Federally Funded R&D Centers Report 6% Increase in R&D Spending in FY 2021

FFRDCs are privately operated R&D organizations that are exclusively or substantially financed by the federal government. The federal government funded 98.4% ($24.5 billion) of FFRDC R&D expenditures in FY 2021 (table 1). Nonfederal sources funded the remaining R&D, totaling about $411.8 million, including businesses ($196.0 million); nonprofit organizations ($49.0 million); state and local governments ($43.8 million); and all other sources ($123.0 million), such as funds from foreign governments and foreign or U.S. universities.

Four agencies were responsible for 91.3% of federally funded R&D expenditures at FFRDCs: the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (table 2). DOE ($13.0 billion) accounted for 53.0% of federally funded R&D spending. DOD ($5.5 billion, or 22.3%); NASA ($2.6 billion, or 10.7%); and HHS ($1.3 billion, or 5.3%), which includes the National Institutes of Health, were the only other agencies with funding greater than $1 billion.

The majority of FFRDCs (33 centers) increased R&D spending in FY 2021 compared with FY 2020, with 6 centers reporting an increase greater than 27.0% (table 3).^{​Comparative R&D totals for the Green Bank Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory are not available for FYs 2020–21 because they reported together for FY 2020 but reported separately for FY 2021. The combined totals for FY 2021 are 2.8% greater than what was reported in FY 2020.} Nine FFRDCs reported more than $1 billion each (a combined $17.2 billion) in R&D expenditures for FY 2021—the NASA-sponsored Jet Propulsion Laboratory; 5 DOE-sponsored national laboratories specializing in energy and the environment, national security, and nuclear science (Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories); the DOD-sponsored National Security Engineering Center and Lincoln Laboratory; and the Aerospace FFRDC, which is jointly sponsored by DOD and the Air Force. Sandia National Laboratories was the largest performer, with more than $3.5 billion in total R&D. Six FFRDCs reported R&D expenditure increases greater than $100 million. The National Security Engineering Center ($325 million increase) and Los Alamos National Laboratory ($252 million increase) were the two sole FFRDCs reporting increases greater than $150 million in FY 2021. Lower expenditures were reported by 9 FFRDCs in FY 2021, with 4 centers declining more than 14.0%. Of the 42 FFRDCs listed continuously since 2017, 33 centers reported larger expenditures in FY 2021 than in FY 2017.

In FY 2021, basic research activities accounted for 20.1% of total FFRDC R&D expenditures (table 4). The remaining R&D expenditures were divided evenly between applied research and experimental development (39.9% each). Overall, total basic research expenditures at FFRDCs increased by $910 million in current dollars from FY 2017 to FY 2021. Applied research expenditures and experimental development each increased by around $2.0 billion during the same period.

The statistics on FFRDC R&D expenditures presented in this report come from the FY 2021 FFRDC Research and Development Survey. This annual survey is completed by FFRDC administrators and collects data from FFRDCs on R&D expenditures by source of funds (federal government, state and local governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, or other); federal agency source; type of R&D (basic research, applied research, or experimental development); type of cost (salaries, software, equipment, subcontracts, other direct costs, and indirect costs); and total operating budget. This survey has been a census of the full population of FFRDCs since FY 2001. For a list of criteria used to define the set of FFRDCs, see the general guidelines of the Master Government List of FFRDCs at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/#guide&gennotes.

The full set of data tables from this survey and more information on the survey methodology are available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22332/.

Gibbons MT; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2022. Federally Funded R&D Centers Report 6% Increase in R&D Spending in FY 2021. NSF 22-334. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22334/.

Michael T. Gibbons
Survey Manager
Research and Development Statistics Program, NCSES
Tel: (703) 292-4590
E-mail: mgibbons@nsf.gov

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