National Bureau of Standards Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1988

(Measure passed House, amended)

National Bureau of Standards Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1988 - Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Commerce for FY 1988 to carry out the following activities of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS): (1) measurement research and standards; (2) materials science and engineering; (3) engineering measurements and standards; (4) computer science and technology; (5) research support activities; and (6) the Cold Neutron Source Facility. Authorizes specified amounts from such funds for: (1) steel technology; (2) the Center for Building Technology; (3) the Center for Fire Research; and (4) the technical competence fund. Permits transfers of funds among such activities under specified conditions. Prohibits the merger of the Center for Building Technology and the Center for Fire Research.

Authorizes additional appropriations for FY 1988 for: (1) the Office of Productivity, Technology, and Innovation; (2) the patent licensing activities of the National Technical Information Service; (3) the purposes of the Japanese Technical Literature Act of 1986; (4) the Cold Neutron Source Facility; and (5) salary adjustments.

Adds to the functions of the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Bureau of Standards, the performance of research to develop standards and test methods to: (1) advance the effective use of computers and related systems and other equipment, procedures, and systems for automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, display, and transmission of information and its use to control machinery and processes; and (2) protect the information stored, processed, and transmitted by those systems.

Requires the Director of NBS to keep specified congressional committees fully and currently informed with regard to all of the activities of NBS.

Prohibits NBS from implementing a policy of charging fees to research associates in the absence of express statutory authority to do so.

Requires the Director of NBS to justify in writing all proposed changes in fees for currently offered standard reference materials and calibration services, including a description of the anticipated impact of any proposed changes on demand for and anticipated revenues from the materials and services.

Requires the Board of Assessment of NBS programs to include, as part of its annual review, an assessment of energy technologies which are expected to require research in metrology to keep NBS abreast of its mission.

Requires the Directors of NBS to prepare a plan detailing how NBS will: (1) make small businesses more aware of NBS activities and research; and (2) seek to increase the application by small businesses of NBS research, particularly in manufacturing. Requires such plan to be submitted to specified congressional committees by October 1, 1987.

Prohibits any activities or functions of the National Technical Information Service not currently performed by contractors from being contracted out or otherwise transferred from the Federal Government unless such transfer is expressly authorized by statute. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to report recommendations for improvements in the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), and any statutory changes required to make those improvements, to specified congressional committees by December 31, 1987. States that nothing precludes the NTIS and its contractors from procuring quality printing services at the most cost-effective rate.

Establishes within the Department of Commerce a Commerce, Science, and Technology Fellowship Program to provide a select group of employees of the executive branch with the opportunity of learning how the legislative branch and other parts of the executive branch function through work experiences of up to one year. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to report to the Congress within six months after the date of enactment of this Act on the Department's plan for implementing the Program in FY 1988.