Given the size, scope, complexity, diversity, and growth of the research enterprise in the U.S., the mechanisms that support research have come under increasing stress and scrutiny. Systems, staff, and processes that were designed to handle smaller, simpler programs are now straining to support new, high-volume, high-cost programs such as information technology research (ITR) at NSF, cancer and bioterrorism research at NIH, or the climate change program partnership among NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and NSF. Each of these programs, and others like them, involve thousands of investigators, universities, and laboratories.

At the same time as the enterprise is developing new research models, management and accountability requirements have been strengthened with the passage of the Government Performance and Accountability Act (GPRA) and the President's Management Agenda. Both require agencies to employ performance measures that address program achievements and managerial accountability. Heightened human subjects protections place additional procedural requirements and record-keeping responsibilities on funders, investigators, and their institutions. In the research institutions themselves, the multiple business processes, rules, and expectations of different funding organizations cause high overhead and opportunity for error in processing awards and accounting for and reporting results. Several initiatives to address and simplify the multiplicity of federal grants-making activities focusing on electronic grants administration within and across various agencies. The Federal Commons Project, for example, is a single portal that consolidates access to all federal grants programs, and other aspects of grants management.

Finally, while research itself is burgeoning, traditional publication outlets for releasing research results reach only a narrow audience. They do little to communicate and demonstrate the value of R&D investments in plain language that crosses disciplines and makes sense even to much of the research enterprise, let alone to the public. These and other challenges are discussed more fully in Chapter 2.