The National Science 

Foundation 

Open Government Plan 

2.0

April 2012
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 2

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

II. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT IN CONTEXT .....................................................................6

Open Government Directive: Overview......................................................................................6

NSF and NSB: Organizational Structures and Governance ..................................................7

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

Key Stakeholders................................................................................................................................9

III. NSF STRATEGIC PLAN AND THE OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE............. 11

Overview of the NSF Strategic Plan and Key Principles..................................................... 11

Open Government Strategic Goals and Outcomes ............................................................... 12

IV. OPEN GOVERNMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND STRATEGIES............................. 13

Transparency Initiatives and Prioritization.......................................................................... 13

Keeping the Public Informed....................................................................................................... 16

Public Outreach and Participation............................................................................................ 17

NSF Collaboration Activities and Agency Partnerships ..................................................... 22

Records Management..................................................................................................................... 27

OTHER OPEN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES...................................................................... 28

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) .......................................................................................... 28

Congressional Requests for Information................................................................................ 29

V. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES .................................................................. 32

Social Media Tools........................................................................................................................... 32

Flagship Initiative............................................................................................................................ 32

APPENDIX 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPEN GOVERNMENT PLAN....................... 36

APPENDIX 2: NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE DATA COLLECTION............ 37

APPENDIX 3: CITED URLS.................................................................................................... 40

APPENDIX 4: LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................... 43
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 4

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is committed to meeting President Obama’s 

goal of transparency as specified in the January 21, 2009, memorandum: 

Transparency and Open Government. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments on December 8, 2009, 

directing specific actions to be executed to implement the principles of 

transparency, participation and collaboration. In March 2011, the administration 

announced that agencies make available on their websites: congressional testimony; 

agency reports to Congress required by statute and staff directories.

Since its creation in 1950, NSF has viewed openness and transparency as critical to

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

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

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

and practices that guide its research and education activities. NSF has always been 

an open agency making all of its data, within the constraints of confidentiality and 

privacy, openly available via its website. New technologies, many of which received 

their basic funding from NSF, now provide the means for the agency to take these 

openness practices to the next level and into the 21st century. 

In response to the OMB memorandum, NSF created an Open Government Plan (Vers. 

1.0) and published it on the agency's Open Government web page in April 2010. The 

plan described how NSF planned to "improve transparency and integrate public 

participation and collaboration into its activities.” This revised NSF Open 

Government Plan (2.0) complements the NSF FY2011 – 2016 Strategic Plan1, 

Empowering the Nation Through Discovery and Innovation, which identifies five core 

values: visionary, dedicated to excellence, learning and growing, broadly inclusive,

and accountable.

The key principle being applied in executing the elements of the NSF Open 

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

NSF data and information available in an open machine-readable format.

This updated version of the plan (April 2012) is the result of NSF’s continued 

commitment to open government, and reflects the intent to revise and improve the 

original plan to achieve an “all green” rating awarded to agencies that meet every 

requirement under the administration's Open Government Directive. To ensure 

steady progress, NSF welcomes comments and suggestions on this version of its 

Open Government Plan, at opengov@nsf.gov. NSF, from its senior management 

through the entire Foundation staff, is committed to the principles set forth in this 

plan. Indeed, this is reflected in the NSF Strategic Plan for FY2011-2016 where it 

states: NSF is committed to the principles underlying open government including 

 1 http://www.nsf.gov/news/strategicplan/index.jsp
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 5

transparency, participation, and collaboration, and to translating this commitment 

into action.2

 2 NSF Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2011-2016, Section V. Strategic Goals and 

Performance Goals, Perform as a Model Organization)
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 6

II. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT IN CONTEXT

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, the Office of Management and Budget issued M-10-06, the 

Open Government Directive (OGD), and requiring agencies to take specific steps 

toward the goal of creating a more open government. The directive specified a 

timetable for agencies to complete actions such as publishing in an open format at 

least three high-value data sets and creating an Open Government web page. In 

March 2011, the administration announced that agencies shall make available on 

their websites: Congressional testimony; agency reports to Congress required by 

statute and staff directories.

NSF demonstrated its commitment to the Open Government initiative with the 

creation of a new position, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), whose duties include 

serving as the Senior Accountable Official (SAO) for NSF’s open government 

activities. The CTO is located in the Office of the Director, is a member of NSF’s 

Senior Management Advisory Roundtable (SMART) and chairs the NSF Open 

Government Directive Working Group (OGD_WG). In that capacity, as-needed

reports are made to SMART and the Office of the Director on matters related to NSF 

open government, and related activities such as prizes and challenges. 

NSF met the OGD’s January 22, 2010, deadline for identifying and publishing online 

at least three high-value data sets in Data.gov. NSF published four high-value data 

sets by that date (refer to Appendix 2 for a complete listing).

NSF also met the February 2010, deadline for launching an open government web 

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

government activities and, when it was launched, it 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. 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 7

On April 7, 2010, NSF published the NSF Open Government Plan (Vers 1.0): 

http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf10049.

The NSF Open Government Plan is a roadmap for the agency's efforts to:

• Improve transparency through identifying and making available to the 

public 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.

NSF provided the public with an opportunity to comment on Ver. 1.0 of its plan and 

now encourages the public to provide comments and suggestions about NSF’s Open 

Government Plan 2.0 via opengov@nsf.gov.

NSF and NSB: Organizational Structures and Governance

NSF 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; and for other purposes. (NSF Act of 1950)”

NSF is the only federal agency whose mission includes support for all non-medical 

fields of fundamental science and engineering. With a budget of approximately $7 

billion, NSF is the major source of federal funding for research in 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, and agency 

support goes to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K-12 school systems, 

businesses, informal science organizations and other research organizations 

throughout the U.S. In 2011, NSF processed over 51,000 proposals that resulted in 

over 11,000 awards supporting over 275,000 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 

responsible for program creation and administration, merit review, planning, 

budget and day-to-day operations; and the 24-member National Science Board 

(NSB), composed of eminent individuals who meet 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 U.S. 

president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At present, NSF has a total workforce of 

approximately 2,100 at its Arlington, VA, headquarters, including approximately 

1,400 career employees, 200 scientists from research institutions on temporary 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 8

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

Inspector General.

NSF's program staff is organized into the following directorates and offices 

supporting science and engineering research and education: 

Biological Sciences (BIO) Computer and Information Science and 

Engineering (CISE)

Engineering (ENG) Geosciences (GEO)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences 

(MPS)

Social, Behavioral and Economic 

Sciences (SBE)

Education and Human Resources (EHR) Office of Polar Programs (OPP)

Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) Office of International Science and 

Engineering (OISE3)

Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) Office of Integrative Activities (OIA)

An NSF assistant director or an office head, as appropriate, leads 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 Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of the General Counsel (OGC), and the 

Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA). Two additional administrative offices 

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

Information and Resource Management (OIRM). These organizational units of NSF 

are devoted to financial management, award processing and monitoring, IT, human 

resource management, outreach, and other functions.

The NSB is charged with establishing NSF policy. The board's 24 members are 

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 Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provides independent oversight and is

responsible for promoting efficiency and effectiveness in agency programs and 

operations, and for preventing and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse. By statute, the 

NSF OIG is independent from the agency, with the Inspector General reporting 

directly to the NSB and Congress.

NSF Open Government Directive Working Group

In January 2010, NSF created an internal NSF Open Government Directive Working 

Group (OGD-WG) to address the OGD. This group, which met regularly, comprised 

individuals from across the Foundation and was created to develop and help 

implement NSF’s Open Government Plan Ver. 1.0.

 3 OISE has offices in China, France and Japan
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 9

At present the NSF OGD-WG consists of:

• the OGD Senior Accountable Official (NSF CTO), Chair

• representative from the Office of the General Counsel

• the Chief Information Officer

• the Chief Financial Officer

• representative from the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

• representative from the Office of Budget, Finance and Award 

Management 

• representative from the Office of Information and Resource Management;

• representative from the National Center for Science and Engineering 

Statistics, Directorate for Social and Behavioral Sciences

The group is supplemented by other NSF staff as needed. 

The NSF OGD-WG developed an implementation plan, with then near-term activities 

selected for realizing NSF open government activities. All were successfully 

accomplished. These have been updated in 2011 and 2012, with the most recent 

milestones shown below:

Date Action

30Sep11 Identify new NSF Flagship Initiative

30Sep11 Create NSF’s inaugural major Prize/Challenge

1Oct12 Broaden list of products acceptable as citable in proposal 

submissions

30Sep13 Establish policies for public access to high-value data and 

software in at least two data-intensive scientific domains.

Key Stakeholders

The NSF stakeholders consist of: 

• the American public

• academic institutions: graduate/undergraduate colleges and universities, 

two-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)

• NSF staff

• state and other government agencies

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

opportunities available through the NSF as they develop; information on awards 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 10

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.
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 11

III. NSF STRATEGIC PLAN AND THE OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE

Overview of the NSF Strategic Plan and Key Principles

In 2011, NSF published its new strategic plan: NSF FY2011-2016 Strategic Plan4

which identified five core values: visionary; dedicated to excellence; learning and 

growing; broadly inclusive; and 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, and maintaining 

quality in administration, management, and oversight.

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

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

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

the NSF “DNA” was relatively straightforward. 

The NSF FY2011-2016 Strategic Plan states NSF’s vision as:

NSF envisions a nation that capitalizes on new concepts in science and 

engineering and provides global leadership in advancing research and 

education. 

This vision is supported by three interrelated strategic goals: Transform the 

Frontiers, Innovate for Society and Perform as a Model Organization:

Transform the Frontiers - emphasizes the seamless integration of research 

and education as well as the close coupling of research infrastructure and 

discovery.

Innovate for Society - points to the tight linkage between NSF programs and 

societal needs, and it highlights the role that new knowledge and creativity 

play in economic prosperity and society’s general welfare.

Perform as a Model Organization – emphasizes the importance to NSF of 

attaining excellence and inclusion in all operational aspects.

 4 http://www.nsf.gov/news/strategicplan/index.jsp
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Open government activities more readily enable NSF to engage stakeholders and 

keep them informed about agency initiatives, directions and accomplishments. The 

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

Government Plan is: to maximize information that will be made available within the 

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

default position shall be to make NSF information available in an open machinereadable format. The NSF is committed to publishing its data and information in 

machine-readable form and seeking public input and review on a regular basis.

That key principle is complemented by the agency’s commitment to maintaining an 

open and active dialog with the public at large and with the various NSF 

stakeholders, and encouraging all NSF staff to actively participate in open 

government activities.

Out of Scope

Previous versions of NSF’s Open Government Plan stated that open access to digital 

data created as a result of NSF investments were considered out of scope. However, 

this has changed in FY2012. NSF has identified open access to digital data as its 

flagship activity.

However, the issue of public access to scholarly publications, while related to the 

issue of open access to digital data, is outside the scope of NSF’s new flagship 

initiative. It is a topic with which NSF is actively engaged in various forums and the 

agency will continue to pursue this topic area consistent with its commitment to 

openness.

Open Government Strategic Goals and Outcomes

This Open Government Plan serves as the roadmap to improve transparency and

better integrate public participation and collaboration into NSF’s core mission, 

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

history of making its data readily available to the public via its website and other 

means, and the agency shall continue to do so. NSF has made and shall continue to 

make its data and information available in machine-readable form or in more 

innovative and productive ways to further enhance NSF’s openness.

NSF’s open government strategic goal recognizes the importance of 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 funding and funding 

outcomes, as well as data on the state of science and engineering education, to name 

a few. 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 13

IV. OPEN GOVERNMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND STRATEGIES

Transparency Initiatives and Prioritization

Responsibility for ensuring transparency at 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 on an as needed 

basis, recognizing that the agency's default position is that all data and information 

will be made available consistent with confidentiality and privacy constraints. The 

OGD-WG will continue to inventory data collected or generated by NSF, building on 

the eGov content inventory, found at 

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

found at http://www.nsf.gov/policies/records/index.jsp. NSF will continue to

provide opportunities for its stakeholders and the public to determine which 

datasets are high-value data collections. NSF will then prioritize the conversion to 

open formats, based on stakeholder and public interest.

The table below shows the list of datasets, and their expected publication dates.

Date Description

30April12 Science and Engineering Digest

30April12 Science and Engineering Indicators State Data Tool

30May12 Interactive digest covering important trends in doctoral education

30May12 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Recipients thru FY2011

30May12 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Honorable Mention thru FY2011

30Jun12 Science and Engineering Indicators 2012

30Jun12 Early and Later Career Funding Rates for FY2011

30Jun12 Funding Rate by Principal Investigator for FY2011

30Jun12 NSF Average Dwell Time by Directorate for FY2011

30Jun12 NSF Budget History by Account updated with FY2011 data

30Jun12 NSF State Obligations per Fiscal Year thru FY2011

30Jun12 NSF Obligations for Top 200 Institutions 10 Year Trend thru FY2011

2nd Quarter, 

2012

Revised award search mechanism (beta release)

30Jan13 Digest covering women, minorities and persons with disabilities in 

science and engineering

As available FOIA Reports for 2012 and beyond

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

issues with what should be “open”, since all NSF data and information are 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 from existing formats to machinereadable formats such as comma-separated values (CSV), extensible markup 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 14

language (XML) or other accepted open formats specified in the open government 

directive. The strategy shall therefore be, to prioritize among these items using their 

potential as high-value data as the principal criteria as well as requests from the 

public. FOIA reports, award data and spending data continue to receive the most 

interest from the public and therefore are considered of high value.

As noted earlier, NSF makes public a wide variety of agency information via the NSF 

website: www.nsf.gov. This includes: National Science Board meeting 

announcements and meeting minutes; NSF solicitations; NSF 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; texts 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 materials for 

consideration in the context of the open government directive. 

To further enhance transparency, NSF is 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:

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

machine-readable formats. The original datasets made available at the 

initiation of the NSF open government activity continue to be updated and 

maintained as new data become available (e.g. FOIA, Science and Engineering 

Indicators, etc.) 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 continues to 

look for opportunities to provide additional high-value data through Data.gov 

based on input received from the public and NSF staff.

NSF shall continue to provide high-value datasets/tools via Data.gov and on 

its website during 2012 and beyond. The Science and Engineering Indicators 

dataset has been expanded to include:

1. Science and Engineering Indicators State Data Tool

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c8/interactive/

The State Data Tool allows for interactive visual exploration of 58 state 

indicators covering the role of science and technology (S&T) in state and 

regional economic development. It covers state trends in S&T education, 

the employed workforce, finance, and research and development. The tool 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 15

allows for in-depth exploration of a single indicator, comparisons of 

multiple indicators, and the ability to customize the graphics. Exploring a 

single indicator can be done using "Table," "Chart" or "Map" view.

Comparisons of indicators can be done across states or across years. The 

tool contains up to 20 years of data when data are available and 

comparable. 

2. Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) Digest

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/digest12/

The United States holds a preeminent position in science and engineering 

(S&E) in the world, derived in large part from the nation's long history of 

public and private investment in S&E research and development (R&D) 

and education. Investment in R&D, science, technology and education 

correlate strongly with economic growth, as well as the development of a 

safe, healthy, and well-educated society. The SEI Digest highlights key 

trends and data points and provides an interactive introduction to the 

types of data and information available in Science and Engineering 

Indicators 2012.

• USASpending.gov - Provides financial transparency, at the transaction level,

into NSF financial assistance, including grants and contracts. Through this 

resource, the public can view key details about NSF awards and contracts 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 percent of major investment contracts to 

USASpending.

• Federal IT Dashboard (http://www.itdashboard.gov/) - 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 the 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’s mission and an objective outlined in the strategic plan, 

and provides, 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. 

• 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) of 2009. Easily accessible, high-value NSF information 

available through Recovery.gov includes summaries of overall Recovery Act 

spending with progress tracked weekly, detailed weekly financial reports, 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 16

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

Recovery Act funds and an accountability plan.

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, mechanisms are provided to allow 

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.

Keeping the Public Informed

Research.gov

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 an NSF-led, multi-agency community driven solution 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 services, such as Research Spending and Results, Project Outcome 

Reports for the General Public and Science, Engineering and Education (SEE)

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 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research 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 detail about research awards that the public and the 

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

research scholarly journals that have published the research). Information available 

through Research Spending and Results is provided in machine readable 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 (POR) for the General Public is written in plain 

language, and provides clear insight into the results and broader impacts of NSFfunded research and education. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 

2010 requires these reports to be made available to the public in a timely manner 

and in electronic format. 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. 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 17

The reporting tool also provides 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. Within 24 hours of submission, reports are made available for the public 

to view online through Research Spending and Results. 

Online feedback mechanisms enable the public to provide input regarding the 

quality and comprehensibility of the POR to NSF. NSF will then use this feedback to 

develop outreach and training materials to help researchers improve and better 

target the information included in their reports to the general public. NSF will also 

develop outreach materials that encourage researchers to continue adding to their 

reports after initial submission in order to provide the public with a comprehensive, 

robust view of the impacts of the research. 

Science, Engineering & Education (SEE) Innovation

Launched in 2010, NSF’s Science, Engineering & Education (SEE) Innovation 

website (www.research.gov/seeinnovation) provides transparent, open access to 

information about the outcomes and impacts of NSF-funded research and education 

activities. The site features a breadth of NSF activities, and spotlights investment 

outcomes that benefit the larger society, in addition to advancing science and 

engineering. Featured content includes NSF-funded project highlights written in 

non-technical language; descriptions of major research infrastructure (including 

centers, facilities, observatories, and research vessels); and easily accessible funding 

summaries, award details, and lists of recent awards and award abstracts. The 

funding and award information can be sorted by U.S. states and territories, along 

with information about “people of distinction” in each state/territory. Target 

audiences for SEE Innovation are federal, state and local public policy makers, 

science-related organizations, industries with research and development (R&D) 

components, and the general public. Input from these groups was sought as part of 

the site development and rollout process. 

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

Project Outcomes Reporting, and SEE Innovation, provide valuable insight into NSFfunded 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 continuously soliciting feedback from the science and engineering

community and the public on additional information they would like to see made 

available through these services and Research.gov.

Public Outreach and Participation

In 2012, NSF continues to further develop and enhance its OneNSF initiative that 

was launched in 2011. Supporting fundamental research and education, OneNSF's

goal is to maximize NSF's impact by being even more responsive, leveraging 

resources at all levels and providing leadership in the context of advancing scientific 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 18

knowledge, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One of OneNSF's 

tenets is "openness and excellence through continuous improvement and 

innovation driven by the creativity, teamwork and integrity of the NSF workforce." 

This is clearly consistent with the open government directive principles of 

transparency (openness) and collaboration (teamwork) and as a result 

demonstrates one way NSF is embedding the principles of open government into its 

day-to-day operations. The principle of collaboration can be seen in OneNSF 

activities such as the Innovation Corps (I-Corps). a program that seeks to encourage 

and support the transition of research into useful technologies, products and 

services; Science Across Virtual Institutes, an innovative concept to foster

international science collaboration through virtual institutes that connect 

researchers with common interests and goals; the Career-Life Balance Initiative, a 

set of forward-looking policies and practices to help increase the placement, 

advancement and retention of women in STEM disciplines and; Science, Engineering 

and Education for Sustainability (SEES), investments that address the intersection of 

the environment, energy and society. As improved internal teamwork and 

communication materialize and mature, it is expected that this will result in 

increased opportunities for further engagement with NSF stakeholders, including 

the public.

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

engineering is not a "top-down" process. NSF principally 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 and fulfills its mission. One of the cornerstones of NSF’s success is its merit

review process. In making award decisions, NSF collects over 280,000 reviews per 

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. Consistent with the open government principle of 

participation, 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, continues to be a key 

element of NSF’s public outreach and participation activities.

In December 2011, the NSB released a report, National Science Foundation's Merit 

Review Criteria: Review and Revisions, on the merit review criteria. The report's 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 19

recommendations were the result of a thorough examination by NSB's Task Force 

on Merit Review. In looking at the effectiveness of the two merit review criteria 

(intellectual merit and broader impacts), the task force solicited and received input 

from several stakeholder groups, both inside NSF and external to the agency, 

involving several thousand individuals. Based on the task force’s analyses and 

recognizing the provision in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 

mandating the retention of the Broader Impacts criterion, the NSB determined that 

the two current Merit Review Criteria remain appropriate for evaluation of NSF 

proposals and should be retained. The NSB report provided three principles 

governing NSF's approach to using the merit review criteria and guidance 

addressing issues associated with implementation. Responding to the NSB report, 

NSF established a Merit Review Criteria Working Group to develop implementation 

actions for consideration by senior management. Comments are being sought from 

the internal community and from the leaders of universities, colleges and other NSF 

grantee organizations. In April 2012, NSF plans to publish a notice in the Federal 

Register, giving the public an opportunity to provide comments on proposed 

changes.

NSF's approach to 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:

• Prizes/Challenges – During 2011, NSF kicked off its inaugural 

prize/challenge activity: US Ignite. US Ignite seeks to spark the development 

of next generation applications in areas of national priority -- health, 

education, energy, advanced manufacturing, transportation, and public safety 

-- on an ultra high-speed deeply programmable (allowing new internet 

architectures not requiring use of Internet protocols) and sliceable (isolated 

resources running in parallel) network. The result will be the development 

and deployment of applications that would not be possible on today’s 

Internet. A two-phased approach is anticipated consisting of an Ideation 

competition seeking to collect as many great ideas as possible within the US 

Ignite context; and an Application Competition that will build on the ideation 

competition. It is expected that these competitions will be executed during 

2012.

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

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

or provide feedback on a variety of topics. These include 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
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 20

Feedback and inquiries received through online feedback mechanisms are 

monitored and suggestions are compiled for review and consideration. NSF 

representatives respond directly to inquiries received through feedback 

aliases and questions that appear frequently are incorporated into 

“Frequently Asked Questions” documents, which are posted online and 

distributed during outreach activities.

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 

administration associations and at other meetings of NSF’s core science and 

engineering community (for example the Federal Demonstration Partnership, the 

National Council of University Research Administrators, and the Society of Research 

Administrators). 

Additionally, NSF holds twice yearly Grants Conferences around the country to 

provide an opportunity for smaller academic institutions to learn more about the 

agency and its programs. The agency also sponsors “NSF Day” workshops focused 

on pre-award topics and targeted at junior faculty and others beginning a research 

career.

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

community and public through online outreach mechanisms. One example of this 

activity are the periodically held SRA International webinars5. 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 more popular requests NSF 

received during the original OpenNSF public dialog, and NSF has identified which of 

its meetings would be of greatest interest to the public. The NSB began webcasting 

its meetings in 2011. NSF has increased its use of video teleconferencing for public 

outreach. To engage the community on NSF systems and services, NSF offers WebEx 

and videoconferences for training. These training sessions allow institutions and 

individuals at 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 

 5 www.srainternational.org
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 21

participation opportunities and NSF initiatives (such as Open Government efforts) 

in forums that are accessible to all staff.

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

membership is drawn from the academic and public-private sector communities. 

Each advisory committee meets twice a year. The membership represents the 

stakeholders of the particular directorate or office, or it might span several 

directorates and offices. Advisory committee task forces usually meet on a more 

frequent basis, complementing the twice-yearly meetings. 

For example, the NSF-wide Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure (ACCI) 

recently gathered 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, wikis and document-sharing technologies, the task forces explored, 

discussed and generated a collection of recommendations and ideas that are being

used by the NSF in developing new programs and/or guiding existing activities. The 

impact of this particular activity can be found in NSF’s FY2013 CyberInfrastructure 

Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21), a major initiative that 

incorporated many recommendations from that task force.

An additional resource is the NSB. The board and its advisory committees were

presented the NSF Open Government Directive Plan in late 2010, soliciting from 

them additional ideas and approaches on how to even further increase NSF’s 

transparency, collaboration and participation activities. It is anticipated that the 

current version of the plan will be presented to the NSB subsequently.

The NSB also creates task forces consisting of NSB members and complemented by 

additional staff. These task forces, which meet on a more frequent basis than the 

full board, are constituted as necessary to enable the NSB to execute its due 

diligence. For example, in September 2010, the NSB initiated a Task Force on Data 

Policies whose charge was to “...the further refinement of NSF data policies to 

address key challenges and outline possible options to more effectively use digital 

research data to meet the mission of NSF.” A final report6, Digital Research Data 

Sharing and Management, was published in December 2011, and the next step in the 

process is to seek public comment. The final report’s conclusion includes this 

statement: “NSF must be prepared to meet the accessibility and management 

challenges that the proliferation of digital research data poses.”

Another action in the area of public outreach and participation involves NSF staff. 

Members of the NSF Senior Executive Service are being 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 are being encouraged to present NSF’s interest in the open government 

directive and seek active participation and input from the public.

 6 http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2011/nsb1124.pdf
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 22

NSF Collaboration Activities and Agency Partnerships

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

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

intra-Foundation collaboration initiatives. NSF is actively engaged in activities that 

involve collaboration with other agencies and citizens, as well as across NSF 

organizations. 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 and through the 

OneNSF initiative.

NSF partners with other federal agencies in numerous research and education 

programs and provides a list of these agency partnerships, arranged alphabetically 

by program title, on the NSF website, at 

http://www.nsf.gov/about/partners/fedagencies.jsp. The agency has added a link 

to this list from the NSF Open Government page (http://www.nsf.gov/open/). NSF 

updates the list twice a year, each June and December. 

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, that establish international relationships. Examples 

of 2012 NSF-wide activities include CyberInfrastructure Framework for 21st

Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) and Science, Engineering and Education 

for Sustainability (SEES). CIF21, targeted to provide a comprehensive, integrated, 

sustainable, and secure cyberinfrastructure, has participation from every 

programmatic directorate and office within NSF. SEES is a cross-Foundation 

collaboration that is addressing the challenges of creating a sustainable human 

future. In addition to cross-Foundation collaboration, SEES has participation from

the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Energy, the U.S. 

Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA). There are also international partners: the Chinese National Natural Science 

Foundation and the State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) of Brazil.

NSF provides high-performance computational resources to other federal agencies 

via the XSEDE7 (previously TeraGrid) resource, with 50 percent of that resource 

being utilized by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the 

Department of Energy, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA), and the Department of Defense. 

NSF co-chairs the interagency Networking and Information Technology Research 

and Development (NITRD) program (http://www.nitrd.gov/). Chartered by Federal 

law, the NITRD program 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 

 7 eXtreme Science and Engineering Digital Environment(XSEDE): www.xsede.org
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 23

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 for federal missions; U.S. science, engineering, and technology 

leadership; and U.S. economic competitiveness. The NITRD 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). An Interagency 

Working Group (IWG) or a Coordinating Group (CG) of interagency program 

managers guides the work of each PCA. These groups meet monthly to coordinate 

planning and activities of the multiagency projects in their specialized research 

areas. In addition, PCAs hold workshops to solicit input from their respective 

stakeholder communities.

NITRD is also the home for various senior steering groups' activities, of which there 

are currently four: Big Data; Cyber Security and Information Assurance; Health 

Information Technology; and Wireless Spectrum. The Big Data Steering Group, cochaired by NSF, announced a joint solicitation with other federal agencies (various 

institutes of the National Institute of Health) in March 2012 to fund research in this 

highly important area as data intensive science continues to dominate scientific 

inquiry.

An example of an NSF collaboration with the private sector is Innovation Corps (ICorps), begun in 2011 under the OneNSF framework. I-Corps was developed in 

recognition of the need to create a bridge between research that has reached a level 

of maturity and potentially new products. I-Corps is another NSF agency-wide 

activity, and it is also being co-funded by two private Foundations: Deshpande 

Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation.

In addition to SEES and other previously mentioned international collaborations, 

NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) spearheads 

international collaboration initiatives. A recent example is NSF’s Science Across 

Virtual Institutes (SAVI), which recognizes that STEM exists all over the world and 

seeks to establish mechanisms to enable scientists from around the globe to 

interact. Virtual institutes are being established to connect researchers with 

common interests and goals.

Staff Collaboration Tools

NSF is actively pursuing an increased use of technologies supporting virtual 

participation in meetings with its stakeholders. Live webcasts are allowing NSF staff 

to participate in reviews of directorate and office programs, while other live 

webcasts that are available outside NSF bring program managers together with 

potential grantees. 

In January 2011, the NSF director kicked off NSF’s IdeaShare, an interactive 

electronic forum meant to solicit innovative ideas from NSF staff. The forum uses 

the IdeaScale platform. The concept is to “... gather our collected wisdom into a 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 24

resource for solving current problems and tackling new challenges.” Ideas are being 

provided on any topic and there also have been a number of ideation campaigns to 

address specific challenges, including how to foster career/life balance at NSF, how 

to improve business processes and practices, and how the agency can exemplify the 

OneNSF vision.

Government-Wide Data Standardization

• Award Notice Cover Sheet Data Dictionary - In March 2011, grant-making 

agencies began updating draft policy for inclusion in Title 2 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations (2 CFR), Part 40, Overview of the Award and Supporting 

Documents. As part of this effort, the group identified the need to establish 

and define a set of standard data elements that would comprise the award 

notice cover sheet for all federal grant-making agencies. The following 

agencies were represented in the subgroup: Department of Interior, 

Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human 

Services (NIH and Health Resources and Services Administration), 

Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Endowment for 

the Arts, NSF, and USDA. The purpose of the dictionary is to ensure 

consistent implementation of the award notice cover sheet at the data level 

in federal electronic systems, resulting in improved data integrity for 

reporting and information sharing. 

• Research Performance Progress Reports – Coming in 2013, the new 

standard reporting format enables NSF awardees to prepare and submit 

final, annual, and interim progress reports for research and research-related 

projects using the new government-wide format. A cross-agency group of 

policy, program and technology representatives from NSF, USDA/NIFA, NIH, 

Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and Department of Education 

drafted the data dictionary and XML schema.

• Federal-Wide Researcher Profile Project – Seeking to reduce 

administrative burden on researchers, government and federal grant 

submission and reporting requirements; to enable discovery about 

researcher expertise and; to allow researchers to describe their 

contributions in their own language. This activity is being executed by the 

Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENCV) 

(http://rbm.nih.gov/profile_project.htm_) under the auspices of the Federal 

Demonstration Partnership and involves DOE, EPA, EOP, NIH, NSF, OMB, 

USDA.

Research.gov

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. NSF’s approach to developing, 

updating, and improving the Research.gov website has been no different. NSF’s 

active collaboration and partnership with the research community is evident 

through Research.gov’s service delivery model. New Research.gov services are 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 25

identified and prioritized based on input received from the research community. 

When implementing new services, NSF collaborates with individual and institution 

volunteers from the community who pilot new services and provide feedback and 

input on their experience. These collaborations allow the Foundation to ensure that 

Research.gov services meet the needs of the community before being broadly 

released.

As part of the Research.gov effort, NSF has established collaborative partnerships 

with other federal research agencies, making information from multiple federal 

agencies available to the public and the research community in one location. 

Research.gov offers the research community and the public key information and 

services for NSF, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and 

the USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture/NIFA. These partnerships, 

which were initiated by NSF and established through Memoranda of Understanding, 

provide a shared platform for the research community to do business with agencies 

that have 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. Grantees and the public can 

sign up for email alerts or RSS feeds to keep informed of newly enacted 

polices and regulations, can connect to additional sites for more information 

on federal grants policy and regulations, and can search and filter policy 

information by topic area, policy type, policy/procedure manual, or keyword.

• 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. NSF data is available for grant awards from 1994 to the 

present, and NASA data is available for grant awards from 2007 to the 

present. More specific details are also available, including the location 

(including congressional district) of the entity receiving the award. As part of 

the Research Spending and Results service, Principal Investigators of NSFfunded projects now also create for the public a project outcomes report that 

demonstrates the intellectual merit and broader impacts the project. 

• Science, Engineering & Education (SEE Innovation) – Offers publicly 

available information about NSF investments at the forefront of science, 

engineering, and education. This service demonstrates how tax dollars are 

being spent by NSF to fund research and how the outcomes of NSF-funded 

research benefit the public; profiles “People of Distinction” to feature 

exceptional members of the science, engineering, and education 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 26

communities; and provides asset summaries to show how NSF-funded 

centers, facilities, networks, telescopes, and observatories have enabled 

large-scale research and discovery; and allows grantees and the public to 

find information by scientific area of interest and geographic location (state 

or congressional district). 

• Federal Financial Report – As of January 2012, Research.gov is using the 

government-wide standard form for grantees to prepare and submit financial 

reports. The Research.gov FFR service reduces administrative burden 

(especially for institutions with one NSF grant), makes new awards and 

awards with canceling appropriations easier to identify, and incorporates a 

user-friendly design that improves the capability to download and upload the 

FFR, to use filters to view certain types of awards, and to access web-based 

forms that are pre-populated with organizational and grant information. NSF 

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

• InCommon and Application Submission Web Service – In order to better 

meet the needs of and reduce the administrative burden on those doing 

business with NSF, Research.gov now offers InCommon, an identity 

management service, and Application Submission Web Services, a grant 

application submission service. InCommon, which was developed by an NSFfunded research project, is offered by the InCommon Federation, a non-profit 

organization. If an institution is part of the InCommon Federation, its 

researchers and sponsored programs offices may use their institutional IDs 

and passwords to access Research.gov. The Application Submission Web 

Service allows institutions to use their own systems to prepare and submit 

grant applications to NSF, allowing researchers to use a system they are 

familiar with while still providing a seamless submission process and 

complying with all relevant research and data standards used across the 

government. 

Currently, NSF is developing additional Research.gov services that will fulfill 

demand in the research community. As with previous services, initial business 

requirements are being gathered from volunteering individuals and institutions 

throughout the research community, and their input is being incorporated into the 

design of these services. Throughout the process of designing and implementing 

new services, NSF will continuously seek feedback from members of the research 

community by speaking with them at events and conferences, encouraging them to 

contact NSF at the feedback@Research.gov email, and discussing with them during 

the feedback/question and answer portion of all Research.gov webinars. NSF also 

encourages interested individuals or institutions to participate in pilot programs 

that test new or improved services. NSF uses this feedback, along with lessons 

learned from past service implementations, to ensure that services are designed and 

rolled out such that they are consistent with government-wide standards, are 

reducing the administrative burden on researchers and institution staff, and are 

addressing the dynamic needs of the research community on the cutting edge of 

scientific advancement and the public who want to know about that research. 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 27

In addition to partnering with individuals and institutions on service development, 

NSF actively promotes awareness about and participation in Research.gov. NSF also 

gives institutions and the research community the opportunity to participate in the 

improvement and advancement of Research.gov, and to interact meaningfully and 

frequently with NSF staff about Research.gov. For example, NSF recently initiated a 

Research.gov webinar series that allows members of the research community to 

learn about Research.gov services, interact in real-time with NSF staff, ask 

questions, and provide feedback, without having to travel. Individual or institutionspecific webinars are also available at any time to any individual or institution. 

Other outreach channels include online fact sheets, demos, and conferences or 

events that educate stakeholders about the research mission, Research.gov, and its 

services. Additionally, NSF collaborates with research associations to raise 

awareness within the community of new Research.gov services. For example, 

Research.gov speaks at meetings of these associations to keep their members 

abreast of progress, collect feedback, answer questions, and explain how 

Research.gov is using previously collected input to inform the future of the website. 

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

continue to explore new and innovative methods of engaging the public and the 

research community in ways that enhance the NSF mission, support the science, 

engineering and education communities, and generate value to the American public.

Records Management

NSF is dedicated to a transparent approach to records management by maintaining 

thorough, accessible electronic records of agency business. One way that the agency 

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), making the information 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. Records such as press releases, transcripts of speeches, testimony delivered 

at congressional hearings and publications are already made available to the public 

through the Foundation website.

NSF has received approval from the National Archives and Records Administration 

(NARA) for electronic archival of NSF’s permanent records (in addition to nonpermanent records), such as records of grant awards that have been made by the 

Foundation. To support this, NSF has implemented 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 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 28

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 the NARA Electronic Records Archive (ERA) when they are ready for 

permanent 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 records retirement and 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 timeconsuming 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 in 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 those to identify the most appropriate and effective ways to leverage this 

technology for the ultimate benefit of the public.

OTHER OPEN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

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

accessible to the public. FOIA requests are received electronically – either directly to 

the NSF FOIA Officer or via the FOIA@NSF.gov alias. FOIA data are currently 

available at http://www.nsf.gov/policies/foia.jsp covering the fiscal years 1998 

through 2011 inclusive and are available in DOC, HTML, PDF and TXT formats. 

During 2011, FOIA information covering the period FY1998-FY2011 was made 

available via www.data.gov and http://www.nsf.gov/open/. The plan calls for NSF 

to continue to keep FOIA information up-to-date at these sites. 

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

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

FOIA Officer. In addition, the OGC is a member of the Chief Information Officer’s 

(CIO) Security and Privacy Working Group as well as attends CIO council meetings 

on behalf of the CIO. 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 29

Congressional Requests for Information 

Congressional requests for information typically are addressed to the NSF Director 

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

Affairs Group to the organizational unit within 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, and then

the response is sent to the requester following necessary clearance processes.

In keeping with the administration's statement for Sunshine Week in March 2011, 

NSF has developed a new web page for Reports to Congress 

(http://www.nsf.gov/about/congress/nsf-congress-reports.jsp) that provides links 

to agency reports that are required by statute. There is a link on the NSF Open 

Government page to the Reports to Congress page. 

Public Affairs

The Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA) advances NSF’s mission “to 

promote the progress of science...” through strategic communications aligned to the 

Foundation’s objectives. OLPA employs a wide variety of tools and techniques to 

engage the general public and key audiences including Congress, the news media, 

state and local governments, other federal agencies, and the research and education 

communities.

Examples of tools and techniques used to engage NSF's audiences include the 

following: 

News From the Field 

By partnering with public information officers at research institutions, NSF provides 

links to selected news releases from universities, colleges and other NSF-funded 

institutions. Many of these items are selected to appear in the NSF.gov home page 

news banner. These News From the Field items bring 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 

4,800 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 taxpayersupported 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 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 30

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 Videos. 

The winning entries appear in a special section in Science and Science Online, and on 

the NSF website. 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 the most recent winners 

were announced in 2011. The competition accepted entries online for the first time 

in 2011, with entries submitted via the challenge.gov website. Judging rounds 

typically take place in October, and once the entries have been narrowed to the Top 

50, the public is invited to vote for its favorites. The entries that receive the most 

public votes in each category are named the People's Choice winners. The 2012 

competition opens on May 31, 2012. See 

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

Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge or http://challenge.gov/NSF/209-

international-science-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 works contributed 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 3,330 images and video and audio files. See http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/

for the Multimedia Gallery. 

Science360.gov: The Knowledge Network

NSF launched Science360.gov: The Knowledge Network as a multimedia web portal 

devoted to all things scientific, technological and engineering. The current site is 

rich with news, audios and videos, and it offers visitors a wide range of content that 

spotlights research and engineering advances and communicates the significance of 

science and engineering in our daily lives. The site is home to Science360 Radio, an 

Internet stream featuring continuous audio programming that is available 24 hours 

a day, 7 days a week. Science360 Radio offers 125 shows and podcasts, plus 

additional programming such as news and documentaries, from NSF and external 

contributors such as Scientific American, Discovery, Nature and NPR. The 

Science360 site also features an extensive collection of videos, both individual 

programs and video series such as "Science of NHL Hockey," "Science in Action," 

"Changing Planet," "Chemistry Now," "The Field Revealed," and "Innovators." More 

than 100 contributors, including universities and U.S. and international agencies, 

have given NSF more than 1,000 videos. The website also provides a link to the 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 31

Science360 News Service, a compilation of news gathered from wherever science is 

happening, including directly from scientists, college and university press offices, 

popular and peer-reviewed journals, dozens of NSF science and engineering centers, 

and funding sources that include government agencies, not-for-profit organizations 

and private industry. The news service’s podcasts, videos, images and news briefs 

are distributed as daily updates to subscribers. 

Appreciating the fact that today's citizenry are very mobile, NSF has developed free 

apps to extend the reach of Science360 into the mobile world. The Science360 Radio 

apps for iPhone and Android devices, allow people to listen anytime, anywhere. 

The Science360 for iPad app provides easy access to engaging science and 

engineering videos and images produced by NSF and its partners or gathered from 

NSF-supported scientists, colleges and universities and centers, and also breaking 

stories about scientific discoveries by NSF-supported researchers. The Science360 

for iPad app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times. The Science360: The 

Knowledge Network website is found at http://science360.gov/files; Science360 

Radio is located at http://science360.gov/files. Information about the Science360

for iPad app, including how to download it for free, is available at 

http://science360.gov/ipad/.
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 32

V. NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

Social Media Tools

NSF’s commitment to utilizing social media can be seen in the multi-faceted 

approach it has undertaken in order to remain engaged with its stakeholders and 

with citizens. NSF has established a Facebook page 

(http://www.facebook.com/US.NSF) to connect with others interested in science 

and engineering, and to engage in dialogs with the public about NSF’s activities. 

NSF's Facebook presence has more than 25,000 "fans" (people who have indicated 

they like the site). NSF also has a YouTube site 

(http://www.youtube.com/user/VideosatNSF) where science-themed videos are 

available for viewing and comment. NSF launched a Flickr site 

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

education photos and illustrations for others to use to illustrate science and 

engineering topics. In addition, NSF has a number of Twitter feeds, including the 

main NSF feed (http://twitter.com/NSF) to extend its communication and outreach 

activities. The NSF Twitter feed has attracted more than 235,000 followers. A 

complete list of NSF’s social media activities may be found at 

http://www.nsf.gov/social/ . To guide NSF’s further use of social media, the agency

established a Policy for Social Media Use in January 2011. Finally, NSF also uses 

Wikis, for example, the NSF BIO Directorate is using a wiki to engage their principal 

investigators to provide ideas for tools and resources that could be used by their 

community.

Flagship Initiative

NSF funds basic research and so it is totally consistent and appropriate that NSF 

flagship activities include research associated with that activity that can contribute 

to the open government directive.

The flagship initiative associated with NSF Open Government Plan Vers. 1.0 was 

Science and Technology for America’s Reinvestment: Measuring the Effect of 

Research on Innovation, Competiveness and Science (STAR METRICS). STAR 

METRICS, a multi-agency, multi-university venture that measures the impact of 

science and engineering investment in economic growth, workforce outcomes, 

scientific knowledge and social outcomes8. NSF’s STAR METRICS participation 

under its flagship activity concluded in a pilot study. NSF will continue to participate 

and contribute to STAR METRICS during 2012 and beyond as STAR METRICS enters 

its Phase 2 activities under NIH’s leadership. 

 8 http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/fdp/PGA_057189.
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 33

Open Data Access

NSF has identified a new flagship activity beginning in FY2012, directly embracing 

transparency and openness: open access to digital data created as a result of federal 

agency research investments. Indeed, access to the digital data produced by the 

NSF-funded research community was the most popular request collected during 

NSF’s initial Open Government engagement activity with the public via IdeaScale on 

what data would be considered most highly valuable. 

Open access, or sharing, of digital data generated by the principal investigators 

being funded by NSF is an issue that both the NSF and the NSB are currently actively 

exploring through NSB’s Task Force on Data Policies and NSF’s Data Working Group,

and additionally, through participation in OSTP’s Public Access to Digital Data 

Resulting From Federally Funded Scientific Research Working Group. One of the 

recommendations coming from the NSB’s Data Policy Task Force report is 

“...establish data sharing and management practices that align with NSF data 

policies.” Finally, this is an issue of interest not only to NSF but also to other 

research funding agencies, in addition to being an international issue as countries 

attempt to tackle this area.

Identification of public data access as NSF’s Flagship open government activity was 

principally motivated by the importance of this issue. The large data public access 

stakeholder community (principal investigators, libraries, publishers, institutions, 

etc.) coupled with international and other constraints all combine to make this a 

challenging and game-changing topic to address.

NSF’s Award and Administration Guide Chapter VI.D.4 contains the agency’s current 

policy on Dissemination and Sharing of Research Results. The overarching 

expectation is that NSF grantees will share their data with other scientists and will 

submit their findings for publication. The specific policy may be found at: 

http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=aag.

It is critical that research data, regardless of the funding source, be properly 

managed, curated, standardized, citable, easily shared and made discoverable by 

others. This is important as building on today’s scientific findings is a key step in the 

scientific method and contributes to enabling new science in the future. In FY2011,

NSF took an initial step to its public data access goal when it required all new 

proposal submissions to NSF to contain a data management plan. Submissions that 

fail to include a data management plan are rejected. Data management plans are 

reviewed during NSF’s merit review process. As of January 31, 2012, over 50,000 

proposals with data management plans have been submitted. NSF maintains links 

to additional data-sharing requirements and guidance from directorates, offices and 

programs at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp.

NSF’s flagship initiative will complement these activities, possibly creating 

candidate mechanisms for the dissemination and long-term stewardship of the 

results of unclassified research, including digital data and peer-reviewed scholarly 

publications, supported wholly or in part by public funds.
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 34

To further encourage NSF principal investigators to openly share data, NSF is 

looking to accept listing citable datasets and software in addition to publications 

when principal investigators list their five significant accomplishments in submitted 

proposals. NSF already has activities in the open data access space, for example 

NSF’s Biological Sciences Directorate (BIO) is piloting open data access activities for 

the biology community as represented in its NSF-funded iPlant and DataDryad9

efforts. NSF’s Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate is exploring, 

via a pilot, use of data repositories that could be used in support of open access.

Other Initiatives

Merit Review

NSF's merit review process is considered the “gold standard” for ensuring that 

proposals are reviewed in a fair, competitive, transparent, and in-depth manner. 

Ever seeking to improve, and looking to exploit technological advancements, NSF 

has embarked on exploring promising options that can be used to complement the 

existing merit review process. Another goal of this activity is to address the 

significant increases in the number of proposals being submitted to NSF for funding. 

From FY2000 to FY2011, the number of proposal and decline decisions increased by 

95 percent without an attendant increase in staff. As a result, introduction of 

new/improved mechanisms for merit review that could help alleviate some of the 

increased workload are of particular interest.

This exercise is being accomplished by reaching out to the various NSF stakeholders, 

including other federal agencies (e.g. NSF has been working with NIH as well as the 

United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, or EPSRC), 

to solicit their input on processes to enhance or otherwise complement NSF’s merit 

review process in the context of improved efficiencies and broadening participation. 

By the judicious application of technologies and by looking at additional methods to 

complement the already existing merit review process (for example, NSF has been 

piloting an Ideas Lab concept) NSF expects to help close some of the gap between 

proposal submission, timely reviews and funding. Recently, NSF’s Geosciences 

(GEO) Directorate and Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) successfully used the 

concept of a charrette in the EarthCube program as a mechanism for group planning 

and program development10. As usual, NSF shall make results of this activity openly 

available to any interested parties.

 9 http://www.iplantcollaborative.org; http://datadryad.org/

10 http://earthcube.ning.com/
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 35

Virtual Panels

One of the activities being pursued in the merit review process initiative described 

above, also having applicability to meetings in general, is the increased use of virtual 

panels/meetings. It is expected that replacing face-to-face meetings, where

appropriate, with a virtual counterpart, by using video/teleconferencing 

technologies, will not only result in cost savings but perhaps, more importantly, in 

the context of open government in broadening participation. The challenges that 

are being explored include dealing with confidentiality issues; cost; support; 

security; meeting moderation; platform agnostic; technologies that cover a broad 

spectrum of capabilities in addition to others. NSF has been working with other 

agencies (e.g. NIH) in sharing experiences. Results of this initiative shall be made 

widely available.
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 36

APPENDIX 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPEN GOVERNMENT PLAN

NSF sought input from the public in developing its original 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 homepage 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, contractors 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, are available on the OpenNSF 

dialog site (http://opennsf.ideascale.com).
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 37

APPENDIX 2: NSF OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE DATA COLLECTION

Below is a complete listing of NSF data collections available either via

www.nsf.gov/open or www.data.gov 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.

• Comprehensive Information on Federal Spending by Agency and 

Spending Type

USASpending.Gov

• Early and Later Career Principal Investigator (PI) Count Percentage and 

Funding Rates: 10 Year Trend, FY2001-FY2010

Data.gov | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• Funding Rate by Principal Investigator (PI) Demographic: 10 Year 

Trend, FY2001-FY2010

Data.gov | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Average Dwell Time by NSF and Directorate, FY2001-FY2010

Data.gov | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Budget History by Account from 1951

Data.gov | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Freedom of Information Act Report for October 1, 1997 through 

September 30, 2011

Statistical information on the number of FOIA requests received and 

processed by NSF, response times for FOIA requests, the number of appeals 

received, and other statistics on NSF's FOIA program.

NSF.gov | Data.Gov FY98 | FY99 | FY00 | FY01 | FY02 | FY03 | FY04 | FY05 | 

FY06 | FY07 | FY08 | FY09 | FY10 | FY11

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award Recipients, 2000-

2009

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 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009

| 2010 | 2011

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention 

Recipients, 2000-2009

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 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009

| 2010 | 2011

• NSF Grants Management and Information on Research Spending and 

Results

Research.Gov

• NSF State Obligations per Fiscal Year: 10 Year Trend, 2001-2010
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 38

Data.gov | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Obligations for Top 200 Institutions per Fiscal Year: 10 Year Trend, 

2001-2010

Data.gov | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Research Grant Funding Rates: Current Fiscal Year

FY 2011 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 | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Research Grant Funding Rate per Fiscal Year: 10 Year Trend, 2001-

2010

FY 2001-2010 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 | XML | XSD | Data Dictionary

• NSF Spending Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

2009

Recovery.Gov Track the Money

• Performance of NSF Major IT Investments

IT Dashboard

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 

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

database for 1993-1999, 2001, 2003, or 2006. 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 
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 39

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 2012

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

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 selfreported 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
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 40

APPENDIX 3: CITED URLS

White House Open Government Plan Evaluations

http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/around

NSF Open Government Plan website

http://www.nsf.gov/open

NSF Open Government Plan

http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=opengov

NSF Strategic Plan 2011-2015

http://www.nsf.gov/news/strategicplan/index.jsp

NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures (PAPP) Guide

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf10_1/aag_6.jsp#VID4

NSF e-Gov Content Inventory

http://www.nsf.gov/policies/egov_inventory.jsp

NSF e-Gov Records Retention Schedule

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

NSF Main Website

www.nsf.gov

Federal Agencies Datasets for Open Government

www.data.gov

Government Spending at your Fingertips

http://www.usaspending.gov/

Snapshots of Federal Government IT Spending by Agency

http://www.itdashboard.gov/

Recovery Act Spending Results

http://www.recovery.gov/

NSF/NASA Research Spending

http://www.research.gov

NSF Science, Engineering & Education Innovation

http://www.research.gov/seeinnovation
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 41

NSF Collaborations

http://www.nsf.gov/about/partners/fedagencies.jsp

Digital Research Data Sharing and Management

http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2011/nsb1124.pdf

Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction Using Earth System Models

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2010/nsf10554/nsf10554.htm

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development

http://www.nitrd.gov/

eXtreme Science and Engineering Digital Environment (XSEDE)

www.xsede.org

NSF FOIA site

http://www.nsf.gov/policies/foia.jsp

Federal Government Prizes/Challenges 

http://challenge.gov/

NSF Multimedia Gallery

http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/

Science360/The Knowledge Network, NSF multimedia web portal to science, 

engineering and technology

http://www.science360.gov/files/

NSF Science360 News Service to science, engineering and technology

http://news.science360.gov/files/

Links to NSF science news items

http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsmedia/sciencefrontiers/

NSF YouTube video site

http://www.youtube.com/user/VideosatNSF

NSF photos site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsf_beta

NSF Facebook site

http://www.facebook.com/US.NSF

NSF Twitter site

http://twitter.com/NSF
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 42

NSF social media sites

http://www.nsf.gov/social/

Feature article on NSF citizen science

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116658&org=NSF
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 43

APPENDIX 4: LIST OF ACRONYMS

ACCI Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure 

BFA Office of Budget, Finance and Award Management

BIO Biological Sciences Directorate

CDI Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation

CFO Chief Financial Officer

CIF21 CyberInfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and

Engineering

CIO Chief Information Officer

CISE Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate

COV Committee of Visitors

CTO Chief Technology Officer

CSV Comma Separated Values

DoD Department of Defense

DoE Department of Energy

EaSM Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models

EHR Education and Human Resources Directorate

ENG Engineering Directorate

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

EPSCoR Experimental Programs to Stimulate Competitive Research

EOP Executive Office of the President

FOIA Freedom of Information Act

G8-HORCs Heads of the Research Councils of the G8 countries

GEO Geosciences Directorate

IRM Office of Information and Resource Management

ISE Informal Science Education

MPS Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NIH National Institutes of Health
NSF Open Gov’t Directive Plan April 2012 Page 44

NSB National Science Board

NSF National Science Foundation

OD Office of the Director

OCI Office of Cyberinfrastructure

OGC Office of the General Counsel

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

OPP Office of Polar Programs

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

PI Principal Investigator

POR Project Outcome Report for the General Public

S&E Science and Engineering

SAO Senior Accountable Official

SBE Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences

SEES Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability

SMART Senior Management Advisory Roundtable

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

USDA United States Department of Agriculture

XML eXtensible Markup Language

XSEDE eXtreme Science and Engineering Digital Environment