. "1 NIST-WIDE ISSUES--FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS." An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Programs: Fiscal Year 1993. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1994.
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An Assessment of the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS: Fiscal Year 1993
VCAT Annual Report 1993, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, January 1994). Because the NIST-level strategic planning was properly launched, the Board focused on recommendations for improving strategic planning within the major laboratories.
Recommendations
Major laboratory strategic planning should mirror the expectationsof the new administration and the new NIST director.
Strategic planning should be integrated across laboratory boundaries.
Strategic planning should (1) anticipate the need for redirectionand/or reductions in some programs, (2) identify tactics for overcomingbarriers to achieving specified goals and objectives, (3) providemetrics for developing priorities, managing projects, and assessingimpact, and finally (4) be a continuous process.
Laboratories should plan for the kind of laboratoriesthey would like to be in 5 to 10 years rather than focus oncurrent activities, expertise, and levels of resources.
Laboratories should adopt the “Framework for Operating Unit Planning” recommended by VCAT for strategic planning.
Laboratories should invite representative customers to collaboratein situation analysis, development of a strategic vision, and identificationof external drivers (scientific, technical, and industrial trends)that create demand for NIST's products and services.
Laboratories should take advantage of changes in national prioritiesby involving clients, peer organizations, and technology policymakersin the planning process; emphasize competence building in the emergingtechnologies; and cultivate technical managers eager to be agentsfor change.
DATA PROGRAMS
Issues
What is the health of NIST's data programs? Are long- and short-term user needs being met? Is the focus right? Is the balance between NIST's data programs and research and other services appropriate? (See Appendix D for a more extensive statement of the issues.)
The Standard Reference Data Program (SRDP) coordinates and sponsors retrieval of numerical data generated by research in the physical sciences in laboratories located throughout the world, evaluation of the accuracy of the data and resolution of discrepancies, and dissemination of data evaluations (through the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, a joint
