Expanding the Role of NIST: Reconnecting Government to Standards Development

Andrew Updegrove, Partner, Gesmer Updegrove LLP

6/28/2010
(Original Publish Date: 4/2/2010)

Over the past 100 years, the United States has evolved a unique separation of responsibilities in the standards area: the private sector standards development process provides almost all of the standards needed by government as well as the marketplace, with the governmental agencies (since 1995) obliged to participate in that process, and to report annually to Congress on their compliance with this charge. In parallel, since 1901, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has performed a multipurpose role supporting industry and science, including by defining and providing the means to test for weights and measures. However, the advent of the Internet and other recent technological advances presents complex, cross-sectoral, standards-reliant opportunities, as well as challenges to the national interest at home and national competitiveness abroad that this existing system is ill-equipped to address. A new bill in the House of Representatives would provide an important first step towards creating the type of public-private collaboration needed to address such challenges.