NSF Workload Measures
Since the 1980s, both the Foundation's
budget levels and the quantity and complexity of its workload
have increased dramatically. During this same period, the staffing
levels available to manage this workload have remained relatively
stable. In FY 1985, the Foundation's budget level was $1.5 billion
and it was staffed with 1,173 FTEs. Eleven years later, in FY
1996, NSF's budget level had more than doubled to $3.2 billion,
while the FTE level increased by only 2.8% to 1,206. Below, the
increases in NSF staff productivity can be seen in specific indicators
measuring the number of competitive proposals, award actions,
and budget dollars per NSF FTE, as well as administrative dollars
as a percent of the NSF budget. NSF maintained its productivity
in FY 1996 despite the closing of the agency for more than one
month during the two federal government shutdowns.
Percentage of Proposals Processed
within Six Months:
NSF's customer service standard states that NSF will be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months for 95 percent of proposals. In this category, NSF's performance in FY 1996 was more directly effected by the two federal government shutdowns. The agency is taking steps to improve performance for this indicator in FY 1997 (see FastLane below).
Standard vs. Continuing Grants
NSF has two different mechanisms for
making awards for regular research and education projects: 1)
Standard grants provide funds in one action to cover all proposed
activities for the full duration (generally up to 3 years) of
the project. 2) Continuing grants provide funding in increments,
one action covers the first year of activity, and additional funding
actions are made each year until completion of the project.
Standard grants are more efficient administratively because they
require only one award action whereas continuing grants require
multiple award actions in consecutive years. Standard grants
also provide greater management flexibility because they avoid
committing funds from future year appropriations, which occurs
when continuing grants are utilized. NSF intends to increase
the proportion of "standard" grants as opposed to "continuing"
grants in an effort to streamline administrative procedures as
staffing resources are reduced and budgets remain tight.
Performers
In FY 1996 NSF provided funding to 2,139
academic institutions, small businesses, federally funded research
and development centers, and research organizations. The
number of businesses and other "non-traditional" organizations
receiving NSF awards has increased by 50% since 1991, mainly due
to the SBIR Program. This has required additional effort and dedication
of resources for pre-award financial and management reviews, outreach
and awardee education and additional audit needs. In FY 1996,
Research Project Support awards were made to 1,212 institutions;
Education and Training awards were made to 1,127 institutions;
and Research Facility awards were made to 171 institutions.
(Common institutions are counted in each award category.)
FastLane: Reducing Administrative
Burden
Proposal submission and review is the
Foundation's central business process. NSF is very concerned
about the administrative burden associated with proposal submission
and review, and is constantly working to improve this process.
The FastLane Project has become a cornerstone in this effort
by reengineering all major business transactions between NSF and
the research community, and replacing paper based processes with
simpler and more efficient electronic ones using the World Wide
Web.
FastLane will reduce the administrative
burden associated with the proposal and award process for researchers
and grantee administrators, for NSF staff, and for the experts
who review NSF proposals.
The current paper-based process consumes hundreds of thousands
of hours in the preparation, submission, and review of proposals.
Many of the costs of this process are reimbursed by the government
in the form of indirect costs; most of the hours consumed by researchers
in this process are hours that could be better spent on research.
Our current indicators focus on the
rate of adoption of FastLane by the research community. FastLane
has only recently become available to researchers and grantee
officials (October 1995). In that short period researchers and
grantee officials are using FastLane at an increasing rate each
month.
As an initiative utilizing FastLane,
NSF's innovative Recognition Awards for the Integration of Research
and Education (RAIRE) program has also served as a dramatic prototype
for a fully electronic proposal and award process. Proposals,
merit reviews and internal NSF documentation were all handled
"on-line" and awards will be issued electronically.
Chosen from among 850 nominees in ten
categories, the FastLane project was the recipient of the 1996
National Information Infrastructure Award in the government category.
The NII Awards were created to recognize today's excellence and
tomorrow's opportunities on the national and global information
infrastructure. The Government Award honors uses of the information
infrastructure to improve the effectiveness of government and
increase government's ability to meet citizen needs. Vice President
Gore provided his congratulations by stating that "It is
through your vision, leadership, and entrepreneurial sprit that
the benefits of the Information Superhighway are brought to every
sector of the American and global society."
In fiscal year 1997, NSF continues to
develop baseline estimates of the time and effort needed for our
external customers to complete the administrative requirements
for submitting proposals, fulfill reporting requirements, and
carry out other grants administration transactions. These estimates
will be used to help establish performance indicators for administrative
burden. Our goal is to reduce the time and effort associated
with these transactions by 50 percent.
FinanceNet: Catalyzing Government
Finance
FinanceNet is the Internet's worldwide
home for public financial management. FinanceNet began as a concept
at the National Performance Review in early 1994 and is now staffed
and operated by NSF under memoranda of agreement with agency members
of the U.S. Chief Financial Officers Council.
The mission of FinanceNet is to serve
as a vehicle and catalyst for continuous improvement and innovation,
at all levels of government, in the accountability and stewardship
of taxpayer resources by impacting financial management resources,
practices, policies and professional standards through the sharing
of best practices and dissemination of electronic information.
FinanceNet is the largest government
administrative network operating on all Internet service platforms
in the world. FinanceNet posts an average of 75 new financial
management documents every month, processes over 300 e-mail messages
daily and is visited at the rate of nearly 12 million "hits"
per year.
FinanceNet's newest Internet endeavor
is its leadership role in coordinating the International GovNews
Project (IGP). This project is actively supported and promoted
by Vice President Al Gore, the National Performance Review and
the CFO Council. The International GovNews Project will (1) provide
affordable, free and equal access to public government information,
and (2) create new feedback channels for free and open dialog
between world governments and their publics by creating a new
hierarchy (gov.*) on the Internet's Usenet News system. The Project
is scheduled for U.S. release in early 1997.