State Government R&D Survey

Attachment D

DC

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233-0001

The Honorable <>
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A message from the Director, U.S. Census Bureau:
I am writing to request that your office appoint a coordinator for the FY 2016 Survey of State Government
Research and Development. The U.S. Census Bureau is collaborating with the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to collect research and development (R&D) expenditure information from the 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and Puerto Rico. You may recall that your state participated in the FY 2014 and FY 2015 survey.
Your survey response will be compiled by the Census Bureau and forwarded to the NSF, the federal agency
charged with collecting and reporting national R&D statistics. These statistics are used to measure states’
contributions to our nation’s science and technology base, a building block of a strong U.S. economy.
Your state coordinator will be asked to confirm the names and contact information for your state departments and
agencies that are most likely to fund or conduct R&D activities. These departments and agencies will receive a
web survey questionnaire asking about their R&D activities. The coordinator also serves as the authorizing
official for your state’s survey response after all departments and agencies complete their survey questionnaires.
A copy of the FY 2016 survey questionnaire is included. An electronic copy is available at under ’Forms and Letters’ on the Census Bureau's Help Site.
Please contact Vicki Mills, Census Bureau project manager for this survey, with your state coordinator
selection by e-mailing: erd.sgrd@census.gov or calling: 1-888-340-7525. For the FY 2014 and FY
2015 survey, «MRMS» «CONTACTNAME» «CONTACTTITLE» served as your state’s survey
coordinator.
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the survey and requests your voluntary assistance under the authority of Title
13 United States Code, Section 8(b) and Title 42 United States Code, Sections 1861-76 (National Science
Foundation Act of 1950, as amended). We estimate nominating a state coordinator to take 5 minutes to
complete. On the back of this letter you will find disclosure descriptions regarding Office of Management and
Budget number; authority and confidentiality; and burden estimate statement.
Thank you in advance for your continuing help to complete a picture of our nation’s R&D expenditures by
state governments. You can find results from last year’s survey on the NSF Web page: http://www.nsf.gov/
statistics/2015/nsf15313/.
Sincerely,

John H. Thompson
Director
U.S. Census Bureau

census.gov

Attachment D

OMB Number
This collection has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The eightdigit OMB approval number is 0607-0933. Without this approval, we could not conduct this survey.

Authority and Confidentiality
Title 13 United States Code, Section 8(b) and Title 42 United States Code, Sections 1861-76 (National
Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended) authorizes the Census Bureau to conduct this
collection on behalf of the National Science Foundation and to request your voluntary assistance.
These data are subject to provisions of Title 13, United States Code, Section 9(a) exempting data that
are customarily provided in public records from rules of confidentiality.
Burden Estimate Statement
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 minutes per
response. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of
information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: ECON Survey Comments 0607-0933,
U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Room EMD-6K064, Washington, DC 20233. You may email comments to ECON.Survey.Comments@census.gov. Be sure to use ECON Survey Comments
0607-0933 as the subject.