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* Promote the modernization of research and research training facilities at eligible 



Institutions. 



* Ensure that facilities constructed in part with Federal funds met national priority 



needs in the environmental, food and agricultural sciences. 



* Provide a source of funding to research universities so that they would not pressure 



Congress for direct appropriations. 



* Provide Congress with an alternative to meet the growing requests for facilities 



funding. 



5. Why is it important to balance facility funding with the National Research Initiative 

 Competitive Grants Program. 



The National Research Initiative provided a new source of funding to do high priority 

 research in the national interest often at the cutting edge of science. In order to ensure 

 that there are modern facilities, either new or renovated, in which to conduct the research, 

 it was proposed to provide facilities funding in an amount that would be equivalent to 

 twenty percent of the NRI. As I have stated, we already have a direct funded facilities 

 program. Part of those funds could be used in a program which is associated with the NRI 

 to ensure that recipients of research grants also have the opportunity to compete for 

 facilities in which to conduct the research. 



6. How much of a priority should be placed upon renovation of existing facilities as opposed 

 to construction of new? 



The decision to allocate funds for new construction versus renovation of exiting facilities 

 has to be done on a case-by-case basis. In the competitive process, one criterion may be 

 how much net assignable square feet will be obtained from the proposed investment. In 

 some cases renovation of an existing facility may be cost effective. In other cases, it may 

 be best to reassign exiting space to non-science disciplines and build new space for 

 research, particularly where there is a high demand for utilities. 



7. Without infusion of facilities funds at USDA do we have a solid enough base currently 

 to handle full funding of the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program at 

 1990 Farm Bill authorized levels? 



Yes. Currently we still fund a relatively small percentage of the grants submitted and the 

 duration is still under three years. One the goals of the NRI was to raise the percentage 

 of proposals funded and to fund for a longer period of time, for example, for five years 

 rather than less than three years. The other point which I have made above is that we do 

 have a direct-funded facilities program. The argument that I wish to make is that the 

 current program could be more effective if it were run on a competitive basis and used the 

 priorities similar to those used for the NRI. 



