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5 Measuring R&D Spending by the Federal Government
Pages 102-118

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From page 102...
... Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) budget authority information that underscores decisions on the federal Science and Engineering (S8cE)
From page 103...
... In view of the uses put to the data as addressed in Chapter 2, we examine the adequacy and relevance of this data collection. Finally, we consider the RaDiUS database to determine the extent to which this data source compliments or competes with the federal funds survey.
From page 104...
... Among the data removed from collection are data for the special foreign currency program and detailed field of SHE data for estimated out-years. Some data were removed but later reinstated by popular demand.
From page 105...
... The responses and subsequent processing drag on to the extent that data on federal obligations and outlays with a reference period of September 2001 were not available in brief form until June 2003, or in full detail until April of 2004—some 2A years later. (Issues of timeliness for all of the NSF surveys are addressed in Chapter 8.)
From page 106...
... It has provided an annual tabulation of the results in the "Analytical Perspectives: Research and Development" section of the president's budget, explicitly labeling the presentation as the "Federal Science and Technology Budget" beginning with the FY 2002 budget proposal (U.S. Of rice of Management and Budget, 2004)
From page 107...
... In order to replicate the FS8`T budget authority information published by OMB, the federal funds survey would need to collect programmatic information not now collected that would extend the data the collection beyond the normal R&D, particularly in the civilian agencies. Nonetheless, to meet this demand, NSF has collected breakouts of DoD major weapons systems developments from DoD for the past four years and has recently begun breaking out atomic energy defense program spending at DOE.
From page 108...
... A-11 (1998) Conduct of ReiDb Basic Reseatch Applied Reseatch Development Systematic study ditected towatd gteatet knowledge ot nndetstanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and ot observable facts without specific app Cations towards processes ot products in mind.
From page 109...
... Advanced Technology Development (6.3) Systematic study directed toward g eater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and or observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind.
From page 110...
... Includes the acquisition, design, and construction of, or major repairs or alterations to all physical fact ities for use in ROD activities. Facilities include land, buildings, and fixed capital equipment, regardless of whether the facilities are to be used by the government or by a private organization, and regardless of where title to the property may rest.
From page 111...
... Developmental Test em Evaluation Includes those development projects in support of development acquisition prog ams or upgrades still in engineering and manufacturing development, but which have received Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) or other approval for production, or production funds have been included in the DoD budget submission for the budget or subsequent fiscal year.
From page 112...
... These sources usually exist for other purposes and were not designed with the objective of identifying Rcn~D activities with precision.l For each transactional record culled from these databases, it is necessary for the RaDiUS builders to construct a record that depicts the hierarchial levels that permits aggregation back into agency and subagency totals. Depending on the data source, the detailed records contain (in addition to agencyidentifying information)
From page 113...
... Although it has several drawbacks, including the inability to extract important field-of-science data from the administrative data sources, the use of administrative records represents a valuable addition to the stock of information on the federal ROD portfolio. The committee does not suggest that an administrative database will ever supplant the collection of federal funds data on a regular basis.
From page 114...
... . The lack of timeliness is such a severe deterrent to utility of the data that most organizations that assess ROD spending trends turn to budget authority data rather than obligations and outlays, Limiting timely application of some very useful ROD analysis tools, such as the Federal Science and Technology Budget.
From page 115...
... It also has experience in gathering data that are more encompassing of the scope of science and engineering than the more restrictive traditional ROD definitions that underscore the federal funds survey. These innovations in data collection are part of the annual Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit institutions.
From page 116...
... 3The at tomated systems may ease data collection, but also they may lead to errors in the process of identifying and tabulating the individual record data. Changes in sottv are have been known to have an influence on the level of federal suppott tepotted For example, NSF was fotced to cease pub icarion of non-S&E suppott estimates in EY 1993 when the Depattment of Education revamped codes in a majot softwate modification.
From page 117...
... . The RaDiUS database is enriched with information from sources that are secondary to agency sources: the Federal Procurement Data System, which tracks all federal contracts; the Federal Assistance Awards Data System, operated by the Census Bureau which tracks federal grants and cooperative agreements; and the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance, compiled by the General Services Administration, of all programs, projects, services, and other types of assistance provided to nonfederal entities.
From page 118...
... It is possible that coding errors, such as an incorrect institutional code or incorrect branch of a multiunit institution, could lead to errors in the estimates of funding by institution. Matching program descriptions to proper funding categories may cause some confusion on the part of respondents.


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