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Committees of Visitors (COVs) |
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The
Basic Energy
Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) reviews the major elements of the BES
program annually using Committees of Visitors (COVs).
The first COV review of BES was conducted in 2002, and
since then all elements of the BES program have been
reviewed once every three years on a rotating
schedule as shown in the table below. Beginning in
2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) required
Office of Science programs
to issue a written response to COV recommendations within
30 days.
The Purpose of COVs.
Committees of Visitors are
charged with assessing the efficacy and quality of the
processes used to solicit, review, recommend, monitor, and
document proposal actions; the quality of the resulting
portfolio, specifically the breadth and depth of portfolio
elements and the national and international standing of the
elements; and progress toward the
BES long-term performance measures for the federal
government's
Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART). The latest PART assessment for BES
can be viewed at
ExpectMore.gov.
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BES Committees of Visitors: COV Reports and BES Responses. |
All documents are in
PDF format |
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Fiscal Year |
BES
Division* |
Dates of COV Reviews |
Dates of
COV Reports** |
Dates of BES
Responses |
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2009 |
MSE |
April
2009, tentative |
To be determined |
To be determined |
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2008 |
CSGB |
April 22–24,
2008 |
July 24 2008 |
August 11, 2008 |
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2007 |
SUF |
April 15–17,
2007 |
July 31, 2007 |
August 23, 2007 |
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2006 |
MSE |
April 3–6, 2006 |
August 3, 2006 |
August 26, 2006 |
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2005 |
CSGB |
April 6–8, 2005 |
June 6, 2005 |
June 24, 2005 |
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2004 |
SUF |
March 9–10,
2004 |
August 5,
2004 |
December 6, 2004 |
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2003 |
MSE |
March 17–18, 2003 |
May 28, 2003 |
October 20, 2003 |
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2002 |
CSGB |
Jan. 30–Feb.1, 2002 |
March 25, 2002 |
July 22, 2002 |
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* BES
Divisions: |
CSGB
— Chemical Sciences,
Geosciences, and Biosciences
Division |
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MSE
— Materials Sciences and
Engineering Division |
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SUF
— Scientific User
Facilities Division |
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COV Reports: |
In addition to
the COV reports, the above PDF files
contain addenda that include COV
agendas, charge letters, and related BESAC presentations |
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The COV Process. Committees of Visitors
are subpanels of BESAC that operate under guidance from
the advisory committee. The COV reports are submitted to
BESAC for review and become BESAC reports in accordance with
the Federal Advisory Committee Act only after the COV reports
are adopted by the full committee. The advisory committee's
work is requested by the Director, Office of Science (SC-1),
and BESAC reports to SC-1. The COV process includes
the following steps:
• BESAC has been charged by SC-1 to perform
annual COV reviews of BES program elements;
• BESAC selects a Chair for each COV and BESAC governs the COV
activities;
• The COV Chair selects members to
fulfill BESAC's charge, including at least one BESAC member;
• A three-day on-site review by the COV is typically held at BES
Headquarters in Germantown, Maryland;
• The COV writes a draft report and presents
its findings at a public BESAC meeting;
• BESAC reviews the report and discusses what, if
any, changes are necessary before adopting the report;
• The COV report is publicly issued (e.g., on
this web site) and SC-1 and
OMB are informed of its release;
• BES responds to the COV
recommendations within 30 days of BESAC adopting the COV report;
• Follow-on actions by BES/SC to COV recommendations are
addressed at future COV reviews.
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BES staff at DOE may find
these PDF files on the shared "Q" directory by clicking here.
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