In FY15, a cumulative $18.5 billion was spent on R&D by the 42 federally-funded R&D centers (FFRDC) in the US, an increase of 4.2%. Expenditures have bounced back after a decline in FFRDC spending in 2013 and 2014 to almost reach the 2010 expenditure figure of $18.9 billion. FFRDCs are privately operated R&D institutions that receive considerable or exclusive funding from the government, with 98% of 2015’s FFRDC expenditures funded by government agencies. The remaining expenditures came from business ($209 million), nonprofits ($28 million), state and local governments ($18 million), and other sources, such as foreign investments and universities ($106 million). FFRDC R&D funding in 2015 from businesses declined 5.4%, while funding from nonprofits and state and local governments declined 24.7% and 35.0%, respectively. Approximately 39% of total FFRDC R&D expenditure was for applied research, while an estimated 38% was for development and nearly 22% for basic research.

Over 50%, or a combined $9.8 billion, of total 2015 FFRDC R&D expenditures came from six FFRDCs: the NASA-sponsored Jet Propulsion Laboratory and five DoE-sponsored National Labs focusing on environment, energy, national security and nuclear science. One FFRDC, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Alliance to Modernize Healthcare, reported its second year of exponential growth since 2012, with a 138.6% increase to $168 million in R&D expenditure in 2015.

Source: National Science Foundation