After more than a year of internal discussions about how to better control federal R&D spending, the Bush administration has set out specific priorities and guidelines it expects federal R&D agencies to follow in developing their upcoming fiscal year 2004 budget proposals. In a memorandum to agency heads, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Marburger and Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell Daniels spelled out priority research areas and specific “investment criteria” to determine which R&D programs deserve funding.
The memo, “FY 2004 Interagency Research and Development Priorities,” covers all federal research—both basic and applied—that involves funding from more than one agency. According to a cover letter from Marburger and Daniels, the memo “provides guidance on the types of R&D programs the administration will favor when making fiscal year 2004 investment decisions, identifies priority activities requiring significant interagency coordination, and sets forth R&D investment criteria that departments...
