Chapter Eight
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT AND OVERSIGHT GUIDE
Bibliographic Information: National Science Foundation, Facilities
Management and Oversight Guide, Washington, D.C.: NSF, November 8, 2002 (available at http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/lfp/document/
facilities.pdf).
PURPOSE
The Facilities Management and Oversight Guide was written to help
the National Science Foundation (NSF) oversee and manage shareduse infrastructure, instrumentation, and equipment that are accessible to a broad community of researchers and educators. The procedures and principles described in the guide apply to large facilities
(as determined by cost, complexity, risk, and duration) that are
funded by the NSF.
BACKGROUND
NSF funds the construction and maintenance of facilities to be used
by the academic community. During the past ten years, NSF’s annual
investment in large facilities and infrastructure has more than doubled, and it is predicted that this trend will accelerate in the future.1
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1National Science Foundation (2002), p .3.
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A Review of Reports on Selected Large Federal Science Facilities
The NSF currently provides support for facility construction from
two major accounts. One account, the Research and Related
Activities account, has traditionally been used to fund the planning,
design, development, operations, and maintenance of all facility projects, but is currently used to support only smaller projects whose
costs range from millions to tens of millions of dollars. The other
account, the Major Research Equipment and Facility Construction
account, was established in fiscal year 1995 to separately fund the acquisition and construction of large facility projects, the costs of
which are on the order of tens of millions to hundreds of millions of
dollars.
Given NSF program officers’ extensive involvement in nearly every
stage of these projects, it is essential that they remain aware of and
sensitive to the issues and challenges that are likely to arise along the
way toward completion of a project. Documented requirements and
procedures for dealing with large facilities projects exist and are laid
out in detail in the NSF guide.
METHODS/APPROACH
Drawing on the existing formal procedures for all NSF awards and
generally accepted principles of project management, this guide lays
out in detail all of the procedures and best practices associated with
the management and oversight of a facility project. The best practices described in the guide were gathered from the NSF, NSF
awardees, and NSF federal agency partners.
The guide organizes this information according to the five facilitylife-cycle stages: concept, development, implementation, operations
and maintenance, and renewal or termination:
•
Concept Stage: The idea for a facility is articulated and project
planning and design begin.
•
Development Stage: Project planning and design are completed,
and the proposal is submitted.
•
Implementation Stage: Awardee Project Execution Plan is completed and implemented by the awardee and overseen by the
NSF.
National Science Foundation Facilities Management and Oversight Guide
55
•
Operations and Maintenance Stage: The facility is used for its intended purpose.
•
Renewal or Termination Stage: Decisions are made regarding
continued support of a facility. 2
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The guide’s discussion of the procedures that NSF oversight and
management staff follow emphasizes specific issues. In presenting
these issues, the guide
•
highlights the requirement that the project awardee must submit
a comprehensive Project Execution Plan that provides a clear
statement of what will be done and how it will be accomplished
•
prescribes a comprehensive Internal Management Plan that describes how the NSF will manage the agency side of the project
•
describes a new position within the NSF to (1) help manage and
oversee the large-project technical and business staff, (2) review
Internal Management Plans, and (3) help transmit lessons
learned and best practices to NSF program officers
•
describes a new position within the NSF to help manage and
oversee the large-project portfolio—the Large Facility Project
(LFP) Deputy within the Office of Budget, Finance, and Award
Management. The role of the LFP Deputy will be to enable consistent management and oversight of all large projects, including
all business and financial aspects.
•
emphasizes the need for consistent and effective use of Project
Advisory Teams to advise program officers on business, financial,
and legal matters, and other related aspects of projects and project management.3
The roles and responsibilities of NSF staff, awardees, and the science
and engineering community, and the detailed procedures and best
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2See National Science Foundation (2002), Table 2, p. 6, for a detailed description of
the activities at each stage.
3National Science Foundation (2002), p. 4.
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A Review of Reports on Selected Large Federal Science Facilities
practices associated with those roles and responsibilities, are laid out
within the guide’s framework of a facility’s life cycle.4
The guide specifically recommends that the NSF
•
increase its focus and awareness on strong project management
and oversight principles
•
clearly state the policies, procedures, and requirements that
come into play at each stage of the facility project—throughout
its life cycle
•
document the experience, knowledge, and best practices gained
over many years to facilitate a process of continuous improvement, based on the learning of best practices
•
introduce consistency among the various projects at NSF, with
the ultimate goal of reducing the need to relearn valuable lessons
about management and oversight.
The guide also discusses seven other special topics in detail: NSF review and approval and the federal budget process, budgeting and
funding, risk assessment and management, documentation, oversight reviews and reporting, partnerships, and operating budgets.
Some of these topics are summarized in the guide in terms of their
implications at each stage of a facility’s life cycle. 5
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4See National Science Foundation (2002), p. 13, for descriptions of the general roles
throughout the oversight of LFPs.
5See National Science Foundation (2002), Table 3, p. 11; Table 4, p. 37; Table 5, pp. 39–
40; and Table 6, pp. 42–44.