§5817a Employee-suggested Research Projects; Approval; Funding; Reports

Summary

Government-owned, contractor-run labs, energy research centers, and other labs working under contract for the Administration may, if the Administrator agrees, use a reasonable part of their operating budget to fund employee-suggested research up to the pilot stage. Each lab director must set up an internal review process to pick which employee projects get funded each fiscal year. A project can get funding in later years if the review finds it should. Each lab director must send an annual report to the Administrator about projects funded this way. When a project finishes, the director must send a final report to the Administration’s Technical Information Center so it can be added to the database.