AIP FYI #137: Presidential Council Seeks Input from Research Community

Researchers have the opportunity during the next six weeks to offer
their recommendations on how to improve the management of federal
research grants. At a series of workshops to begin next week at
three locations around the country, a cabinet-level panel is
soliciting the views of research performers in preparation for a
two-day meeting in Washington, D.C. These meetings are the
beginning phase of a process to revise the science and technology
research grant making and administration process.

These meetings are being held by a subcommittee of the National
Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The council, which usually
operates out of the public’s eye, is chaired by President Bush.
Council members include the Vice President, Assistant to the
President for Science and Technology John Marburger, and relevant
cabinet secretaries and agency heads. NSTC should not be confused
with the Office of Science and Technology Policy or the President’s
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Information on all
of these units can be accessed through the OSTP site at
http://ostp.gov

Under the NSTC is a Committee on Science. Beneath this, and
responsible for this process, is the Subcommittee on Research
Business Models. Cognizant of changes that have occurred in the
conduct of federally-sponsored research in the last few years, the
subcommittee has posed nine questions on which it is seeking the
input of research performers. In a little-publicized notice in the
Federal Register on August 6, the subcommittee asks for comments,
“including how changes . . . have impacted research costs,” in areas
such as accountability, inconsistencies in the policies of the
federal government and universities, state and institutional
requirements, research support, multidisciplinary/collaborative
research, research infrastructure, information technology, and
technology transfer optimization. A careful reading of these
questions is important to understanding the subcommittee’s focus.
The August 6 Federal Register notice can be read by accessing
http://rbm.nih.gov./

Three regional meetings will be held to receive public comment on
these questions. The first meeting will be held October 27 at
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the next on November 12 at
the University of Minnesota, and the third on November 17 at the
University of North Carolina. Each meeting will address different
questions. These hearings will serve as an input to a two-day
subcommittee meeting in Washington on December 9 and 10. Portions
of the December meeting will be broadcast. Information on these
meetings can be read in the Federal Register by accessing
http://rbm.nih.gov./ under the first September 16 notice. Review of
the August 6 notice is necessary to fully understand the
Subcommittee’s meeting agenda.

Written comments will be accepted up to December 9 via the
procedures outlined in the second Federal Register notice. NSTC
anticipates that this effort will result in changes in some of the
relatively easy issues by next summer, but realizes that it will
take longer to resolve some of the larger issues.

Richard M. Jones

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org http://www.aip.org/gov

(301) 209-3094