Why did the NIH develop RCDC?
The NIH is the Nation’s medical research agency. The NIH, funded by U.S. tax dollars, supports biomedical research across the country and around the world. The American people want to know how the NIH spends their tax dollars. The RCDC process categorizes the NIH research projects funded with these tax dollars. The NIH needed a more consistent, modern system. With advances in data- and text-mining computer technology, the NIH recognized that it could transform its process for developing spending reports. In 2004, the NIH tested the small-scale application of a new computerized process that demonstrated the potential to accurately sort NIH-funded research projects into categories. This initial analysis led to the development of the full-scale RCDC process. Congress issued a mandate. In 1998 and 2003, the National Academy of Sciences, an independent organization, issued two reports recommending this type of change. The U.S. Congress also understood the value and importance of a more cons
