An NRC committee will assess EPA’s highest priority needs for mission-relevant laboratory science and technical support, now and during the next ten years. Recognizing the need to operate within budget constraints and growing demands, and recognizing the potential contributions of external sources of scientific information from other government agencies, industry, and academia in the U.S. and other nations, the committee will develop principles for the efficient and effective management of EPA’s laboratory enterprise to meet the agency’s mission needs and strategic goals. Drawing upon these principles, the committee will develop guidance for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, now and during the next ten years, which:
• Improves EPA’s ability to plan, prioritize, coordinate, and deliver scientific research, technical support, and analytical services from EPA’s laboratory enterprise for achieving the highest-priority scientific needs and strategic goals, and for achieving the strategic objectives in the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 for laboratory and research organizations;
• Uses an analytical framework(s) to ensure that laboratory facilities, functions, scientific solutions, and capabilities are aligned with the highest-priority scientific needs for the agency’s strategic goals; and
• Sustains the leadership capability of the laboratory enterprise for environmental science and research.
The committee’s work is part of a multi-phase effort by EPA and collaborating organizations to make the agency’s laboratory enterprise more effective and efficient while reducing costs. The committee will not assess the organization, or the facility-level and portfolio-level master-plans, or the consolidation initiatives for EPA’s laboratory enterprise, because that analysis will be undertaken through a separate effort. EPA will consider the findings and recommendations provided by the committee, as well as the input from other efforts, in developing an implementation plan for the laboratory enterprise. At EPA’s discretion, another ad hoc NRC committee may be asked subsequently and funded separately to assess the draft plan.
