The contractor will manage the Higher Education Survey System (HES) which is used to respond to the Government's need for up-to-date information on higher education not readily available from other sources. The contractor maintains a panel of 1,100 higher education institutions and conducts up to five "quick response" surveys a year. These limited-item surveys are done on topics submitted by the three sponsoring federal agencies (NSF, NEH, and DOE) and cover issues that relate to their operations. Survey results are used to provide timely responses to specific high priority, programmatic, policy or Congressional reporting needs. The National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (Public Law 81-507, 42 U.S.C. 1962) in Section 3(a)(6) directs the Foundation "...to provide a central clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and analysis of data on scientific and engineering resources and to provide a source of information for policy form- ulation by other agencies of the Federal Government..." Also, Section 2 of Executive Order 10521 charges the Foundation to "make comprehensive studies and recomen- dations regarding the Nation's scientific research effort and its resources for scientific activities involving facilities and scientific personnel..."
