National Science Foundation
Survey of Research and Development Expenditures
For questions and general information regarding NSF reporting at the University of California, contact Robert Baum via email at robert.baum@ucop.edu
I. Survey preparation
Overview
NSF Coding
Survey Definitions
Survey Preparation
Survey Completion
II. Reporting Methodology notes and changes
III. Survey Results
1997 Resubmission
1998 Resubmission
1999 Submission
2000 Submission
1997-2002 Consolidated Reports
IV. Campus NSF Code Reports
The NSF survey is completed in the January following the end of the fiscal year. The Information and Communication Services unit within the department of Information Resources and Communications prepares the report for all UC campuses.
The following information is from the 1998 NSF Survey Form:
Scope:
The survey collects data on expenditures by universities and colleges for separately budgeted research and development (R&D) in science and engineering. Definitions used are compatible with OMB Circular A-21, revised August 2000. Items 1 and 2 ask for current fund expenditures by source of funds and by field of science and engineering. Item 3 collects data on that portion of current fund expenditures reported in Items 1 and 2 that went for the purchase of scientific and engineering research equipment.
Definitions:
Research and Development (R&D). R&D for purposes of this survey is the same as "organized research" as defined in Section B.1.b. of OMB Circular A-21 (revised). It includes all R&D activities of an institution that are separately budgeted and accounted for. R&D includes both "sponsored research" activities (sponsored by Federal and non-Federal agencies and organizations) and "university research" (separately budgeted under an internal application of institutional funds).
Research is systematic study directed toward fuller knowledge or understanding of the subject studied. Research is classified as either basic or applied, according to the objectives of the investigator.
Development is systematic use of the knowledge or understanding gained from research, directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototypes and processes.
Current funds expenditures. These are expenditures of funds available for current operations. Such expenditures include all unrestricted gifts and restricted current funds to the extent that such funds were expended for current operating purposes.
Further detail, report samples, computational methods, etc. is located at the NSF survey website:
The NSF report is compiled from data in the University’s Corporate Financial System (CFS). This system contains consolidated financial data (expenditures and revenues) extracted from the general ledgers of the nine campuses and forwarded to the Office of the President on a monthly basis. On the monthly campus submissions, campus accounting offices identify or tag research expenditure accounts with NSF discipline codes.
Campuses assign NSF coding to expenditure accounts as defined in the Corporate Account Fund Profile (CAFP) input specifications.
Effective 1999-2000, after the FNL CAF/CFS cycle is complete, Information Management will:
- Publish individual campus CAFNSF01-1, 01-2, 01-3 reports providing NSF coding information by NSF code, and by account, and research accounts with blank NSF coding. These reports are identical to those appended to campus CAFP FNL edit report. Throughout the year, they are appended to the CAFP edits for the DEC, MAR, MAY, PRE, and FNL cycles.
- Publish spreadsheet reports by year (current and previous) to provide campuses with summary (by NSF code) and detailed (by account) comparisons with financial amounts.
Campus NSF code reports can be found here.
Campuses must adhere to the coding procedures noted in the guideline found here. Campuses are responsible for:
- Reviewing the reports
- Providing changes to Information Management in an excel spreadsheet (example can be found in the coding
guide) with the following information:
- location 1 coding
- location 2 coding
- account number
- new NSF code
Upon receipt of the campus modifications, Information Management will:
- Incorporate campus NSF coding changes to the FNLyy CAFP.
- Further analyze NSF coding based on UAS discipline codes, Organizational (college/school/departments) codes, prior year activity, the NSF crosswalk table and consistency across campuses
- Incorporate final changes to the FNLyy CAFP.
- Finalize NSF coding for expenditures to be included in the survey.
Selection criteria for expenditure accounts to be included in the NSF survey:
- Account group 30005x (research)
- Account type 3 (current expenditures)
- NSF code not blank
The following definitions are used throughout the survey preparation (account groups, fund groups, etc. refer to CFS/CAFP coding):
- Current funds expenditures: account group 3xxxxx.
- R&D expenditures: account group 30005x
- R&D expenditures in the sciences and engineering: a valid and non-blank NSF code in the sciences/engineering fields
- Equipment Expenditures: object code 90xx
- NSF code: 3 digit field, valid values and titles located at: http://www.ucop.edu/irc/campus_specs/caf/nsf_dis_cd.html
- Source of funds:
- Federal Government (fund group 406xxx),
- State and Local Government (fund groups 404xxx and 405xxx)
- Industry (fund group 408xxx, sponsor category code ‘04’)
- Institution funds:
- Institutionally finance organized research (fund groups 401xxx, 403xxx, 407xxx, 409xxx and 410xxx)
- Unreimbursed indirect costs (see below)
- Other (fund groups 408xxx, 411xxx
- Direct Costs: expenditures in those accounts with the exception of object code 3800 expenditures.
- Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC): expenditures eligible for indirect cost recovery (as defined in Section G.2. of OMB Circular A-21 (revised)), defined by object code in CFS.
- Recoverable Indirect Costs: MTDC multiplied by the on/off campus indirect cost recovery rates as published at: http://daito.ucop.edu./Rates.htm
- Reimbursed Indirect Costs: Actual indirect costs recovered as reported in object code 3800, distributed proportionally to the NSF accounts based on individual account MTDC relative to total MTDC reported for the fund.
- Unreimbursed Indirect Costs: Recoverable Indirect Costs – Reimbursed Indirect Costs
- Subtotal Costs: Direct Costs + Reimbursed Indirect costs
- Total Costs: Subtotal Costs + Unreimbursed Indirect Costs
- Item 1: Current Fund Expenditures for separately budgeted R&D in the Sciences and Engineering, by source of funds.
Subtotal Costs are reported by fund source for all fund sources with the exception of Institutional Funds. For Institutional funds, Direct Costs + Recoverable Indirect Costs are reported. The Unreimbursed Indirect Costs on all external fund sources are reported on a separate line within the Institutional funds section. These amounts sum to the Total Costs amount.
- Item 2: Current Fund Expenditures (total and federally financed) for separately budgeted R&D, by field of science and engineering (including indirect costs).
Total Costs are reported by NSF code. Federal Costs are that portion of the Subtotal Costs that are federally funded.
- Item 3: Current Fund Expenditures for research equipment (total and federally financed) for separately budgeted R&D, by field of science and engineering.
Direct Costs for Equipment Expenditures are reported by NSF code. Federal Costs are that portion of the Equipment Expenditures that are federally funded.
Information Management:
- completes the preliminary survey as described above
- distributes to the campuses for review
- incorporates campus changes
- responds to data trend inquiries
- submits the final survey to NSF
- distributes the final survey to campus and OP recipients
- publishes survey results here
Revisions on the way UC reports its NSF expenditures effective with 1998 reporting is as follows:
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CURRENT FUND EXPENDITURES NSF requests the following:
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RECOVERABLE INDIRECT COSTS NSF definition:
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REIMBURSED INDIRECT COSTS NSF definition:
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UNREIMBURSED INDIRECT COSTS NSF definition:
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FUND SELECTION NSF definition:
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ACCOUNT SELECTION The selection criteria on account selection excluded certain UAS disciplines from prior year reports. Analysis was done on research accounts using Division/Department/College (org1, org2, org3 definitions from CFS), account titles, and NSF coding to include/exclude expenditure accounts from the 1998 survey. UAS discipline is no longer part of the selection criteria. While some campuses may have been assigning NSF codes to eligible research accounts according to the NSF crosswalk, those accounts were excluded because they were assigned to an excluded UAS discipline. All eligible accounts are being included using the 1998 methodology. Accounts coded with NSF codes which should be excluded from the survey (Education, Law, Humanities, Visual and Performing Arts, Communications, Journalism and Library Science, Social Work, etc.) have been reviewed using the same analysis (Div/Dept/College, account names, etc.). NSF codes have been stripped from these accounts, ensuring that they will not be included in the survey.
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1999 Notes
While the 1999 survey was being prepared, a flaw in the logic which calculates and distributes the reimbursed indirect cost by fund source was discovered. This caused, in most cases, an overstated reimbursed indirect cost and consequently an understated unreimbursed indirect cost. The error did not result in any change to the grandtotal amount reported for 1998.
This bug was corrected and the revised 1998 campus surveys were submitted to NSF in January, 2000. The 1998 revised campus surveys can be found here.
The corrected logic was used to submit the 1999 campus surveys.
In 1999, upon receipt of the 1998 survey from UC, NSF requested that we resubmit the 1997 survey using the "new" methodology. The resubmission was made in January, 2000. The revised survey did result in changes to the grandtotal amounts previously reported. The 1997 revised campus surveys can be found here.
2000 Notes
Coding Methodology changes
Effective fiscal year 1999-2000, campus corrections to NSF coding will be conducted via an exchange of reports
online. Paper reports will no longer be used to conduct coding corrections.
Campuses may review the following reports:
- CAFNSF01-1, 01-2 and 01-3 reports: Word document versions of the FNLyy reports of research accounts by NSF code, by account, and for research accounts missing NSF codes.
- Comparison reports: Excel documents containing:
a) summary of expenditures by NSF code between the current and prior fiscal years and
b) detail (account level) of expenditures by location coding by organizational structure. - Excel reports reflecting adjustments to NSF coding, with comments
Detailed instruction to the campuses on coding methodology and consistency expectations is listed in the NSF coding section above.
Updated April 30, 2004