National Institute of Standards and Technology: CRADA with the Coblentz Society Should Receive Greater Scrutiny. Final Inspection Report No. IPE-13200

摘要

In November 1994, the National Institute of Standards and Technology entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Coblentz Society, a nonprofit professional organization. The purpose of the CRADA, which is to run for a period of 10 years, was to establish a joint NIST/Coblentz Society infrared spectral database. Infrared spectra are often regarded as the 'fingerprint' of a specific chemical substance and are used in a wide range of applications, including the identification of chemical substances and the determination of their amounts. To develop the database, approximately 10,000 spectra in paper format owned by the Coblentz Society were provided to NIST for scanning and conversion into an electronic format. These spectra are to be combined with approximately 10,000 infrared spectra in NISTs possession to form the database that will be sold by NIST to the public. NIST plans to make the database available in early spring 2001. Over time, NIST and the Coblentz Society intend to increase the size of the collection by soliciting contributions of spectra from the many laboratories (private, government, and academic) where infrared spectra are measured.