Friday, 11 October 1991 Washington, DC

1. OMB IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON OVERHEAD PAYMENTS TO UNIVERSITIES.
It was Congress that exposed massive bungling of indirect costs at Stanford and elsewhere and declared its intention to impose a 26% cap on administrative costs (WN 26 Apr 91). In an attempt to regain turf, the Office of Management and Budget lost no time in announcing that it would impose a 26% cap without legislation by simply revising OMB Circular A-21, "Cost Principles for Academic Institutions" (WN 24 May 91). Last week, OMB issued its revised A-21; administrative costs are indeed capped at an arbitrary 26%, but a uniform accounting system is not established. A predictable response of university administrators will thus be to stay within the cap by directly charging for some services that are presently in the indirect-cost pool; we can imagine a charge for using the library. One result will be to increase bookkeeping costs. Rep. Boucher (D-VA), chair of the Science Subcommittee, warns that if OMB doesn't impose a uniform accounting system Congress will. In addition to capping administrative costs, the revised A-21 lists charges that are not allowed (country club memberships are out!).

2. IF I EAT THEM IN THE LAB, CAN I CHARGE PIZZAS TO MY NSF GRANT?
Sen. Glenn (D-OH) directed the General Accounting Office to look for abuses by scientists in direct charges to NSF grants. He may have hoped for an explosion like the one Rep. Dingle (D-MI) set off at Stanford, but all he got was a pepperoni burp. In what Science magazine called "the great pizza scandal," investigators at three major research universities found no yachts, silk sheets or grand pianos, but they uncovered $5,000 for "working lunches."

3. CEBAF REPORT BREAKS NEW GROUND IN THE ESCALATING SPINOFF WARS!
It was all too confining. How could the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, still under construction, compete with NASA or Fermilab in claiming credit for recent technologies? Why not claim the technologies of the next decade? CEBAF thus became the first program to announce that it did NOT develop MRI, which was brushed off as a "mature" technology. Instead, using something called the "Delphi Method" (I'm not making this up!), the Center of Innovative Technology forecast applications of CEBAF-related technology ranging from superconducting materials to RF control systems, with a total estimated market value of $6.8 billion.
4. MYSTERY DEEPENS OVER THE DISCONTENT AMONG ACADEMIC SCIENTISTS!
"No question the malaise is out there," said Mary Good, chair of the National Science Board, after Roland Schmitt reported to the NSB this morning that a task force, of "about 10 people," met in closed session on Monday to "brainstorm" the discontent problem (WN 13 Sep 91). "There are little things here and there," he said, "but nothing pops out as the single source of trouble." The APS, in a letter from Physics Planning Committee chair Eugen Merzbacher, had urged NSF to include active research faculty on the task force, but NSF today refused to identify the members.



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.