http://www.ansi.org/public/news/2001dec/ANSI_amendment.html

Congress Passes "ANSI Amendment"
in Defense Authorization Bill
Protects over 4,000 standards activities with federal participation

New York, December 14, 2001: Yesterday, the House and Senate approved the
conference report on the long awaited $343 billion Department of Defense
Authorization Bill (S.1438), including the "ANSI Amendment" added by the
Senate, sending the bill to President Bush who is expected to sign it.

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The amendment clarifies that a 1912 law prohibiting the government from
paying the expenses related to an individual's attendance at meetings or
conventions if they are members of a society or association does not apply
when the employee is participating in agency-related standards activities.

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http://www.ansi.org/public/news/2001oct/ansi_amendment.html

Washington, DC, October 3, 2001: An important leg of the campaign to ensure
continued government involvement in private-sector standards development
activities was achieved last night with the Senate approval of the
Department of Defense Authorization bill (S.1438). The bill includes Section
1124, which is an amendment suggested by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) to correct a conflict between a 1912 law and the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (NTTAA).

The conflict in the 1912 law and the NTTAA was identified by the Office of
the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) earlier this
year. In effect, the 1912 law prohibits the government from paying the
expenses related to an individual's attendance at meetings or conventions if
they are members of a society or association," thereby creating an obstacle
to government employee participation in standards activities. In direct
opposition to the this ruling, the NTTAA together with OMB Circular A-119
require Federal agencies to consider the use of voluntary standards for
regulatory and procurement purposes. In addition, NTTAA encourages Federal
agencies to participate in standards development activities that interest
them or that may be used as the basis for regulation or procurement. The DoD
alone has hundreds of employees serving on various standards bodies involved
in the development or maintenance of thousands of voluntary standards. Many
of these standards are critical to DoD missions and weaponry and many
replace Military Specifications (MilSpecs) at significant cost savings to
the DoD.