II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1407

To authorize appropriations for the Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce for fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 21, 1999

Mr. FRIST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce for fiscal years

2000, 2001, and 2002, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION l. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Technology Adminis5 tration Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2000, 2001,

6 and 2002’’.

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

8 In this Act:
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1 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means

2 the Director of the National Institute of Standards

3 and Technology.

4 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

5 the Secretary of Commerce.

6 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR SCI7 ENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND

8 SERVICES.

9 (a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized

10 to be appropriated to the Department of Commerce for

11 use by the Secretary of Commerce for the Scientific and

12 Technical Research and Services laboratory activities of

13 the National Institute of Standards and Technology—

14 (1) $289,622,000 for fiscal year 2000;

15 (2) $305,551,000 for fiscal year 2001; and

16 (3) $322,356,000 for fiscal year 2002.

17 (b) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are

18 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Com19 merce for use by the Secretary of Commerce for construc20 tion and maintenance of facilities of the National Institute

21 of Standards and Technology—

22 (1) $106,798,000 for fiscal year 2000;

23 (2) $31,800,000 for fiscal year 2001; and

24 (3) $16,800,000 for fiscal year 2002.
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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE OF2 FICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR TECH3 NOLOGY.

4 (a) OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY POLICY.—There are

5 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Com6 merce for use by the Secretary of Commerce for the activi7 ties of the Under Secretary for Technology and the Office

8 of Technology Policy—

9 (1) $8,442,000 for fiscal year 2000;

10 (2) $8,695,000 for fiscal year 2001; and

11 (3) $8,956,000 for fiscal year 2002.

12 (b) OFFICE OF SPACE COMMERCIALIZATION.—There

13 are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of

14 Commerce for use by the Secretary of Commerce for the

15 activities of the Office of Space Commercialization—

16 (1) $530,000 for fiscal year 2000;

17 (2) $550,000 for fiscal year 2001; and

18 (3) $570,000 for fiscal year 2002.

19 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR INDUS20 TRIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES.

21 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De22 partment of Commerce for use by the Secretary of Com23 merce for the industrial technology services activities of

24 the National Institute of Standards and Technology—

25 (1) $316,405,000 for fiscal year 2000, of

26 which—
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1 (A) $209,605,000 shall be for the Ad2 vanced Technology Program under section 28

3 of the National Institute of Standards and

4 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n); and

5 (B) $106,800,000 shall be for the manu6 facturing extension partnerships program under

7 sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of

8 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k

9 and 278l); and

10 (2) $322,693,000 for fiscal year 2001, of

11 which—

12 (A) $215,893,000 shall be for the Ad13 vanced Technology Program under section 28

14 of the National Institute of Standards and

15 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n); and

16 (B) $106,800,000 shall be for the manu17 facturing extension partnerships program under

18 sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of

19 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k

20 and 278l).

21 (3) $329,170,000 for fiscal year 2002, of

22 which—

23 (A) $222,370,000 shall be for the Ad24 vanced Technology Program under section 28
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1 of the National Institute of Standards and

2 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n); and

3 (B) $106,800,000 shall be for the manu4 facturing extension partnerships program under

5 sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of

6 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k

7 and 278l).

8 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR NA9 TIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERV10 ICES.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro12 priated for the National Technical Information Service

13 $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, to partially fund expenses

14 related to the collection, input processing, and preserva15 tion of scientific and technical information, to remain

16 available until expended.

17 (b) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—None of the funds au18 thorized by subsection (a) may be obligated until the Sec19 retary has submitted a plan on the future of NTIS to the

20 Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor21 tation, and the Committee on Science of the House of

22 Representatives. The plan shall address—

23 (1) whether the Service should be abolished;

24 (2) whether the Service’s mission should be

25 modified to include new information technology-re-
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1 lated services and products to other agencies as well

2 as to the public;

3 (3) any reorganizations required to achieve ei4 ther the current mission, or a newly defined or a

5 modified mission for the Service;

6 (4) whether there should be annual appropria7 tions to continue operations; and

8 (5) what changes in existing law would be nec9 essary to support any recommendations made in the

10 plan.

11 SEC. 7. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECH12 NOLOGY ACT AMENDMENTS.

13 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 28 of the National Insti14 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n)

15 is amended—

16 (1) in subsection (d)—

17 (A) in paragraph (1)—

18 (i) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’;

19 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and be of a nature

20 and scope that would not be pursued in a

21 timely manner without Federal assistance’’

22 after ‘‘technical merit’’; and

23 (iii) by adding at the end the fol24 lowing:
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1 ‘‘(B) Each applicant for a contract or

2 award under the Program shall certify that the

3 applicant has made an effort to secure private

4 market funding for the research project in5 volved. That certification shall include a written

6 narrative description of the efforts made by the

7 applicant to secure that funding.’’; and

8 (B) by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(12) A large business may participate in a re10 search project that is the subject of a contract or

11 award under paragraph (3) only as a member of a

12 joint venture that includes 1 or more small busi13 nesses as members.’’;

14 (2) in subsection (j)—

15 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para16 graph (1);

17 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as

18 paragraph (5); and

19 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the

20 following:

21 ‘‘(2) the term ‘large business’ means a business

22 that—

23 ‘‘(A) is not a small business; and

24 ‘‘(B) has gross annual revenues in an

25 amount greater than $2,500,000,000;
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1 ‘‘(3) the term ‘medium business’ means a busi2 ness that—

3 ‘‘(A) is not a small business; and

4 ‘‘(B) has gross annual revenues in an

5 amount less than or equal to $2,500,000,000;

6 ‘‘(4) the term ‘small business’ means a small

7 business concern, as described in section 3(a)(1) of

8 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)(1)); and’’;

9 (3) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub10 section (m); and

11 (4) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol12 lowing:

13 ‘‘(j) Notwithstanding subsection (b)(1)(B) and sub14 section (d)(3), the Director may grant an extension be15 yond the applicable deadline specified in subsection

16 (b)(1)(B) or (d)(3) for a joint venture or single applicant

17 recipient of assistance to expend Federal funds to com18 plete the project assisted with that assistance, if that

19 extension—

20 ‘‘(1) is granted with no additional cost to the

21 Federal Government; and

22 ‘‘(2) is in the interest of the Federal Govern23 ment.
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1 ‘‘(k)(1) The Secretary, acting through the Director,

2 may vest title to tangible personal property in any recipi3 ent of financial assistance under this section if—

4 ‘‘(A) the property is purchased with funds pro5 vided under this section; and

6 ‘‘(B) the Secretary, acting through the Direc7 tor, determines that the vesting of such property

8 furthers the objectives of the Institute.

9 ‘‘(2) Vesting under this subsection shall—

10 ‘‘(A) be subject to such limitations as are pre11 scribed by the Secretary, acting through the Direc12 tor; and

13 ‘‘(B) be made without further obligation to the

14 United States Government.

15 In carrying out this section, the Secretary, acting through

16 the Director, shall ensure that the requirements of Cir17 cular No. A–110 issued by the Office of Management and

18 Budget are met with respect to the valuation of cost-share

19 items used by participants in the Program.

20 ‘‘(l) AWARDS BASED ON COMPETITION.—All

21 amounts appropriated for grants under subsection (b) for

22 fiscal years beginning after the date of enactment of the

23 Technology Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal

24 Years 2000, 2001, and 2002 shall be used for grants

25 awarded on the basis of general open competition.’’.
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1 (b) ADDITIONAL AMENDMENT.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 28(d)(11)(A) of the

3 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act

4 (15 U.S.C. 278n(d)(11)(A)) is amended by striking

5 the period at the end of the first sentence and in6 serting the following: ‘‘or any other university or

7 nonprofit awardee or subawardee (as those terms

8 are defined by the Secretary) receiving financial as9 sistance under this section, as agreed by the parties,

10 notwithstanding the requirements of chapter 18 of

11 title 35, United States Code.’’.

12 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by

13 this subsection shall apply only with respect to as14 sistance for which solicitations for proposals are

15 made after the date of enactment of this Act.

16 SEC. 8. REPORTS.

17 (a) STATUS OF MANUFACTURING SECTOR.—Within

18 6 months after the enactment of this Act, the Director

19 shall submit a report to the Committee on Commerce,

20 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com21 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives on the

22 following issues concerning the manufacturing sector:

23 (1) An expanded definition of manufacturing in

24 the digital age.
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1 (2) The role of the manufacturing sector in the

2 digital age.

3 (3) Any legislative revisions to existing Federal

4 programs, such as Manufacturing Extension Pro5 gram, to reflect requirements imposed on the manu6 facturing sector by the knowledge-based economy.

7 (4) Needs for technical assistance for small

8 businesses, in coordination with existing efforts from

9 state and local governments and the Experimental

10 Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology pro11 gram.

12 (b) NATIONAL LABORATORIES.—The Assistant Sec13 retary for Technology Policy, in consultation with the Of14 fice of Science and Technology Policy and the Secretary

15 of Energy, shall, within 9 months after enactment of this

16 Act, submit a report to the Senate Committee on Com17 merce, Science, and Transportation and the House of Rep18 resentatives Committee on Science on the following issues

19 concerning the national laboratories:

20 (1) Whether the laboratories have clearly de21 fined and focused missions that are distinct from

22 one another.

23 (2) The existence of barriers in establishing and

24 retaining resources to maintain competitive centers

25 of excellence at the laboratories.
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1 (3) The extent to which the laboratories col2 laborate with one another on research programs with

3 industry.

4 (4) The specific actions that can be taken in

5 the short term to strengthen the national labora6 tories technically and technologically.

7 (5) Any specific recommendations to increase

8 the efficiency and effectiveness of the national lab9 oratories in the long term, including systemic

10 changes whether new or previously proposed.

11 (c) TECHNICAL STANDARDS.—The Director, in con12 sultation with the United States Trade Representative and

13 any other appropriate agencies, shall submit a report to

14 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans15 portation and the House of Representatives Committee on

16 Science within 6 months after the enactment of this Act

17 on the following issues concerning technical standards:

18 (1) The role and impact of international tech19 nical standards on global commerce and inter20 national trade.

21 (2) The role of national standards, including

22 their use as barriers, in international commerce and

23 trade policies.

24 (3) The timeliness of the domestic and inter25 national standards process and its impact on the de-
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1 velopment of new markets and new technologies, in2 cluding the use of technical draft standards to ac3 commodate the fast pace of change in market envi4 ronment and technologies.

5 (4) Market, industry, and technology input into

6 the standards process.

7 (5) Open and fair access in representation to

8 the domestic and international standards process.

9 (6) Any recommendation for changes to the do10 mestic standards process.

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