IB 

Union Calendar No. 49

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 250

[Report No. 109–92] 

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 

MAY 23, 2005

Additional sponsors: Mr. UPTON and Mr. GILLMOR

MAY 23, 2005

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 6, 2005] 

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 
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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE AND ADVISORY COM7 MITTEE. 

8 (a) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.—

9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall estab10 lish or designate an interagency committee on manu11 facturing research and development, which shall in12 clude representatives from the Office of Science and 

13 Technology Policy, the National Institute of Stand14 ards and Technology, the Science and Technology Di15 rectorate of the Department of Homeland Security, 

16 the National Science Foundation, the Department of 

17 Energy, and any other agency that the President may 

18 designate. The Chair of the Interagency Committee 

19 shall be designated by the Director of the Office of 

20 Science and Technology Policy. 

21 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Committee 

22 shall be responsible for the planning and coordination 

23 of Federal efforts in manufacturing research and de24 velopment through—
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1 (A) establishing goals and priorities for 

2 manufacturing research and development, in3 cluding the strengthening of United States man4 ufacturing through the support and coordination 

5 of Federal manufacturing research, development, 

6 technology transfer, standards, and technical 

7 training; 

8 (B) developing, within 6 months after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, and updating 

10 every 3 years for delivery with the President’s 

11 annual budget request to Congress, a strategic 

12 plan, to be transmitted to the Committee on 

13 Science of the House of Representatives and the 

14 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor15 tation of the Senate, for manufacturing research 

16 and development that includes an analysis of the 

17 research, development, technology transfer, stand18 ards, technical training, and integration needs of 

19 the manufacturing sector important to ensuring 

20 and maintaining United States competitiveness; 

21 (C) proposing an annual coordinated inter22 agency budget for manufacturing research and 

23 development to the Office of Management and 

24 Budget; and 
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1 (D) developing and transmitting to Con2 gress an annual report on the Federal programs 

3 involved in manufacturing research, develop4 ment, technical training, standards, and integra5 tion, their funding levels, and their impacts on 

6 United States manufacturing competitiveness, 

7 including the identification and analysis of the 

8 manufacturing research and development prob9 lems that require additional attention, and rec10 ommendations of how Federal programs should 

11 address those problems. 

12 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS AND VIEWS.—In car13 rying out its functions under paragraph (2), the 

14 Interagency Committee shall consider the rec15 ommendations of the Advisory Committee and the 

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

17 involved in manufacturing research and development. 

18 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—

19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 months 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the President 

21 shall establish or designate an advisory committee to 

22 provide advice and information to the Interagency 

23 Committee. 
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1 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Advisory Com2 mittee shall assist the Interagency Committee by pro3 viding it with recommendations on—

4 (A) the goals and priorities for manufac5 turing research and development; 

6 (B) the strategic plan, including proposals 

7 on how to strengthen research and development 

8 to help manufacturing; and 

9 (C) other issues it considers appropriate. 

10 (3) REPORT.—The Advisory Committee shall 

11 provide an annual report to the Interagency Com12 mittee and the Congress that shall assess—

13 (A) the progress made in implementing the 

14 strategic plan and challenges to this progress; 

15 (B) the effectiveness of activities under the 

16 strategic plan in improving United States man17 ufacturing competitiveness; 

18 (C) the need to revise the goals and prior19 ities established by the Interagency Committee; 

20 and 

21 (D) new and emerging problems and oppor22 tunities affecting the manufacturing research 

23 community, research infrastructure, and the 

24 measurement and statistical analysis of manu-
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1 facturing that may need to be considered by the 

2 Interagency Committee. 

3 (4) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT APPLI4 CATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory Com5 mittee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Committee. 

6 SEC. 3. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

7 PILOT GRANTS. 

8 The National Institute of Standards and Technology 

9 Act is amended—

10 (1) by redesignating the first section 32 (15 

11 U.S.C. 271 note) as section 34 and moving it to the 

12 end of the Act; and 

13 (2) by inserting before the section moved by 

14 paragraph (1) the following new section: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 33. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

16 PILOT GRANTS. 

17 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—

18 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall estab19 lish a pilot program of awards to partnerships among 

20 participants described in paragraph (2) for the pur21 poses described in paragraph (3). Awards shall be 

22 made on a peer-reviewed, competitive basis. 

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

24 include at least—
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1 ‘‘(A) 1 manufacturing industry partner; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) 1 nonindustry partner. 

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

5 under this section is to foster cost-shared collabora6 tions among firms, educational institutions, research 

7 institutions, State agencies, and nonprofit organiza8 tions to encourage the development of innovative, 

9 multidisciplinary manufacturing technologies. Part10 nerships receiving awards under this section shall 

11 conduct applied research to develop new manufac12 turing processes, techniques, or materials that would 

13 contribute to improved performance, productivity, 

14 and competitiveness of United States manufacturing, 

15 and build lasting alliances among collaborators. 

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

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

18 of a partnership. Not more than an additional one-third 

19 of such costs may be obtained directly or indirectly from 

20 other Federal sources. 

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

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

23 time, and containing such information as the Director shall 

24 require. Such applications shall describe at a minimum—
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1 ‘‘(1) how each partner will participate in devel2 oping and carrying out the research agenda of the 

3 partnership; 

4 ‘‘(2) the research that the grant would fund; and 

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

6 award would contribute to improved performance, 

7 productivity, and competitiveness of the United States 

8 manufacturing industry. 

9 ‘‘(d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting applications 

10 for awards under this section, the Director shall consider 

11 at a minimum—

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

13 broad impact on manufacturing; 

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

15 merit of the proposed projects; and 

16 ‘‘(3) the demonstrated capabilities of the appli17 cants to successfully carry out the proposed research. 

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

19 this section the Director shall ensure, to the extent prac20 ticable, a distribution of overall awards among a variety 

21 of manufacturing industry sectors and a range of firm sizes. 

22 ‘‘(f) DURATION.—In carrying out this section, the Di23 rector shall run a single pilot competition to solicit and 

24 make awards. Each award shall be for a 3-year period.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

2 Section 18 of the National Institute of Standards and 

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

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

5 ‘‘The Director is authorized’’; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub7 section: 

8 ‘‘(b) MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To promote the develop10 ment of a robust research community working at the 

11 leading edge of manufacturing sciences, the Director 

12 shall establish a program to award—

13 ‘‘(A) postdoctoral research fellowships at the 

14 Institute for research activities related to manu15 facturing sciences; and 

16 ‘‘(B) senior research fellowships to estab17 lished researchers in industry or at institutions 

18 of higher education who wish to pursue studies 

19 related to the manufacturing sciences at the In20 stitute. 

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

22 under this subsection, an individual shall submit an 

23 application to the Director at such time, in such 

24 manner, and containing such information as the Di25 rector may require. 
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1 ‘‘(3) STIPEND LEVELS.—Under this section, the 

2 Director shall provide stipends for postdoctoral re3 search fellowships at a level consistent with the Na4 tional Institute of Standards and Technology 

5 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, and sen6 ior research fellowships at levels consistent with sup7 port for a faculty member in a sabbatical position.’’. 

8 SEC. 5. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION. 

9 (a) MANUFACTURING CENTER EVALUATION.—Section 

10 25(c)(5) of the National Institute of Standards and Tech11 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)(5)) is amended by inserting 

12 ‘‘A Center that has not received a positive evaluation by 

13 the evaluation panel shall be notified by the panel of the 

14 deficiencies in its performance and may be placed on proba15 tion for one year, after which time the panel may reevaluate 

16 the Center. If the Center has not addressed the deficiencies 

17 identified by the panel, or shown a significant improvement 

18 in its performance, the Director may conduct a new com19 petition to select an operator for the Center or may close 

20 the Center.’’ after ‘‘sixth year at declining levels.’’. 

21 (b) FEDERAL SHARE.—Strike section 25(d) of the Na22 tional Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

23 U.S.C. 278k(d)) and insert the following: 

24 ‘‘(d) ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS.—In addition to such 

25 sums as may be appropriated to the Secretary and Director 
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1 to operate the Centers program, the Secretary and Director 

2 also may accept funds from other Federal departments and 

3 agencies and under section 2(c)(7) from the private sector 

4 for the purpose of strengthening United States manufac5 turing. Such funds, if allocated to a Center or Centers, shall 

6 not be considered in the calculation of the Federal share 

7 of capital and annual operating and maintenance costs 

8 under subsection (c).’’. 

9 (c) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTER COMPETI10 TIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the National Insti11 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following new sub13 sections: 

14 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—

15 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall estab16 lish, within the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

17 program under this section and section 26 of this Act, 

18 a program of competitive awards among participants 

19 described in paragraph (2) for the purposes described 

20 in paragraph (3). 

21 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving 

22 awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or 

23 a consortium of such Centers. 

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

25 under this subsection is to develop projects to solve 
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1 new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter2 mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di3 rector of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

4 program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

5 National Advisory Board, and small and medium6 sized manufacturers. One or more themes for the com7 petition may be identified, which may vary from year 

8 to year, depending on the needs of manufacturers and 

9 the success of previous competitions. These themes 

10 shall be related to projects associated with manufac11 turing extension activities, including supply chain 

12 integration and quality management, or extend be13 yond these traditional areas. 

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

15 under this subsection shall be submitted in such man16 ner, at such time, and containing such information 

17 as the Director shall require, in consultation with the 

18 Manufacturing Extension Partnership National Advi19 sory Board. 

20 ‘‘(5) SELECTION.—Awards under this subsection 

21 shall be peer reviewed and competitively awarded. 

22 The Director shall select proposals to receive 

23 awards—
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1 ‘‘(A) that utilize innovative or collaborative 

2 approaches to solving the problem described in 

3 the competition; 

4 ‘‘(B) that will improve the competitiveness 

5 of industries in the region in which the Center 

6 or Centers are located; and 

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

8 economic stability of that region. 

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

10 awards under this subsection shall not be required to 

11 provide a matching contribution. 

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

13 this section shall submit annual audits to the Secretary in 

14 accordance with Office of Management and Budget Circular 

15 A–133 and shall make such audits available to the public 

16 on request.’’. 

17 SEC. 6. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERV18 ICES. 

19 (a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized 

20 to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the 

21 scientific and technical research and services laboratory ac22 tivities of the National Institute of Standards and Tech23 nology—

24 (1) $426,267,000 for fiscal year 2006, of which—
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1 (A) $50,833,000 shall be for Electronics and 

2 Electrical Engineering; 

3 (B) $28,023,000 shall be for Manufacturing 

4 Engineering; 

5 (C) $52,433,000 shall be for Chemical 

6 Science and Technology; 

7 (D) $46,706,000 shall be for Physics; 

8 (E) $33,500,000 shall be for Material 

9 Science and Engineering; 

10 (F) $24,321,000 shall be for Building and 

11 Fire Research; 

12 (G) $68,423,000 shall be for Computer 

13 Science and Applied Mathematics; 

14 (H) $20,134,000 shall be for Technical As15 sistance; 

16 (I) $48,326,000 shall be for Research Sup17 port Activities; 

18 (J) $29,369,000 shall be for the National 

19 Institute of Standards and Technology Center for 

20 Neutron Research; and 

21 (K) $18,543,000 shall be for the National 

22 Nanomanufacturing and Nanometrology Facil23 ity; 

24 (2) $447,580,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

25 (3) $456,979,000 for fiscal year 2008. 
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1 (b) MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD

2 PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the 

3 Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm Baldrige National 

4 Quality Award program under section 17 of the Stevenson5 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

6 3711a)—

7 (1) $5,654,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

8 (2) $5,795,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

9 (3) $5,939,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

10 (c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are 

11 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce 

12 for construction and maintenance of facilities of the Na13 tional Institute of Standards and Technology—

14 (1) $58,898,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

15 (2) $61,843,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

16 (3) $63,389,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

17 (d) ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM ELIMINATION

18 REPORT.—Not later than 3 months after the date of enact19 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide to the Congress 

20 a report detailing the impacts of the possible elimination 

21 of the Advanced Technology Program on the laboratory pro22 grams at the National Institute of Standards Technology. 

23 (e) LOSS OF FUNDING.—At the time of the President’s 

24 budget request for fiscal year 2007, the Secretary shall pro25 vide the Congress a report on how the Department of Com-
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1 merce plans to absorb the loss of Advanced Technology Pro2 gram funds to the laboratory programs at the National In3 stitute of Standards and Technology, or otherwise mitigate 

4 the effects of this loss on its programs and personnel. 

5 SEC. 7. STANDARDS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

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

7 Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Institute 

8 Program, the Director of the National Institute of Stand9 ards and Technology shall carry out a Standards Edu10 cation program to award grants to institutions of higher 

11 education to support efforts by such institutions to develop 

12 curricula on the role of standards in the fields of engineer13 ing, business, science, and economics. The curricula should 

14 address topics such as—

15 (A) development of technical standards; 

16 (B) demonstrating conformity to standards; 

17 (C) intellectual property and antitrust issues; 

18 (D) standardization as a key element of business 

19 strategy; 

20 (E) survey of organizations that develop stand21 ards; 

22 (F) the standards life cycle; 

23 (G) case studies in effective standardization; 

24 (H) managing standardization activities; and 
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1 (I) managing organizations that develop stand2 ards. 

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

4 competitive, merit-reviewed basis and shall require cost5 sharing from non-Federal sources. 

6 (b) SELECTION PROCESS.—(1) An institution of high7 er education seeking funding under this section shall submit 

8 an application to the Director at such time, in such man9 ner, and containing such information as the Director may 

10 require. The application shall include at a minimum—

11 (A) a description of the content and schedule for 

12 adoption of the proposed curricula in the courses of 

13 study offered by the applicant; and 

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

15 cost-sharing to be provided. 

16 (2) In evaluating the applications submitted under 

17 paragraph (1) the Director shall consider, at a minimum—

18 (A) the level of commitment demonstrated by the 

19 applicant in carrying out and sustaining lasting cur20 ricula changes in accordance with subsection (a)(1); 

21 and 

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

23 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 

24 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce 

25 for the Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Insti-
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1 tute program of the National Institute of Standards and 

2 Technology—

3 (1) $773,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

4 (2) $796,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

5 (3) $820,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

6 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 (a) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP PRO8 GRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec9 retary of Commerce, or other appropriate Federal agencies, 

10 for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program 

11 under sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of Stand12 ards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 278l)—

13 (1) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, of which 

14 not more than $1,000,000 shall be for the competitive 

15 grant program under section 25(e) of such Act (15 

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

17 (2) $115,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, of which 

18 not more than $4,000,000 shall be for the competitive 

19 grant program under section 25(e) of such Act (15 

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

21 (3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, of which 

22 not more than $4,100,000 shall be for the competitive 

23 grant program under section 25(e) of such Act (15 

24 U.S.C. 278k(e)). 
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1 (b) COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH

2 PILOT GRANTS PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be ap3 propriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Collabo4 rative Manufacturing Research Pilot Grants program 

5 under section 33 of the National Institute of Standards and 

6 Technology Act—

7 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

8 (2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

9 (3) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

10 (c) FELLOWSHIPS.—There are authorized to be appro11 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing 

12 Fellowships at the National Institute of Standards and 

13 Technology under section 18(b) of the National Institute of 

14 Standards and Technology Act, as added by section 4 of 

15 this Act—

16 (1) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

17 (2) $1,750,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

18 (3) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

19 SEC. 9. TECHNICAL WORKFORCE EDUCATION AND DEVEL20 OPMENT. 

21 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 

22 authorized to be appropriated to the Director of the Na23 tional Science Foundation, from sums otherwise authorized 

24 to be appropriated, for the Advanced Technological Edu-
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1 cation Program established under section 3 of the Scientific 

2 and Advanced-Technology Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i)—

3 (1) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, $5,000,000 

4 of which may be used to support the education and 

5 preparation of manufacturing technicians for certifi6 cation; 

7 (2) $57,750,000 for fiscal year 2007, $5,000,000 

8 of which may be used to support the education and 

9 preparation of manufacturing technicians for certifi10 cation; and 

11 (3) $60,600,000 for fiscal year 2008, $5,000,000 

12 of which may be used to support the education and 

13 preparation of manufacturing technicians for certifi14 cation. 

15 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 3 of the Scientific and Ad16 vanced-Technology Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i) is amend17 ed—

18 (1) by inserting ‘‘, including manufacturing’’ 

19 after ‘‘advanced-technology fields’’ each place it ap20 pears other than in subsection (c)(2); and 

21 (2) by inserting ‘‘, including manufacturing,’’ 

22 after ‘‘advanced-technology fields’’ in subsection 

23 (c)(2). 

Union Calendar No. 49

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 250

[Report No. 109–92] 

A BILL

To establish an interagency committee to coordiers, and for other purposes. grams for small and medium-sized manufactur- tion and education, and expand outreach pro- isting programs to assist manufacturing innova- opment efforts in manufacturing, strengthen ex- nate Federal manufacturing research and develMAY 23, 2005

Reported with an amendment, committted to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,