Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program

The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NITRD) is a collaborative effort in which 13 federal agencies coordinate and cooperate to help increase the overall effectiveness and productivity of federal IT R&D. The members of the NITRD Program are: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense Research & Engineering, and the DOD service research organizations; Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA); Department of Energy, Office of Science (DOE/SC); Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); National Security Agency (NSA); and National Science Foundation (NSF).

Of those 13 members, the majority of funding, in descending order, goes to the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.

Figure 1 illustrates the organizational structure of the NITRD Program.



The National Coordinating Office (NCO) coordinates the activities of the NITRD Program. On July 1, 2005, the NCO became the “National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development.” The Director of the NCO reports to the Director of the White House Office on Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The NCO supports the Subcommittee on NITRD (also called the NITRD Subcommittee)2 and the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC).3