Please plan to join your NAVREF colleagues for the 2003
NAVREF Annual Conference, March 16-19.
Deadline for Room Reservations and Registration at the
Regular Rate: February 18
- Hotel accommodations may be reserved at the special NAVREF rate until Tuesday,
February 18. Our room block is filling quickly so do not delay making your
reservations.
- Registrations received after 5:00 p.m. on February 18 will be charged a late
fee. Please fax or mail your form as soon as possible.
Information about the conference,
hotel accommodations and a registration form are available at
Ballots for the 2003 NAVREF board of directors’
elections are in the mail. If you do not receive yours in a timely fashion,
please contact the NAVREF office. The deadline for submission by fax or mail is
Friday, February 21. Please vote!
Last week, Congress passed a 10th continuing
resolution to keep the government running. The most recent one is effective
through February 7. In the meantime, the House and Senate have approved the FY
2003 omnibus bill that funds all domestic discretionary programs like VA
research and medical care and have sent the measure to a House-Senate conference
committee.
The most contentious conference item appears to be Senate
use of not one, but two across-the-board cuts to bring total funding under
targets set by the Bush administration. The result is a total 2.9% reduction
for all programs, not 1.6% as previously reported. The impact for VA
research is that it would receive $388.4 million for FY 2003, $11.6 million less
than the $400 million level provided in the bill itself. If enacted by Congress,
the result for VA research would be a meager 3% increase over FY 2002. At this
writing, there is little expectation of quick completion of conference, and
appropriators are already discussing the need for yet another continuing
resolution.
The President’s FY 2004 budget proposal will be released
today. An update will be provided as soon as details are available.
At NAVREF’s request, the VA’s Office of Research and
Development (ORD) Technology Transfer Program (TTP) office recently approved a
new option (Option 1) for the clause regarding licensing contained in
Cooperative Technology Administration Agreements (CTAAs). These agreements,
which are negotiated between the TTP office and VA-affiliated universities, are
used to manage intellectual property developed by VA employees and WOCs. In some
cases, CTAAs have resulted in a disincentive for pharmaceutical companies to
collaborate with NPCs. Please go to
http://www.navref.org/library/CTAA_Guidance_to_NPCs.htm
post in Library for a discussion of this issue and the options for CTAA Clause
3.1, Licensing. All NPCs should be aware of whether their VA facility has an
approved CTAA and its terms. While negotiations are handled by TTP staff and
VAMC personnel, it is to an NPC’s advantage to make its preferred option known
to those involved.
Information about VA
requirements regarding security checks for VA appointees - salaried and WOC -
has been added to the NAVREF Best Practices web site at
