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Canada Considers Privatizing Management of Some Federal Labs
Canada’s Treasury Board recently announced the creation of an independent panel of experts to provide advice on transferring management of federal non-regulatory laboratories into private or other non-government hands. The four individuals comprising the panel, each with extensive experience and leadership in Canada's science and technology community, will consider different management options for the Canadian systems of federal research labs.
Many of the largest nonregulatory and non-life science-related federal laboratories in the U.S. are managed by private companies through competitive selection processes. Others are co-located and run by academic institutions. The panel may consider privatization or quasi-privatization of life science-related labs that, in the case of the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Agriculture, remain government-operated.
The Canadian panel will focus on four key objectives:
- Increasing the impact of federal investments in research
- Fostering research excellence
- Enhancing learning and transfer of knowledge
- Leveraging the strengths of government, university and private sector research
On a short timeline, the panel will report back to the president of the Treasury Board in a few months, including recommendations identifying up to five federal nonregulatory laboratories that could be considered candidates for early transfer.
More information is available at: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/nr-cp/2007/0813_e.asp