Why GAO did this study. NIH, the federal government’s leader in supporting biomedical research, faces a shortage of employees with data science expertise needed to, among other things, analyze and extract insights from increasingly large and complex sets of data. In June 2018, NIH developed a Strategic Plan for Data Science, which included an objective to enhance its data science workforce that addresses this need. The explanatory statement accompanying the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, contained a provision for GAO to review NIH’s data science workforce planning. This report, among other things, determines the extent to which 1) NIH has conducted data science workforce strategic planning in accordance with key practices and 2) NIH’s data management and sharing policy and guidance are consistent with federal guidance. To do so, GAO assessed agency documentation against key workforce planning practices identified in prior GAO work. It also compared NIH’s data management and sharing policy and plans to relevant federal requirements, and interviewed NIH officials. What GAO recommends. GAO is making 11 recommendations to NIH to fully implement key workforce planning activities and finalize data management and sharing guidance. NIH concurred with nine of the recommendations and stated it had implemented the other two. However, the agency did not provide sufficient evidence of the implementation. As a result, GAO continues to believe the recommendations are appropriate.
Copyright:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)