I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2272

To establish a digital and wireless network technology program, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2003

Mr. TOWNS (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. 

WATSON, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 

Texas, Mr. OWENS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, and Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To establish a digital and wireless network technology 

program, 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 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Minority Serving Insti5 tution Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity Act 

6 of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

3 National Science Foundation an Office of Minority Serv4 ing Institution Digital and Wireless Technology to carry 

5 out the provisions of this Act. 

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The Office shall—

7 (1) strengthen the ability of eligible institutions 

8 to provide capacity for instruction in digital and 

9 wireless network technologies by providing grants to, 

10 or executing contracts or cooperative agreements 

11 with, those institutions to provide such instruction; 

12 and 

13 (2) strengthen the national digital and wireless 

14 infrastructure by increasing national investment in 

15 telecommunications and technology infrastructure at 

16 eligible institutions. 

17 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED. 

18 An eligible institution shall use a grant, contract, or 

19 cooperative agreement awarded under this Act—

20 (1) to acquire the equipment, instrumentation, 

21 networking capability, hardware and software, dig22 ital network technology, wireless technology, and in23 frastructure; 

24 (2) to develop and provide educational services, 

25 including faculty development, related to science, 

26 mathematics, engineering, or technology; 
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1 (3) to provide teacher education, library and 

2 media specialist training, and preschool and teacher 

3 aid certification to individuals who seek to acquire or 

4 enhance technology skills in order to use technology 

5 in the classroom or instructional process; 

6 (4) to implement joint projects and consortia to 

7 provide education regarding technology in the class8 room with a State or State education agency, local 

9 education agency, community-based organization, 

10 national non-profit organization, or business, includ11 ing minority businesses; 

12 (5) to provide professional development in 

13 science, mathematics, engineering, or technology to 

14 administrators and faculty of eligible institutions 

15 with institutional responsibility for technology edu16 cation; 

17 (6) to provide capacity-building technical assist18 ance to eligible institutions through remote technical 

19 support, technical assistance workshops, distance 

20 learning, new technologies, and other technological 

21 applications; 

22 (7) to foster the use of information communica23 tions technology to increase scientific, mathematical, 

24 engineering, and technology instruction and re25 search; and 
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1 (8) to develop proposals to be submitted under 

2 this Act and to develop strategic plans for informa3 tion technology investments. 

4 SEC. 4. APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant, 

6 contract, or cooperative agreement under this Act, an eli7 gible institution shall submit an application to the Direc8 tor at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 

9 such information as the Director may reasonably require. 

10 The Director, in consultation with the advisory council es11 tablished under subsection (b), shall establish a procedure 

12 by which to accept and review such applications and pub13 lish an announcement of such procedure, including a state14 ment regarding the availability of funds, in the Federal 

15 Register. 

16 (b) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The Director shall estab17 lish an advisory council to advise the Director on the best 

18 approaches for involving eligible institutions in the activi19 ties described in section 3, and for reviewing and evalu20 ating proposals submitted to the program. In selecting the 

21 members of the advisory council, the Director may consult 

22 with representatives of appropriate organizations, includ23 ing representatives of eligible institutions, to ensure that 

24 the membership of the advisory council reflects participa25 tion by technology and telecommunications institutions, 
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1 minority businesses, eligible institution communities, Fed2 eral agency personnel, and other individuals who are 

3 knowledgeable about eligible institutions and technology 

4 issues. Any panel assembled to review a proposal sub5 mitted to the program shall include members from minor6 ity serving institutions. Program review criteria shall in7 clude consideration of—

8 (1) demonstrated need for assistance under this 

9 Act; and 

10 (2) diversity among the types of institutions re11 ceiving assistance under this Act. 

12 (c) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—There shall be estab13 lished a peer review panel to aid the Director in estab14 lishing the application procedure described in subsection 

15 (a) and in selecting applicants to receive grants, contracts, 

16 and cooperative agreements under section 2. In selecting 

17 the members for such panel, the Director may consult with 

18 the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Edu19 cation, or other appropriate cabinet-level officials, rep20 resentatives of non-Federal organizations, and representa21 tives of eligible Federal organizations, to ensure that the 

22 members of the peer review panel reflect the membership 

23 of the minority higher education community, in addition 

24 to Federal agency personnel and other individuals who are 

25 knowledgeable about and familiar with science, mathe-
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1 matics, engineering, and technology issues as they related 

2 to eligible institutions. 

3 (d) DATA COLLECTION.—An eligible institution that 

4 receives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 

5 section 2 shall provide the Office with any relevant institu6 tional statistical or demographic data requested by the Of7 fice. 

8 (e) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—The Director 

9 shall convene an annual meeting of eligible institutions re10 ceiving grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements under 

11 section 2 for the purposes of—

12 (1) fostering collaboration and capacity-building 

13 activities among eligible institutions; and 

14 (2) disseminating information and ideas gen15 erated by such meetings. 

16 SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

17 The Director may not award a grant, contract, or co18 operative agreement to an eligible institution under this 

19 Act unless such institution agrees that, with respect to the 

20 costs to be incurred by the institution in carrying out the 

21 program for which the grant, contract, or cooperative 

22 agreement was awarded, such institution will make avail23 able (directly or through donations from public or private 

24 entities) non-Federal contributions in an amount equal to 

1 25 ⁄4 of the amount of the grant, contract, or cooperative 
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1 agreement awarded by the Director, or $500,000, which2 ever is the lesser amount. The Director shall waive the 

3 matching requirement for any institution or consortium 

4 with no endowment, or an endowment that has a current 

5 dollar value lower than $50,000,000. 

6 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution that re8 ceives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 

9 this Act that exceeds $2,500,000, shall not be eligible to 

10 receive another grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

11 under this Act until every other eligible institution that 

12 has applied for a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

13 under this Act has received such a grant, contract, or co14 operative. 

15 (b) AWARDS ADMINISTERED BY ELIGIBLE INSTITU16 TION.—Each grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

17 awarded under this Act shall be made to, and adminis18 tered by, an eligible institution, even when it is awarded 

19 for the implementation of a consortium or joint project. 

20 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT AND EVALUATION. 

21 (a) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED FROM RECIPI22 ENTS.—Each institution that receives a grant, contract, 

23 or cooperative agreement under this Act shall provide an 

24 annual report to the Director on its use of the grant, con25 tract, or cooperative agreement. 
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1 (b) EVALUATION BY DIRECTOR.—The Director, in 

2 consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall—

3 (1) review the reports provided under sub4 section (a) each year; and 

5 (2) evaluate the program authorized by section 

6 3 on the basis of those reports every 2 years. 

7 (c) CONTENTS OF EVALUATION.—The Director, in 

8 the evaluation, shall describe the activities undertaken by 

9 those institutions and shall assess the short-range and 

10 long-range impact of activities carried out under the 

11 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement on the students, 

12 faculty, and staff of the institutions. 

13 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director shall sub14 mit a report to the Congress based on the evaluation. In 

15 the report, the Director shall include such recommenda16 tions, including recommendations concerning the con17 tinuing need for Federal support of the program, as may 

18 be appropriate. 

19 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi22 ble institution’’ means an institution that is—

23 (A) a historically Black college or univer24 sity that is a part B institution, as defined in 

25 section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 
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1 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)), an institution de2 scribed in section 326(e)(1)(A), (B), or (C) of 

3 that Act (20 U.S.C. 1063b(e)(1)(A), (B), or 

4 (C)), or a consortium of institutions described 

5 in this subparagraph; 

6 (B) a Hispanic-serving institution, as de7 fined in section 502(a)(5) of the Higher Edu8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5)); 

9 (C) a tribally controlled college or univer10 sity, as defined in section 316(b)(3) of the 

11 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

12 1059c(b)(3)); 

13 (D) an Alaska Native-serving institution 

14 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education 

15 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b)); 

16 (E) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution 

17 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education 

18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b)); or 

19 (F) an institution determined by the Direc20 tor, in consultation with the Secretary of Edu21 cation, to have enrolled a substantial number of 

22 minority, low-income students during the pre23 vious academic year who received assistance 

24 under subpart I of part A of title IV of the 
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1 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 1070a et seq.) for that year. 

3 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

4 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

5 (3) MINORITY BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘minority 

6 business’’ includes HUBZone small business con7 cerns (as defined in section 3(p) of the Small Busi8 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)). 

9 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Direc11 tor of the National Science Foundation $250,000,000 for 

12 each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2008 to carry out 

13 this Act.

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