Rise of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

摘要

Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCS) area unique class of research and development (R and D) facilities that share aspects of private and public ownership. Some FFRDCS have been praised as national treasures, but FFRDCS have also been the focus of much criticism through the years. This paper traces the history of FFRDCS through four periods: (1) the World War II era, which saw the birth of federal R and D centers that would eventually become FFRDCS; (2) the early Cold War period, which exhibited a proliferation of FFRDCS despite their unclear legislative status and growing tension with an increasingly capable and assertive defense industry, (3) there-evaluation and retrenchment of FFRDCS in the 1960s and early 1970s, which resulted in a dramatic decline in the number of FFRDCS; and (4) the definition and codification of the FFRDC entity in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Congress and the executive branch worked together to formalize regulations to control FFRDCS. The paper concludes with observations on the status of FFRDCS at the end of the twentieth century.