CONTENTS
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, TAX ISSUES
- Broad Coalition Urges Appropriators to Increase Research Funding
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
- AAU and COGR Comment on Interim DFARS Rule
BUDGET, APPROPRIATIONS, TAX ISSUES
BROAD COALITION URGES APPROPRIATORS TO INCREASE RESEARCH FUNDING
Coalitions representing more than 500 industry, higher education, and scientific organizations sent a letter to Congressional appropriators on November 2 urging them “to make strong investments in America’s innovation ecosystem one of your highest priorities by increasing federal research funding by at least 5.2 percent above FY 2015 levels.” The referenced increase equals the overall increase in FY16 discretionary funding provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act.
The letter was produced by the coalitions that developed the statement, Innovation: An American Imperative. AAU is a member of several of the participating coalitions, including the Task Force on American Innovation, the Coalition for National Security Research, the Energy Sciences Coalition, the Coalition for National Science Funding, and United for Medical Research.
The letter notes the impact of sequestration and “the failure of federal research and development funding to keep pace with inflation in recent years,” combined with the surge in research funding “in other nations such as China and South Korea and a number of European countries.”
It adds, “If we continue on our current path, we risk creating an innovation deficit, as other countries work to create an innovation dividend.”
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
AAU AND COGR COMMENT ON INTERIM DFARS RULE
AAU and the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) on October 30 submitted comments to the Department of Defense (DOD) concerning its interim rule that would expand safeguards on sensitive, but unclassified defense-related information and information related to cyber incidents. This type of information is termed Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The expansion would be added to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations (DFARS).
AAU and COGR have received significant concerns from campuses about the additional burden these new requirements would impose on universities, particularly those conducting substantial defense research.
The letter expresses two primary concerns about DOD’s proposed expansion of the CUI category: the substantial added compliance burden for universities that handle controlled defense information, and the failure to include a clear exemption to the policy for DOD-funded fundamental research. If DOD fails to clarify the fundamental research exemption, universities will face significant difficulties in conducting such research.
The new safeguarding requirements respond to draft guidance issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last January on how federal agencies should protect CUI in non-federal information systems and organizations. NIST was required by statute to develop and issue the new guidance. The comments that AAU and COGR submitted on the NIST guidance specifically expressed concerns about the expanded use of CUI at universities.
The deadline for submitting comments was recently extended to November 20, 2015.