198 



Mr. Cbaixman, thank you for the opportunity to appear today before the Subcommittee. I am 

 Daryl Chubin, a senior associate at the Office of Tedmology Assessment and project director for die 

 May 1991 rq>oit, Federaify Funded Research: Decisions for a Decade.^ 



OTA'S testimony first provides a framework for thinking about setting priorities and 

 establishing criteria for investing in projects, people, and infrastructure, based on the 1991 

 comprehensive assessment of federally funded research. Then it turns to the specific case of 

 agricultural research and addresses these questions through the findings of another OTA report, A New 

 Technological Era for American Agriculture (August 1992). 



Before recountii]g die findings most relevant to tliis hearing, I remind the Subcommittee that 

 facilities are "enabling technologies;" they both sustain an institution's existing capacity to do research 

 and extend that capacity-at a cost. From diis per^>ective, die fundamental question is how die 

 construction of new facilities fits into the overall Department of Agriculture (USD A) mission as well as 

 its near-teim priorities. What purpose shall be served by diese facilities? Who is to bear the financial 

 burden for construction and maintenance? Will this burden be shared? Answers to such questions-and 

 corresponding invesdnents— flow from a coherent mission statemeiu and strategic plan that articulate 

 priorities in support of research. 



Fmdings Fmm Pfitmiify Funded Research: Den\inn^fnra Tterade 



The strength of the Federal R&D system is its "phiralistic" structure; the system meets die 

 needs of each mission agency and its clientele. Each research agency also has its own culture, with 

 programs designed to achieve specific objectives. How to preserve this strength ibrou^ diversity in a 

 climate of budgetary constraints is a continuing challenge to poUcymakets. 



1 The findings of this repoit, whidi looked acrocs the six m^or research and development (R&D) 



agencies, offer a perspective on choices for Federal investmeot, inchiding the n^ of researdi facilities in the 

 Federal R&D portfolio. U.S. Congress. Office of Tedmology Assessment, FederaUy Funded Research: 

 Dedsions far a Decade (WaOuaguxi, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. May 1991). 



