I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 250

To establish an interagency committee to coordinate Federal manufacturing 

research and development efforts in manufacturing, strengthen existing 

programs to assist manufacturing innovation and education, and expand 

outreach programs for small and medium-sized manufacturers, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2005

Mr. EHLERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science 

A BILL

To establish an interagency committee to coordinate Federal 

manufacturing research and development efforts in manufacturing, strengthen existing programs to assist manufacturing innovation and education, and expand outreach 

programs for small and medium-sized manufacturers, 

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 ‘‘Manufacturing Tech5 nology Competitiveness Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE AND ADVISORY COM2 MITTEE. 

3 (a) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.—

4 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall es5 tablish or designate an interagency committee on 

6 manufacturing research and development, which 

7 shall include representatives from the Office of 

8 Science and Technology Policy, the National Insti9 tute of Standards and Technology, the Science and 

10 Technology Directorate of the Department of Home11 land Security, the National Science Foundation, the 

12 Department of Energy, and any other agency that 

13 the President may designate. The Interagency Com14 mittee shall be chaired by the Under Secretary of 

15 Commerce for Technology. 

16 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Committee 

17 shall be responsible for the planning and coordina18 tion of Federal efforts in manufacturing research 

19 and development through—

20 (A) establishing goals and priorities for 

21 manufacturing research and development, in22 cluding the strengthening of United States 

23 manufacturing through the support and coordi24 nation of Federal manufacturing research, de25 velopment, technology transfer, standards, and 

26 technical training; 
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1 (B) developing, within 6 months after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act, and updating 

3 every 3 years for delivery with the President’s 

4 annual budget request to Congress, a strategic 

5 plan, to be transmitted to the Committee on 

6 Science of the House of Representatives and 

7 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

8 Transportation of the Senate, for manufac9 turing research and development that includes 

10 an analysis of the research, development, tech11 nology transfer, standards, technical training, 

12 and integration needs of the manufacturing sec13 tor important to ensuring and maintaining 

14 United States competitiveness; 

15 (C) proposing an annual coordinated inter16 agency budget for manufacturing research and 

17 development to the Office of Management and 

18 Budget; and 

19 (D) developing and transmitting to Con20 gress an annual report on the Federal programs 

21 involved in manufacturing research, develop22 ment, technical training, standards, and inte23 gration, their funding levels, and their impacts 

24 on United States manufacturing competitive25 ness, including the identification and analysis of 
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1 the manufacturing research and development 

2 problems that require additional attention, and 

3 recommendations of how Federal programs 

4 should address those problems. 

5 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS AND VIEWS.—In car6 rying out its functions under paragraph (2), the 

7 Interagency Committee shall consider the rec8 ommendations of the Advisory Committee and the 

9 views of academic, State, industry, and other entities 

10 involved in manufacturing research and develop11 ment. 

12 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—

13 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 

14 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

15 President shall establish or designate an advisory 

16 committee to provide advice and information to the 

17 Interagency Committee. 

18 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Advisory Com19 mittee shall assist the Interagency Committee by 

20 providing it with recommendations on—

21 (A) the goals and priorities for manufac22 turing research and development; 

23 (B) the strategic plan, including proposals 

24 on how to strengthen research and development 

25 to help manufacturing; and 
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1 (C) other issues it considers appropriate. 

2 (3) REPORT.—The Advisory Committee shall 

3 provide an annual report to the Interagency Com4 mittee and the Congress that shall assess—

5 (A) the progress made in implementing the 

6 strategic plan and challenges to this progress; 

7 (B) the effectiveness of activities under the 

8 strategic plan in improving United States man9 ufacturing competitiveness; 

10 (C) the need to revise the goals and prior11 ities established by the Interagency Committee; 

12 and 

13 (D) new and emerging problems and op14 portunities affecting the manufacturing re15 search community, research infrastructure, and 

16 the measurement and statistical analysis of 

17 manufacturing that may need to be considered 

18 by the Interagency Committee. 

19 (4) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT AP20 PLICATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory 

21 Committee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Com22 mittee. 
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1 SEC. 3. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

2 PILOT GRANTS. 

3 The National Institute of Standards and Technology 

4 Act is amended—

5 (1) by redesignating the first section 32 as sec6 tion 34 and moving it to the end of the Act; and 

7 (2) by inserting before the section moved by 

8 paragraph (1) the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 33. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

10 PILOT GRANTS. 

11 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es13 tablish a pilot program of awards to partnerships 

14 among participants described in paragraph (2) for 

15 the purposes described in paragraph (3). Awards 

16 shall be made on a peer-reviewed, competitive basis. 

17 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Such partnerships shall 

18 include at least—

19 ‘‘(A) 1 manufacturing industry partner; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(B) 1 nonindustry partner. 

22 ‘‘(3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program 

23 under this section is to foster cost-shared collabora24 tions among firms, educational institutions, research 

25 institutions, State agencies, and nonprofit organiza26 tions to encourage the development of innovative, 
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1 multidisciplinary manufacturing technologies. Part2 nerships receiving awards under this section shall 

3 conduct applied research to develop new manufac4 turing processes, techniques, or materials that would 

5 contribute to improved performance, productivity, 

6 and competitiveness of United States manufacturing, 

7 and build lasting alliances among collaborators. 

8 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM CONTRIBUTION.—Awards under this 

9 section shall provide for not more than one-third of the 

10 costs of a partnership. Not more than an additional one11 third of such costs may be obtained directly or indirectly 

12 from other Federal sources. 

13 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for awards under 

14 this section shall be submitted in such manner, at such 

15 time, and containing such information as the Director 

16 shall require. Such applications shall describe at a min17 imum—

18 ‘‘(1) how each partner will participate in devel19 oping and carrying out the research agenda of the 

20 partnership; 

21 ‘‘(2) the research that the grant would fund; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(3) how the research to be funded with the 

24 award would contribute to improved performance, 
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1 productivity, and competitiveness of the United 

2 States manufacturing industry. 

3 ‘‘(d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting applica4 tions for awards under this section, the Director shall con5 sider at a minimum—

6 ‘‘(1) the degree to which projects will have a 

7 broad impact on manufacturing; 

8 ‘‘(2) the novelty and scientific and technical 

9 merit of the proposed projects; and 

10 ‘‘(3) the demonstrated capabilities of the appli11 cants to successfully carry out the proposed re12 search. 

13 ‘‘(e) DISTRIBUTION.—In selecting applications under 

14 this section the Director shall ensure, to the extent prac15 ticable, a distribution of overall awards among a variety 

16 of manufacturing industry sectors and a range of firm 

17 sizes. 

18 ‘‘(f) DURATION.—In carrying out this section, the Di19 rector shall run a single pilot competition to solicit and 

20 make awards. Each award shall be for a 3-year period.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

22 Section 18 of the National Institute of Standards and 

23 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–1) is amended—

24 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 

25 ‘‘The Director is authorized’’; and 
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(b) MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—

4 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To promote the devel5 opment of a robust research community working at 

6 the leading edge of manufacturing sciences, the Di7 rector shall establish a program to award—

8 ‘‘(A) postdoctoral research fellowships at 

9 the Institute for research activities related to 

10 manufacturing sciences; and 

11 ‘‘(B) senior research fellowships to estab12 lished researchers in industry or at institutions 

13 of higher education who wish to pursue studies 

14 related to the manufacturing sciences at the In15 stitute. 

16 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for an 

17 award under this subsection, an individual shall sub18 mit an application to the Director at such time, in 

19 such manner, and containing such information as 

20 the Director may require. 

21 ‘‘(3) STIPEND LEVELS.—Under this section, the 

22 Director shall provide stipends for postdoctoral re23 search fellowships at a level consistent with the Na24 tional Institute of Standards and Technology 

25 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, and sen-
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1 ior research fellowships at levels consistent with sup2 port for a faculty member in a sabbatical position.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION. 

4 (a) MANUFACTURING CENTER EVALUATION.—Sec5 tion 25(c)(5) of the National Institute of Standards and 

6 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)(5)) is amended by in7 serting ‘‘A Center that has not received a positive evalua8 tion by the evaluation panel shall be notified by the panel 

9 of the deficiencies in its performance and may be placed 

10 on probation for one year, after which time the panel may 

11 reevaluate the Center. If the Center has not addressed the 

12 deficiencies identified by the panel, or shown a significant 

13 improvement in its performance, the Director may conduct 

14 a new competition to select an operator for the Center or 

15 may close the Center.’’ after ‘‘sixth year at declining lev16 els.’’. 

17 (b) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTER COMPETI18 TIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the National Insti19 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) 

20 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub21 sections: 

22 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—

23 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es24 tablish, within the Manufacturing Extension Part25 nership program under this section and section 26 
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1 of this Act, a program of competitive awards among 

2 participants described in paragraph (2) for the pur3 poses described in paragraph (3). 

4 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving 

5 awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or 

6 a consortium of such Centers. 

7 ‘‘(3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program 

8 under this subsection is to develop projects to solve 

9 new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter10 mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di11 rector of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

12 program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

13 National Advisory Board, and small and medium14 sized manufacturers. One or more themes for the 

15 competition may be identified, which may vary from 

16 year to year, depending on the needs of manufactur17 ers and the success of previous competitions. These 

18 themes shall be related to projects associated with 

19 manufacturing extension activities, including supply 

20 chain integration and quality management, or extend 

21 beyond these traditional areas. 

22 ‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for awards 

23 under this subsection shall be submitted in such 

24 manner, at such time, and containing such informa25 tion as the Director shall require, in consultation 
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1 with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Na2 tional Advisory Board. 

3 ‘‘(5) SELECTION.—Awards under this sub4 section shall be peer reviewed and competitively 

5 awarded. The Director shall select proposals to re6 ceive awards—

7 ‘‘(A) that utilize innovative or collaborative 

8 approaches to solving the problem described in 

9 the competition; 

10 ‘‘(B) that will improve the competitiveness 

11 of industries in the region in which the Center 

12 or Centers are located; and 

13 ‘‘(C) that will contribute to the long-term 

14 economic stability of that region. 

15 ‘‘(6) PROGRAM CONTRIBUTION.—Recipients of 

16 awards under this subsection shall not be required 

17 to provide a matching contribution. 

18 ‘‘(f) AUDITS.—A center that receives assistance 

19 under this section shall submit annual audits to the Sec20 retary in accordance with Office of Management and 

21 Budget Circular A–133 and shall make such audits avail22 able to the public on request.’’. 
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1 SEC. 6. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERV2 ICES. 

3 (a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized 

4 to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the 

5 scientific and technical research and services laboratory 

6 activities of the National Institute of Standards and Tech7 nology—

8 (1) $425,688,000 for fiscal year 2006, of 

9 which—

10 (A) $55,777,000 shall be for Electronics 

11 and Electrical Engineering; 

12 (B) $29,584,000 shall be for Manufac13 turing Engineering; 

14 (C) $50,142,000 shall be for Chemical 

15 Science and Technology; 

16 (D) $42,240,000 shall be for Physics; 

17 (E) $62,724,000 shall be for Material 

18 Science and Engineering; 

19 (F) $23,594,000 shall be for Building and 

20 Fire Research; 

21 (G) $60,660,000 shall be for Computer 

22 Science and Applied Mathematics, of which 

23 $2,800,000 shall be for activities in support of 

24 the Help America Vote Act of 2002; 

25 (H) $17,445,000 shall be for Technical As26 sistance; and 
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1 (I) $78,102,000 shall be for Research Sup2 port Activities; 

3 (2) $446,951,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

4 (3) $469,299,000 for fiscal year 2008; and 

5 (4) $492,764,000 for fiscal year 2009. 

6 (b) MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY

7 AWARD PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appro8 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm 

9 Baldrige National Quality Award program under section 

10 17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 

11 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a)—

12 (1) $5,400,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

13 (2) $5,535,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

14 (3) $5,674,000 for fiscal year 2008; and 

15 (4) $5,815,000 for fiscal year 2009. 

16 (c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are 

17 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com18 merce for construction and maintenance of facilities of the 

19 National Institute of Standards and Technology such 

20 sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2006 

21 through 2009. 

22 SEC. 7. STANDARDS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

23 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—(1) As part of the 

24 Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Institute 

25 Program, the Director of the National Institute of Stand-
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1 ards and Technology shall carry out a Standards Edu2 cation program to award grants to institutions of higher 

3 education to support efforts by such institutions to develop 

4 curricula on the role of standards in the fields of engineer5 ing, business, science, and economics. The curricula 

6 should address topics such as—

7 (A) development of technical standards; 

8 (B) demonstrating conformity to standards; 

9 (C) intellectual property and antitrust issues; 

10 (D) standardization as a key element of busi11 ness strategy; 

12 (E) survey of organizations that develop stand13 ards; 

14 (F) the standards life cycle; 

15 (G) case studies in effective standardization; 

16 (H) managing standardization activities; and 

17 (I) managing organizations that develop stand18 ards. 

19 (2) Grants shall be awarded under this section on a 

20 competitive, merit-reviewed basis and shall require cost21 sharing from non-Federal sources. 

22 (b) SELECTION PROCESS.—(1) An institution of 

23 higher education seeking funding under this section shall 

24 submit an application to the Director at such time, in such 

25 manner, and containing such information as the Director 
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1 may require. The application shall include at a min2 imum—

3 (A) a description of the content and schedule 

4 for adoption of the proposed curricula in the courses 

5 of study offered by the applicant; and 

6 (B) a description of the source and amount of 

7 cost-sharing to be provided. 

8 (2) In evaluating the applications submitted under 

9 paragraph (1) the Director shall consider, at a min10 imum—

11 (A) the level of commitment demonstrated by 

12 the applicant in carrying out and sustaining lasting 

13 curricula changes in accordance with subsection 

14 (a)(1); and 

15 (B) the amount of cost-sharing provided. 

16 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com18 merce for the Teacher Science and Technology Enhance19 ment Institute program of the National Institute of Stand20 ards and Technology—

21 (1) $773,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

22 (2) $796,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

23 (3) $820,000 for fiscal year 2008; and 

24 (4) $844,000 for fiscal year 2009. 
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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP

3 PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to 

4 the Secretary of Commerce, or other appropriate Federal 

5 agencies, for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

6 program under sections 25 and 26 of the National Insti7 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k 

8 and 278l)—

9 (1) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, of which 

10 not more than $4,000,000 shall be for the competi11 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)); 

13 (2) $115,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, of which 

14 not more than $4,100,000 shall be for the competi15 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

16 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)); 

17 (3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, of which 

18 not more than $4,200,000 shall be for the competi19 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

20 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)); and 

21 (4) $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, of which 

22 not more than $4,300,000 shall be for the competi23 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

24 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)). 

25 In any fiscal year for which appropriations are 

26 $106,000,000 or greater, none of the funds appropriated 
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1 pursuant to this subsection shall be used for a general re2 competition of Centers established under section 25 of the 

3 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 278k). 

5 (b) COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH

6 PILOT GRANTS PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be 

7 appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Col8 laborative Manufacturing Research Pilot Grants program 

9 under section 33 of the National Institute of Standards 

10 and Technology Act—

11 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

12 (2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

13 (3) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

14 (c) FELLOWSHIPS.—There are authorized to be ap15 propriated to the Secretary of Commerce for Manufac16 turing Fellowships at the National Institute of Standards 

17 and Technology under section 18(b) of the National Insti18 tute of Standards and Technology Act, as added by section 

19 4 of this Act—

20 (1) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

21 (2) $1,750,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

22 (3) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and 

23 (4) $2,250,000 for fiscal year 2009.

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