Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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NASA Tech Brief Program:
A Cost Benefit Evaluation
May 1977
[i] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A cost benefit study of the NASA Tech Brief Program was conducted by the Denver
Research Institute under contract to the Technology Utilization Office. Net benefits to
public and private sector organizations due to Technical Support Package (TSP) requests
between 1971 and mid-1976 were statistically estimated from random sample data.
Program operating costs for the same time period were based on a unit cost analysis conducted
by the [Technology Utilization Office] Program Evaluation and Control Division.
The study objectives, methodology and results are summarized below.
Objectives
The Tech Brief/TSP Program is one of several operational mechanisms in the NASA
Technology Utilization [TU] Program designed to transfer aerospace technology to both
public and private sectors of the economy. It is, however, the oldest of these mechanisms,
dating back to 1963, and has been one of the principal mainstays of NASA’s technology
transfer efforts over the years. Tech Briefs and other new technology announcements published
by the TU Program have generated an annual average of over 26,000 inquiries since
1964. In addition, NASA has maintained, under contract, a data bank on requests and
applications for new technology announced by Tech Briefs since 1968. This data bank
contains over 120,000 entries and provides one of the most complete records of any technology
transfer program operated by the Federal Government. Based on the availability
of data and the request by Congress in the FY 1977 NASA Authorization Bill to conduct
“a cost benefit follow-up analysis,” the Agency elected to study its Tech Brief/TSP
Program. The second objective for this study was to develop an evaluation method which
satisfies the Office of Management and Budget guidelines for evaluation managements.
Methodology
SPACE AS AN INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
Between 1971 and mid-1976, 72,500 TSP requests due to Tech Briefs were recorded in
the data bank and 15,500 questionnaires had been returned from the ongoing six month
mail questionnaire survey. A two-tiered random sample of questionnaires was selected to
assure a 95 percent confidence level for extrapolating the sample data to the entire population
of TSP requests. Structured telephone interviews were conducted for the second tier
random sample cells defined by request year and questionnaire responses.
[ii] The interview data included responses to the following questions:
a) What specific use was made of the TSP (e.g., information source on solar energy
or developed new computer control software for chemical processing)?
b) What costs and gross benefits are directly attributed to the particular TSP, how
were these quantities estimated, and when did they occur (e.g., number of hours
saved in 1972 times the hourly rate including overhead)?
Only data which satisfied Federal guidelines on costs and benefits were accepted for
analysis. Standard statistical methods were used to estimate three probability distributions
for the sample data, and an expected net benefit value per TSP request was calculated
from these distributions. The expected net benefit per request was multiplied by the total
requests to obtain the estimated total benefits from requests made between 1971 and mid-