TIP Letter to OMB from DoC/CIO

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Chief Information Officer
Washington, D.C. 20230

MAY 2 7 2008
Ms. Susan E. Dudley
Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Ms. Dudley:
We are requesting an expedited review for an information collection under the National Institute
of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Technology Innovation Program (TIP). The America
Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and
Sciences (COMPETES) Act of2007 (Pub. L. 110-69) established TIP. TIP is a new competitive
cost-sharing program designed to assist U.S. businesses and institutions of higher education or
other organizations, such as national laboratories and nonprofit research institutions, to support,
promote, and accelerate innovation in the United States through high-risk, high-reward research
in areas of critical national need. High-risk, high-reward research is research that:
a. has the potential for yielding transformational results with far-ranging implications;
b.

addresses areas of critical national need that support, promote, and accelerate innovation in
the United States and is within NIST's areas of technical competence; and

c.

is too novel or spans too diverse a range of disciplines to fare well in the traditional peerreview process.

To meet the intent of the TIP legislation to address areas of critical national need, NIST/TIP
plans to conduct its first competition this year. To accomplish this, the competition
announcement should be published in the Federal Register and Grants.gov by June 30, 2008.
Therefore, the information collection review would need to be completed as soon as possible but
no later than June 20, 2008. NIST will then be able to announce a competition in a timely
manner. This will allow sufficient time for potential proposers to prepare their proposals in
accordance with the newly established TIP criteria, and for NIST to complete its proposal review
and award process this year.
Thank you for your prompt consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,

q/M-t~1.uL

Suzanne Hilding
~.
Chief Information Officer