Title 15Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§2414 Functions of the Center

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 51— - NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - NATIONAL CENTER FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE › § 2414

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Create and run a national plan to raise productivity in both business and government. Do this in consultation with Congress and federal agencies. Get active help from private groups (like businesses, unions, colleges, foundations, and research centers) and from federal, state, and local governments. Promote and support research and demonstration projects that boost productivity and improve ways to measure it. Look at laws, rules, and policies that hurt productivity and suggest changes to the President, Congress, federal agencies, and state and local governments. Decide whether the Center can offer services to users for a fee and how to set charges. Encourage cooperation between labor and management, but do not work on issues covered by a specific labor contract unless both sides agree. Ask federal departments to start and support productivity efforts and coordinate federal work and funding to avoid overlap and waste. Help agencies develop ways to measure their own productivity. Collect and share information about better methods, tools, and technology, and run a public information effort about productivity. Work with state and local governments, colleges, and foreign organizations, spot training needs for productivity skills, and study how material supplies affect productivity.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §2414

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Center shall—
(1)develop and establish, in consultation with the appropriate committees of the Congress and with the appropriate departments and agencies of the executive branch, a national policy for productivity growth in the public and private sectors of the United States consistent with the purposes of this chapter;
(2)seek, stimulate, and encourage maximum active participation of—
(A)the private sector of the Nation’s economy, including labor organizations, associations and confederations, business enterprises and associations, institutions of higher education, foundations and other philanthropic organizations and research centers and institutes; and
(B)the public sector of the Nation’s economy, including Federal, State, and local governments and agencies thereof, including institutions of higher education,
(3)seek, stimulate, and encourage maximum active participation of the public agencies and private organizations identified in clause (2) of this section through identification and encouragement of selected research and demonstration programs implemented by public agencies and qualified private organizations which will—
(A)increase the rate of productivity growth in the public and private sectors of the national economy through improved and innovative utilization of technological and human resources; and
(B)develop, refine, and apply accurate and reliable measurement techniques to evaluate changes in productivity;
(4)to identify, study, and review—
(A)existing Federal, State, and local statutes, regulations, and fiscal policies which adversely affect productivity growth or the economic performance of the public and private sectors of the United States;
(B)incentives to encourage industry and labor initiatives in the development of methods, techniques, and systems for the improved utilization of technological and human resources in the public and private sectors;
(C)existing and new programs, plans, and other methods, including advanced warning systems, retraining programs, retirement and separation programs, designed to counteract threats to job security which may result from efforts to improve productivity;
(D)jointly, with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the impact of Federal personnel policies, statutes, and regulations affecting the productivity of Federal agencies and the quality of working life of Federal employees; and
(E)the need and feasibility of providing, directly to potential users, public or private, various Center services in return for payment to the Center, and methods by which charges for such services will be established;
(5)recommend to the President, the Congress, the appropriate agencies and departments of the Federal Government, and State and local governments, any legislation, revisions of regulations, policies, practices, and procedures which result from the activities carried out under clause (4) of this section;
(6)encourage, support, and initiate efforts in the public or private sector specifically designed to improve cooperation between labor and management in the achievement of continued productivity growth: Provided, however, That no activities of the Center involving consideration of issues included in a specific labor-management agreement shall be undertaken without the consent and cooperation of the parties to that agreement;
(7)encourage departments and agencies of the Federal Government to initiate, stimulate, and support efforts in both the public and private sectors of the United States to improve the rate of productivity growth;
(8)coordinate all activities referred to in subsection (7) of this section in order to eliminate interagency duplication of effort and cost, to insure that Center activities will not unnecessarily conflict or overlap with such other activities, and to maximize the effectiveness of all such Federal programs and activities;
(9)coordinate and consult with the departments and agencies of the Federal Government in the obligation and expenditure of funds for activities and projects in both the public and private sectors to improve productivity growth;
(10)identify, develop, and support activities, programs, systems, and techniques, in the various departments and agencies of the Federal Government for measuring productivity growth within such departments and agencies;
(11)collect and disseminate relevant information obtained by the Center or other public agencies, institutions of higher education, or private organizations engaged in projects under this chapter, including information related to new or improved methods, systems, technological developments, equipment, and devices to improve and stimulate productivity growth, and to develop and implement a public information program designed to inform the public of the meaning and importance of productivity, and productivity growth;
(12)encourage and coordinate the efforts of State and local governments, and institutions of higher education, to improve productivity;
(13)maintain liaison with organizations, both domestic and foreign, involved in efforts to improve productivity;
(14)determine the Nation’s needs for productivity-related management and analytical skills and to encourage and facilitate the development of training programs in such skills; and
(15)study the effects of materials availability upon productivity growth.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

“Director of the Office of Personnel Management” substituted for “Civil Service Commission” in par. (4)(D) pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1978, § 102, 43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783, set out under section 1101 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, which transferred functions vested by statute in United States Civil Service Commission to Director of Office of Personnel Management (except as otherwise specified), effective Jan. 1, 1979, as provided by section 1–102 of Ex. Ord. No. 12107, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 1055, set out under section 1101 of Title 5.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 2414

Title 15Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73