Federal R&D Statistics

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: fyi () aip org
Date: October 19, 2004 2:15:52 PM EDT
To: farber () CENTRAL CIS UPENN EDU
Subject: FYI #139: Federal R&D Statistics
Reply-To: fyi () aip org

FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 139: October 19, 2004

Recent Statistics on Federal R&D Funding

The National Science Foundation has a legislative mandate to serve
as a clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and analysis
of data on science and engineering funding and resources.  From the
data collected by its Division of Science Resources Statistics, NSF
not only puts out major reports but also short "InfoBriefs" that
highlight recent findings.  Two recent InfoBriefs look at
projections of how much the federal government spent on R&D during
fiscal year 2004, and how the amount available for the government to
spend on R&D would change under the administration's proposed FY
2005 budget.

FEDERAL OBLIGATIONS FOR R&D AND R&D PLANT, FY 2004:

Total federal obligations for R&D and R&D plant have increased
steadily for most of the past decade and, according to preliminary
estimates, climbed to $105.2 billion in FY 2004.  This represents an
increase of approximately 4 percent over the FY 2003 level, or 3
percent in inflation-adjusted dollars.  This information is provided
in a NSF InfoBrief entitled, "Federal Obligations for R&D and R&D
Plant Expected to Reach Over $105 Billion in FY 2004" (NSF04-331,
July 2004).

The InfoBrief projects that, of the $105.2 billion total, 51 percent
($54.1 billion) will be used for research, 45 percent ($47.0
billion) for development, and 4 percent ($4.2 billion) for R&D
plant.  The share of the total devoted to research has grown an
average of 6 percent annually since FY 1990.  The share devoted to
development, after decreasing since FY 1990, is estimated to grow 9
percent between FY 2003 and FY 2004, while the share going to R&D
plant is projected to drop 21 percent.

The federal obligation for research in FY 2004 is projected to be
almost evenly split between basic research ($26.6 billion) and
applied research ($27.4 billion).  Six departments and agencies are
expected to account for 93 percent of research obligations in FY
2004: the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of
Defense, the Department of Energy, NASA, NSF, and the Department of
Agriculture.

The life sciences, according to the InfoBrief, are expected to
account for over one-half of the total research funding (54.3
percent).  Engineering is projected to receive the next highest
amount (16.9 percent), followed by physical sciences (10.0 percent),
environmental sciences (7.0 percent), mathematics and computer
sciences (5.2 percent), social sciences (2.2 percent), and
psychology (1.9 percent), with "other sciences" receiving 2.5
percent.

PROPOSED FEDERAL BUDGET AUTHORITY FOR R&D, FY 2005:

Another NSF InfoBrief, entitled "Federal R&D Funding Requests for FY
2005" (NSF04-337, September 2004) looks at the administration's
proposed support of R&D for the 2005 fiscal year.  Amounts in this
brief are presented in terms of budget authority (the authority
given by Congress to federal agencies to spend money) instead of
money obligated.  This brief does not take into account any
congressional action on FY 2005 appropriations bills, but compares
the administration's FY 2005 requests with preliminary estimates of
budget authority provided by Congress for FY 2004.

This brief highlights the continuing trend for an increasing share
of total R&D budget authority to be devoted to defense R&D (which
includes some, but not all, R&D supported by the Department of
Homeland Security).  Under the administration's proposal for FY
2005, defense R&D would be increased to 58.4 percent of total R&D
budget authority, and nondefense R&D, while experiencing a slight
increase in absolute terms, would drop to 41.6 percent of the total.

"For FY 2005," the brief states, "the administration proposed a
total budget authority of $127.1 billion for federally supported
R&D."  This would be a 4.1 percent increase over preliminary
estimates of the FY 2004 R&D total of $122.0 billion (or a 2.8
percent increase when adjusted for inflation).

Of that total, $74.2 billion would be devoted to defense R&D, and
$52.9 billion would go to nondefense R&D.

Six categories account for 92 percent of the nondefense-related R&D
budget authority: Health, Space, General Science, Environment,
Transportation, and Agriculture.   Health R&D, under the
administration's proposal, would rise 2.8 percent to $29.0 billion,
which would represent 22.8 percent of the total proposed R&D budget
authority for FY 2005.  Space R&D would grow 2.3 percent to $7.8
billion, or 6.1 percent of the total.  General Science R&D would
grow 1.3 percent to $6.5 billion, or 5.1 percent of the total.
Environmental R&D would drop by 3.1 percent, to $2.2 billion, or 1.7
percent of the total.  Transportation R&D would drop by 1.3 percent,
to $1.9 billion, or 1.5 percent of the total.  Agriculture R&D would
drop by 10.1 percent, to $1.6 billion, or 1.3 percent of the total.
Other R&D would drop by 1.3 percent, to $4.1 billion, or 3.2 percent
of the total.  (Numbers have been rounded off and may not sum to
totals).

Of course, the amount of federal budget authority available for R&D
will ultimately depend on congressional action on the FY 2005
appropriations bills and, although the 2005 fiscal year began on
October 1, only three of the 13 appropriations bills have been
signed into law so far.  All other federal programs are now
operating at FY 2004 levels under a continuing resolution through
November 20.

These and other NSF InfoBriefs are available at
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/infbrief/ib.htm.

###############
Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations Division
The American Institute of Physics
fyi () aip org  www.aip.org/gov
(301) 209-3094
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