1 October 1998

Dear Principal Investigator or Field Team Leader,

SUBJECT: NSF and the Government Performance and Results Act

As part of NSF's response to the Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA), NSF has prepared a Performance Plan for FY 1999 (see
http://www.nsf.gov/od/gpra/).  The support of facilities is a significant
portion of the NSF's budget.  The performance plan highlights two goals for
NSF's facilities.  The first is that major facility construction or upgrades
should be completed on-time and within budget.  The second is that facilities
provide support to cutting-edge research, and do so in a reliable manner.

The entire Office of Polar Program's, Polar Research Support Section
(OPP/PRSS) budget is counted as supporting USAP facilities.  The total NSF FY
1999 Budget Request for Research Facilities is $735 million, of which $165
million goes to PRSS. PRSS has separated its program into four primary
facilities:

McMurdo - including nearly all the large and small field camps
Palmer
South Pole, and
Research Vessels-including small field camps deployed/recovered by
		 research vessels

The specific language in the FY 1999 Performance Plan concerning facility
operations is:

  Operations and Management of Facilities

  Facilities must operate efficiently and reliably and must offer appropriate
  opportunities, if they are to be valuable to those they serve.  NSF program
  officers work closely with facilities' directors to ensure that facilities
  have appropriate resources to conduct operations and to provide maintenance
  that ensures reliable operations.

  Performance Goal: Keep operating time lost due to unscheduled downtime to 
  less than 10 percent of the total scheduled possible operating time.

  Performance is measured as the average percentage among all facilities of 
  full capacity "user units" lost during the year to breakdowns or other
  circumstances considered within the control of the facilities.  The average
  across facilities is used in this instance because, although there should be
  latitude for some facilities to be run at greater failure rates with good
  reason, those facilities should be balanced by others operating more
  reliably.  User units are defined separately for each facility, and are
  typically user-hours or something similar.

OPP has determined that a workable definition of a user unit for USAP is a
project observing day, or project-days.  For a South Pole observatory, this
might be 365 days per year after the instrument is installed, or just when it
is dark, approximately 180 days.  For a cruise, we would expect that the
cruise length is synonymous with the number of project days, even though we
recognize that the vessel usually needs time to reach its work area.

OPP intends that the data requested in the attached performance survey are
easy to collect and calculate but reflect accurate data.  OPP encourages you
to complete the survey during your field season in Antarctica and return it
during your out-briefing.  Thank you for your participation.

Simon Stephenson
NSF/OPP Research Support Manager