Freedom of Information Act Office
IC Directors' Meeting Highlights
October 31, 2011
| To: | IC Directors |
| Subject: | IC Directors' Meeting Highlights — February 17, 2011 |
FY 2012 and FY 2011 Budget Update—Mr. Neil Shapiro
The President's FY12 budget was released on February 14, 2011. The overall discretionary budget was held flat with many government agencies being cut. The total funding for NIH is $31.987 billion which is a 2.4% increase over FY 2010. This is $745 million above FY10 levels and includes $100 million for the Cures Acceleration Network. Currently, the Appropriation Hearings are not scheduled and may be delayed given the uncertainty of the FY11 budget.
The President's message for this FY12 is "Winning the Future by Supporting Innovation" NIH has made many investments in innovation and continues to foster such priorities as the National Robotics Initiative and the Concept Acceleration Program. The Center for Scientific Review continues to see cost savings by expanding the number of grant application peer review meetings that are held electronically instead of in person.
The House FY11 full-year CR proposal will reduce NIH funding by $1.63 billion from the FY10 level and contains both specific and general reductions. Of note are the elimination of the $300 million transfer to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis and requires that we fund at least 9,000 competing Research Project Grants and caps the funding at $400 thousand. The President has indicated that he will veto H.R. 1 in its original form. Several hundred amendments have been offered and the House continues to debate them.
NIH Information Technology Assessment—Dr. Larry Tabak
An informal survey of the IC Chief Information Officers (CIOs)/Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) and other IT leaders from the private sector and other government agencies was conducted. The main themes were that all work or have worked in a decentralized government and all recognize that data is an important resource to their organization's future.
An NIH IT Assessment Reports was completed in January, 2011, and consists of three tracks which address infrastructure, staff concerns, and possible challenges and opportunities. Going forward, NIH needs to develop a clearer vision on how best to utilize its data, increase staff who are trained to deal with data, and we must resolved the myriad of ethics, privacy, and security issues.
With the retirement of the Dr. Jack Jones, an interim leadership has been appointed with a Search planned beginning in April, 2011. The goal is to appoint new leadership for the CIO and OCIO by Summer/Fall 2011. An internal and external working group will be tapped for their input on how NIH can maximize its data for the future, possibly under the Advisory Committee to the Director. A report to the NIH leadership will be provided outlining NIH's optimal IT organizational structure.
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