July 26, 2005
The Honorable Arden L. Bement, Jr. Director National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22230
Dear Dr. Bement:
We are pleased to submit the report of the Advisory Committee for GPRA Performance Assessment (AC/GPA) for 2005. It was the unanimous judgment of the Committee that NSF has demonstrated significant achievement for all indicators in the Ideas and Tools goals and also for the merit review indicator of the Organizational Excellence outcome goal. The Committee concluded that NSF demonstrated significant achievement for indicators P1-P4 of the People goal, but has not done so with respect to P5. The Advisory Committee on Business and Operations concluded that NSF demonstrated significant achievement for the other indicators of the Organizational Excellence goal.
The Committee also concluded that the four outcome goals are mutually reinforcing and synergistic. They represent an integrated framework that combines research and education in a positive way and also provides the organizational infrastructure to advance the national scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematics enterprise. Thus, all four goals should always be considered as an integrated whole when assessing NSF’s performance.
The Committee appreciates the continued improvement in the AC/GPA process this year. Not only were we again able to do much of our work in advance of the meeting, but NSF also provided periodic updates on the progress of each subgroup in its analyses of indicators. This Committee, with NSF’s invaluable assistance, has, we believe, modeled the very organizational excellence behavior that we seek from NSF. We also note that this committee is, perhaps, unique within the Federal government. We commend you and your predecessors for both foresight and commitment to an assessment process that is both thorough and impactful.
This report represents the collective work of a large group of individuals, the members of the Committee, all of whom worked with a level of commitment and diligence that we have rarely encountered. Each of them made significant contributions to the report and collectively we believe they have demonstrated that advisory committees can themselves demonstrate organizational excellence and become “learning committees.” NSF is indeed fortunate to have such people in its “corner” and it was an honor and a privilege for us to lead this effort. In addition, many members of the NSF staff, especially Marilyn Suiter and Craig Robinson, were instrumental in enabling our work and we are truly grateful for their assistance.
- 1 - We would be happy to talk with you or others about any aspect of this report. We hope it will be helpful to NSF as it completes its Performance and Accountability Report.
Sincerely,
Norine E. Noonan Carolyn W. Meyers
Norine E. Noonan, Ph.D. Carolyn W. Meyers, Ph.D. Dean Provost and Vice Chancellor for School of Science and Mathematics Academic Affairs College of Charleston North Carolina A&T University Chair, AC/GPA Vice-Chair, AC/GPA
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REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR GPRA PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
Submitted: July 20, 2005 Norine E. Noonan, Ph.D. Chairman
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