National Science Foundation

Better Use of Existing Resources Could Improve Program Administration Gao ID: RCED-94-95 June 24, 1994

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Directorate for Education and Human Resources, exercises the unique federal role of advancing science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education programs. For fiscal years 1990 through 1993, money available for these programs more than doubled, from about $243 to $512 million, while resources to administer and manage the programs grew by less than one-fourth, or from about $6 million to $7.3 million, adjusted for inflation. This report examines (1) how the Directorate sets priorities for its education programs, (2) how the Directorate evaluates the results of its programs and how these evaluations are used to set future priorities, and (3) whether the Directorate has obtained the resources it needs to run its programs effectively.

GAO found that: (1) EHR sets its program priorities through an informal process using internal and external advisory groups; (2) the National Science Board approves all new EHR programs, large awards, and multiyear commitments; (3) Congress has earmarked certain funds for specific education programs; (4) before 1991, EHR relied primarily on external peer oversight groups to determine the operational effectiveness of its education programs; (5) although EHR has implemented a comprehensive evaluation program that uses outside contractors to determine educational program effectiveness, most contractor reviews have not been completed; (6) NSF staffing levels have not kept pace with its increasing workload; (7) even though EHR has sufficient administrative resources to effectively administer its educational programs, EHR believes that its programs are not being effectively administered; (8) more effective use of EHR administrative resources could increase program effectiveness, ease program officers' workload, increase the availability of travel funds for site inspections, and increase program officers' effectiveness in monitoring grants and conducting evaluations; and (9) other NSF directorates could significantly increase their effectiveness if they adopted the proposed EHR administrative changes, since EHR operations and workloads are similar to that of other NSF directorates.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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