FY15-17 3145-0101 SS Part A_2

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
for
FY 2015 and FY 2017 Science and Engineering Research
Facilities

3145-0101

PART A: JUSTIFICATION

A.1.

Circumstances Necessitating Collection of Information
The National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended by Title 42, United States Code,

Section 1862, required the Foundation to:
…“provide a central clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and analysis
of data on scientific and engineering resources and to provide a source of
information for policy formulation by other agencies of the Federal
Government...” (Attachment A – NSF Act of 1950 and America COMPETES
Reauthorization Act of 2010.)
The Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities (Facilities survey) conducted by the
National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
(NCSES) is a congressionally mandated biennial survey that has been conducted since 1986. The
Facilities survey collects data on “bricks and mortar” research facilities, including total research space
by field, condition of research space, and expenses for construction, repairs and renovation of research
space.

Background

Academic research facilities in the fields of science and engineering (S&E) are an important
national resource. Extensive hearings were held during the 99th Congress in the House and Senate
committees on science and technology to examine the research facilities needs of universities and
colleges. Both committees found “sufficient evidence to suggest the presence of a serious and growing
problem…” and expressed concern that the Federal government did not have in place an ongoing
analytical system to document the current status of and needs for research facilities by major field of
science and engineering.

In recognition of the need for objective information about research facilities, Congress directed
NSF, in the Authorization Act of November 22, 1985 (P.L. 99-159, Section 108) as follows:

The National Science Foundation is authorized to design, establish, and maintain a data
collection and analysis capability in the Foundation for the purpose of identifying and
assessing the research facilities needs of universities. The needs of universities, by field of

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science and engineering, for construction and modernization of research laboratories,
including fixed equipment and major research equipment, shall be documented. University
expenditures for the construction and modernization of research facilities, the sources of
funds, and other appropriate data shall be collected and analyzed. The Foundation, in
conjunction with other appropriate Federal agencies, shall conduct the necessary survey
every 2 years and report the results to the Congress.
In response to this directive, NCSES has conducted fourteen biennial surveys. The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) cosponsored the surveys with NCSES beginning with the initial survey and
ending with the 2009 survey. At the request of NIH, the survey also collected data from nonprofit,
biomedical research organizations and hospitals that received NIH research funds.

Since 1986, NCSES has modified the survey several times with the goals of improving data
quality and reducing respondent burden. The original survey was limited to a small set of prescribed
questions sent to a sample of institutions using NCSES’s Quick Response Survey questionnaire
capability in order to meet the Congressional timeframes. Data collection was subsequently expanded
to a census of institutions in order to make the data more useful to Federal and State agencies and to the
higher education community.

NCSES undertook a major review of the survey prior to the FY 2003 data collection. This
included improving the research space questionnaire and adding a second questionnaire addressing the
growing use of computing and networking resources (cyberinfrastructure) in conducting research.
NCSES has continually reviewed the second questionnaire in an attempt to stay current with the rapidly
changing developments in academic R&D cyberinfrastructure. New questions have been added each
cycle, while others have been removed based on feedback from field experts and survey participants.

Despite these efforts, NCSES believes that the cyberinfrastructure questionnaire provides little
utility to policymakers and researchers. A 2013 review of the survey by the NSF Division of Advanced
Cyberinfrastructure (ACI) provided feedback on current shortcomings and potential changes to improve
the survey. The assessment indicated that the “information is not useful for program planning at NSF
and is probably not very useful to campuses either.” Anecdotal evidence solicited through several
interviews and meetings with groups of field experts indicates that these data are rarely used by those
who are aware of this survey. This view was substantiated by analysis of low web traffic to the relevant
data files on the NSF website. Further inquiries revealed that many potential data users believe the data
would be difficult to incorporate into their decision making processes.

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A large number of academic institutions have centrally-administered high performance
computing (HPC) resources they provide to their researchers. This type of administrative structure
appears to be increasingly more common. However, an analysis of the FY 2011 data indicated 10 of the
top 50 and 21 of the top 100 institutions (based on research expenditures) were unable to provide data
on HPC.1 At least another 15 of the top 100 reported exceptionally low totals because only a small
amount of their HPC resources are centrally-administered. The fact that many of the top research
universities are unable to adequately report their research computing capacity severely undermines the
utility of these data. These institution-specific differences limit the ability to present national totals and
trends as well as the ability to compare many leading institutions.

NCSES posted a federal register notice (79 FR 35577) on June 23, 2014 to request comments
on this discontinuation (Attachment B). The feedback was limited to one response, which was in
agreement with the decision to discontinue the data collection. All participating institutional presidents
were notified of this decision through e-mail in July. No comments were received. The White House
Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) also agreed with this decision in response to a memo
outlining the decision.

NCSES conducted a review from 2010 to 2015 of the S&E fields used in its portfolio of
surveys to ensure consistency and comparability across national academic surveys. The review resulted
in a modified taxonomy of S&E discipline that reassigned a number of subfields and relabeled some
field names. These changes will be employed by all NCSES academic surveys on a rolling basis,
including the Facilities survey.

The need for consistency of S&E fields across surveys was echoed in several Facilities Survey
research space questionnaire interviews conducted in 2014-15 (see A.8.) The new NCSES taxonomy of
disciplines will affect the Facilities survey as follows: the data collection field of “agricultural sciences
and natural sciences” will be divided into two fields: 1) agricultural sciences and 2) natural resources
and conservation. “Physical sciences, group 1: atmospheric, earth, and geological sciences;
meteorology; and oceanography” will be renamed “geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences,” and
will include appropriate subfield examples. “Physical sciences, group 2: astronomy, astrophysics,
chemistry, materials sciences, and physics” will be renamed “physical sciences,” and will include
appropriate subfield examples. “Health and clinical sciences” will be renamed “health sciences.” Some

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The FY 2011 Facilities survey relied on the FY 2010 NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey for frame
development. Data were sorted to rank institutions with the highest research expenditure totals.

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subfield examples will be updated in the various major S&E fields. Data are collected by S&E field
through questions 2, 6, 7, 9E, 11, 13, 15, and 17.

General survey description

NCSES now requests approval to conduct the next two cycles of the Facilities survey for fiscal
years 2015 and 2017. The following is a broad overview of the survey. The complete questionnaire can
be found in Attachment C.

Contact information is not collected on the questionnaire. Rather, it is collected through the
president’s office of each eligible institution. Greater detail is provided in section B2 under Survey
Procedures.

Questions 1 through 5 request data on the amount of space used for science and engineering
research. The questions request specific information about institutional research facilities (e.g., how
much research space is located in medical schools) because different kinds of space have different costs
and requirements for preparing and using the space.

Question 6 asks about the condition of the research facilities because of a recurring concern
about aging research infrastructure in the U.S. Also, this question may provide data on whether existing
research space is appropriate for the rapidly changing needs of scientific research.

Questions 7 and 8 ask about the costs of repairs and renovations in the current and immediately
previous fiscal year. Similar to Question 6, these questions also relate to the issues of a potentially aging
infrastructure and the changing needs of science, but from a financial perspective.

Question 9 and an accompanying project worksheet ask about new construction in the current
and immediately previous fiscal year. New construction allows institutions to increase the total amount
of research space, to replace inadequate facilities, and to adjust to the changing needs of science. The
worksheet requests information on individual projects such as costs per square feet of new construction.

Question 10 asks about the sources of project funding for repairs/renovations and new
construction to determine the roles various sectors play in funding research facilities.

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Questions 11 through 14 ask about planned new construction and planned repairs and
renovations over the next two fiscal years. These provide data on the extent to which institutions are
addressing their research space needs.

Questions 15 through 18 ask about deferred repairs/renovation and new construction. These
provide another measure of institutions’ anticipated need for space, while also examining the ability of
institutions to meet their needs.

Question 19 is an open field where participants can comment on the research space
questionnaire.

A.2.

Purposes and Use of the Data
Data from this survey serve several audiences. At the national level, the data provide Congress

and federal agencies with a broad, quantitative picture of the inventory and condition of existing S&E
research space at research-performing academic institutions. The survey also provides data on the
current and future capital expenditures for research facilities by universities and colleges; sources of
funding for research facilities at these institutions and; plans for future repair/renovation and new
construction of science and engineering research facilities. Congress uses the Facilities survey data to
assist them in estimating appropriations and programmatic decisions.

At the state and local level, state legislatures, state agencies, and individual universities and
colleges use the data to assist them in making budgetary decisions and in planning future activities.
Private sector architectural, engineering, and construction firms use the data for several purposes
including forecasting the demand for their products and services. Finally, professional associations such
as the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology use the data to assist them in assessing needs related to their associated fields of
science.

Data are publicly available through an InfoBrief and detailed statistical tables on the NSF
website at http://nsf.gov/statistics/srvyfacilities/. Users can run custom data reports from the Facilities
survey and other NCSES surveys through the Integrated Science and Engineering Resources Data
System at https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/webcaspar/.

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A.3.

Use of Improved Information Technology
The survey is a mixed mode survey: respondents have the option of completing a printable

PDF version or a web version. The large majority of institutions (99% in FY 2013 cycle) respond to the
survey via the web.

The web version of the survey is a .NET application with a real-time monitoring system, which
allows NCSES to monitor data, response status, and comments from respondents. From the perspective
of the respondents, the web version is more convenient and simplifies the survey (e.g., by automating
skip patterns, and automatically calculating totals). NCSES also benefits from use of the web version by
receiving improved data quality. Data quality is improved using several techniques such as data checks,
skip pattern checks, and consistency checks. For example, data checks are used to calculate totals and
inform respondents if percentages do not add to 100. For inconsistent data, respondents will receive
messages while completing their survey if their responses do not appear consistent with their responses
to other relevant questions.

A.4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication
NCSES monitors the availability and release of higher education facilities data. While some

sources provide data on amount of construction or costs of construction, no organization provides data
on higher education research facilities, individual fields of science, or science and engineering in the
aggregate. For example, at the national level, data on the book value of higher education physical plant
assets is collected periodically on the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System. However, these data are only collected in the aggregate for an institution; the
data are not available for research space, and the data are not available by S&E field. The Facilities
survey is the only survey to collect data from research-performing higher education institutions on
research space and fields of S&E. The data do not duplicate statistical data from any other sources.

A.5.

Collection of Data from Small Businesses
Data are not collected from small business.

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A.6.

Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
The Congressional mandate requires that data collection occur every two years, which ensures

that the data are current. This also lessens burden when compared with an annual survey. Conducting
the survey less frequently could adversely affect the relevance of the data both for policymakers and
other data users. NCSES has consulted with numerous individual institutions on the periodicity of data
collection (see section A.8. on public comment and consultations outside the agency). These institutions
believe that more frequent data collection would not benefit the data-user community due to the
relatively slow processes of space management (construction, repairs and renovations). It would only
result in greater burden on the institutions.

A.7.

Special Circumstances
No special circumstances.

A.8.

Public Comment and Consultations Outside the Agency
From 2012 to 2014, NCSES consulted research cyberinfrastructure field experts through a

workshop, interviews and attendance at field conferences. These sources reinforced internal analyses
indicating that the computing and networking (cyberinfrastructure) questionnaire did not provide useful
data and that it should be discontinued. The Federal Register Notice posted in June 2014 resulted in one
response in support of the discontinuation and no negative responses. No university of college
presidents responded negatively when informed of the intention to terminate the questionnaire. The
OSTP also supported the decision.

In 2014-2015, a total of thirty-two institutions were interviewed for the purpose of conducting
exploratory interviews to identify potential problems with question interpretation and data reporting as
well as discussing areas for potential question development on the research space questionnaire. Eight
of the interviews were conducted at the site of the institutions. The remaining twenty-four interviews
were conducted over the phone. This review will continue through 2015. Thus far, no areas of major
concern have been identified. Interviewees generally felt the research space questionnaire addressed
appropriate metrics, even if all questions were not relevant to the particular institution. Some potential
areas for question development were raised such as adding subfields of science and engineering,

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ensuring more uniform S&E fields across surveys, and collecting data on research personnel. NCSES
will continue to examine these new areas and the feasibility of expanded questions.

NCSES published a 60-day Federal Register Notice (80 FR 16030) on March 26, 2015 to solicit
public feedback on the reinstatement and approval of data collection for the Facilities Survey
(Attachment D). No comments were received.

Based on information from these consultations and review activities, NCSES is discontinuing
the computing and networking capacity questionnaire, while the only changes to the FY 2013 research
space questionnaire are the division of “agricultural sciences and natural sciences” into the separate
fields of “agricultural sciences” and “natural resources and conservation,” the slight modification of
three major field labels, and the rewording of some subfield examples to ensure consistency and
comparability across national academic surveys. See above and page 1 of the survey questionnaire for
“changes from previous cycle” in attachment C.

A.9.

Payments or Gifts to Respondents
Respondents will not be paid or receive gifts.

A.10.

Assurance of Confidentiality

Data on individuals are not collected. Based on the idea that the data should be available to all
interested parties and that making the institutional level data more accessible will provide institutions
with a reason to respond to the survey, NCSES makes the data publicly available at the institution level
with a few key exceptions (see section A.11 on sensitive questions). Institutions are clearly informed of
NCSES’s confidentiality policy at the front of the survey and the confidentiality of specific questions.
Institutions are informed of the plans for public release of institution-level data before they complete the
survey. This information is included in the questionnaire. In addition, institutions are informed that the
survey is voluntary and they can decline to answer any or all questions.
A.11.

Sensitive Questions
While NCSES decided to make the large majority of the survey data publicly available, three

survey items are deemed particularly sensitive. The public release of data on those questions could
make institutions less inclined to respond to the survey. Also, during pretests of the 2001 survey
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redesign, respondents expressed concern about the confidentiality of the following survey items:
condition of research space (question 6) and the amount of research animal space (questions 3 and 9f).
Publicly reporting the condition of research space might motivate institutions to overstate their
facilities’ condition as a way to recruit researchers or gain research funding. Animal research space has
always been a sensitive area due to public concerns of animal treatment. Based on the 2001 pretest and
the 2014-15 interviews, NCSES believes these data points might not be responded to correctly, if at all,
if they were published on the institutional level. Therefore, data on these fields are only published at the
national level.

A.12.

Estimated Response Burden
Burden hours

The Facilities survey is a biennial survey of approximately 600 academic institutions. The
burden for any particular institution will be affected by two major factors: the size of the institution (in
terms of number of S&E departments and/or the number and size of research facilities) and the status of
the institution's computerized central records system. Previous surveys showed that many institutions,
as part of their compliance with OMB Circular A-21, have created centralized databases, including a
measure of space devoted to research.

Because of these factors, the completion time varies among institutions. A question on survey
completion time was added to the FY 2013 questionnaire. The time to complete the research space
questionnaire ranged from 1 to 225 hours with an average of 19 hours. Assuming a 98% response rate
(based on the FY 2011 - 2013 response rates), this would result in an estimated total burden of 11,172
hours in FY 2015 and a similar burden in FY 2017 (.98 response rate x 600 institutions x 19 hours x 2
data collection cycles = 22,344 total burden hours over the total clearance period.).

Costs to responding institutions

Costs that will be incurred by responding institutions involve the completion time of the survey
and the time of an institutional coordinator associated with managing the distribution of survey forms
and transmittal to the contractor. The institutional coordinator makes the initial contacts with the
relevant individual offices at the institution informing them of the survey, distributes the forms, follows

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up on the return of the forms or data to the coordinator’s office, and transmits the forms or data to the
contractor.

At an estimated cost of $36 an hour for institution staff (based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics
May 2014 average hourly wages for “Administrative Services Managers,” “Budget Analysts” and
“Financial Analysts” within NAICS 611300 - Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools), the
average cost to each academic institution is $684 for FY 2015 and a similar cost for FY 2017.
Assuming a 98% response rate, the total respondent costs for the FY 2015 survey are estimated to be
$402,192 (.98 response rate x 600 institutions x $684).

These costs are expected to be similar for the FY 2017 cycle of the survey.

A.13.

Annualized Cost to Respondents
There are no capital or startup costs for the respondents of the Facilities survey.

A.14.

Annualized Cost to the Federal Government
The estimated total cost of the FY 2015 Facilities survey to the Federal Government is

approximately $1,740,000 over a period of 24 months, for an annualized cost of $870,000. The estimate
includes labor costs of $280,000 for NCSES staff [project manager (full time), NCSES management,
and statistical support] and the survey management contractual cost of $1,460,000.

The contract will include all direct and indirect costs of data collection, analysis, reporting, and
the production of public and proprietary data sets. These costs are expected to be similar for the FY
2017 survey cycle.

A.15.

Reasons for Program Changes
No program changes.

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A.16.

Publication Plans and Project Schedule
The FY 2015 survey implementation is scheduled to begin in October of 2015. Data collection

will take place over a six-month period in order to provide institutions adequate time to identify a
coordinator and to gather the appropriate records and data. Data collection is expected to end in the
spring of 2016. The data collection for the FY 2017 cycle will begin in October of 2017 and will end in
the spring of 2018.

The contractor will submit draft data tabulations within three months following completion of
data collection. These will be reviewed and revised as needed by NCSES before production of final data
tabulations. NCSES will be responsible for electronic dissemination of the tables to NSF offices,
participating academic institutions, professional associations, and others who may request information
about the survey.

The contractor will also provide a public use data file that will be accessible via the NSF
website and includes electronic data files for use on personal computers. The data files, including
documentation, will contain institutional data and will be delivered within 3 months of data collection.
In addition, the contractor will provide a methodology report detailing all survey activities, materials,
and procedures.

NCSES produced an Infobrief on the results of the FY 2013 survey in March of 2015. The
Infobrief includes a presentation of major findings, charts and graphs relevant to the survey, and
relevant statistical tables. It also refers the reader to additional information about survey limitations and
other technical information.

NCSES anticipates a similar schedule for the FY 2015 and FY 2017 survey cycles.

A.17.

Approval for Not Displaying the Expiration Date for OMB Approval
Approval not requested.

A.18.

Exceptions to the Certification Statement
There are no expectations.

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