In 1980, Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act (BDA) to allow universities, not-for-profit corporations, and small businesses to retain title to and market federally funded inventions, and to allow federal agencies to grant exclusive licenses for federally owned technology. This report to congressional committees addresses the manner in which the BDA is being administered in research universities, and provides information on the law's administration by the eight largest federal agencies funding research and development (R&D) and by ten of the largest U.S. research universities; the impact of the BDA is also examined. The report's major findings include: (1) for fiscal year (FY) 1995, of the $12.1 billion in direct federal funding for science and engineering, 98.1 percent came from 8 agencies; (2)administration of the BDA is decentralized and relies heavily on voluntary compliance by universities; (3) the universities visited accounted for over 28 percent of the direct R&D funding awarded in FY 1995 and received 57.1 percent of all licensing income going to universities in FY 1996; (4) each university visited had established special units to handle the reporting and licensing; and (5) despite the perception that the BDA is working well, none of the agencies or universities contacted had evaluated its effects. Eighteen appendices describe the report's methodology; list funding by university, by federal agency, and by program; and discuss implementation procedures at the covered institutions. (MAB)