Federally Funded R&D Centers Report 13% Increase in R&D Spending in FY 2023

Federal funding sources accounted for 98.5% ($28.9 billion) of FFRDC R&D expenditures in FY 2023 (table 1). This level of support is typical for FFRDCs, which are privately operated R&D organizations that are exclusively or substantially financed by the federal government. Nonfederal sources funded the remaining R&D, which totaled $436.9 million: businesses ($224.4 million); nonprofit organizations ($42.3 million); state and local governments ($35.4 million); and all other sources ($134.8 million), such as funds from foreign governments and foreign or U.S. universities.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DOD) combined to account for 77.4% of federally funded R&D expenditures at FFRDCs (table 2). DOE accounted for 56.7% ($16.4 billion) of the federally funded spending, and DOD accounted for 20.7% ($6.0 billion). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ($2.9 billion, or 10.1% of the total) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ($1.3 billion, or 4.6% of the total), which includes the National Institutes of Health, were the only other agencies funding greater than $1 billion. Almost $2.3 billion of federally funded R&D came from agencies other than the largest four. FFRDCs identified 21 other agencies as sources of federal funding in FY 2023 (table 3).

FFRDCs spent $6.6 billion more on R&D in FY 2023 than in FY 2019 (table 4). The majority of FFRDCs (37 centers) increased R&D spending in FY 2023 compared with FY 2022; 5 FFRDCs reported lower R&D totals in FY 2023. Eleven FFRDCs reported more than $1 billion each (a combined $22.6 billion) in R&D expenditures for FY 2023—the NASA-sponsored Jet Propulsion Laboratory; seven DOE-sponsored national laboratories specializing in energy and the environment, national security, and nuclear science (Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories); the DOD-sponsored National Security Engineering Center, Lincoln Laboratory, and Aerospace FFRDC.^{​For FFRDC sponsoring agencies and locations, see the full set of data tables: table 6. The Master Government List of FFRDCs also provides details on sponsoring agencies, administrator types, locations, general and historical notes.} Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory were the two largest performers with $4.3 billion and $3.8 billion in total R&D, respectively. Between FY 2022 and FY 2023, three FFRDCs each increased their R&D expenditures by more than $400 million: Los Alamos ($473.8 million), Sandia ($464.0 million), and Lawrence Livermore ($451.1 million). Three other FFRDCs reported R&D expenditure increases greater than $200 million: Argonne National Laboratory ($271.7 million), Jet Propulsion Laboratory ($253.7 million), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory ($215.7 million).

In FY 2023, basic research activities accounted for 20% of total FFRDC R&D expenditures or $5.9 billion (figure 2). The remaining R&D expenditures were closely divided between applied research (40.7%, or $11.9 billion) and experimental development (39.4%, or $11.5 billion). These shares have changed only slightly over the last 5 fiscal years.^{​For type of R&D from FY 2001 to FY 2023, see the full set of data tables: table 2.}

The statistics on FFRDC R&D expenditures presented in this report come from the FY 2023 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); R&D personnel headcounts and full-time equivalents; 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://ncses.nsf.gov/resource/master-gov-lists-ffrdc/general-notes.

The full set of data tables from this survey and more information on the survey methodology are available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/ffrdc-research-development/2023.

Gibbons MT; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2024. Federally Funded R&D Centers Report 13% Increase in R&D Spending in FY 2023. NSF 24-330. Alexandria, VA: U.S. National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf24330/.

Michael T. Gibbons
Survey Manager
NCSES
Tel: (703) 292-4590
E-mail: [email protected]

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