The National Science 

Foundation 

Open Government 

Directive Plan April 2010 
             

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................ 4 

II. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE (OGD) IN CONTEXT.....................................5 

A. Open Government Directive: Overview ............................................................................5 

B. NSF Organizational Structure and Governance..............................................................6 

C. NSF Open Government Directive Working Group.........................................................8 

D. Key Stakeholders and their Roles and their Informational Needs..........................8 

III. NSF STRATEGIC PLAN AND THE OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE......................9 

A. Overview of the NSF Strategic Plan and Key Principles ..............................................9 

B. Open Government Strategic Goals and Outcomes...................................................... 10 

IV. OPEN GOVERNMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND STRATEGIES ...............................11 

A. Transparency Initiatives and Prioritization................................................................ 11 

B. Public Outreach and Participation .................................................................................. 14 

C. NSF Collaboration Activities............................................................................................... 17 

D. Records Management........................................................................................................... 21 

V. OTHER OPEN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES ..................................................................23 

A. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ................................................................................ 23 

B. Congressional Requests for Information....................................................................... 23 

C. OLPA............................................................................................................................................ 23 

VI. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES ..................................................................26 

A. Tools and Social Media......................................................................................................... 26 

B. Flagship Initiatives ................................................................................................................ 26 

VII. PROGRAM EVALUATION .............................................................................................28 

A. Issues .......................................................................................................................................... 28 

APPENDIX 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPEN GOVERNMENT PLAN.............................29 

APPENDIX 2: NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE DATA COLLECTION..................30 

APPENDIX 3: LIST OF ACRONYMS .........................................................................................33 

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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The National Science Foundation is committed to meeting President Obama’s goal of 

transparency as specified in his January 21, 2009 memorandum: Transparency and 

Open Government.  Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Orszag sent a 

memorandum to the heads of executive departments directing specific actions that 

need to be executed to implement the principles of transparency, participation and 

collaboration on December 8, 2009.

Since its creation in 1950, the NSF has viewed openness as a critical element for 

achieving the agency’s mission to “To promote the progress of science; to advance 

the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense (NSF Act 

of 1950).”  As a result, the agency has built a strong foundation of openness policies 

and practices that guide its research and education activities.  New technologies, 

many of which received their basic funding from the NSF, now provide the means 

for the NSF to take these practices to the next level.   

This NSF Open Government Plan, published on our Open Government Webpage, is in 

response to the OMB memorandum and describes how the NSF will “improve 

transparency and integrate public participation and collaboration into its activities.”  

The NSF has always been an open agency making all of its data, within the

constraints of confidentiality and privacy, openly available via its website. The NSF 

Open Government plan complements the NSF FY2006 – 2011 Strategic Plan1 which

identifies four core values: visionary, dedicated to excellence; broadly inclusive; 

accountable. 

The key principle that will be applied in executing the elements of the NSF Open 

Government Directive Plan is: Unless shown otherwise, the default position shall be to

make NSF data and information available in an open machine­readable format.

The National Science Foundation Open Government Plan will serve as the roadmap 

for our plans to improve transparency, better integrate public participation and 

collaboration into our core mission, and become more innovative and efficient. NSF 

views this plan as our roadmap to open government, and not as our destination. We 

fully expect to update the plan and make adjustments along the way to becoming a 

more transparent, participatory and collaborative agency. 

As always, the NSF welcomes comments and suggestions 

(http://opennsf.ideascale.com) from the public as all federal agencies embark on 

this exciting new initiative.  The NSF, from its senior management through the entire

foundation, is committed to the principles set forth in this plan  

1 http://www.nsf.gov/about/performance/strategic_plan.jsp

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II. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE (OGD) IN CONTEXT 

A. Open Government Directive: Overview 

In one of his first actions after taking office, President Obama issued a memorandum 

stating the Administration’s commitment to “creating an unprecedented level of

openness in Government.”  The key principles of open government are 

transparency, public participation, and collaboration: 

Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with

information about what the Government is doing.

Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise

so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that

is widely dispersed in society.

Collaboration improves the effectiveness of Government by encouraging

partnerships and cooperation within the Federal Government, across levels of

government, and between the Government and private institutions.

On December 8, 2009, Peter R. Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB), issued a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and 

agencies directing them to take the following steps toward the goal of creating a 

more open government: 

1. Publish Government information online; 

2. Improve the quality of Government information; 

3. Create and Institutionalize a culture of open government; and 

4. Create an enabling policy framework for open government.   

To create and institutionalize a culture of open government (item 3 above), the 

memorandum states that “within 120 days [April 7, 2010] each agency shall develop 

an Open Government Plan that describes how the agency will improve transparency 

and integrate public participation and collaboration into its activities.”

NSF has designated the Director of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure, as the agency’s 

high level senior official accountable for Open Government. NSF met the OGD’s 

January 22, 2010, deadline for identifying and publishing online at least three high 

value data sets through Data.gov; by publishing four high value data sets:

1. NSF Freedom of Information Act Report for October 1, 2008 through 

September 30, 2009 

2. NSF Research Grant Funding Rates 

3. NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention 

Recipients, 2000‐2009 

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4. NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award Recipients, 2000‐

2009 

 NSF also met the February 6, 2010, deadline for launching an Open Government 

Web page (http://www.nsf.gov/open). The page serves as the gateway to our open 

government activities and included the use of a Web platform provided by the 

General Services Administration to solicit public and staff input on NSF’s Open 

Government Plan. That public engagement activity using the IdeaScale tool ran from 

February 6‐March 19, 2010.

The NSF Open Government Plan is a roadmap for our efforts to:

 Improve transparency through identifying and making available to the 

public more high value data;

 Expand opportunities for public participation and better integrate public 

input into our programs and policies; and

 Seek out new or expanded opportunities for collaborations with other 

agencies throughout government and with private institutions through 

public‐private partnerships.  

The National Science Foundation Open Government Plan will serve as the roadmap 

for our plans to improve transparency, better integrate public participation and 

collaboration into our core mission, and become more innovative and efficient. NSF 

views this plan as our roadmap to open government, and not as our destination. We 

fully expect to update the plan and make adjustments along the way to becoming a 

more transparent, participatory and collaborative agency. 

The National Science Foundation has made the Open Government Plan available on 

the NSF Open Government Web page: http://nsf.gov/open/. We are looking to the

public to stay engaged in dialog with us and will be asking for comments on our 

Open Government Plan using the same IdeaScale platform that was used to solicit 

input from the public in February and March 2010: https://opennsf.ideascale.com/. 

B. NSF Organizational Structure and Governance 

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by 

Congress in 1950.  The NSF mission is: 

“To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and 

welfare; to secure the national defense (NSF Act of 1950)” 

The NSF is the only federal agency whose mission includes support for all fields of

fundamental science and engineering.  The NSF is the major source of federal 

funding for areas such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences in 

addition to providing approximately 20 percent of all federal funding in basic 

research. NSF funds research and education in most fields of science and 

engineering to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K‐12 school systems, 

businesses, informal science organizations and other research organizations 

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throughout the U.S. Each year, the NSF processes over 40,000 proposals that result 

in over 10,000 awards supporting 200,000, on average, U.S. scientists, engineers, 

educators and students at universities, laboratories and field sites all over the 

United States and throughout the world.

NSF leadership has two major components: a Director who oversees NSF staff and 

management responsible for program creation and administration, merit review, 

planning, budget and day‐to‐day operations; and a 24‐member National Science

Board (NSB) of eminent individuals that meets six times a year to establish the 

overall policies of the agency. The Director and all Board members serve six‐year 

terms. Each of them, as well as the NSF Deputy Director, is appointed by the 

President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At present, NSF has 

a total workforce of about 2,100 at its Arlington, VA, headquarters, including 

approximately 1,400 career employees, 200 scientists from research institutions on 

temporary duty, 450 contract workers and the staff of the NSB office and the Office 

of the Inspector General.

The NSF program staff is divided into the following directorates and offices 

supporting science and engineering research and education:  

Biological Sciences Computer and Information Science and 

Engineering

Engineering  Geosciences 

Mathematical and Physical Sciences  Social, Behavioral and Economic 

Sciences

Education and Human Resources  Office of Polar Programs 

Office of Integrative Activities Office of International Science and

Engineering

Office of Cyberinfrastructure 

An Assistant Director or an Office Director, as appropriate, heads each of these NSF 

organizational units. The Office of the Director is responsible for executive, business 

and administrative management functions. The Office of the Director includes the 

Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, the Office of the General Counsel, and the 

Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. Two additional administrative offices are the 

Office of Budget, Finance and Award Management and the Office of Information and 

Resource Management. These sections of NSF are devoted to financial management, 

award processing and monitoring, legal affairs, outreach and other functions.  

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides independent oversight of the 

agency’s programs and operations. The office is responsible for promoting efficiency

and effectiveness in agency programs and for preventing and detecting fraud, waste, 

and abuse. By statute, the NSF OIG is independent from the agency, with the IG 

reporting directly to the National Science Board and the Congress.

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C. NSF Open Government Directive Working Group 

The NSF has created an NSF Open Government Directive Working Group (OGD‐WG) 

charged with implementing the various activities specified in the directive.  The 

group consists of: 

 the OGD Senior Accountable Official, Chair

 representative from the Office of the General Counsel

 the NSF Chief Information Officer

 the NSF Chief Financial Officer

 representative from the NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

 representative from the Directorate of Social, Behaviorial and Economic 

Sciences

 representative from the Office of Information & Resources Management

 representative from the Office of Budget, Finance and Award 

Management

 representative from the Office of Cyberinfrastructure 

D. Key Stakeholders and their Roles and their Informational Needs 

The NSF stakeholders consist of: 

 the tax‐paying American public

 academic institutions: graduate/undergraduate colleges and universities, 

2‐year and community colleges, K‐12 schools

 the faculties in the above institutions 

 the students in the above institutions 

 not‐for‐profit institutions such as: aquariums, zoos, museums

 businesses conducting science and engineering research 

 the news media (as a conduit to the public) 

 other Government agencies

The informational needs of these stakeholders consist of being informed of funding 

opportunities available through the NSF, information on awards made, results of 

studies, reports and workshops supported by the NSF, results of meetings and 

various evaluation reports, and the discoveries, breakthroughs and other outcomes 

of NSF‐supported research and education and their impact on society.

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III. NSF STRATEGIC PLAN AND THE OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE 

A. Overview of the NSF Strategic Plan2 and Key Principles 

The NSF FY2006 – 2011 Strategic Plan3

 identifies four core values: visionary,

dedicated to excellence; broadly inclusive; accountable.  Broadly Inclusive and 

Accountable are particularly germane to the open government directive. As stated in 

the NSF Strategic Plan:

Broadly Inclusive: seeking and accommodating contributions from all sources

while reaching out especially to groups that have been underrepresented;

serving scientists, engineers, educators, students and the public across the

nation; and exploring every opportunity for partnerships, both nationally and

internationally.

Accountable: operating with integrity and transparency, maintaining quality

and relevance in administration, management and oversight.

Clearly, these core values are consistent with the open government directive goals

of transparency (Accountable), participation (Broadly Inclusive) and collaboration 

(Broadly Inclusive).  As a result, incorporating the open government directive into 

the NSF “DNA” will be relatively straightforward.  

The NSF Strategic Plan states NSF’s vision as: 

Advancing discovery, innovation and education beyond the frontiers of current

knowledge, and empowering future generations in science and engineering.

This vision is supported by four interrelated outcome goals: Discovery, Learning,

Research Infrastructure and Stewardship: 

Discovery ­ fostering research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge

with the goal of establishing the nation as a global leader in fundamental and

transformational science and engineering.

Learning ­ cultivating a world­class, broadly inclusive science and engineering

workforce, and expanding the scientific literacy of all citizens.

Research Infrastructure ­ building the nation’s research capability.

Stewardship ­ supporting excellence in science and engineering research and

education through a capable and responsive organization.

The open government directive activities will more readily enable the NSF to engage 

stakeholders and keep them informed about NSF initiatives, directions and 

accomplishments.  In addition, elements establishing the nation as a global leader in 

2  NSF is in the process of updating its Strategic Plan 2010‐2015 

3 http://www.nsf.gov/about/performance/strategic_plan.jsp

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science and engineering and the expansion of scientific literacy will be enhanced by 

the open government directive.

The key principle that will be applied in executing the elements of the NSF Open 

Government Directive Plan is: to maximize data that will be made available within

the constraints of confidentiality and privacy concerns. Unless shown otherwise, the

default position shall be to make NSF data and information available in an open

machine­readable format. The NSF is committed to publishing its data in machine‐

readable form and to seek public input and review on a regular basis. 

That key principle will be complemented by the principles of maintaining an open 

and active dialog with the public at large and with the various NSF stakeholders and, 

to engage all NSF staff in actively participating in the directive.

Considered out of scope to this NSF open government directive plan is scientific 

data created as a result of research conducted by the research community with NSF 

support.  Open access to such data is currently a topic of active discussion by the 

NSF Data Working Group, NSF management, the National Science Board and the 

research communities. 

B. Open Government Strategic Goals and Outcomes 

This open government plan will serve as the roadmap to improve transparency, 

better integrate public participation and collaboration into our core mission, and 

thereby enable NSF to become more innovative and efficient.  NSF has had a long 

history of making its data readily available to the public via its Web site and other means, 

and the agency shall continue to do so. Complementing that data by making it available 

in machine-readable form or in more innovative and productive ways will further 

enhance NSF’s openness.

NSF’s open government strategic goal is nothing less than an increased public awareness 

and appreciation of NSF’s mission and the agency’s contributions to the American 

citizenry. This will be accomplished by providing data that inform the public about 

national scientific priorities; NSF funding opportunities; NSF awards made; Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) results; science and engineering advances generated with NSF 

support; and statistical data related to our funding and funding outcomes, to name a few. 

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IV. OPEN GOVERNMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND STRATEGIES 

A. Transparency Initiatives and Prioritization 

Responsibility for ensuring transparency at the NSF rests with the NSF Open 

Government Directive Working Group (OGD‐WG) and with the NSF Senior 

Management Advisory Roundtable (SMART).  The OGD‐WG meets monthly to 

discuss new information that can be made available.  Again, the default position is 

that all data and information will be made available consistent with confidentiality 

and privacy constraints. Within 60 days, the OGD-WG will complete a new 

inventory of data collected or generated by NSF, building on eGov content 

inventory, found at http://www.nsf.gov/policies/egov_inventory.jsp 

http://www.nsf.gov/policies/egov_inventory.jsp , and records retention schedule, 

found at http://www.nsf.gov/policies/records/index.jsp 

http://www.nsf.gov/policies/records/index.jsp. We will provide opportunities for 

our stakeholders and the public to determine which are high-value collections. We 

will then prioritize the conversion to open formats, based on stakeholder and 

public interest. 

SMART meets weekly and the Open Government Directive Senior Accountable 

Official is a member of SMART. As a result there will be ample opportunity for 

keeping SMART members informed about open government directive activities and

to enable discussion of any issues and to exploit any NSF related open government 

opportunities as they develop.

As previously noted, NSF has always been an open agency making data, within the

constraints of confidentiality and privacy concerns, openly available via its website.  

Much of the OGD‐WG discussion will center on determining which of the 

information in the NSF inventory is of sufficiently high value to warrant conversion 

from existing formats to machine‐readable formats such as comma‐separated values

(CSV) and extensible markup language (XML) files.  Special attention will be paid to 

requests made by the public as to which data they feel might be of most interest.  

Currently, award data and spending data appear to have the most interest and thus 

of high‐value.

Openness is an inherent part of NSF culture.  As a result, NSF does not have any 

issues with what should be “opened”, since all NSF data and information is openly

available within the constraints of confidentiality and privacy concerns. The 

challenge is in determining which of all of the already available open data is of 

sufficiently high value to warrant converting to the accepted open formats specified 

in the open government directive. The strategy shall therefore be, to prioritize 

among these items using its potential as high value data as the principal criteria as 

well as requests from the public.

Information that can be found on the NSF website, www.nsf.gov, includes: National 

Science Board Meeting Announcements and meeting minutes; NSF solicitations; NSF 

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funding trends data; NSF budget information; NSF‐related statistical information;

lists of publications available for download; award and funding information; 

minutes from the various directorate, office and NSF‐wide Advisory Committees; 

Committee of Visitor Reports for the various directorates and offices; an Events

calendar; text of speeches given by the NSF Director and Deputy Director, a list of

NSF‐related congressional hearings, news releases and media advisories, factsheets 

about NSF programs and priorities, feature articles, audio podcasts and videos about 

NSF‐supported research results, and the NSF Multimedia Gallery providing images 

and other visual media for educational and informational use. These, and other 

items, constitute items for consideration in the context of the open data directive.   

To further enhance transparency, NSF is already actively supporting and 

participating in key government‐wide open government‐related initiatives to 

provide the public with insight into NSF‐funded research, spending, and 

investments. These initiatives include: 

	 Recovery.gov ­ Provides a central, online location for taxpayers to track NSF 

spending and activities related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment

Act (Recovery Act).  Easily accessible, high‐value NSF information available 

through Recovery.gov includes summaries of overall Recovery spending with 

progress tracked weekly, detailed weekly financial reports, and descriptions 

of NSF’s Recovery plans, including overarching goals for Recovery funds and 

an accountability plan.

	 Data.gov – Provides the public with easy access to NSF data in open and

machine‐readable formats.  Initially, NSF has made four high‐value data sets, 

including Freedom of Information Act data from 2008‐2009, NSF funding 

rates for competitive research proposals from FY2009, and information 

about NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardees and honorable mention

recipients for the past ten years, available through Data.gov.  NSF also offers 

easy, application‐driven access to additional NSF data, such as important 

statistics regarding employment and education information for scientists and 

engineers, trend information across science and engineering indicators, and 

key information about NSF‐funded grant awards, through three simple‐to‐

use tools.  Additionally, NSF will look into opportunities to provide additional 

high‐value data through Data.gov based on input received from the public.

	 USASpending.gov ‐ Provides financial transparency at the transaction level 

into NSF financial assistance, including contracts and grants awards.

Through this resource, the public can view key details about NSF contracts 

and awards for free in compliance with requirements set by the Federal 

Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.  NSF has actively 

supported USASpending.gov and its mission since its inception and was the 

first agency to accurately match 100% of major investment contracts to 

USASpending.

	 Federal IT Dashboard ‐ Offers insight and transparency into NSF’s IT

portfolio as a whole, as well as into the significant individual technology 

investments that are critical in supporting NSF’s mission and work.  Through 

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NSF’s IT Dashboard, the public can view plain language descriptions and 

comprehensible ratings for NSF technology investments, including ratings on

tracking to cost and schedule, evaluation of the investment by the 

Foundation’s CIO, and an overall rating for the investment based on a 

combination of the other three ratings.  The Dashboard also offers 

information on how NSF technology investments align with the Foundation 

mission and objectives outlined in the strategic plan, and provides clear 

performance indicators for evaluating whether investments are meeting 

their targets.  Additionally, the Dashboard offers easily accessible links to 

investment Exhibit 300s, offering the public a transparent view of NSF 

investments at the granular level.  

In support of these initiatives, NSF has made data easily accessible to the public in 

machine‐readable and open formats that can easily be shared via a variety of 

mechanisms (email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), printed, or downloaded for use with

data mining and extraction tools.  Additionally, all resources offer mechanisms for 

the public to provide feedback, share their assessments of the quality of information 

available, and make suggestions for additional NSF information they would like to 

see made available.

While increasing transparency through government‐wide open government related 

initiatives, NSF has also proactively identified and developed additional 

opportunities for improving transparency to the research community and the 

public.  Prime examples of this are evident in Research.gov (www.research.gov) and

its services.

Research.gov is a multi‐agency community driven solution, led by NSF, that gives the 

general public, the scientific community, and Congressional staff easy and 

transparent access to key information and services from multiple agencies in one 

location. Through current services, such as Research Spending and Results, and new, 

upcoming services, including Project Outcomes Reporting for the General Public and 

Science and Innovation, NSF is leveraging Research.gov to improve clarity into

federally‐funded research and outcomes.

Research Spending and Results provides the public with information about how NSF 

and NASA grant award dollars are being spent, what research is being performed, and 

how the outcomes of the research are benefiting society.  Research Spending and

Results provides the high‐value details about research awards that the public and 

the research community have requested, such as abstracts (descriptions of the 

planned research at the time the award was made) and publication citations (details

and links to magazines and journals that have published the research).  Information

available through Research Spending and Results is provided in open, accessible 

formats (XML, CSV, and Excel) and is updated nightly to ensure the public is 

receiving current information in a timely manner. 

The Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is a new report, written in plain

language, that provides clear insight into the outcomes and broader impacts of NSF‐

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funded research and education in compliance with mandates set by the America 

COMPETES Act requirement: Publishing of Research Results.  These reports, which

provide snapshots of the outcomes at the end of an award, are authored by the 

researchers, providing the public with first person accounts from the individuals on 

the forefront of scientific discovery.  The reporting tool will also provide the 

capability to include images to accompany reports and the ability for investigators 

to add to the report over time, so information about the broader, future impacts of 

the research can easily be made available.  Report submission capabilities will be 

available on Research.gov by the end of the fiscal year and reports submitted will be 

available for the public to view online through Research Spending and Results 

within 24 hours of submission. 

NSF is developing a new “Science and Innovation” resource on Research.gov that 

will make a collection of information describing the outcomes and impacts of NSF‐

supported research and education projects available to the public. The site will 

highlight investment outcomes that benefit society; going beyond the scientific 

advances. Visitors to Research.gov will be able to sort outcome information by 

scientific theme, state and territory, congressional districts and more. Science and

Innovation will also convey basic information about major science and engineering 

research infrastructure supported by NSF.  This resource will make available in one 

place information that NSF has collected from its research and education program 

staff for several years but did not provide to the public, as well as similar items that 

have appeared in diverse publications.  Science and Innovation is expected to be 

released by June 2010. 

Individually, these three Research.gov services, Research Spending and Results, 

Project Outcomes Reporting, and Science and Innovation, provide valuable insight 

into NSF‐funded projects and their outcomes, but they are also designed to marry 

seamlessly with each other to provide the public with a clear, comprehensive 

picture of NSF awards. Additionally, the information provided through these 

services is just the beginning.  NSF is actively soliciting feedback from the science 

and engineering community and the public on additional information they would 

like to see available through these services and Research.gov. 

B. Public Outreach and Participation 

NSF's task of identifying and funding work at the frontiers of science and 

engineering is not a "top‐down" process. NSF operates from the "bottom up," 

keeping close track of research in the United States and around the world, 

maintaining constant contact with the science and engineering community to 

identify ever‐moving horizons of inquiry, monitoring which areas are most likely to 

result in spectacular progress and choosing the most promising people to conduct 

research and enhance education and learning. 

Participation and citizen engagement are at the core of the way NSF conducts its 

business fulfills its mission. One of the cornerstones of NSF’s success is its merit‐

review process.  In making award decisions, NSF collects over 240,000 reviews per 

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year from experts in the science and engineering community.  Subject matter 

experts drawn from the science and engineering academic and private‐public 

communities provide these reviews. NSF Program Officers draw on the expert 

insights provided in these reviews to make informed decisions about the most 

promising projects to fund. NSF is constantly striving to increase both the size and 

diversity (gender, disabilities, ethnic, geographic, race, institutional, etc.) of the pool 

of reviewers to ensure that the merit review process benefits from broad input

provided by individuals with a wide range of perspectives.  This merit‐review 

process, recognized as a gold standard internationally, shall continue to be a key 

element of NSF’s public outreach and participation activities. 

The agency’s approach for soliciting input and feedback from the scientific 

community and the public has always been “early and often.”  To support this 

approach, NSF provides a variety of mechanisms both proactive (where the public 

can actively contact the Foundation) and direct (NSF reaches out directly to share 

information and solicit input), for the community and the public to interact with the 

agency and provide feedback.  Examples of proactive forums the Foundation is 

employing to engage the public and the academic community and solicit their input 

include:

	 Open NSF webpage (http://opennsf.ideascale.com/)  ­ NSF used the IdeaScale

tool provided by the General Services Administration to solicit public input 

on ideas and suggestions for its Open Government Plan.  Through the site, the 

public can share their ideas or vote on and discuss ideas provided by other 

constituents. 

	 American Customer Satisfaction Index – An online pop‐up survey, used 

widely across both the government and private sector, which NSF employs to 

measure user satisfaction with information services. This survey offers 

quantitative data that NSF can use to benchmark itself to ensure that it is

continuing to meet the community’s needs.

	 Feedback email aliases – NSF has multiple email aliases that the public and 

research community can use to proactively reach out to the Foundation with 

questions or to provide feedback on a variety of topics, including NSF policy 

(policy@nsf.gov), NSF services (info@nsf.gov and feedback@research.gov),

NSF’s participation in Open Government (opengov@nsf.gov) and more. 

	 Online feedback forms – Available on the NSF website and Research.gov, 

the public can use feedback forms to proactively and anonymously submit 

feedback to the Foundation.

Feedback and inquiries received through online feedback mechanisms are heavily 

monitored and suggestions are compiled for review and consideration. NSF 

representatives respond directly to inquiries received through feedback aliases are 

and questions that appear frequently are incorporated into “Frequently Asked 

Questions” documents, which are posted online and distributed during outreach 

activities.

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These online feedback mechanisms are complemented by a variety of interactive 

forums for direct outreach to the academic community, the public, and NSF staff to 

promote citizen participation.  NSF frequently promotes awareness and provides 

updates about the agency, its policies and initiatives, and the information and 

services it provides to the research community through presentations and exhibit 

booths at key outreach events, such as meetings and conferences held by research 

associations comprised of members of NSF’s core science and engineering 

community (the Federal Demonstration Partnership, the National Council of 

University Research Administrators, and the Society of Research Administrators).   

Additionally, NSF holds twice yearly Regional Grants Conferences in different areas

of the country to provide an opportunity for smaller academic institutions to learn

more about the agency and its programs. Similarly, the agency sponsors “NSF Day” 

workshops to stimulate new interest in NSF programs at institutions that have not 

been among its traditional customers. NSF’s participation in these activities

provides a forum to disseminate information and to interact directly with citizens to 

hear their feedback and answer their questions first‐hand.   

In addition to in‐person outreach, NSF interacts directly with the research 

community and public through online outreach mechanisms.  NSF frequently 

participates in research and grants‐focused webcasts, such as those held twice a 

year by the Grants Policy Committee, which are available to be viewed by any 

member of the public at no cost.  Webcasts allow NSF to share key information and 

updates with a broad audience and also provide the opportunity for viewers to 

interact directly with the Foundation through email or phone call inquiries, which 

are answered on air.  Providing live webcasts of meetings was one of the most popular

requests NSF received during the recent OpenNSF public dialog. To educate the public 

and the community on NSF systems and services, NSF offers WebEx and 

videoconferences trainings.  These trainings allow institutions and individuals in 

locations all across the country to easily and conveniently learn about the 

Foundation first‐hand.

In order to ensure that NSF staff members are armed with the background needed 

to disseminate information to the research community and the public about 

participation opportunities, NSF fosters a culture of education.  The Foundation 

holds interactive outreach activities to educate staff, such as town halls, brown bags,

and demonstrations and provides detailed information online about participation

opportunities and NSF initiatives (such as Open Government efforts) in visible

forums that are accessible to all staff. 

As mentioned earlier, NSF participated in the “IdeaScale brainstorming” exercise 

that was part of the open government directive initial activity.  That particular 

exercise ended on March 19, 2010.  However, it is NSF’s intent to support a similar 

activity to solicit comments from the public on this plan and future activities. The

goal is to continue to look for ideas, from the general public, related to open 

government along the lines of transparency, participation, collaboration and 

innovation.

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 16
             

   

Each of the various directorates and offices has an advisory committee whose 

membership is drawn from the academic and public‐private sector communities 

and they meet twice a year.  The membership is such that they represent the 

stakeholders of the particular directorate or office or might span several 

directorates and offices.  These twice‐yearly meetings are typically complemented 

by advisory committee task forces that meet on a more frequent basis.  For example,

the NSF‐wide Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure (ACCI) is gathering input

from the researchers, industry and educators that use cyberinfrastructure.  The

ACCI established 6 Task Forces and has asked them to address long‐term 

cyberinfrastructure issues.   

By incorporating webcasts, video telecoms, wiki’s and document sharing 

technologies the task forces are exploring, discussing and generating a collection of 

recommendations and ideas that will be used by the NSF in developing new 

programs and/or guiding existing activities.

An additional resource is the National Science Board, charged with establishing NSF 

policy, and meeting 6 times per year. The NSB is made up of 24 Members appointed 

by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The NSF Director is an ex officio 

Member. Members serve six‐year terms and one‐third of the Board is appointed 

every two years. NSB Members are drawn from industry and universities, and 

represent a variety of science and engineering disciplines and geographic areas. The 

advisory committees and the NSB will be presented the NSF Open Government 

Directive Plan with the intent of soliciting from them additional ideas and 

approaches on how to even further increase NSF’s transparency, collaboration and 

participation activities and to solicit from them potential NSF high‐value related

data that could be added to the inventory.  The NSB also creates task forces

consisting of NSB members and complemented by additional staff.  These task

forces, meeting on a more frequents basis than the NSB itself, are constituted as 

necessary to enable the NSB to execute their due diligence.  

Members of the NSF Senior Executive Service have been encouraged to include a 

stretch goal in the area of the open government directive.  In addition, as members 

of NSF staff travel around the country giving presentations and participating in

events, they will be encouraged to present NSF’s interest in the open government 

directive and seek their active participation and inputs.

C. NSF Collaboration Activities 

Collaboration is not new to the NSF.  Collaboration is intrinsic to NSF culture and the 

way that the agency conducts its business.  NSF encourages both inter‐ and intra‐

foundation collaboration initiatives.  NSF is also actively engaged in activities that 

involve collaboration with other agencies, citizens, as well as across NSF staff.  

Examples of this are evident through NSF’s partnerships with the science and 

engineering community and agencies on Research.gov and through the use of 

technologies that promote collaboration among NSF staff.

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 17
             

   

   

The various NSF directorates and offices are encouraged to develop programs that 

span divisions within directorates, that span across directorates and offices that

cooperate with activities taking place at other federal agencies or the private 

commercial sector and finally establish international relationships. An example of 

an existing collaboration is the Cyber‐enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) 

initiative.  CDI has participation from every programmatic directorate and office

within NSF. 

One CDI effort that could be especially relevant to both public participation in

science and open government is a study by NSF‐supported researchers of an online 

suite of citizen‐science projects called Zooniverse to determine the implications of

public involvement in large‐scale scientific activities. Zooniverse was developed by 

the Citizen Science Alliance with projects ranging from an effort to track solar 

explosions to an effort to understand how galaxies merge. The goal of the new study 

is to develop a new methodology for using citizen science to unlock the potential for 

deriving knowledge from modern, large data sets. To learn more about this research 

project, see:

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116658&org=NSF. 

A recent example of interagency collaboration can be found in the Decadal and 

Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models (EaSM) program, which 

involves NSF (indeed, the NSF participation spans several directorates and offices), 

the Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Department of Agriculture

(USDA).  The objective of this new interagency effort is to produce high‐resolution 

models for predicting climate change and its resulting impacts. The NSF provides 

computational resources to other federal agencies via its TeraGrid resource, with 50 

percent of that resource being utilized by the National Institutes of Health, the 

Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the 

Department of Defense.

NSF co‐chairs the interagency Networking and Information Technology Research 

and Development (NITRD) program (http://www.nitrd.gov/). The NITRD Program, 

chartered by Federal law, is the primary mechanism by which the Government 

coordinates its unclassified networking and information technology (IT) research 

and development (R&D) investments. Thirteen Federal agencies, including all of the 

large science and technology agencies, are formal members of the NITRD Program. 

These agencies work together to develop a broad spectrum of advanced networking 

and IT capabilities to power Federal missions; U.S. science, engineering, and 

technology leadership; and U.S. economic competitiveness. Their efforts increase 

the overall effectiveness and productivity of Federal networking and IT R&D 

investments, leveraging strengths, avoiding duplication, and increasing 

interoperability of networking and IT R&D products. NSF program officers 

participate in each of the NITRD Program Component Areas (PCAs). The work of

each PCA is guided by an Interagency Working Group (IWG) or a Coordinating 

Group (CG) of interagency program managers. These groups meet monthly to 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 18
             

coordinate planning and activities of the multiagency projects in their specialized

research areas.

NSF has co‐funded awards with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the

Kellogg Foundation as well as others.  Recent examples of working with the 

commercial sector can be found in cloud‐computing initiatives with Google and IBM, 

HP, Intel, and Yahoo; and, most recently, Microsoft.  Inter‐governmental 

collaboration can be found in the NSF Experimental Programs to Stimulate 

Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program where NSF co‐funds awards supported by 

the various state and regional governments.  The Office of International Science and 

Engineering (OISE) spearheads international collaboration initiatives.  A recent 

example in the international space is the creation of a new framework for 

conducting international research being executed by the Heads of the Research 

Councils of the G8 states (G8‐HORCs). The initiative aims at supporting excellent

research on topics of global relevance that can best be tackled by a multinational 

approach.

Collaboration is an underlying principle of NSF’s informal science education (ISE) 

program within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. ISE invests in 

projects that promote lifelong learning  of science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics (STEM) by the public in a wide variety of informal learning 

environments, including museum exhibits, award‐winning films, television and 

radio series, summer science camps, and community and other outreach programs. 

The emphasis is on enhancing STEM learning for people of all ages. Some examples 

of projects funded through the ISE program are found at 

http://www.nsf.gov/news/now_showing/ .  A list of recent projects funded through 

the program, with links to the award abstracts are found 

http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/progSearch.do?WT.si_n=ClickedAbstractsRecent

Awards&WT.si_x=1&WT.si_cs=1&WT.z_pims_id=5361&SearchType=progSearch&pa

ge=2&QueryText=&ProgOrganization=&ProgOfficer=&ProgEleCode=7259,7774&Bo

oleanElement=true&ProgRefCode=&BooleanRef=true&ProgProgram=&ProgFoaCod

e=&RestrictActive=on&Search=Search#results . 

Collaboration is also a common element in the way that NSF staff performs its work 

and NSF is facilitating this through the technologies it offers to staff.  One notable

example is SharePoint, a collaboration portal that staff can use to instantly access

and share information securely anytime, anywhere.  SharePoint offers a 

customizable suite of tools that can be tailored to NSF staff needs and is used to 

create workspaces where they can manage and collaborate on documents, share 

information, track action items, and stay connected online.  To date, staff has 

leveraged SharePoint to connect and collaborate with individuals beyond their 

offices and branches and to establish efficiencies, such as automatic workflows.  NSF

will continue to research ways to further facilitate collaboration between staff 

through technology, looking for additional ways to leverage existing platforms, such 

as SharePoint, and identifying new technologies that will benefit staff.

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 19
             

   

     

   

   

   

For many years, NSF has worked closely with the research community; gathering 

input to guide the direction of NSF’s innovative technology solutions in support of 

NSF’s mission and the research community’s needs, and NSF’s approach to

developing Research.gov has been no different.  NSF’s active collaboration and 

partnership with the research community is evident through Research.gov’s service 

delivery model.  New services for Research.gov are identified and prioritized based 

on input received from the research community.  To test new services, NSF 

collaborates with volunteers from the community who participate in pilots and 

betas of new services and provide feedback and input on their experience.  These

collaborations allow the Foundation to ensure services meet user needs before 

releasing to the broader community.

With Research.gov, NSF has established collaborative partnerships with three 

federal research agencies, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and USDA’s National Institute for Food 

and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA), in order to offer the research community and the

public key information and services for these agencies in one location.  These formal 

partnerships, established through Memoranda of Understanding, provide a shared 

platform for the research community to do business with agencies that share a

common mission and business model.  This collaboration provides the opportunity 

for agencies to work together to consolidate information resources, improve access 

to information about federally funded research, and implement government‐wide 

standards.  Examples of this on Research.gov include: 

	 Policy Library ‐ Offers the research community, the public, and federal 

agencies consolidated access to government‐wide and agency‐specific 

policies, guidelines, and procedures for NSF and partner agencies in one 

location. The Policy Library also provides a visible location for notifying the 

public about draft government‐wide and agency‐specific policies available 

for review and comment in the Federal Register.

	 Research Spending and Results –Displays information, available to the 

public, about how NSF and NASA grant award dollars are being spent, what 

research is being performed, and how the outcomes of the research are benefiting 

society. 

	 Federal Financial Report – Research.gov service to prepare and submit

financial reports using the new government‐wide standard form.  NSF is 

interested in offering this service for use by other agencies in the future.

 Research Performance Progress Reports – A future Research.gov service

to prepare and submit progress reports for research projects using the new 

government‐wide standard form.  NSF and NASA’s collaboration to deliver 

this capability will encompass the full scope of service delivery, including 

planning, requirements gathering, technical implementation, and outreach 

once the service is available.  Additionally, NSF is interested in opportunities 

to partner with other agencies to offer this new capability in the future. 

 Researcher Profile Update – In part in direct response to feedback received 

through NSF’s Open Government dialog with the public, the Foundation is 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan	 Page 20
             

   

looking into opportunities to partner with other research agencies to provide 

a service to integrate researcher profiles across agencies, decreasing the 

administrative burden on researchers associated with maintaining multiple 

agency profiles.  This will also allow researchers to proactively keep 

information up‐to‐date, such as institution affiliation and contact 

information, and volunteer for agency activities, such as participating on 

panel reviews for proposals.

In addition to partnering on services, NSF collaborates with its partner agencies to 

promote awareness about Research.gov and the common research mission across 

the research community and the public.  NSF and partner agencies employ shared 

outreach materials, such as fact sheets and online demos (available on CD and via 

YouTube), to educate stakeholders about the research mission, Research.gov, and its 

services.  Additionally NSF and partner agencies work together on shared outreach 

opportunities.  For example, NSF and partner agencies conduct joint presentations 

at key research association meetings. 

These agency partnerships are just the beginning.  NSF is interested in pursuing 

Research.gov partnerships with other federal research agencies and looking into 

opportunities to work with existing partners on new services and increased 

outreach opportunities.

NSF recognizes the value of collaboration at all these various scales of activity and 

shall continue to explore new and innovative methods to engage partners in ways

that enhance the various missions, support the science, engineering and education

communities and generate value to the American public. 

D. Records Management 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is dedicated to a transparent approach to

records management by maintaining thorough, accessible electronic records of 

agency business.  One way that NSF offers clear insight into its electronic 

management processes is by posting its records retention schedule on the 

Foundation web site (http://www.nsf.gov/policies/records/index.jsp) where it is

easily accessible to any member of the public.   The schedule uses plain language to 

describe the different types of records that NSF is required to retain and the period

for which they are retained. The NSF website provides the public with detailed 

information for accessing the different types of records, such as step‐by‐step 

instructions for submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.  NSF is also

actively identifying and leveraging opportunities to make records that do not 

contain sensitive or personally identifiable information readily available to the 

public.  For example, records such as press releases, transcripts of official speeches, 

and formal publications are already made available to the public through the 

Foundation website.

NSF recently received approval from the National Archives and Records 

Administration for electronic archival of NSF’s permanent records (in addition to 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 21
             

non‐permanent records), such as records of grant awards that have been made by 

the Foundation.  To support this, NSF is implementing a commercial‐off‐the‐shelf 

electronic records management (ERM) solution, which will allow the Foundation to 

make records management more efficient by automating many of the related 

processes.  For example, the Foundation will no longer need to spend valuable time 

and resources preparing and storing paper records or shipping them to NARA.  The

ERM system will integrate with other NSF systems to electronically pull and store 

retired records and then prepare and transmit the records quickly and seamlessly to 

NARA when they are ready for archival.  Additionally, the ERM system provides key 

features, such as automatic notifications for when records are ready to be retired, 

which will help increase the timeliness of award archival. 

NSF is also actively exploring opportunities to leverage the ERM system to further 

increase transparency to the public.  For example, NSF is looking into the feasibility 

of providing records information through electronic reading rooms.  Historically, to 

view NSF records, the public has had to either physically visit the Foundation or be 

sent copies of the records through the mail, both of which can take time and may 

result in indirect (e.g., travel costs) or direct (e.g., mail and copying costs) costs to 

the requestor.  Additionally, before records could be made available, the records 

also had to be manually redacted to remove sensitive information, a time‐

consuming process.  Through electronic reading rooms, members of the public could 

access and view requested records quickly and easily at no cost to them from 

anywhere across the country. Features available through these reading rooms could 

also be leveraged to automatically redact sensitive information, decreasing the 

amount of time and resources spent preparing records for public viewing.  NSF will

look at best practices from across the federal government and research 

opportunities such as these to identify the most appropriate and effective ways to 

leverage this technology for the ultimate benefit of the public. 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 22
             

        

V. OTHER OPEN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES 

A. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

NSF has a long tradition of making its FOIA responses openly available and

accessible to the public and hence there is no backlog in this area.  FOIA data are

currently available at http://www.nsf.gov/policies/foia.jsp covering the fiscal years

1998 through 2009 and are available in DOC, HTML, PDF and TXT formats.  As part

of the initial dataset population, in response to the Open Government Directive, the 

NSF has made available the FY2009 data in XML open standard format.  Currently,

the plans are to convert the existing datasets, FY1998‐FY2009, to XML and provide 

access via www.data.gov and http://www.nsf.gov/open/ .  It is anticipated this will be

completed during FY2010.  Making the results of NSF-supported research public was a 

popular suggestion among the people who provided ideas and comments during the 

public engagement activity that was part of developing our open government plan. 

The NSF Office of General Council (OGC) corresponds electronically with FOIA 

requesters and recognizes the need for an open and active dialog with the NSF Chief 

Information Officer (CIO) and as a result has an ongoing communication with the 

CIO. In addition, the OGC is a member of the CIO’s Security and Privacy Working 

Group as well as attends CIO council meetings on behalf of the CIO. 

B. Congressional Requests for Information 

Congressional requests for information typically are addressed to the NSF Director 

in the Office of the Director (OD).  They are there assigned by the Congressional

Affairs Section to the organizational unit, within the NSF, that has the necessary 

background and information consistent with providing a cogent response.  The

assignment is made with a timeframe as to when the response is required with the 

response sent to the requester following necessary clearance processes. 

C. OLPA 

The Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA) communicates information about 

the activities, programs, research results and policies of the National Science 

Foundation. OLPA employs a wide variety of tools and techniques to engage the 

general public and selected audiences including Congress, the news media, state and 

local governments, other Federal agencies, and the research and education 

communities. 

The Foundation’s activities to expand science literacy of all citizens rely to a great

extent on collaboration and public participation. Examples include the following: 

News From the Field

News From the Field is one of NSF’s efforts to make the public aware of the results 

of foundation‐supported research and education activities. Many of the research 

institutions receiving NSF support publish their own news releases describing 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 23
             

         

   

 

advances and breakthroughs achieved by their researchers and students, and 

naming the journals or other publications in which the results are announced.  Since 

2006, NSF has collected these news items and published brief summaries of them, 

along with links to the full news stories on the agency Web site, as “News From the 

Field.” This brings together in one place a larger number of the discoveries made 

possible by NSF support. The public can receive automatic updates via an RSS feed 

or GovDelivery alert notification. With more than 2,600 news items published and 

the number increasing each day, News From the Field greatly enhances the public’s 

ability to learn about the results of taxpayer‐supported research.  See 

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_list.cfm?nt=12  for News From the Field. 

International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge

Visuals can communicate research results and scientific phenomena in ways that

mere words cannot. As the need to increase science literacy grows more urgent, 

illustrations can provide immediate and influential connections between scientists 

and other citizens, and may be the best hope for nurturing popular interest. For 

these reasons, NSF partnered with the journal Science to create the “International

Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.” The competition seeks to encourage 

and expand the participation of people engaged in communicating science, 

engineering and technology for education and journalistic purposes.  Judges 

appointed by NSF and Science select winners in each of five categories: Photography, 

Illustrations, Informational Posters and Graphics, Interactive Games, and Non‐

Interactive Media. The winning entries appear in a special section in Science and 

Science Online, and on the NSF Web site. One of the winning entries is featured on 

the cover of Science, and each winner receives subscriptions to Science and Science

Online and a certificate of appreciation. The challenge has resulted in a growing 

library of award‐winning visualizations available for use by teachers, students and 

the public. The competition’s first winners were announced in 2003, and 

submissions are now being accepted for the 2010 challenge. Plans for the future 

include the addition of a public engagement activity that would allow the public to 

vote for winners among the semi‐finalists, similar to the selection of “People’s 

Choice” winners in other award competitions. There are also early plans to develop 

a companion science and engineering visualization challenge aimed at high school 

students.  See http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/index.jsp for the

International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.

NSF Multimedia Gallery

NSF maintains a collection of illustrations, photos, animations, videos and audios 

covering all areas of science and engineering that the agency supports.  Content for 

the NSF Multimedia Gallery (MMG) consists of works created by staff and 

contractors (as works for hire), and also by others outside of the agency who have 

granted NSF permission to make their materials available for educational and 

informational purposes.  To date, the MMG collection includes more than 2,200 

images.  See http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/ for the Multimedia Gallery.    

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 24
             

Science360.gov

NSF is preparing to launch Science360.gov, a new multimedia Web portal devoted to 

science, technology and engineering. Content on the site will include extensive 

collections of audio and video materials, images and articles. NSF contacted about 

140 science‐focused audio providers for the purpose of creating formal agreements

for sharing audio programs and, so far, there are agreements with 65 of them. 

Discussions continue with others who have indicated their interest in collaborating 

with NSF. There are more than 75 video suppliers who have given NSF 

approximately 500 videos, to date. The Science360.gov site will allow visitors to 

select content on the site to create their own collections, and that customized 

content will be stored on the site as well. Users will be able to select and organize

podcasts for their own audio networks, for example. Podcasts, videos and images 

are now being featured in daily updates distributed by the Science360 News Service. 

See http://news.science360.gov/files/ for the News Service. The Science360.gov 

Web site is expected to launch in mid‐2010.

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 25
             

                                                       

VI. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES 

A. Tools and Social Media

To continue to increase participation, NSF has recognized that social media are 

becoming increasingly important tools for engaging with our stakeholders and with 

citizens. We have established a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/US.NSF)

that we are using to connect with others interested in science and engineering, and 

to engage in dialogs with the public about NSF’s activities.  We also have a YouTube 

site (http://www.youtube.com/user/VideosatNSF) where we make science‐themed 

videos available for viewing and for comments. We are developing a Flickr site 

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsf_beta) that will make available research and 

education photos and illustrations for others to use in communicating science. And 

we have a number of Twitter feeds, including the main NSF feed 

(http://twitter.com/NSF) to extend our communication and outreach activities. Our 

Twitter feed has attracted more than 28,000 followers.  NSF lists all of the social 

media it is currently using at http://www.nsf.gov/social/ . To guide NSF’s further 

use of social media, the agency has established a working group to research social

media best practices from across the government and private sector and formulate 

recommendations for the most appropriate and effective ways for the Foundation to 

leverage social media. 

B. Flagship Initiatives

NSF funds basic research and so it is totally consistent that NSF flagship activities

include research components that can contribute to the open government directive.

One activity that the NSF is currently funding and could be especially relevant to 

both public participation in science and open government is a study by NSF‐

supported researchers of an online suite of citizen‐science projects called 

Zooniverse to determine the implications of public involvement in large‐scale 

scientific activities. Zooniverse was developed by the Citizen Science Alliance with 

projects ranging from an effort to track solar explosions to an effort to understand 

how galaxies merge. The goal of the new study is to develop a new methodology for 

using citizen science to unlock the potential for deriving knowledge from modern, 

large data sets. To learn more about this research project, see:

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116658&org=NSF. 

Another promising activity is in the area of assessment of research investments as 

exemplified by the STAR METRICS project4.  Working with the Office of Science and 

Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as other 

agencies that comprise the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) a data‐

driven analytical capability is being developed to assess the impact of federal 

investments in science and engineering education.

4 Science and Technology in America’s Reinvestment‐‐‐Measuring the Effect of 

Research on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Science 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 26
             

       

The NSF is still in the process of evaluating additional candidates for exciting 

flagship initiatives that highlight NSF’s commitment to science and engineering 

research and education and invite the public to submit suggestions.  One such

potential activity is given below:

Ask a Scientist/Engineer

One activity that the NSF is excited about we’re calling “Ask a Scientist or Engineer”. 

 Did you ever have a science question you wish you had an answer to from a 

recognized scientist?  This is along the lines of the proverbial: Why’s the sky blue? 

 With this flagship initiative the public would be invited to submit questions via the 

NSF open government website.  The questions will be evaluated by a panel of 

science and education experts and ranked.  The top 10 questions will receive 

answers from a top scientist or engineer.  The person submitting the question will 

receive his/her answer via a telephone call from the scientist/engineer and the 

answer will be published on the NSF open government website. 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 27
             

                                                       

VII. PROGRAM EVALUATION 

As previously stated, each Directorate/Office has an Advisory Committees (AC) 

associated with that NSF unit.  These ACs will be tasked, in addition to their current 

activities, with providing an evaluation for that unit’s participation in the NSF Open 

Government Directive. This will be complemented by the periodic meetings of the

NSF OGD Working Group which will look at the comments/suggestions being made 

by the public to our open government website: http://opennsf.ideascale.com.  An

evaluation will be made as to NSF’s ability to provide timely responses to viable 

suggestions.

Finally, the opportunity exists to use the Committee of Visitors, an external body of 

experts convened to evaluate specific Divisions and/or programs within the 

foundation, as a mechanism to evaluate participation in the open government 

initiative. 

A. Issues 

Open access to data generated by the principal investigators being funded by NSF is 

an issue that the NSF and the NSB are currently actively addressing.  The NSF has a

Data Working Group, one of whose tasks is to collect information and look at 

mechanisms and related matters on the topic of open access to data.  This is an issue 

not only for the NSF but for other agencies as well.  Indeed, it is a global issue as 

different countries attempt to address this need and as we increase our 

international collaborations. 

An additional area that receives public commentary has to do with access to other

data requested.  There is some data that NSF cannot provide, as NSF needs to 

observe confidentiality and privacy concerns. Like all Federal agencies, the NSF is 

bound by the Privacy Act of 1974 to protect the confidentiality of the records it 

maintains about individuals. Further, even when data are not covered by the Privacy 

Act, it may be necessary to assure respondents (both individuals and institutions) 

that we will not divulge the information they provide to us except in a format that

will not permit identification of the respondent. We are, of course, obligated to 

honor all such assurances.  NSF confidentiality guidelines also restrict the release of 

individual proposals, or similar documents, sent to the NSF for consideration5

. The

Foundation receives proposals in confidence and protects the confidentiality of their 

contents 

5 NSF Proposal and Award Manual (PAM) 2009: NSF Manual #10 

NSF Open Government Directive Plan Page 28
             

APPENDIX 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPEN GOVERNMENT PLAN 

NSF sought input from the public in developing its Open Government plan. The 

agency’s OpenNSF engagement used the IdeaScale public dialog application. NSF 

promoted the dialog through a variety of outreach methods, including an item in the 

Current (NSF newsletter), a news release, items distributed to NSF’s GovDelivery 

and RSS subscribers, announcements on NSF’s Twitter and Facebook (social media) 

sites, an all‐staff memorandum, and email blasts to key external groups such as the 

news media, public information officers at research institutions, and members of 

science and engineering societies and organizations that are interested in science

policy.  A link to the dialog was prominently featured on the NSF Web site’s home 

page and also on the agency’s Open Government page.  

NSF permitted the public’s ideas and comments to be posted to the OpenNSF dialog 

site without pre‐moderation. The agency’s moderation team monitored the site, 

removed ideas and comments that violated the terms of participation, moved ideas 

that did not address open government issues to an off‐topic site, responded to 

questions or directed them to the proper authority, and interacted with the public

through moderator comments and/or emails to contributors.   

The OpenNSF site received 59 ideas, 85 comments and 529 votes. Ideas were 

submitted by 46 different authors. The 10 most popular ideas, based on the vote 

totals (positive votes minus negative votes), were: 

1. Require all taxpayer research to be freely available (83 votes)

2. Public funding = public viewing/require all publicly funded projects to 

publish as open access and all data and code shared as open source (56 

votes)

3. NSF should live webcast all meetings (36 votes) 

4. Fund proposals, not projects near completion (28 votes)  

5. Better explain knowledge economy/need a “Marshall Plan”‐type

mobilization to ensure citizens understand the importance of innovative, 

scientific research and how that translates into the many various impacts 

on our economy. (18 votes)

6. Open source desktop software/implement non‐proprietary computer

desktop to NSF employees, contracts and grantees (17)

7. Publicize OLPA products to K‐12 superintendents and teachers (14) 

8. Connect NSF scholars to government jobs (14)

9. Open category for SBIR/ a “what do you have that we don’t know about” 

category (14)

10. Conflict of interest transparency (13)  

The ideas, along with comments and discussion, can be viewed on the OpenNSF 

dialog site (http://opennsf.ideascale.com).

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APPENDIX 2: NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE DATA COLLECTION 

NSF data collections available at http://www.nsf.gov/open/ as of April 7, 2010 are 

shown below along with brief descriptions of their contents.  These will be 

augmented periodically as new high‐value datasets are identified and converted to 

the necessary machine‐readable format.

NSF Freedom of Information Act Report for October 1, 2008 through

September 30, 2009

Statistical information on the number of FOIA requests received and processed by 

NSF in FY09, response times for FOIA requests, the number of appeals received, and 

other statistics on NSF's FOIA program.

NSF.gov | Data.Gov

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award Recipients, 2000­2009

NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) provides three years of

support for graduate study leading to research‐based masters or doctoral degrees in 

disciplines relevant to the mission of the Foundation. This dataset includes GRFP 

award recipients. 

Data.Gov

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention Recipients,

2000­2009

NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) provides three years of

support for graduate study leading to research‐based masters or doctoral degrees in 

disciplines relevant to the mission of the Foundation. This dataset includes GRFP 

Honorable Mention recipients.

Data.Gov.

NSF Research Grant Funding Rates

FY 2009 NSF funding rates for competitive research proposals by organizational 

unit. The funding rate is calculated by dividing the number of awards by the number 

of awards and declines.

Data.Gov.

SESTAT

SESTAT is a database of the employment, education, and demographic 

characteristics of the nation's scientists and engineers. The data are collected from 

the following three surveys, which have been sponsored every two years since 1993 

by the National Science Foundation (NSF):

 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) 

 National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG) 

 Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR).

Only the NSRCG and SDR were conducted in 2001.

Information from these surveys has been integrated into the SESTAT database. The 

SESTAT database allows for analyses of different components of the science and 

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engineering workforce. When accessing SESTAT, the user may select the integrated 

database for 1993, 1995, 1997, or 1999. In addition, data from the individual 

surveys maybe accessed for special analytical purposes. Access to some data may be 

restricted due to confidentiality considerations. 

Data.Gov

Research Spending and Results

Research.gov Research Spending and Results is an online, user‐friendly platform to 

access and search detailed information about federally funded science and 

engineering research and education, giving the general public, the scientific 

community and Congress visibility into the results achieved with federally‐funded 

research. Research awards are easily searchable by agency, awardee, award amount 

and date, state and congressional district (where award was made and the work is 

being performed), and key word such as a field of science. Information can be 

reviewed online or exported to various file formats, such as XML, CSV and XLS. 

Detailed information on federally funded research can be found for multiple 

agencies. Information provided for each award includes: Award recipient 

(institution and researcher), Award Amount and funds obligated to date, Period of 

Performance, State and Congressional district of where the award was made and 

where the work is being performed., Award Abstract describing the research effort, 

Citations of Journals Published as a result of the award. 

Data.Gov

Key Science and Engineering Indicators: Digest 2010

This digest of key S&E indicators draws from the National Science Board's Science 

and Engineering Indicators report. The digest serves to draw attention to important 

trends and data points from across Indicators and to introduce readers to the data 

resources available in the report.

Data.Gov

NSF Grants Management and Information on Research Spending and Results

Here you can also find information about how NSF and NASA grant award dollars 

are being spent, what research is being performed, and how the outcomes of the 

research are benefiting society. 

Research.Gov

Comprehensive Information on Federal Spending by Agency and Spending

Type

Have you ever wanted to find more information on government spending? Have you 

ever wondered where Federal contracting dollars and grant awards go? Or perhaps 

you would just like to know, as a citizen, what the Government is really doing with

your money.

USASpending.Gov

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NSF Spending Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Recovery.gov is the U.S. government’s official website providing easy access to data 

related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, 

waste and abuse. 

Recovery.Gov Track the Money

Performance of NSF Major IT Investments

The Performance Dashboard tracks information technology (IT) investments self‐

reported by federal agencies and departments as "major". Major investments 

(Agency's Exhibit 300s) represent only a portion of the agency's entire IT portfolio 

(Agency's Exhibit 53).

IT Dashboard

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APPENDIX 3: LIST OF ACRONYMS 

CDI Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation 

CIO Chief Information Officer 

CSV Comma Separated Values 

DoD  Department of Defense

DoE  Department of Energy

EaSM  Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models 

EPSCoR  Experimental Programs to Stimulate Competitive Research

FOIA Freedom of Information Act

G8‐HORCs  Heads of the Research Councils of the G8 states 

ISE  Informal Science Education 

NASA  National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

NSB  National Science Board

NSF  National Science Foundation

OD  Office of the Director

OGC  Office of General Council 

OGD  Open Government Directive 

OGD‐WG  Open Government Directive Working Group 

OIG  Office of Inspector General

OISE  Office of International Science and Engineering 

OLPA  Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

OMB  Office of Management and Budget

OSTP  Office of Science and Technology Policy 

SMART  Senior Management Advisory Roundtable 

STEM  Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

USDA  United States Department of Agriculture 

XML  eXtensible Markup Language 

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