NASEM shall form a panel of experts who shall perform an independent technical assessment of the quality of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL). The panel shall hold a virtual site visit to the CTL in Boulder, CO, to conduct an in-depth technical assessment of CTL's work. The panel will then use any materials provided by NIST before the remote site visit, and the results of that site visit, to draft a report that reflects the expert consensus of the panel.

The assessment will address the following factors at the request of the NIST Director:

1. Assess the organization’s technical programs.

· How does the quality of the research compare to similar world-class research in the technical program areas?

· Is the quality of the technical programs adequate for the organization to reach its technical objectives? How could it be improved?

2. Assess the portfolio of scientific expertise within the organization.

· Does the organization have world-class scientific expertise in the areas of the organization’s mission and program objectives? If not, in what areas should it be improved?

· How well does the organization’s scientific expertise support the organization’s technical programs and the organization’s ability to achieve its stated objectives?

3. Assess the adequacy of the organization’s facilities, equipment, and human resources.

· How well do the facilities, equipment, and human resources support the organization’s technical programs and its ability to achieve its stated objectives? How could they be improved?

4. Assess the effectiveness by which the organization disseminates its program outputs.

· How well are the organization’s research programs driven by stakeholder needs?

· How effective are the dissemination methods and technology transfer mechanisms used by the organization? Are these mechanisms sufficiently comprehensive?

· How well is this organization monitoring stakeholder use and impact of program outputs? How could this be improved?