Research Business Models Subcommittee

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Research Business Models Subcommittee

• Progress and Next Steps

NGMA Rodney J. Brown and Geoff Grant April 28,
2004
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BackgroundNational Science and Technology Council

• A Cabinet-level council of advisers to the
  President on science and technology
• Principal means to coordinate science and
  technology matters within the Federal research
  and development enterprise
• Means to establish clear national goals for
  Federal science and technology investments
• Committee on Science, NSTC Co-Chaired by Dr.
  Zerhouni, Director, NIH and Dr. Bement, Interim
  Director, NSF
• Research Business Models Subcommittee
• Comprised of all of the Federal research agencies
  (see background appendix)

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Research Business Models Subcommittee

• Facilitate a coordinated effort across Federal
  agencies to identify and address important policy
  implications arising from the changing nature of
  scientific research
• Examine the concomitant impacts these changes
  have had or should have on business models and
  business practices for the conduct of scientific
  research sponsored by the Federal government and
  carried out by academic, industrial, and
  government entities
• (http//rbm.nih.gov/)

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Current NSTCStructure
NSTC Director, OSTP
Committee on Environment Natural Resources
Committee on Science
Committee on Technology
Committee on Homeland and National Security
WH Olsen NSF Bement NIH Zerhouni
WH Russell DOC Bond
WH Olsen DOC Lautenbacher EPA Gilman
WH Dale DOD Wynne DHS McQueary
Research Business Models
Technology Dev.
Education Workforce Dev.
National Security RD
Global Change Research
Large Scale Science
Networking Information Technology
Radiological/Nuclear Countermeasures
Air Quality Research
Aquaculture
Disaster Reduction
Nanoscale Science, Eng. Technology
International
Human Subjects Research
Ecosystems
WMD Medical Countermeasures
IWG Physics of the Universe
Toxics Risks
IWG Plant Genome
Standards
Water Availability Quality
IWG Dom. Animal Genomics
IWG Earth Observations
RD Investment Criteria Research Misconduct Policy
Infrastructure
Biotechnology
Aerospace
IWG on Dioxin
Oceans
Social, Behavioral Econ.
Health and the Environment.
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Agencies Offices Represented on the Research
Business Models Subcommittee

• Commerce NIST, NOAA
• DOD ONR, OD-DRE
• DOE
• DOT
• Education
• EPA
• HHS NIH, FDA, DCA

• Interior USGS
• NASA
• NSF
• OMB
• OSTP
• USDA
• VA

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Research Business Models (RBM)

• Community identified 43 priority items
• Ten items marked as initiatives and endorsed by
  the Committee on Science others may be added
  later as they accomplish the initial issues
• Items fall into three major categories
• Facilitating Collaborative Multidisciplinary
  Research
• Improving Consistency of Agency Practice
• Harmonizing Stewardship and Accountability

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Chronology

• 1. August 6, 2003- Request for Information in the
  Federal Register
• 2. October 6, 2003- Public comments due
• 3. Four Regional meetings
• October 27-
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC
  California
• November 12-
• University of Minnesota
• November 17-
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
  Research Triangle Institute, and Duke University
• December 9-10
• USDA, Washington, D.C.
• 4. January, 7 and 15, 2004- RBM Subcommittee
  Retreat, Synthesis, and Priority Setting
• 5. February 9, 2004- Committee on Science
  endorsement of ten initiatives resulting from
  public comment
• 6. July 13, 2004 Status Report to CoS
• 7. Early Fall, 2004- RBM Subcommittee Options to
  Committee on Science

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General Observations

• Science is dramatically becoming more
  interdisciplinary with an increasing number of
  collaborations occurring within and across
  institutions
• Federal research agency interests are more
  clearly converging or overlapping and becoming
  more cross-programmatic
• Agency requirements for proposals, terms and
  conditions, payment systems, reporting, and
  oversight are completely incoherent and force
  scientists and institutions to cope with the
  burden of multiple and inconsistent requirements
• A new business model must foster
  interdisciplinary and collaborative research in a
  consistent and streamlined fashion in order to
  maximize the public investment in research.
• The Research Business Model process needs to be
  science driven to provide a rationale for
  individual activities and managed as an
  integrated whole whose sum is greater than the
  parts

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Emerging Principles

• Science-
• Principle Maximize the Public Investment in
  Science by Maximizing the Intellectual Capital of
  Our Scientists
• Partnership-
• Principle Collaborate on Business Systems While
  Supporting Outstanding Research Projects
• Accountability-
• Principle Make it Easy to Do the Right Thing
• Administration-
• Principle Let Science Drive Administration, Not
  Administration Drive Science

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RBM Initiatives as Endorsed by the Committee on
Science
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Facilitating Collaborative Multidisciplinary
Research

• FS-1 Acknowledgement of CO-PIs in proposals and
  agency information systems
• Recognize two or more equal scientific
  collaborators as peer investigators
• May still want a single point of contact for
  administration and leadership in centers and
  other mechanisms
• FS-2 Stability and predictability of support for
  research facilities and instrumentation
  independent of individual projects
• Address instruments in range of 100K-4-5M? To
  be defined.
• Provide mechanisms for purchase and technical
  support not tied directly to individual projects
• FS-3 Support for graduate and postdoctoral
  students with regard to salary, stipends,
  tuition, benefits, etc.
• Provide more consistent forms of support across
  agencies
• Allow institutions more flexibility in addressing
  the status of graduate students, fellows,
  trainees, and research assistants within the
  institution
• FS-4 Collaboration between universities, federal
  laboratories, and industry
• Develop templates and model agreements to address
  collaboration within Federal labs, especially on
  issues pertaining to access, security, rights in
  data, publication, etc.

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Improving Consistency of Agency Practice

• CP-1 Standard progress and financial reporting
  procedures.
• Develop a standard progress report format, for
  example, progress nuggets
• Develop standard electronic submission through
  Grants.gov
• CP-2 Broader use of the Federal Demonstration
  Partnership (FDP) model sub- agreement templates
• Extend use of current FDP templates to all
  non-FDP institutions
• Streamline and facilitate collaboration among
  institutions
• CP-3 Consistent award notices format and terms
  and conditions
• Facilitates compliance among currently diverse
  agency formats and eventual electronic exchange
  thru Grants.gov

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Harmonizing Stewardship and Accountability

• SA-1 A-133 monitoring requirements for A-133
  compliant institutions.
• Streamline process for institutions to review
  other institutions audit findings.
• Longer term solution is to review the current
  requirement for major research institutions to
  review and monitor other A-133 prime
  institutions audit findings
• SA-2 Consistent Federal-wide policies for
  Research Conflict of Interest
• Resolve differences between NIH and NSF policies
  and encourage implementation among others
• Addresses public concern about ad hoc treatment
  when cases arise relating to agencies that
  currently dont have policies
• SA-3 Consistent Federal-wide policies for
  Research Misconduct
• Five agencies have implemented
• Two in process

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RBM Strategic VisionCollaborative Research
Example

• Model or Paradigm
• Multidisciplinary science and interagency
  research initiatives are increasing rapidly
• Principle
• Facilitate collaboration of multidisciplinary
  teams within and across institutions, including
  Federal Labs and other partners
• Policies
• Acknowledge Co-Investigators in applications,
  awards, and databases
• Provide independent support of sophisticated
  instrumentation
• Develop templates and model agreements for
  collaboration with Federal Labs and among
  institutions
• Partnership
• Foster seamless, transparent, and consistent
  requirements among agencies consistent with
  business-business or system relationship with
  research institutions

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RBM Strategic VisionAccountability Example

• Model or Paradigm
• Research intensive institutional systems are
  becoming increasingly sophisticated while less
  intensive institutions require more outreach and
  support.
• Principle
• Collaborate on Business Systems While Supporting
  Outstanding Research Projects
• Policies
• Streamline A-133 audit requirements
• Promote programmatic and project monitoring, not
  audit monitoring among research institutions
• Partnership
• Foster relationships among agencies and
  institutions as interdependent organizations in a
  system
• Promote outreach from agencies and research
  intensive institutions to less intensive
  institutions

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Next Steps

• Identify appropriate agency staff project groups
  for each activity
• Each group begin immediately to develop options
  to address the issue with pros and cons
• Engage the public as appropriate to test scope,
  definitions, etc. with concurrence of the CoS
• Progress report to CoS on July 13
• Recommendations to CoS early Fall
• Web site http//rbm.nih.gov

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Appendix
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Administration

• Principle Let Science Drive Administration, Not
  Administration Drive Science
• Promote sound business models for research
• Promote consistent goals, and equitable and
  effective regulations and practices that reflect
  the diversity of research organizations
• Provide for an effective compliance
  infrastructure which is as essential to the
  conduct of research as the quality of facilities,
  instrumentation, and other resources
• Provide one E.government information exchange for
  proposals, awards, and reports

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Science

• Principle Maximize the public investment in
  science by maximizing the intellectual capital of
  our scientists
• Investigator initiated research is fundamental to
  the development of new knowledge and must remain
  unfettered by unnecessary administration
• Research increasingly crosses the boundaries of
  traditional disciplines
• It is essential to facilitate the collaboration
  of multidisciplinary teams within and across
  institutions, including Federal Labs and other
  partners

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Partnership

• Principle Collaborate on Business Systems While
  Supporting Outstanding Research Projects
• Each party has a stake in the performance,
  success, and financial viability of the other
• The business relationship with many institutions
  should be managed at an organizational level,
  not a transactional level
• Other, smaller organizations have less capacity
  to deal with requirements and require more
  outreach and support

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Accountability

• Principle Make it Easy to Do the Right Thing
• Facilitate stewardship and accountability by
  emphasizing principles and streamlining
  procedures
• Promote science while keeping administrative
  procedures as streamlined and transparent as
  possible.
• Emphasize accountability thru scientific
  outcomes, with tolerance for risk and negative
  findings, evaluated through publications,
  progress reports, and peer review