The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
The Situation
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a non-profit scientific organization established in 1947 to advance research and education in the biological sciences. The institute is an umbrella group that includes 87 scientific societies of biologists who study all aspects of biological sciences. Today, more than 6,000 individuals belong to AIBS.
Ellen Paul, Public Policy Representative for the American Institute for Biological Science, is responsible for compiling a bi-weekly legislative policy report and handling all of the regulatory affairs for the Institute. AIBS follows legislation of interest to its members, particularly appropriations and authorization bills related to federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Challenge
"To monitor information, we were using Thomas and the 'hunt and peck method' of finding legislative history through other resources such as reading the Congressional Record. The problem with Thomas is that information doesn't always get posted online very quickly," said Ms. Paul.
Time-sensitive tracking of budget and appropriations legislation is critical to AIBS's effective monitoring and legislation and policy-making efforts. "We needed a tracking service because we were having a very hard time following the appropriations bills." AIBS wanted to expand their scope of coverage, but did not have enough manpower to fulfill their needs. The challenge AIBS faced was in getting the information they needed quickly, with limited resources, and in a centralized location.
The Decision
AIBS initially became a client of GalleryWatch's USBudget service in order to access the timely and comprehensive information on issue-specific appropriations and authorizations bills. Ms. Paul stated that "a benefit of GalleryWatch's USBudget service is that you can search across fiscal years. We can track appropriations legislation over a number of years, and with USBudget's comparison chart, actually 'do' line-items…literally see the funding numbers for individual programs! With the touch of a button, we can easily follow detailed line-item program funding much more easily than with any other resource."
Shortly after becoming a USBudget client, AIBS expanded their GalleryWatch services to include federal legislative and regulatory tracking services. "When we had the budget available for such resources, we were able to expand to include other legislative and regulatory tracking services. We had explored a number of available services and providers of legislative tracking and found that GalleryWatch provides the most information at the most reasonable price. The services, customer and product support we receive with GalleryWatch are much more competitive than the alternatives."
The GalleryWatch Difference
"I can plan my calendar with the e-mail notifications I receive from GalleryWatch… each e-mail notifies me when a mark-up or any Congressional Committee hearing will be held that affects key legislation of value to AIBS and our members."
"The overall advantage of GalleryWatch is the speed at which information gets posted. We don't have to spend valuable time and resources searching for that information now," said Ms. Paul. "They provide data that is especially hard to find."
"George Krumbhaar's [Managing Editor of USBudget] articles are great! They provide critical information that is detrimental to the planning of our public policy strategy. Beyond this, the GalleryWatch client support service is incredible. They are really responsive to our suggestions for any modifications and we have noticed that changes we have recommended have actually been made. It is a novel concept to find an attentive company that actually listens to clients!"
About GalleryWatch's USBudget and Other Federal Services
Information and services provided by GalleryWatch on the federal level include tracking and searching capabilities on legislation, congressional members and committees, and agencies. Notification capabilities for most services include receiving timely updates via e-mail, text messaging, PDA's, and pagers. Two exclusive services offered by GalleryWatch are Congressional VIP which enables users to effortlessly track and analyze Member voting history and patterns, and GalleryWatch's USBudget service, the most comprehensive source of information on the $2.1 trillion federal budget which offers in-depth analysis and summaries on all the components and line-item program details of the budget. Additional services include committee transcripts, committee reports, and editorial coverage which are available though GalleryWatch's partnership with The National Journal and Congressional Research Reports which are available through GalleryWatch's partnership with Penny Hill Press.
|