In late March, the US Administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy published its summary of research infrastructure funding in President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget (October 1, 2010–September 30, 2011). The budget request is likely to be changed before it is approved by Congress; therefore, initial figures for fiscal 2011 are incomplete. However, the report also includes budget authorities for federal R&D facilities construction and major capital equipment by agency for fiscal 2009 and 2010 (see table page 10).

The allocations for the five selected organizations in the table for both R&D construction and equipment suffered double-digit declines in fiscal 2010, following stimulus-related increases in fiscal 2009. The exceptions are the National Science Foundation (NSF) for R&D construction, and R&D capital equipment for the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The report also updates stimulus-related spending for R&D facilities construction and capital equipment as of February. Of the $176 million appropriated to the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service Buildings and Facilities account, 22% has been obligated. For the NIST’s Construction of Research Facilities, around half of the $360 million in stimulus allocations has been obligated (see IBO 2/28/10). For the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science, which received a $1.6 billion stimulus allocation, $1.5 billion has been obligated, with $1.3 billion specifically obligated to R&D construction and capital equipment. The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Research Resources has obligated $620 million of its $1.0 billion allocation for R&D construction and capital equipment, and of the $500 million for NIH Buildings and Facilities, $66 million has been obligated. NSF figures were incomplete.

US Federal Govt. R&D Facilities Construction and Major Cap. Equiq. Budget Authority, Including ARRA

FY09 ($M) FY10 ($M) FY11 Est. ($M)

NIH

R&D Constr. $1,633 $108 $133

R&D Cap. Equip. $0 $0 $0

DOE Office of Sci.

R&D Constr. $548 $239 $261

R&D Cap. Equip. $755 $409 $406

NSF

R&D Constr. $28 $49 $43

R&D Cap. Equip. $755 $409 $409

NIST

R&D Constr. $278 $80 $128

R&D Cap. Equip. $149 $30 $30

USDA

R&D Constr. $289 $145 ($7)

R&D Cap. Equip. $38 $40 $41