FY 2017 Budget Request: NIST Base Budget Up 5.2%
In President Obama’s final budget submission to Congress, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is one of the few science and technology-focused agencies that does not rely on new mandatory funding streams to achieve a significant funding increase. On the other hand, NIST would perhaps be among the agencies most impacted by the new mandatory funding.
The agency’s budget request contains a proposal to vastly expand the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) by 2025 via $1.89 billion in mandatory funding in fiscal year 2017. Presumably, much of this money would be carried over and spent in future fiscal years, but even so, it would represent a significant expansion of NIST’s role in supporting advanced manufacturing institutes.
Historically, most federal research and development has been supported through discretionary funding divided up by Congress through the annual appropriations process. Therefore, the President’s mandatory spending proposal represents a new strategy for supporting his Administration’s priorities while remaining within statutory caps on discretionary spending. See this FYI for more detail on the overall FY17 budget.
The two tables below summarize the funding changes for NIST’s major accounts with and without new mandatory funding.
Table 1: President’s FY17 request for NIST excluding mandatory spending
Agency / Account |
FY15 |
FY16 |
FY17 |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NIST |
863.9 |
964.0 |
1,014.5 |
5.2% |
Scientific and Technical Research and Services |
675.5 |
690.0 |
730.5 |
5.9% |
Industrial Technology Services |
138.1 |
155.0 |
189.0 |
21.9% |
Construction of Research Facilities |
50.3 |
119.0 |
95.0 |
-20.2% |
* all figures are in millions of nominal U.S. dollars
Table 2: President’s FY17 request for NIST including mandatory spending
Agency / Account |
FY15 |
FY16 |
FY17 |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NIST |
863.9 |
964.0 |
3,004.5 |
211.7% |
Scientific and Technical Research and Services |
675.5 |
690.0 |
730.5 |
5.9% |
Industrial Technology Services |
138.1 |
155.0 |
189.0 |
21.9% |
Construction of Research Facilities |
50.3 |
119.0 |
195.0 |
63.9% |
* all figures are in millions of nominal U.S. dollars
The NNMI program began in fiscal year 2016 with $25.0 million in funding. NIST proposes to expand the program even without mandatory funding, requesting an additional $22.0 million “to establish two new Manufacturing Innovation institutes through open competition to address industry identified research and development challenges where a collaborative effort will strengthen the U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Infrastructure.”
The budget request justifies additional investment in advanced manufacturing institutes via mandatory funding as follows:
“Federal funding serves as the initial catalyst in the formation of these public-private partnerships; the federal investment must be at least 100% matched by non-federal sources over the five to seven year institute startup period. Mandatory funding provides the planning confidence for the private sector to co-invest in these institutes. The program is designed to support institutes that would be financially self-sustaining as they demonstrate value for industry to continue sponsorship.”
Other highlights in the NIST budget request
Aside from the NNMI expansion proposal, some other notable items in the request include the following:
- $13.6 million to expand research in measurement science research relevant to future computing technologies such as quantum computing and computers “capable of brain-like sensing” to support NIST’s prominent role in the National Strategic Computing Initiative ;
- $11.1 million in additional funding for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program to raise the number of private-sector manufacturers the program services by about 60 percent over three years;
- $40.0 million to renovate Radiation Physics Building 245, which the budget describes as a “mission critical facility” that supports services relied on by industry and federal agencies; and
- $4.8 million for additional reactor fuel required to keep the Center for Neutron Research operational.
