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Mr. Anderson outlined the EPA's inspection report, said that the Institution is contracting for the repair of all leaks and malfunctioning switches, and noted that the Smithsonian will continue to try to budget for the replacement of these transformers by 1990 in accordance with new EPA regulations.

Mr. Anderson gave an overview of the processes followed by the Smithsonian's Office of Audits and Investigations in the course of working from its draft reports to its final recommendations. While a recent review indicated that a substantial number of recommendations had not been fulfilled, as a result of special efforts many of these "open recommendations" have now been satisfied. At the suggestion of the Committee it was agreed to assign a completion date for each audit recommendation.

Mr. Richards reported on the status of collections inventorying, noting that tremendous differences in sizes of the museums' collections, and the sheer volume of those collections, have created special problems in conducting the physical inventory and reconciling that inventory with existing records of the collections.  He stressed that all museums have made extraordinary progress and have addressed these problems seriously. Against the backdrop of some persisting problems, effective pressure is being applied by Smithsonian management. Mr. Bearman said the extraordinary volume and diversity of the National Collections, and their average annual transaction rate of 18%, have in the past dictated that a great number and types of inventory systems and collections management systems be implemented to serve various needs. While no attempt is being made to try to encompass all these requirements in a single system, Mr. Bearman pointed out that there is emerging a concept of a framework for all collections recording and management systems based on the inventory. In response to questions, he noted that a specialized information system has been developed to keep track of items destined to move to the Museum Support Center (at such stages as preparation and packing, the move, and MSC storage location, etc.), and Mr. Hobbins outlined the difficulties experienced in the procurement of Support Center dry-storage equipment, on which topic there will be a status report for the September Regents' meeting.

Mr. Acheson urged the Regents' participation in an inspection visit to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. An appendix to the Committee's report summarizes Mr. Acheson's meeting of June 28 in Under Secretary Anderson's office which provided timely guidance to Coopers and Lybrand on their plan for an audit of fiscal year 1985 funds.

[[underlined]] The Regents' ad hoc Committee on Museum Restaurant Services [[/underlined]]

As agreed by the Regents at their meeting of May 6, 1985, the Chancellor has appointed an [[underlined]] ad hoc [[/underlined]] committee of the Regents "to review the subject of Smithsonian restaurant services and the various options for the financing, location, and qualities of the restaurant facility at the National Air and Space Museum and ... to report its views to the Board of Regents." Appointed were Senator Sasser (Chairman), Messrs. Conte and Mineta, and Regent Emeritus Haskins.