B. Upon filing the petition, the authority may conduct hearings and conduct investigations deemed necessary and advisable, and thereafter take action as it deems appropriate in the premises and within its sphere of cooperative action. The authority may:

1. 1. Act as a bargaining and negotiating agency in transactions and dealings between the various departments of the federal government and any petitioning persons or operating units.
2. 2. Serve as a connecting, intermediate or contracting medium for the petitioners when for united or joint participation such a medium is convenient or essential to the receipt, acceptance or enjoyment by the petitioners of any financial proposals, grants or other benefits made available by any federal statute or federal department.
3. 3. Act as a coordinating, clearing, administering, supervising or activating instrumentality by and through which petitioners may cooperate or unite through or by contracts or agreements in the application or pooling of their resources, functional rights or privileges for common purposes cognizable by this chapter.