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o Coordination of programs and collaborative activities within and between 

 departments 



o A separate mjinagement focus for the interrelated Science and Education agencies 



o Mobilization of fiscal and other resources to implement strategic decisions 



With respect to the partnership between the SAESs and the Cooperative State Research 

 Service (CSRS), there are several changes that would expedite achieving the new vision and 

 goals of the USDA: 



o Expand the role of CSRS in facilitating interaction between the SAESs and: 



o other parts of the USDA (especially the action agencies) 



o other "users" of the results of agricultural research and development in the 



federal system 

 o other parts of the federal science establishment 



o Redirect CSRS resources to take on a larger role in facilitating engagements, while 



reducing the effort on disciplinary reviews; place more emphasis on interdisciplinary 

 reviews that assess progress in achieving goals on high priority topical issues 



o Reduce or eliminate pork barrel funding of research and faciUties while continuing 

 peer reviewed special grants of national importance, including special grants for 

 "contract research" 



o Develop a competitive peer reviewed mechanism for selection of facilities to be 



partially supported with federal funding 



o Decentralize review and approval of regional research to the level of regional 

 associations of SAESs. Create a greater dynamic in the use of regional research 

 funds to address priority issues. Make more use of regional research funds as seed 

 money to develop multi-state collaboration for external funding 



o Continue to expand the use of senior faculty and administrators from universities for 

 program management in CSRS, with a shift towards the NSF program director role. 



o Improve the ability to provide a timely documentation of accomplishments that wiU 



provide a clearer picture of accountability for the use of federal funds in agricultural 

 research and development. Improve the Current Research Information System 

 (CRIS) to provide science and management information on problem and issue based 

 subject matter. Make CRIS interactive with all parts of the USDA science and 

 education activity. 



(Attachments follow:) 



