Before the Second World War, government scientists were recruited and employed by the Civil Service on an ad hoc basis, with grades, job titles, and organizations that varied between departments.
This report was endorsed by the Tomlin Commission, however it was impossible to reach agreement with the relevant staff associations, who wanted other professional groups within the civil service to be similarly reorganized, and nothing ended up happening.
[1] World War Two changed this by causing a far greater number of scientific and technical staff to be employed by the government.
Scientists were contracted to research (through study and experiment) a specified subject, without constraints as to method, and to issue reports to the OSRD.
Defence research was explicitly excluded from its charter, even though Dr Bush had originally envisioned the NSF as including that as well.