209 



Exhibit 2 



Issue 



Table 1-3 — Summary of Issues and Possible Congressional Responses 



Possible congressional responses 



Setting priorities for research 



Coping with changing 

 expenditures for 

 research 



Adapting education and 

 human resources to meet 

 future needs 



Refining data collection and 

 analysis to improve re- 

 search dedsionmaking 



Hearings on crosscutting priorities and congressional designation of 

 a IxxJy of the Federal Government to evaluate priority setting. 



Application of criteria to: a) promote education and human resources, 

 b) build regional and institutional capacity in merit-based research 

 dedsionmaking, and c) balance little sdence and megaproject 

 initiatives. 



Oversight of agency research programs that focuses on strategies to 

 fulfill the atx>ve criteria, and on responses to priority setting. 



Encouragement of greater oost-accountatxiity by the research agen- 

 cies and research performers (espedally for indirect costs, 

 megaprojects, and other nxjitlyear initiatives). 



Allowance for the agencies to pursue direct cost containment 

 measures for spedfic Hems of research budgets and to eve^uate 

 the effectiveness of each measure. 



Programs that focus investment on tfie educational pipeline at the 



K-12 and undergraduate levels. 

 Attention to diversity in the human resource base for research, 



espedally to the contributions of underpartidpating groups. 

 Incentives for adapting agency programs and proposal requirements 



to a changing rTX>del of research (wtiere teams are larger, more 



spedalized, and share research equipment and facilities). 



Funding to: a) augment within-agerKy data collection and analysis on 

 the Federal research system, and b) increase use of research 

 program evaluatton at the research agendes. 



Encouragement of data presentation and interpretation for use in 

 policymaking, e.g., employing indicators and other techniques 

 that measure outcomes and progress toward stated objectives. 



SOURCE: Otfic* of Technology Ass«ssm«nt. 1991 . 



