IT intensive. The types of hardware and software needed requires a lot of flexibility across the campus. It's very hard for us to say, "OK, here's the PC we're going to have on everybody's desk for the next three years." We can't do that. While we have an aspect of our IT that is business oriented and, to a certain extent, could be much more controlled, we have the other side, which is you have to have almost total flexibility.
What are the IT challenges the agency faces, as you see them?
Trying to deal with both sides of that type of house.
What do you look for in companies with which you are thinking of doing business?
For hardware, we look for stability, reliability, quality of product. For the services support side, we have a lot of different services contracts, and we're actually looking at trying to consolidate down to a different vehicle under the Commerce Department's COMITS [Commerce Information Technology Services] program. I hesitate to call it a contract, because it will actually be two or three vendors who become involved, but essentially a COMITS vehicle that would allow us to have prequalified vendors. When areas of NIST need IT services, they can just go to these vendors. In doing that, we're looking for people who can float by their own organization, offer the depth and breadth of what we need and also have the subcontractors to fill in the gaps.
A year from now, where do you see NIST's technology capabilities?
On the business side, I would like to see us move to a more controlled environment for those systems that are being used to fulfill business functions. On the other side, we'd like to try to start putting in place, for high-end computing and scientific computing, a grid technology.
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3460
(301) 975-6478
http://www.nist.gov
Founded: March 3, 1901
Director: Arden Bement Jr.
Employees: About 4,600
What it does: NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency. Its main goal is to develop and promote measurements, standards and technology to enhance productivity, trade and the quality of life in the United States. There are four main areas: laboratories for conducting research; the Baldrige National Quality Program, which promotes excellence among U.S. manufacturers, service companies, educational institutions and health care providers and gives annually the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, offering technical and business assistance to smaller manufacturers; and the Advanced Technology Program, which co-funds research and development partnerships with the private sector.
Major subagencies: NIST is a subagency of the Commerce Department. It has two main locations: the headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., and another in Boulder, Colo.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
2002 budget: $680.8 million
2003 request: $577.5 million
Biggest changes of late: NIST's budget request for 2003 is about $103 million less than the 2002 budget. However, according to information on the Web site, funds for key science and technology initiatives are actually increasing to $76 million.
ATP MISSION
NIST's Advanced Technology Program awards grants for research and development projects in a broad range of areas.
The projects funded by NIST in information technology must track with the industry's changing needs and priorities for a new IT infrastructure.
NIST attempts to identify opportunities for advances in IT that will improve the quality of life and accelerate the development of innovative IT and applications. Another IT-related research area is electronics and photonics.
The programs' goals include increasing productivity in multiple industries and encouraging broad application of the technologies developed.
THINGS TO NOTE
*Of the 2003 budget request, $5 million is directed at NIST's homeland security efforts. It divides into: $2 million toward public and private partnerships to improve the safety of buildings, occupants and first responders; $2 million to up the security of critical infrastructures; $1 million for the Computer Security Expert Assist Team, which helps agencies identify and fix weaknesses in their IT systems.
*Also in the 2003 request, almost $121 million has been earmarked for technology development and industrial outreach under the Industrial Technology Services appropriation. Of this, about $108 million is to go toward the Advanced Technology Program, and almost $13 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
*NIST has one of the most organized Web sites I've seen. I found all the information I needed quickly and in obvious places, as opposed to having to dig for it. The "Work with us" section on its homepage has complete information for anyone seeking to work with the agency, from companies to academics.
Bruce Rosen, associate director of NIST CIO support office
Henrik G. de Gyor
Home now: Brookeville, Md.
Family: "Two kids, lots of animals."
Hobbies: Working on his cars.
Currently reading: "Centennial" by James Michener
Alma mater: Bachelor's degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland
Are the technology needs of NIST different from those of other agencies? In what ways?
They are different from most government organizations because we are a research and development organization, and R&D in almost any physical science today is very IT intensive. The types of hardware and software needed requires a lot of flexibility across the campus. It's very hard for us to say, "OK, here's the PC we're going to have on everybody's desk for the next three years." We can't do that. While we have an aspect of our IT that is business oriented and, to a certain extent, could be much more controlled, we have the other side, which is you have to have almost total flexibility.
What are the IT challenges the agency faces, as you see them?
Trying to deal with both sides of that type of house.
What do you look for in companies with which you are thinking of doing business?
For hardware, we look for stability, reliability, quality of product. For the services support side, we have a lot of different services contracts, and we're actually looking at trying to consolidate down to a different vehicle under the Commerce Department's COMITS [Commerce Information Technology Services] program. I hesitate to call it a contract, because it will actually be two or three vendors who become involved, but essentially a COMITS vehicle that would allow us to have prequalified vendors. When areas of NIST need IT services, they can just go to these vendors. In doing that, we're looking for people who can float by their own organization, offer the depth and breadth of what we need and also have the subcontractors to fill in the gaps.
A year from now, where do you see NIST's technology capabilities?
On the business side, I would like to see us move to a more controlled environment for those systems that are being used to fulfill business functions. On the other side, we'd like to try to start putting in place, for high-end computing and scientific computing, a grid technology.
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