The Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) carried out a faculty burden survey in 2005 and again in 2012. The purpose of the FDP effort is to identify and document faculty perceptions of how they spend their research time – in particular, how much of their research time is consumed by administrative activities. Data from the 2012 survey were reviewed at the January FDP meeting and on March 29th, the National Science Board, through the National Science Foundation (NSF), published a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking input on “Reducing Investigator’s Administrative Workload for Federally Funded Research”.
This RFI offers principal investigators with Federal research funding the opportunity to identify Federal agency and university requirements that contribute most to their administrative workload and to offer recommendations for reducing that workload.
The RFI poses 8 questions to which federally-funded researchers are asked to respond as appropriate. Respondents are welcome to provide input on all or any subset of the set of questions. The questions are grouped into sections including: Sources of Administrative Work and Recommendations for Reducing Work, Institutional Review Boards (IRB)/Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC), Proposals, Agency Specific Requirements and Multiple Agencies, and the proposed Office of Management and Budget Grant Reform Efforts.
Responses are being accepted through May 24, 2013 via email to: Administrative-Reform@nsf.gov.
See the Federal Register notice for additional information: https://federalregister.gov/a/2013-07313
