Implementation of the HPCC Program takes place within each of the twelve HPCC agencies, where the final decisions are made on the funding, management, and evaluation of program activities. This section organizes HPCC activities by agency to reflect the operational structure of the funding. The level of information does not reflect individual projects. Since many grants are at the level of $100,000-$300,000, a full breakout of each project in a $1 billion program is impractical to assemble and maintain for this plan. Agencies group together projects that are technically related to reaching similar goals and objectives, as described in the PCAs. Each grouping constitutes a "program activity, " which range in size from $0.1 M to over $100 M.
Although this structure tracks funds clearly, it has several drawbacks. Interagency collaborations are often difficult to recognize and may in fact appear as duplication of effort, since similar efforts may be reported within several agencies' activities. Also, although the HPCC Program broadly describes activities under the heading of five major program component areas, actual program activities often span multiple areas, thus making the actual funding difficult to categorize. Because program activities need not follow strict guidelines of funding within each focus area, program managers make better decisions, at finer levels of program implementation, to determine the most effective use of research funds to meet Program objectives.
Each agency section contains three parts:
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Brief overview of the agency's perspective on HPCC efforts,
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Table summarizing financial data and collaborative ties for its program activities, and
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One- or two-page form describing each program activity and its milestones. |
The table at the beginning of each agency's section of the report summarizes the financial data by activity and indicates collaborative ties.
The individual program activity form contains some fields that require explanation. The "Budget Code" field is an internal label used by some agencies to track funding. The budget fields provide actual spending (Act.), estimated spending based on Congressional appropriations and rescissions (Est.), and Presidential requests (Pres.) for various fiscal years. The numbers below the HPCC component labels estimate the breakdown of the FY 1997 request into the five PCAs. These numbers are estimates, in that many activities span a variety of PCAs and categorization of efforts includes subjective judgment.
The "Agency Ties" section of the form permits two labels. A "Partner" label indicates that the corresponding agency participates in this activity as a funding and research partner. Note that two different agencies may view partnering differently (e.g., developing a scalable system in DARPA would be HECC, but its use for National Challenges could be inside LSN in NIST or NOAA). A "User" label indicates that the corresponding agency needs the results of this program activity for another, related activity. The large field in the center of the form gives an overview description of each activity. The remaining fields provide highlights of major accomplishments and milestones planned for future years. These entries highlight significant objectives and results; they should not be viewed as complete descriptions of any activity.
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