Fact Sheet
NSF: Stewardship

February 1, 2010

Since 2001, the number of proposals submitted to NSF has increased by over 50 percent. During that time, staffing has increased by only 19 percent. To support NSF's continued excellence in science and engineering research and education, NSF must invest in expanding and developing the workforce and resources that will maintain a capable and responsive organization.

In FY 2011, NSF plans to increase its investments under Stewardship to ensure that NSF will be able to effectively and efficiently manage its operations. Activities will include:

• New Staff: 40 additional full-time equivalent staff members and 11 additional IPAs.
  
  
• IT Investments: expansion of Research.gov and improvements in the reliability and security of NSF's operational IT systems.
  
  
• Acquisition: part of the government-wide effort to strengthen the acquisition workforce. A key priority for NSF is improving capabilities in the pre-solicitation phase of major acquisitions.

Also, NSF will devote staff and resources to establish an NSF-wide capability for assessment and evaluation. This centralized capability would bring greater attention and analysis to such areas as comparing different types of programmatic investments and identifying the most effective means for continuous improvement across the NSF portfolio. This effort is part of the Administration's government-wide initiative to build capacity within agencies to strengthen program assessment and evaluation.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Bobbie Mixon, NSF (703) 292-8070 bmixon@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget is $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards nearly $420 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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