15 U.S.C. § 278e: Functions and activities

Summary

The Secretary of Commerce may do eight types of work to run the Institute. These include paying for guards’ uniforms; caring for and fixing buildings, equipment, and property; renting field sites and lab, office, or warehouse space; buying journal reprints and paying publication fees; and giving free food and housing to federal employees at Arctic and Antarctic stations. The Secretary may also hire people for polar radio work at base pay set by the Secretary (not above appropriation limits) without following civil service rules or sections 5542–5546 of title 5, build needed facilities on leased land, and provide employee transport to nearby public transit despite section 1344 of title 31.

Title 15, §278e

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In the performance of the functions of the Institute the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to undertake the following activities: (a) The purchase, repair, and cleaning of uniforms for guards; (b) the care, maintenance, protection, repair, and alteration of Institute buildings and other plant facilities, equipment, and property; (c) the rental of field sites and laboratory, office, and warehouse space; (d) the purchase of reprints from technical journals or other periodicals and the payment of page charges for the publication of research papers and reports in such journals; (e) the furnishing of food and shelter without repayment therefor to employees of the Government at Arctic and Antarctic stations; (f) for the conduct of observations on radio propagation phenomena in the Arctic or Antarctic regions, the appointment of employees at base rates established by the Secretary of Commerce which shall not exceed such maximum rates as may be specified from time to time in the appropriation concerned, and without regard to the civil service and classification laws and sections 5542 to 5546 of title 5; (g) the erection on leased property of specialized facilities and working and living quarters when the Secretary of Commerce determines that this will best serve the interests of the Government; and (h) the provision of transportation services for employees of the Institute between the facilities of the Institute and nearby public transportation, notwithstanding section 1344 of title 31.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification “Sections 5542 to 5546 of title 5” substituted in text for “titles II and III of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945” on authority of Pub. L. 89–554, § 7(b), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 631, the first section of which enacted Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Amendments

1996—Pub. L. 104–113 struck out “and” before “(g)” and inserted before period at end “; and (h) the provision of transportation services for employees of the Institute between the facilities of the Institute and nearby public transportation, notwithstanding section 1344 of title 31”. 1988—Pub. L. 100–418 substituted “functions of the Institute” for “functions of the National Bureau of Standards” and “Institute buildings” for “Bureau buildings”. 1972—Pub. L. 92–317 substituted, in cl. (b), “the care, maintenance, protection, repair, and alteration of Bureau buildings and other plant facilities, equipment, and property” for “the repair and alteration of buildings and other plant facilities”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

NIST Campus Security Pub. L. 114–329, title I, § 113, Jan. 6, 2017, 130 Stat. 2993, which authorized the Department of Commerce Office of Security to directly manage the law

Enforcement

and site security programs of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and required the Director of Security for NIST to provide an activities and security report to the Under Secretary for Standards and Technology and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, was repealed by Pub. L. 117–167, div. B, title II, § 10246(c), Aug. 9, 2022, 136 Stat. 1492.

§278e Functions and Activities