This paper discusses the establishment of a research service in the Norwegian parliament. The first section presents some general assumptions regarding a research service in parliament. The second section describes the first initiative, a mandate in the 1970s to establish a commission to clarify the need for such a service. The third section introduces the process of establishing the research service in the late 1990s. The fourth and fifth sections discuss a newspaper debate among politicians on this issue that began when the opposing parties stated that they did not fully trust the government's handling of a certain matter. The sixth section summarizes the commission's report on the "why" and "how" of establishing a research service. The seventh section describes the establishment of the research service in October 1999. (MES)