The U.S. National Science Foundation has committed, in writing, to streamlining two functions of its proposal and award management process by Sept. 30, 2027 — the agency priority goal at the center of its newly published Fiscal Year 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, developed in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget.

The plan sets three strategic goals and eight strategic objectives, and it arrives with a clear administrative signature: Brian Stone, chief of staff, is performing the duties of the NSF director. Stone frames the document as advancing the administration's priorities of "maintaining unrivaled U.S. leadership in science and technology" and ensuring discovery improves American security and economic growth. For research managers, the plan signals where NSF money, and paperwork, will move over the next five fiscal years.

A portfolio tilted toward critical technologies

Objective 1.2 names the technology areas NSF will prioritize: artificial intelligence, quantum information science and biotechnology, with advanced manufacturing, advanced wireless, and microelectronics and semiconductors cited in a footnote from OSTP and OMB guidance. The agency notes it is the largest federal funder of AI research and development.

One stated performance goal is funding leveraged from direct partnerships that advance these technologies. Indicators include the number of startups in NSF's critical and emerging technology portfolio and the number of patents resulting from NSF support. None of these measures carries a numeric target in the plan itself; NSF says it will develop and assess them in annual performance plans and reports.

The plan commits NSF to "review and revise its funding opportunities," phasing out lower-priority solicitations and launching new ones. For grant writers, that language points to consolidation ahead — mirrored in Objective 3.2, where NSF says it will consolidate funding opportunities and streamline the proposal and award management life cycle, possibly by cutting repetitive language and reducing documentation required at submission.

Research security moves into proposal review

Objective 1.3 commits NSF to expanding "analytical tools to detect and adjudicate risks of undue foreign influence on potential awardees during the proposal review process." The agency will extend the Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE) program, which distributes research-security information through a partner network. A performance goal targets enhanced capacity for research security risk assessments. Institutions should expect screening to touch earlier stages of the award pipeline.

The plan grounds this in the JASON report "Safeguarding the Research Enterprise" and cites growing private-sector share of basic research funding, per NSF's own 2022 analysis, as reason for NSF to keep backing bold ideas that "may not yet attract private investment."

Infrastructure triage

Objective 1.4 acknowledges what facility users already know: demand for operating time at some facilities outpaces supply. The plan's example is the ALMA telescope, where requests for time run three times what is available. NSF says it will balance operating existing infrastructure against new projects and, notably, will phase out lower priorities "through disposition." Nontraditional infrastructure — test beds and virtual laboratories — enters the portfolio through adapted mechanisms for major and mid-scale projects. Performance measures include facility uptime percentage and research translation activities at NSF-supported infrastructure. Polar infrastructure continues, explicitly tied to national security interests.

Workforce and geographic targets

STEM fields employ 25% of the U.S. workforce, the plan states, yet skill gaps persist in AI, quantum information science, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology. Objective 2.1 pairs industry-designed programs with two- and four-year colleges and tracks the proportion of talent-initiative funding allocated to critical technologies.

Objective 2.2 carries one of the plan's few dated commitments: increasing the proportion of research funding to EPSCoR jurisdictions by 2029. That tracks the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which directs NSF to dedicate an increasing share of key research and STEM accounts to institutions in those jurisdictions, as practicable under merit review.

The burden-reduction clock

The two-year agency priority goal, led by NSF's Chief Science Officer and Head of Award Management, aligns with OSTP Director Michael Kratsios' stated push to reduce administrative burdens on federally funded researchers. Candidate changes include trimming submission documentation and aligning requirements across federal agencies.

Internally, NSF sets a hiring-speed performance goal — average calendar days to hire staff — and commits to using automation and AI to shift staff time toward high-value work.

The plan went through stakeholder engagement via a Dear Colleague Letter issued Jan. 13, 2026, plus sessions with agency staff. Its strategic learning questions, due for FY 2027 evidence work, ask how well merit review reforms actually reduce applicant burden and improve operational efficiency — the metric against which this entire agenda will first be judged.