Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope, National Astronomy And Ionosphere Center, Arecibo, Puerto Rico

NAIC received US$3.1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was used for infrastructure improvements and for a second, much smaller, antenna to be used for VLBI and student training. This allotment was an increase of around 30% over the FY2009 budget. However, the FY2010 funding request by NSF was cut by US$1.2 million (−12.5% over the non-ARRA supported FY2009 budget) in light of their continued plans to reduce funding. The 2011 NSF budget was reduced by a further US$1.6 million, −15% with respect to 2010, with a further US$1 million reduction projected by FY2014. In addition, "NSF will decertify NAIC as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) upon award of the next cooperative agreement for its management and operation."
Beginning in FY 2010, NASA began contributing $2M/year for Planetary Science, particularly the study of near-Earth objects, at Arecibo. NASA is implementing this funding through its Near Earth Object Observations program.
In 2010, the National Science Foundation issued a call for proposals for the management of NAIC beginning in FY2012. On May 12, 2011, The National Science Foundation informed Cornell University that it would no longer be the operator of the NAIC, and thus of the Arecibo Observatory, as of October 1, 2011. The new operator is SRI International, along with two other managing partners, Universities Space Research Association and Universidad Metropolitana, with a number of other collaborators.