Admin - See

Working Group
NIH chartered advisory committees often need to assemble groups of outside experts to provide individual advice or to serve as fact-finding bodies to gather information, to analyze relevant issues and facts, and to draft proposed position papers for final deliberation by chartered advisory committees. At NIH, these groups are referred to as working groups. Working groups are exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act under General Services Administration (GSA) Regulations 41 CFR Parts 102-3.25 and 102-3.35.

  • In general, the requirements of the Act and the policies of Federal Advisory Committee Management do not apply to subcommittees of advisory committees that report to a parent advisory committee and not directly to a Federal officer or agency (Part 102-3.35). The term subcommittee used in this instance refers to any group reporting directly to a chartered advisory committee rather than a Federal official.
  • "Utilized," for the purpose of the Act, does not have its ordinary meaning. A committee that is not established by the Federal Government is "utilized" within the meaning of the Act when the President or a Federal office or agency exercises actual management or control over its operation. The test for whether a committee is "utilized" for purposes of FACA is whether an agency either has actual management of the committee or, in some fashion other than management, exercises actual control over the committee. NIH working groups are exempt from the FACA since the agency does not have actual management or control of the working group. Working groups are convened by the chartered advisory committee and report directly to the committee, not Federal officials.

OFACP Policy Announcement 2000-01, revised 6/14/2005: "Working Groups at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)" provides additional guidance on the use and operation of working groups. Given the complexity of the exemptions to the applicability of the FACA and the fact that the statute on which they are based continues to be interpreted by the courts, the Office of the General Counsel and OFACP should be consulted, as appropriate, before a working group is convened.

Quoted from NIH OFACP's "Managing National Institutes of Health Federal Advisory Committees".

For information about NIH Advisory Committees, visit the NIH Office of Federal Advisory Committee Policy (OFACP) website.