Federal R & D Funding

The federal government provides a little over $100 billion per year (actually $127 billion in FY 2004) on R&D activities.   There is no "R&D budget" that either the White House or the Congress addresses in one aggregate.   Rather, the total appropriated funding for R&D is simply the total of the R&D portions of each federal agency, after the dust has settled. The AAAS, in table 1, gives the R&D numbers for FY2003 and FY2004.

This table shows both President Bush's request and the congressional action (final appropriations), compared with the prior year's (FY2003) funding (appropriations), for each agency, as well as percent increases and R&D totals.   Over half of federal R&D funding is contained in the Defense (DoD) budget and most of that is for development, including new planes, ships, missiles and other large weapons systems.

NSF's request actually appears in the President's budget request , which is one part of the total budget request.   Each agency negotiates its own budget, first with the President, through the White House OMB, then, after the President has set the bottom line numbers for each agency in his "budget request", with the Congress.   The agencies defend the President's request, whether or not they are happy with the President's decisions.   Thus, the agency's "budget request" is what the President decides the agency can request, usually a smaller number than the agency feels it needs and can justify.   For example, the NSF "requested" $5.48 billion for FY2004 (the year that began Oct. 1, 2003).   NSF very likely had asked the President to propose a much larger budget for them. But, that "negotiation" between the NSF and the President is private and not even shared with the Congress.

In the NSF overview, you can see how NSF pitched it's requested increase (table 2), where it was placing its priorities (table 3), and how the agency plans to allocate funding (table 4).

Within the $5.481 billion total, NSF requested $4.106 billion for "Research and Related Activities" which covers mostly competitive research grants to university faculty (table 2).   $938 million was asked for "Education and Human Resources" to support the improvement of science education and increase diversity in the science and engineering workforce.   NSF has three other accounts:   "Major Research Equipment/Facilities Construction" (e.g. telescopes, particle accelerators, Antarctic facilities, ships, planes, and large computers), "Salaries and Expenses" (to cover NSF's staff), and the "Inspector General" (an internal auditor for NSF and its grantees who reports to the National Science Board and the Congress).   All of these accounts are binding commitments.   If NSF receives its request, then it is expected to spend approximately $938 million on Education and Human Resources activities, unless the Congress approves a specific request to do otherwise.

Table 2 - The summary of NSF's rollout. NSF has five separate appropriation accounts.

NSF's appropriations accounts and programs, including "priority areas", are described in the NSF overview and table 3.   Thus, NSF is proposing to spend $248 million for "Nanoscale S&E" in FY2004.   This is NSF's portion of what the President has said he plans to allocate in FY2004 ($849 million for all agencies) to the total National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI).   These funds will be distributed around the agency directorates and divisions, not held in a single account.   This table is not a binding commitment, but a promise to the White House and the Congress of what the different programs will spend on each priority.

Table 3 - The "Priority Areas" for the NSF.

The NSF overview section of the FY 2004 Budget Request also indicates how NSF plans to allocate funding according to other categories of spending, e.g. "people",   "ideas", "tools", and "administration and management" (table 4).   These so-called "strategic goals" are collective categories that, at a high level of aggregation, demonstrate the impact of the agency's funding.   These are not binding commitments, but rather statements of intent.   However, the agency will have to report on their actual allocations after the year is out.

Table 4 - The NSF budget allocated to its strategic goals.

Most of NSF's funding goes out to universities and other research and educational organizations, through competitive peer-reviewed proposals.   NSF prides itself for using expert reviewers to select and fund the best people with the best ideas.   The solicitation of proposals, identification of reviewers, and final decisions to fund or reject a proposal are made at each division (e.g. Division of Chemistry) and directorate   (e.g. Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences) levels.   Thus, in NSF's FY2004 "Budget Request", the agency proposes to allocate the funding to directorates and divisions .

Relevant Websites

The President's FY 2004 total budget requested.

Supporting material

NSF FY 2004 Budget to Congress

National Nanotechnology Initiative

NNI FY 2004 Budget

 

 

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