on Global Change Research under the NSTC
Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability.
Science also participates in the Biomass Research and Development
Board, which was established by the Biomass Research and Development
Act of 2000.[Footnote 27] Furthermore, DOE and NSF jointly charter two
of Science's program advisory committees: the High Energy Physics
Advisory Panel and the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee.
Additionally, Science uses memorandums of understanding to coordinate
formally with other agencies. For example, Advanced Scientific
Computing Research recently signed a memorandum with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the development of
high performance computing. While we discussed Science's coordination
efforts with program officials, the scope of this request did not
involve evaluating the extent to which Science's tools for
coordination are effective in identifying or mitigating duplication,
overlap, or fragmentation.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
We provided a copy of ourof section]
Enclosure I:
Comments from the Department of Energy:
Department of Energy:
Office of Science:
Washington, DC 20585:
February 13, 2012:
Mr. Franklin Rusco:
Director, Natural Resources and Environment:
Government Accountability Office:
441 G Street, NW:
Washington, DC 20548:
Ms. Melissa Emrey-Arras:
Director, Strategic Issues:
Government Accountability Office:
10 Causeway Street, Room 575:
Boston, MA 02222:
Dear Mr. Rusco and Ms. Emrey-Arras:
The Department of Energy (DOE) appreciates the opportunity to review
the draft Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled, "The
Department of Energy's Office of Science Uses a Multilayered Process
for Prioritizing Research" (GAO-12-410R). I am pleased to provide a
response on behalf of DOE.
We believe the GAO did a commendable job of reviewing the practices
used by the Office of Science to identify research priorities and the
practices used by both the Office of Science and the Department to
formulate the budget. The draft report provides an accurate and
balanced overview