Prior to the amendments, the Academy’s committee procedures included some openness. Reasons the Academy Sought Relief From the Federal Advisory Committee Act

According to Academy officials, the Academy had three main concerns that caused it to seek relief from the Federal Advisory Committee Act: (1) the erosion of independence if the Academy was under the influence of sponsoring agencies, (2) the inability to recruit committee members if committee deliberations were open to the public, and (3) the burden of administrative requirements that would render the Academy unresponsive to the government. This individual would have the power to adjourn the meeting “whenever he determines it to be in the public’s interest.” According to Academy officials, the Academy could lose sole authority in appointing committee members, and the Academy and committee members could be under pressure from a sponsoring agency to change a report during the drafting process. However, the Academy opposed opening its deliberative meetings to the public because it believed that such an action could stifle open debate and criticism of ideas in those meetings. Academy Committee Procedures

Prior to the enactment of the amendments of 1997, the Academy established a number of procedures for committee work that are intended to help ensure the integrity and the openness of committee activities. The procedures consist of the following phases: project formulation, committee selection, committee work, report review, and report release and dissemination. While the Academy Has Increased Public Access to Current Project Data, the Data Are Not Always Timely or Complete

The Academy developed a web site for current project information to increase public access as a result of section 15, added by the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments. However, we found that this information is not always posted in a timely manner and is sometimes incomplete. However, the availability of timely information on current projects depends on the effective implementation of the new procedures. To identify the Academy’s procedures for providing advice to the federal government, we interviewed Academy officials.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the committee process at the National Academy of Sciences, focusing on the: (1) reasons the Academy sought relief from the Federal Advisory Committee Act; (2) Academy's committee procedures for providing advice to the federal government; and (3) Academy's implementation of the new requirements for providing information to the public.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) according to Academy officials, the Academy sought relief from the act for a number of reasons; (2) central to its concerns was the Academy's ability to maintain sole authority in appointing committee members and to conduct its work independently from sponsoring agencies' influence; (3) in addition, the Academy opposed opening deliberative meetings on the grounds that such an action could stifle open debate and could impact the Academy's ability to recruit committee members; (4) finally, the Academy was concerned about the amount of time and expense to perform the administrative requirements of the act, which could render the Academy unresponsive to the government; (5) prior to the enactment of the amendments, the Academy developed a number of procedures governing its committees' activities, including project formulation, committee selection, committee work, report review, and the release and dissemination of reports; (6) according to Academy officials, these procedures are intended to help ensure the integrity of advice provided to the federal government; (7) for example, committee selection includes procedures for identifying conflicts of interest and potential bias of committee members; (8) the committee work phase provides an opportunity for some public participation, and committee reports are reviewed by an Academy review committee before they are released to the sponsoring agency and the public; (9) in response to section 15, the Academy developed a web site to increase public access to current project information, however, GAO found that some descriptive information on current projects was not always posted in a timely manner and was not always complete; and (10) during this audit, the Academy addressed these problems and developed additional written guidelines regarding the posting of committee information as well as additional quality assurance procedures.