National Institute of Standards and Technology September 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will meet Tuesday, October 28, 2008, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday, October 29, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology is composed of fifteen members appointed by the Director of NIST who are eminent in such fields as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations. The purpose of this meeting is to review and make recommendations regarding general policy for the Institute, its organization, its budget, and its programs within the framework of applicable national policies as set forth by the President and the Congress. The theme for the meeting is ``NIST's Roles in Innovation and NIST's Strategic Plan.'' The agenda will include an update on NIST, presentations on Safety at NIST, a review of NIST's roles in innovation, a review of NIST's external relationships, and an overview of NIST's Strategic Plan, followed by an update on the Biosciences Strategic Plan, the status of the Nanotechnology Strategic Plan, and a presentation on the NIST Facilities Strategic Plan. Guest speakers have been invited to address the benefits and potential benefits of selected NIST partnerships. Other agenda items include laboratory tours and a VCAT feedback session on draft recommendations for the 2008 Annual Report. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the NIST Web site at https://www.nist.gov/ director/vcat/agenda.htm.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that the NIST Blue Ribbon Commission on Management and Safety, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will meet Wednesday, September 17, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD. This notice is in follow-up to the preliminary notice of a public meeting by the Commission on August 15, 2008, (Ref. Federal Register Notice: August 15, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 159, pages 47882-47883). The Blue Ribbon Commission on Management and Safety is composed of 7 members appointed by the Secretary of Commerce who are eminent in one or more of the following areas: Management and organizational structure; Training and human resources operations; Laboratory management and safety; Hazardous materials safety; Emergency medical response; Environmental safety; Environmental remediation; and Security for hazardous materials. The purpose of this meeting is to review and ultimately provide advice to the Department of Commerce on whether (a) The training, safety, security, and response protocols, (b) the implementation of those protocols and internal controls, and (c) the management structure at NIST are appropriate to ensure safe operations of all NIST programs. The agenda for this meeting will focus on NIST safety and management structure as well as a discussion of the findings from recent safety audits and investigations. The agenda may change to accommodate Commission business.

The inventions listed below are owned in whole or part by the U.S. Government, as represented by the Secretary of Commerce. The U.S. Government's interest in these inventions is available for licensing in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 and 37 CFR Part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally funded research and development.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This notice announces that the Secretary of Commerce has approved the withdrawal of ten Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). These FIPS are being withdrawn because they are obsolete, or have not been updated to adopt current voluntary industry standards, federal specifications, federal data standards, or current good practices for information security. Some of these FIPS adopt voluntary industry standards. Federal agencies and departments are directed by the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104- 113) to use technical standards that are developed in voluntary consensus standards bodies. Consequently, FIPS that duplicate voluntary industry standards are no longer needed. Some of these FIPS adopt data standards that are developed and used by other Federal government agencies. These FIPS have not been updated to reflect changes and modifications that have been made to the data standards. The remaining FIPS adopt obsolete Federal specifications for information access and for information security. More recent advisory guidance has been issued concerning access to publicly available government information and computer data authentication. Federal agencies are responsible for using current voluntary industry standards and current federal specifications and data standards in their acquisition and management activities.