Chapter: 4 Science & Engineering Indicators 93
Patterns of Federal Agency Support
Because most functional categories receive their R& D support from relatively few agencies, agency support patterns are similar to the distribution pattern of Government R& D support by functional objective. In 1994, the Federal Government will obligate (see "Definitions,") an estimated $74 billion in support of R& D and related facilities. Although some 25 federal agencies contribute to this total, 95 percent of the funding is provided by just 6 agencies, as follows:

Since 1981, DOD has provided more R& D funds annually (for both in-house and external research) than all other agencies combined. (See figure 4-13 and appendix table 4-10.) This dominance in DOD's funding share peaked in 1986 at 64 percent of total.

At $11 billion in 1994, the health programs of HHS--particularly its National Institutes of Health (NIH) which recently absorbed the annual $1 billion R& D functions of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration accounts for the second largest share of all federal R& D funding. (Click here for footnote 36.) HHS is also the source of roughly 40 percent of federal basic research funds disbursed nationwide, most of which are slated for research in the life sciences. (See appendix table 4-15.) Between 1986 and 1994, total R& D obligations by HHS grew $5 billion, or 46 percent in constant dollars. (Click here for footnote 37.) NASA's recent R& D budget has also climbed significantly. Like that of HHS, it was up $5 billion, or 95 percent in constant dollars during the 1986-94 period. One-fifth of NASA's estimated 1994 R& D budget is planned for Space Station Freedom SRS 1993b.

Among the other nondefense agencies, the Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation have also experienced relatively fast research growth during the past several years. Between 1990 and 1994, inflation-adjusted R& D obligations grew by an estimated 49 percent for Commerce-primarily for industry-related applied research support-and by 26 percent for NSF, especially for university-performed basic research. In terms of their absolute funding levels, the amount of R& D support from these two agencies (a combined $3 billion) pale when compared with those of the top four federal funders.

DOD emphasizes programs in their development stage: Relatively little DOD funding is provided for basic or applied research. Aggregate funding by all other federal agencies is more evenly distributed among the three R& D categories (about 30 percent of total for each) and R& D plant projects (10 percent of total). (See figure 4-14 and appendix table 4-10.)

Footnote 36:
AIDS research accounts for $1.3 billion, or 12 percent, of the 1994 HHS R&D funding total.

Footnote 37:
Health-related research costs, however, have risen considerable faster than would be indicated by the GDP implicit price deflator. When HHS R& D expenditures are deflated with the BRDPI (see "Health: The Growing Focus of National R&D Support", the estimated increase from 1986 to 1994 is one-fourth less (or 34 percent) than that calculated using the GDP deflator.

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