National Science Foundation: Better Use of Existing Resources Could Improve Program Administration
RCED-94-95
Published: Jun 24, 1994. Publicly Released: Jul 26, 1994.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), focusing on: (1) how EHR establishes current and future priorities for its education programs; and (2) whether EHR has the resources it needs to effectively administer its programs.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| National Science Foundation | In order to improve overall operations in a period when the workload and growth of NSF programs are increasing while staff levels and funds to administer these programs are lagging behind, the Director, NSF, should request the National Science Board to study ways to better utilize NSF current administrative resources to more efficiently and effectively manage the NSF review and awards process. |
NSF is continuing to take steps in the right direction to improve overall administration of its current resources; however, whether additional steps are needed--such as the one recommended in this report--is unclear at this time. While GAO audit work indicated that NSF has had difficulty implementing measures designed to improve efficiency Foundation-wide, NSF has a new Director and GAO is encouraged that these difficulties will now be corrected. However, since NSF has not changed its position regarding the specific findings and recommendation contained in this report, GAO probably will not be able to convince NSF now. Therefore, the recommendation should be closed.
|
Full Report
Public Inquiries
Topics
Education program evaluationEducational grantsFunds managementStaff utilizationInternal controlsProgram evaluationResearch and development contractsEngineeringScientistsPeer review