Plate Nº 98 · recorded October 10, 2026
Science Policy & FundingReported finding
OMB Directs Federal R&D Priorities for FY2028 Budget Cycle
OMB memo M-26-16 tells federal agencies to rebalance R&D toward foundational research, integrate industry more fully, and rebuild links between scientific discovery and manufacturing.
By Nathan Brooks3 min read641 words
In brief
- OMB issued memo M-26-16 directing federal agencies on research and development priorities for the fiscal 2028 budget cycle.
- Industry's share of national R&D funding has doubled over the past half century, the memo says.
- The memo lists eight specific priorities, including foundational research, AI applications, and broader use of R&D infrastructure.
- Agencies should expand rotational programs such as the Intergovernmental Personnel Act, the memo recommends.
- Federal R&D spending has reached record levels, but most non-defense growth has gone to life sciences, according to OMB.
The Office of Management and Budget has issued memo M-26-16, an annual set of instructions directing federal agencies on the research and development priorities they should follow in their fiscal 2028 budget proposals.
The document flags a structural shift it says has gone unaddressed for decades. "Industry now drives a growing share of innovation and even basic research, where its share of national R&D funding has doubled over the past half century," the memo states. "And yet we have largely not updated how the Federal Government funds research or partners with the private sector."
OMB adds that federal spending on R&D has reached record levels, yet "much of the non-defense increase is concentrated in the life sciences and the pace of significant breakthroughs has slowed."
What priorities does the memo set?
The document lays out eight specific priorities for agencies preparing FY 2028 budget submissions:
- Rebalance R&D portfolios toward foundational research (basic science that underpins later applications) and the physical sciences and engineering.
- Advance national science and technology missions, including applying artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to accelerate American research and innovation.
- Expand R&D infrastructure so a broader ecosystem of users can access it.
- Translate scientific advances into stronger regional economies and broad-based prosperity.
- Consider new funding mechanisms and institutional models to support frontier science.
- Find better ways to identify and develop scientific talent.
- Rigorously study, evaluate, and improve how federal science is funded.
- Integrate federal R&D into the broader science and technology enterprise.
What does the memo say about in-house capacity?
The document devotes a section to the people who manage federal research portfolios. It says that "the effectiveness of Federal R&D funding depends heavily on agencies' ability to recruit exceptional program officers and give them genuine discretion to define technical problems, build a research portfolio, and manage toward ambitious outcomes."
"Program officers" are agency staff who design funding solicitations, review grant applications, and decide which projects to support. The document recommends that agencies:
- Recruit top scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists into time-limited public service, raising their prestige and authority inside government.
- Reduce barriers to hiring program officers from non-traditional backgrounds.
- Expand rotational programs such as the Intergovernmental Personnel Act, which lets agencies temporarily bring in staff from outside the federal workforce.
- Build competitive pay and career paths that make program management an attractive option for top scientific talent.
- Enforce strict conflict-of-interest rules for any employee involved in funding decisions.
Why does the memo focus on physical sciences?
The document argues that decades of uneven funding growth have left the physical sciences and engineering comparatively under-resourced relative to life sciences. OMB's call to "rebalance" signals that future agency budgets should tilt investment toward fields such as physics, chemistry, materials science, and engineering.
The memo pairs that shift with a broader industrial-policy theme. It urges agencies to pursue "reconnecting scientific discovery with manufacturing and skilled crafts," a framing that links basic research to factory production and skilled trades.
How would agencies treat industry and regional economies?
The memo calls on agencies to "integrate industry more fully into the research enterprise." It also directs them to expand R&D infrastructure "for broader ecosystem use" and to translate scientific advances "into stronger regional ecosystems and broad based prosperity."
Taken together, these instructions push agencies to treat private companies, regional clusters, and shared facilities as core parts of federally funded research rather than outside partners.
What happens next?
The memo instructs agencies to "rigorously study, evaluate, and improve how Federal science is funded." Researchers, universities, and national laboratories should expect agencies to examine existing grant procedures and revise them where needed.
Whether agencies adopt the guidance will become clearer when the President's full FY 2028 budget request reaches Congress, typically early the following February.
via fedweek.com (Original)
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