Making Hard Choices: OMB and OSTP Issue Guidance to Agencies on Formulation of FY 2014 Budget Requests
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) have issued two memorandums in the last month to department and agency heads providing guidance on formulating budget requests for the fiscal year starting on October 1, 2013. These FY 2014 requests will be sent to Congress next February.
The memos total about six and one-half pages. The key words for the science community are found in the May 18 OMB memorandum:
“The 2014 Budget must continue to cut lower-priority spending in order to create room for the most effective investments in areas critical to economic growth and job creation, including education, innovation, infrastructure, and research and development.”
The June 6 OMB and OSTP memorandum ’s subject is “Science and Technology Priorities for the FY 2014 budget.”The opening paragraph declares:
“Scientific discovery, technological breakthroughs, and innovation are the primary engines for expanding the frontiers of human knowledge and are vital for responding to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. We look to scientific innovation to promote sustainable economic growth and job creation, improve the health of the population, move toward a clean energy future, address global climate change, manage competing demands on environmental resources, and ensure the security of the Nation.”
“In particular, the Nation benefits from government funding for basic and applied research in areas in which the private sector does not have the economic incentive to invest. Because of the crucial government role in supporting research, in general agencies should give priority to funding for research above funding for development activities.”
“Within research portfolios, agencies are encouraged to identify and pursue ‘Grand Challenges’ -ambitious goals that require advances in science, technology and innovation to achieve.”
“Agencies should also support the research tools and infrastructure needed to ensure that U.S, science remains at the leading edge of discovery, but in delineating priorities, any proposals for new major facilities must fit within Federal real property guidance and be fully justified and balanced against funding for research activities and operations of existing facilities.”
“In a time of constrained resources, agencies should continue to direct resources to high-priority activities and identify potential eliminations or reductions in less-effective, lower-quality, or lower priority programs. Agencies engaged in complementary activities should consult with each other during the budget planning process so that resources are coordinated to maximize their impact and to avoid inappropriate duplication. They should also avoid duplicating research in areas that already receive funding from the private sector. Agencies should explain in their budget submissions how they are redirecting available resources from lower-priority areas to science and technology activities that address the priorities described below.”
“agencies should describe the targeted outcomes of research and development (R&D) programs using meaningful, measurable, quantitative metrics where possible and describe how they plan to evaluate the success of those programs.”
“In the 2014 Budget, agencies should balance priorities to ensure resources are adequately allocated for agency-specific, mission-driven research while focusing resources, where appropriate, on addressing the following multi-agency research activities that cannot be addressed effectively by a single agency.”