Interagency Coordinating Committee

Overview | Committee Members | EPSCoR Jurisdictions by Agency

The EPSCoR Interagency Coordinating Committee (EICC) was formed in July 1993 under the direction of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. The committee, in its report on the 1993 Veterans, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, directed NSF to produce a plan to integrate all EPSCoR programs into a single structure that would maximize the taxpayers' investment in the program.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the cognizant officials of agencies with EPSCoR or EPSCoR-like programs agreeing to participate in an EPSCoR Interagency Coordinating Committee. These agencies included the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The EICC serves as a working group that meets on a regular basis to achieve the following objectives:

• Coordinate Federal EPSCoR and EPSCoR-like programs on the impact of Federal support, while eliminating duplication in States receiving EPSCoR support from more than one agency

• Coordinate agency objectives with State and institutional goals, where appropriate, to obtain continued non-Federal support of science & technology (S&T) research and training

• Coordinate the development of criteria to assess gains in academic research quality and competitiveness and S&T; human resource development

Furthermore, as members of the EICC, the agencies agreed to exchange information on pending legislation, agency policies, and relevant programs related to S&T; research and training, and, when appropriate, to provide responses on issues of common concern.

As the lead agency within the Federal EPSCoR effort, NSF staff members are designated to serve as the Chair and Executive Secretary of the EICC. The current EICC Chair is Mr. James B. Hoehn, Head of the NSF EPSCoR Office. Jane Harrington, NSF EPSCoR, is Executive Secretary of the EICC.