Federally-funded research and development centers spend $17.8 billion in fiscal year 2011

The nation's 40 federally-funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) spent $17.8 billion on research and development (R&D) in fiscal year (FY) 2011, according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation. More than $850 million of the total was supplied by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

FFRDCs are privately operated R&D organizations financed by the federal government. They include national labs and observatories. Federal funding accounted for 97.6 percent, or $17.4 billion, of the FFRDCs' total expenditures in FY 2011. The remaining $190 million in expenditures were funded by businesses, nonprofit organizations ($61 million), state and local government ($27 million), and other sources ($146 million).

Basic research activities accounted for 37 percent of total FFRDC R&D expenditures in FY 2011, with applied research accounting for 29 percent and development for 34 percent.

R&D expenditures within FFRDCs have grown by more than $2 billion, or 14 percent, from FY 2008 to FY 2011.

Provided by National Science Foundation