Small expert panel to examine issues surrounding transfer of federal laboratories

Just four months to complete work

A four-member expert panel assembled to examine the issue of transferring federal, non-regulatory laboratories to the academic and private sectors has until December to report back to Treasury Board with its recommendations. The short time frame has raised concerns that the Independent Expert Panel on Federal Laboratories will not be able to properly assess which facilities could be early candidates for transfer and what management options are best suited for those that are moved out of government.

The report will be received by Treasury Board president Vic Toews. Whether the report is released publicly or circulated among "interested parties" is up to the discretion of the minister.

Composition of the expert panel was announced in August, leaving four months for its members to "engage key stakeholders, take into account the diversity of federal science activities and consider a broad range of options for transferring federal laboratories to universities or the private sector".

The mandate includes the identification of five labs to be "considered as early candidates for transfer".

"The timeframe is quite short. We're supposed to report before Christmas. Our mandate is to look at principles and actions to be used and consider such deals, not broker deals," says panel member Dr Kevin Keough, former president and CEO of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (see page 7). "We are also being asked to identify possible labs that might be in a position to negotiate new deals … There are models in Canada and elsewhere which the panel will look at and contemplate. These could include labs that already have alternate relationships."

The expert panel is chaired by Dr Arnold Naimark, former president of the Univ of Manitoba (U of M), former chair of the defunct Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee and director of U of M's Centre for the Advancement of Medicine. It includes Keough , Dr Kelvin Ogilvie, past president and vice-chancellor of Acadia Univ and Dr Clive Willis, a private consultant and former VP research at the National Research Council.

Keough says government-owned and company-operated (GoCo) labs in the US offer one model for consideration . These include the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, operated by the Univ of California (U of C) for the US Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is operated by a team with experience in nuclear defense programs U of C, Bechtel National, BWX Technologies and Washington Group International.

"Right now the panel is establishing its interpretation of the mandate and looking at principles … What's the purpose? Different management or increased impact of the investment (in federal labs)? Governance and management are key in all of the issues we will be examining … We're not fixed on any one model.."

The expert panel will be supported by a small secretariat within Treasury Board which includes a team of researchers. In October and early November, six small, focused roundtables will be held across the country and a web site is being established for individual and collective input. The roundtables in Ottawa and Toronto will be attended by all expert panel members, while those in the regions will be led by their respective panel members: Calgary (Keough), Winnipeg (Naimark), Quebec (Willis) and Atlantic Canada (Ogilvie).

The expert panel was first announced in the last federal Budget (R$, March 26/07) and reiterated in the new S&T strategy (R$, May 31/07)

R$