From the American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
http://www.aip.org/gov
Number 137: October 25, 2003
Presidential Council Seeks Input from Research Community
To offer recommendations to the National Science and Technology Council
on how to improve the management of federal research grants, see
http://rbm.nih.gov./. Written comments will be accepted up to 9 December
2003.
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.