II 

Calendar No. 524 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2802 

[Report No. 109–285] 

To improve American innovation and competitiveness in the global economy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2006 

Mr. ENSIGN (for himself, Mr. STEVENS, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. 

SMITH, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BURNS, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. NELSON of Florida, and Mr. PRYOR) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

JULY 19, 2006 

Reported by Mr. STEVENS, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To improve American innovation and competitiveness in the 

global economy. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2006’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY; 

GOVERNMENT-WIDE SCIENCE 

Sec. 101. National science and technology summit. 

Sec. 102. Study on barriers to innovation. 

Sec. 103. National innovation medal. 

Sec. 104. Release of scientific research results. 

Sec. 105. Semiannual math and science days. 

Sec. 106. Study of service science. 

Sec. 107. Review and report by director of the Office of Science and Technology 

Policy. 

Sec. 108. Report by director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

TITLE II—INNOVATION PROMOTION 

Sec. 201. President’s Council on Innovation and Competitiveness. 

Sec. 202. Innovation acceleration grants. 

Sec. 203. Regional economic development. 

TITLE III—NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 302. Innovation-based experiential learning. 

Sec. 303. 302. Graduate fellowships and graduate traineeships. 

Sec. 304. 303. Professional science masters degree programs. 

Sec. 305. 304. Increased support for science education through the National 

Science Foundation. 

Sec. 306. Study of service science. 

Sec. 307. 305. Meeting critical national science needs. 

Sec. 308. 306. Experimental program to stimulate competitive research. 

Sec. 307. Encouraging participation. 

Sec. 308. Cyberinfrastructure. 

Sec. 309. Reaffirmation of the merit-review process of the National Science Foundation. 

TITLE IV—NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE 

ADMINISTRATION 

Sec. 401. NASA’s contribution to innovation. 

Sec. 402. Aeronautics Institute for Research. 

Sec. 403. Basic research enhancement. 

Sec. 404. Aging workforce issues program. 

Sec. 405. Conforming amendments. 

Sec. 406. Direct NASA participation in American competitiveness initiative. 

TITLE V—NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

Sec. 501. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 502. Amendments to the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 

1980. 


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Sec. 503. Innovation acceleration. 

Sec. 504. Development of advanced manufacturing systems. 

Sec. 505. Collaborative manufacturing research pilot grants. 

Sec. 506. 504. Manufacturing extension. 

Sec. 507. 505. Experimental program to stimulate competitive technology. 

Sec. 508. 506. Technical amendments to the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology Act and other technical amendments. 

TITLE VI—OCEAN AND ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS 

Sec. 601. Ocean and atmospheric research and development program. 

Sec. 602. NOAA ocean and atmospheric science education programs. 

1 TITLE I—OFFICE OF SCIENCE 

2 AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY; 

3 GOVERNMENT-WIDE SCIENCE 

4 SEC. 101. NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the date 

6 of enactment of this act, the President shall convene a 

7 National Science and Technology Summit. The Summit 

8 shall include representatives of industry, small business, 

9 academia, State government, and Federal research and 

10 development agencies. The summit shall examine the 

11 health and direction of the United States’ science and 

12 technology enterprise. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the date of 

14 enactment of this Act, the President shall convene a Na15 tional Science and Technology Summit to examine the 

16 health and direction of the United States’ science and tech17 nology enterprises. The Summit shall include representa18 tives of industry, small business, academia, State govern19 ment, Federal research and development agencies, non-prof20 it environmental and energy policy groups concerned with 


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1 science and technology issues, and other nongovernmental 

2 organizations. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Within 90 days after the end of the 

4 Summit, the President shall issue a report on the results 

5 of the Summit. The report shall identify key research and 

6 technology challenges and recommendations for areas of 

7 investment for Federal research and technology programs 

8 over the next 5 years beginning after the report is issued. 

9 (c) ANNUAL EVALUATION.—Beginning with the first 

10 year ending after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

11 Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy 

12 shall publish an annual report containing recommenda13 tions for areas of investment for Federal research and 

14 technology programs, together with a justification for each 

15 area identified in the report. For the first 5 years after 

16 the Summit, the report shall take into account rec17 ommendations of the Summit. 

18 SEC. 102. STUDY ON BARRIERS TO INNOVATION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The National Academy of 

20 Sciences shall conduct and complete a study to identify, 

21 and to review methods to mitigate, new forms of risk for 

22 businesses beyond conventional operational and financial 

23 risk that affect the ability to innovate, including studying 

24 and reviewing— 


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1 (1) incentive and compensation structures that 

2 could effectively encourage long-term value creation 

3 and innovation; 

4 (2) methods of voluntary and supplemental dis5 closure by industry of intellectual capital, innovation 

6 performance, and indicators of future valuation; 

7 (3) means by which government could work 

8 with industry to enhance the legal and regulatory 

9 framework to encourage the disclosures described in 

10 paragraph (2); 

11 (4) practices that may be significant deterrents 

12 to United States businesses engaging in innovation 

13 risk-taking compared to foreign competitors, includ14 ing tort litigation, the nature and extent of any re15 sulting defensive management practices, and rec16 ommendations on practices to restore innovation 

17 risk-taking and to overcome defensive practices; 

18 (5) costs faced by United States businesses en19 gaging in innovation compared to foreign competi20 tors, including the burden placed on businesses by 

21 high and rising health care costs; 

22 (5) (6) means by which industry, trade associa23 tions, and universities could collaborate to support 

24 research on management practices and methodoloVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 gies for assessing the value and risks of longer term 

2 innovation strategies; and 

3 (6) (7) means to encourage new, open, and col4 laborative dialogue between industry associations, 

5 regulatory authorities, management, shareholders, 

6 and other concerned interests to encourage appro7 priate approaches to innovation risk-taking. risk-tak8 ing; and 

9 (8) incentives to encourage participation among 

10 institutions of higher education, especially those in 

11 rural and underserved areas, to engage in innovation. 

12 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—The National Academy of 

13 Sciences shall, not later than 1 year after the date of en14 actment of this Act and every 4 years thereafter, submit 

15 to Congress a report on the study conducted under sub16 section (a). 

17 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

18 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Acad19 emy of Sciences $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2007 for the 

20 purpose of carrying out the study required under this sec21 tion. 

22 SEC. 103. NATIONAL INNOVATION MEDAL. 

23 Section 16 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno24 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking the section heading and insert2 ing ‘‘SEC. 16. NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 

3 MEDAL; NATIONAL INNOVATION AND 

4 INNOVATION MEDAL.’’; and 

5 (2) by striking ‘‘is’’ in subsection (a) and in6 serting ‘‘are’’; 

7 (3) by striking ‘‘Medal,’’ in subsection (a) and 

8 inserting ‘‘Medal and a National Innovation Medal’’; 

9 (4) by striking ‘‘medal,’’ in subsection (b) and 

10 inserting ‘‘medals,’’; 

11 (5) by striking ‘‘States.’’ in subsection (b) and 

12 inserting ‘‘States or by reason of their unique sci13 entific and engineering innovations in the National 

14 interest at the time such innovation occurs.’’; and 

15 (6) by striking ‘‘presentation of the award’’ in 

16 subsection (c) and inserting ‘‘presentations of the 

17 awards’’. 

18 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘Technology 

19 Medal’’ and inserting ‘‘Technology and Innovation 

20 Medal’’. 

21 SEC. 104. RELEASE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH RESULTS. 

22 (a) PRINCIPLES.—Within 90 days after the date of en23 actment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science 

24 and Technology Policy, in consultation with the Director 

25 of the Office of Management and Budget, shall develop and 


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1 issue an overarching set of principles for the communica2 tion of scientific information by government scientists, pol3 icy makers, and managers to the public. The principles 

4 shall encourage the open exchange of data and results of 

5 research by Federal agency scientists. 

6 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Director shall ensure that 

7 all civilian Federal agencies that conduct scientific research 

8 develop specific policies and procedures regarding the public 

9 release of scientific information consistent with the prin10 ciples established under subsection (a) within 180 days after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act. These agency-specific poli12 cies shall be uniformly applied across the agency, widely 

13 communicated, and readily accessible to all employees and 

14 the public. They shall specifically address what is and what 

15 is not permitted or recommended. 

16 SEC. 105. SEMIANNUAL MATH AND SCIENCE DAYS. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that the Office of Science 

18 and Technology Policy should— 

19 (1) encourage all elementary and middle schools 

20 to observe a Math and Science Day twice in every 

21 school year for the purpose of bringing in math and 

22 science mentors to provide hands-on lessons to excite 

23 and inspire students to pursue the math and science 

24 fields (continuing education and career paths); 


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1 (2) initiate a program, in consultation with 

2 Federal agencies and departments, to provide support 

3 systems, tools (from existing outreach offices), and 

4 mechanisms to allow and encourage Federal employ5 ees with scientific, technological, engineering, or 

6 mathematical responsibilities to reach out to local 

7 classrooms on such Math and Science Days to in8 struct and inspire school children, focusing on real 

9 life math and science-related applicable experiences 

10 along with hands-on demonstrations in order to dem11 onstrate the advantages and direct applications of 

12 studying the math and science fields; and 

13 (3) promote Math and Science Days involvement 

14 by private sector and institutions of higher learning 

15 employees in a manner similar to the Federal em16 ployee involvement described in paragraph (2). 

17 SEC. 106. STUDY OF SERVICE SCIENCE. 

18 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

19 that, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of United 

20 States enterprises and institutions and to prepare the peo21 ple of the United States for high-wage, high-skill employ22 ment, the Federal Government should better understand and 

23 respond strategically to the emerging vocation and learning 

24 discipline known as service science. 


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1 (b) STUDY.—Not later than 270 days after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of 

3 Science and Technology Policy, through the National Acad4 emy of Sciences, shall conduct a study and report to Con5 gress regarding how the Federal Government should sup6 port, through research, education, and training, the new 

7 discipline of service science. 

8 (c) OUTSIDE RESOURCES.—In conducting the study 

9 under subsection (b), the National Academy of Sciences 

10 shall consult with leaders from 2- and 4-year institutions 

11 of higher education, as defined in section 101 of the Higher 

12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), leaders from cor13 porations, and other relevant parties. 

14 (d) SERVICE SCIENCE DEFINED.—In this section: 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘service science’’ 

16 means curricula, research programs, and training 

17 regimens, including service sciences, management, 

18 and engineering programs, to teach individuals to 

19 apply technology, organizational process manage20 ment, and industry-specific knowledge to solve com21 plex problems. 

22 (2) SERVICE SCIENCES, MANAGEMENT, AND ENGI23 NEERING PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘service sciences, 

24 management, and engineering programs’’ means the 


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1 discipline known as service sciences, management, 

2 and engineering that— 

3 (A) applies scientific, engineering, and 

4 management disciplines to tasks that one organi5 zation performs beneficial for others, generally as 

6 part of the services sector of the economy; and 

7 (B) integrates computer science, operations 

8 research, industrial engineering, business strat9 egy, management sciences, and social and legal 

10 sciences, in order to encourage innovation in 

11 how organizations create value for customers and 

12 shareholders that could not be achieved through 

13 such disciplines working in isolation. 

14 SEC. 107. REVIEW AND REPORT BY DIRECTOR OF THE OF15 FICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY. 

16 Within 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

17 Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

18 Policy shall review all provisions of the Internal Revenue 

19 Code of 1986, including tax provisions, compliance costs, 

20 and reporting requirements, and submit a report to the 

21 Congress and the President on any provisions thereof that 

22 discourage or encourage innovation. 


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1 SEC. 108. REPORT BY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF 

2 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY. 

3 Within 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

5 Policy shall conduct a comprehensive review of all Federal 

6 regulations and submit a report to the Congress and the 

7 President on any regulations that discourage or encourage 

8 innovation. 

9 TITLE II—INNOVATION 

10 PROMOTION 

11 SEC. 201. PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL ON INNOVATION AND 

12 COMPETITIVENESS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish a 

14 President’s Council on Innovation and Competitiveness. 

15 (b) DUTIES.—The Council’s duties shall include— 

16 (1) monitoring implementation of public laws 

17 and initiatives for promoting innovation, including 

18 policies related to research funding, taxation, immi19 gration, trade, and education that are proposed in 

20 this and other Acts; 

21 (2) in consultation with the Director of the Of22 fice of Management and Budget, developing a proc23 ess for using metrics to assess the impact of existing 

24 and proposed policies and rules that affect innova25 tion capabilities in the United States; 


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1 (3) identifying opportunities and making rec2 ommendations for the heads of executive agencies to 

3 improve innovation, monitoring, and reporting on 

4 the implementation of such recommendations; 

5 (4) developing metrics for measuring the 

6 progress of the Federal Government with respect to 

7 improving conditions for innovation, including 

8 through talent development, investment, and infra9 structure improvements; and 

10 (5) submitting an annual report to the Presi11 dent and Congress on such progress. 

12 (c) MEMBERSHIP AND COORDINATION.— 

13 (1) MEMBERSHIP.—The Council shall be com14 posed of the Secretary or head of each of the fol15 lowing: 

16 (A) The Department of Commerce. 

17 (B) The Department of Defense. 

18 (C) The Department of Education. 

19 (D) The Department of Energy. 

20 (E) The Department of Health and 

21 Human Services. 

22 (F) The Department of Homeland Secu23 rity. 

24 (G) The Department of Labor. 

25 (H) The Department of the Treasury. 


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1 (I) The National Aeronautics and Space 

2 Administration. 

3 (J) The Securities and Exchange Commis4 sion. 

5 (K) The National Science Foundation. 

6 (L) The Office of the United States Trade 

7 Representative. 

8 (M) The Office of Management and Budg9 et. 

10 (N) The Office of Science and Technology 

11 Policy. 

12 (O) The Environmental Protection Agency. 

13 (O) (P) Any other department or agency 

14 designated by the President. 

15 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary of Com16 merce shall serve as chairperson of the Council. 

17 (3) COORDINATION.—The chairperson of the 

18 Council shall ensure appropriate coordination be19 tween the Council and the National Economic Coun20 cil, the National Security Council, and the National 

21 Science and Technology Council. 

22 (d) DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATION AGENDA.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall develop a 

24 comprehensive agenda for strengthening the innova25 tion and competitiveness capabilities of the Federal 


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1 Government and State governments, academia, and 

2 the private sector in the United States. 

3 (2) CONSULTATION.—The comprehensive agen4 da required by paragraph (1) shall be developed in 

5 consultation with appropriate representatives of the 

6 private sector, scientific organizations, and academic 

7 organizations. academic organizations, and other 

8 nongovernmental organizations working in the area 

9 of science or technology. 

10 (e) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 101(b) of the 

11 High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 

12 5511(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘an’’ in the first sentence 

13 and inserting ‘‘a distinct’’. 

14 (f) OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT.—Notwithstanding sub15 section (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (c), 

16 the President may designate an existing council or advisory 

17 panel to perform the duties and functions of this section. 

18 SEC. 202. INNOVATION ACCELERATION GRANTS. 

19 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—The President, through the 

20 head of each Federal research agency, shall establish a 

21 grant program, to be known as the ‘‘Innovation Accelera22 tion Grants Program’’, to support and promote innovation 

23 in the United States. Priority in the awarding of grants 

24 shall be given to projects that— 

25 (1) meet fundamental technology challenges; 


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1 (2) involve multidisciplinary work and a high 

2 degree of novelty; 

3 (3) have the potential for yielding results with 

4 far-ranging or wide-ranging implications but are 

5 considered too novel or span too diverse a range of 

6 disciplines to fare well in the traditional peer review 

7 process. 

8 (b) AWARDING OF GRANTS THROUGH DEPARTMENTS

9 AND AGENCIES.— 

10 (1) FUNDING GOALS.—The President shall en11 sure that it is the goal of each Executive agency (as 

12 defined in section 105 of title 5, United States 

13 Code) that finances research in science, mathe14 matics, engineering, and technology to allocate ap15 proximately 8 percent of the agency’s total annual 

16 research and development budget to funding grants 

17 under the Innovation Acceleration Grants Program. 

18 (2) ADMINISTRATION.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each head of an Exec20 utive agency awarding grants under paragraph 

21 (1) shall submit a plan for implementing the 

22 grant program within such Executive agency to 

23 the Director of the Office of Science and Tech24 nology Policy and the Director of the Office of 

25 Management and Budget. The implementation 


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1 plan shall be submitted not later than 90 days 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act. The im3 plementation plan may incorporate existing ini4 tiatives of the Executive agencies that promote 

5 research in innovation as described in sub6 section (a). 

7 (B) REQUIRED METRICS.—The head of 

8 each Executive agency submitting an implemen9 tation plan pursuant to this section shall in10 clude metrics upon which grant funding deci11 sions will be made and metrics for assessing the 

12 success of the grants awarded. 

13 (C) GRANT DURATION AND RENEWALS.— 

14 (i) IN GENERAL.—Any grants issued 

15 by an Executive agency under this section 

16 shall be for a period not to exceed 3 years. 

17 (ii) EVALUATION.—Not later than 90 

18 days prior to the expiration of a grant 

19 issued under this section, the Executive 

20 agency that approved the grant shall com21 plete an evaluation of the effectiveness of 

22 the grant based on the metrics established 

23 pursuant to subparagraph (B). In its eval24 uation, the Executive agency shall consider 

25 the extent to which the program funded by 


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1 the grant met the goals of quality improve2 ment and job creation. 

3 (iii) PUBLICATION OF REVIEW.—The 

4 Executive agency shall publish and make 

5 available to the public the review of each 

6 grant approved pursuant to this section. 

7 (iv) FAILURE TO MEET METRICS.— 

8 Any grant that the Executive agency 

9 awarding the grant determines has failed 

10 to satisfy any of the metrics developed pur11 suant to subparagraph (B), shall not be el12 igible for a renewal. 

13 (v) WAIVER.—The head of the Execu14 tive agency may authorize a waiver of the 

15 metric-meeting requirement of clauses (iv) 

16 and (vi) if he or she determines that the 

17 grant failed to meet a small number of 

18 metrics and the failure was not significant 

19 for the overall performance of the grant. 

20 (v) (vi) RENEWAL.—A grant issued 

21 under this section that satisfies all of the 

22 metrics developed pursuant to subpara23 graph (B), may be renewed once for a pe24 riod not to exceed 3 years. Additional re25 newals may be considered only if the head 


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1 of the Executive agency makes a specific 

2 finding that the program being funded in3 volves a significant technology advance 

4 that requires a longer timeframe to com5 plete critical research, and the research 

6 satisfies all the metrics developed pursuant 

7 to subparagraph (B). 

8 (c) DEFINITIONS.— 

9 (1) FEDERAL RESEARCH AGENCY DEFINED.— 

10 In this section, the term ‘‘Federal research agency’’ 

11 means a major organizational component of a de12 partment or agency of the Federal Government, or 

13 other establishment of the Federal Government op14 erating with appropriated funds, that has as its pri15 mary purpose the performance of scientific research. 

16 (2) MAJOR ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT.— 

17 The term ‘‘major organizational component’’, with 

18 respect to a department, agency, or other establish19 ment of the Federal Government, means a compo20 nent of the department, agency, or other establish21 ment that is administered by an individual whose 

22 rate of basic pay is not less than the rate of basic 

23 pay payable under level V of the Executive Schedule 

24 under section 5316 of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 SEC. 203. REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 

2 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF FUNDING STRATEGY.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary for 

4 Economic Development of the Department of Com5 merce shall review Federal programs that support 

6 local economic development and prepare and imple7 ment a strategy to focus greater funding on initia8 tives that improve the ability of communities to par9 ticipate successfully in the modern economy through 

10 innovation. In preparing the strategy, priority should 

11 be given to projects that— 

12 (A) emphasize private sector cooperation 

13 with State and local governments and nonprofit 

14 organizations focused on regional economic de15 velopment as the means of achieving specific 

16 objectives related to the support and promotion 

17 of innovation; and 

18 (B) are the most successful in meeting the 

19 metrics established under subsection (b). 

20 (2) COORDINATION.—The Assistant Secretary 

21 shall coordinate the development and implementation 

22 of the strategy with the activities carried out by the 

23 Secretary of Commerce under subsection (d). 

24 (b) EVALUATION OF PROGRAMS.—The Assistant Sec25 retary for Economic Development of the Department of 

26 Commerce shall develop metrics to measure the success 


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1 of Federal programs in supporting and promoting innova2 tion at the local community level while minimizing bu3 reaucracy and overhead expenses. 

4 (c) PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OP5 PORTUNITIES.—The Assistant Secretary for Economic 

6 Development of the Department of Commerce should work 

7 with organizations focused on economic development to 

8 highlight opportunities for such organizations to serve 

9 local communities through grants focused on economic de10 velopment and investment in companies pursuing innova11 tion. 

12 (d) REGIONAL INNOVATION HOT SPOTS.— 

13 (1) PROMOTION OF REGIONAL INNOVATION HOT

14 SPOTS.—The Secretary of Commerce shall coordi15 nate activities focused on promoting innovation 

16 through the development of regional innovation hot 

17 spots. 

18 (2) GUIDE TO DEVELOPING SUCCESSFUL RE19 GIONAL INNOVATION HOT SPOTS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec22 retary of Commerce, in consultation with rep23 resentatives of regional innovation hot spots, 

24 shall publish a report, to be titled the ‘‘Guide 

25 to Developing Successful Regional Innovation 


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1 Hot Spots’’, that examines successful regional 

2 innovation hot spots and includes recommenda3 tions for establishing and fostering regional in4 novation hot spots. 

5 (B) CONTENT.—The report required under 

6 subparagraph (A) shall— 

7 (i) include information on the evalua8 tion of human capital; 

9 (ii) include information on the role of 

10 sponsoring institutions, such as univer11 sities, nonprofit organizations, and labora12 tories, in establishing and fostering re13 gional innovation hot spots; 

14 (iii) include information on the role of 

15 State and local government leaders, leaders 

16 in the research and business communities, 

17 and community organizations in estab18 lishing and fostering regional innovation 

19 hot spots; 

20 (iv) discuss the importance of collabo21 ration by public and private sector leaders; 

22 (v) identify sources of funding for 

23 these activities within Federal, State, and 

24 local governments and the private sector; 

25 and 


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1 (vi) include recommendations for de2 veloping strategic plans to stimulate inno3 vation, including recommendations relating 

4 to knowledge transfer and commercializa5 tion, the support of regional entrepreneur6 ship and increased innovation within exist7 ing regional firms, and the linking of pri8 mary institutions engaged in the innova9 tion process. 

10 (3) REGIONAL INNOVATION HOT SPOT

11 METRICS.— 

12 (A) DEVELOPMENT OF METRICS.—In con13 junction with publishing the report required 

14 under paragraph (2), the Secretary of Com15 merce shall develop the following sets of 

16 metrics: 

17 (i) Metrics to be considered for identi18 fying potential regional innovation hot 

19 spots (in this subsection referred to as 

20 ‘‘identifying metrics’’). 

21 (ii) Metrics to be considered for evalu22 ating the impact and effectiveness of estab23 lished regional innovation hot spots (in this 

24 subsection referred to as ‘‘evaluation 

25 metrics’’). 


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1 (B) USE OF METRICS.—The Secretary of 

2 Commerce shall use the identifying metrics to 

3 conduct biannual assessments of potential re4 gional clusters and shall use the evaluation 

5 metrics to assess the impact and effectiveness 

6 of established regional innovation hot spots in 

7 improving the regional economy and regional 

8 job market. The Secretary shall also assess the 

9 cost effectiveness of operating within each re10 gional hot spot. The Secretary shall report the 

11 biannual assessments to Congress. 

12 (e) REGIONAL INNOVATION HOT SPOTS.—In this 

13 section, the term ‘‘regional innovation hot spots’’ means 

14 regions that are defined by a high degree of innovation 

15 and the availability of talent, investment, and infrastruc16 ture necessary to create and sustain such innovation. 

17 TITLE III—NATIONAL SCIENCE 

18 FOUNDATION 

19 SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro21 priated to the National Science Foundation— 

22 (1) $6,440,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

23 (2) $7,433,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

24 (3) $8,577,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; 

25 (4) $9,898,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; and 


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1 (5) $11,422,000,000 for fiscal year 2011. 

2 (b) PLAN FOR INCREASED RESEARCH.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di5 rector of the National Science Foundation shall sub6 mit a comprehensive, multiyear plan that describes 

7 how the funds authorized in subsection (a) would be 

8 used, if appropriated, to the Senate Committee on 

9 Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Senate 

10 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen11 sions and the House of Representatives Committee 

12 on Science. 

13 (2) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—The Director 

14 shall— 

15 (A) develop the plan with a focus on 

16 strengthening the Nation’s lead in physical 

17 science and technology, increasing overall work18 force skills in physical science, technology, engi19 neering, and mathematics at all levels, and 

20 strengthening innovation by expanding the 

21 focus of competitiveness and innovation policy 

22 at the regional and local level; and 

23 (B) emphasize spending increased research 

24 funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) 

25 in areas of investment for Federal research and 


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1 technology programs identified under section 

2 101(c) of this Act. 

3 SEC. 302. INNOVATION-BASED EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

5 Science Foundation shall establish a grant program under 

6 which grants are provided to local educational agencies to 

7 enable the local educational agencies to implement innova8 tion-based experiential learning in a total of up to 500 

9 secondary schools and up to 500 elementary or middle 

10 schools in the United States. 

11 (b) APPLICATIONS.—A local educational agency de12 siring a grant under this section shall submit an applica13 tion at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 

14 such information as the Director of the National Science 

15 Foundation may require. 

16 (c) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING DEFINED.—In this 

17 section, the term ‘‘experiential learning’’ means a teaching 

18 model that— 

19 (1) begins with a relevant, real-world problem; 

20 (2) requires a student to research and plan a 

21 solution to the problem, and experiment with that 

22 solution; and 

23 (3) follows the experiment with analysis, reflec24 tion, discussion, and a redesign of the solution. 


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1 SEC. 303. 302. GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS AND GRADUATE 

2 TRAINEESHIPS. 

3 (a) GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PRO4 GRAM.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the 5-year period be6 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

7 Director of the National Science Foundation shall 

8 expand the Graduate Research Fellowship Program 

9 of the Foundation so that an additional 1,250 fel10 lowships are awarded to United States citizens 

11 under the Program during that period. 

12 (2) EXTENSION OF FELLOWSHIP PERIOD.—The 

13 Director is authorized to award fellowships under 

14 the Graduate Research Fellowship Program for a 

15 period of up to 5 years. 

16 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 Within the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

18 by section 301, there are authorized to be appro19 priated $34,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

20 2007 through 2011 to provide an additional 250 fel21 lowships under the Graduate Research Fellowship 

22 Program during each such fiscal year. 

23 (b) INTEGRATIVE GRADUATE EDUCATION AND RE24 SEARCH TRAINEESHIP PROGRAM.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the 5-year period be26 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the 


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1 Director shall expand the Integrative Graduate Edu2 cation and Research Traineeship program of the 

3 Foundation so that an additional 1,250 United 

4 States citizens are awarded grants under the pro5 gram during that period. 

6 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

7 Within the amounts authorized to be appropriated 

8 by section 301, there are authorized to be appro9 priated $57,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

10 2007 through 2011 to provide grants to an addi11 tional 250 individuals under the Integrative Grad12 uate Education and Research Traineeship program 

13 during each such fiscal year. 

14 SEC. 304. 303. PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE MASTERS DEGREE 

15 PROGRAMS. 

16 (a) CLEARINGHOUSE.— 

17 (1) DEVELOPMENT.—The Director of the Na18 tional Science Foundation shall establish a clearing19 house, in collaboration with 4-year institutions of 

20 higher education, including applicable graduate 

21 schools and academic departments, industries, and 

22 Federal agencies that employ science-trained per23 sonnel, to share program elements used in successful 

24 professional science masters degree programs and 


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1 other advanced degree programs related to science, 

2 mathematics, technology, and engineering. 

3 (2) AVAILABILITY.—The Director shall make 

4 the clearinghouse of program elements developed 

5 under paragraph (1) available to institutions of 

6 higher education that are developing professional 

7 science masters degree programs. 

8 (b) PILOT PROGRAMS.— 

9 (1) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Director 

10 shall award grants for pilot programs to 4-year in11 stitutions of higher education to facilitate the insti12 tutions’ creation or improvement of professional 

13 science master’s masters degree programs. 

14 (2) APPLICATION.—A 4-year institution of 

15 higher education desiring a grant under this section 

16 shall submit an application at such time, in such 

17 manner, and accompanied by such information as 

18 the Director may require. The application shall in19 clude— 

20 (A) a description of the professional 

21 science masters degree program that the insti22 tution of higher education will implement; 

23 (B) the amount of funding from non-Fed24 eral sources, including from private industries, 

25 that the institution of higher education shall 


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1 use to support the professional masters degree 

2 program; and 

3 (C) an assurance that the institution of 

4 higher education shall encourage students in 

5 the professional science master’s masters degree 

6 program to apply for all forms of Federal as7 sistance available to such students, including 

8 applicable graduate fellowships and student fi9 nancial assistance under title IV of the Higher 

10 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et 

11 seq.). 

12 (3) PREFERENCE FOR ALTERNATIVE FUNDING

13 SOURCES.—The Director shall give preference in 

14 making awards to 4-year institutions of higher edu15 cation seeking Federal funding to support pilot pro16 fessional science master’s masters degree programs, 

to those applicants that secure more than 2 17 ⁄3 of the 

18 funding for such professional science masters degree 

19 programs from sources other than the Federal Gov20 ernment. 

21 (4) NUMBER OF GRANTS; TIME PERIOD OF

22 GRANTS.— 

23 (A) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—Subject to the 

24 availability of appropriated funds, the Director 

25 shall award grants under paragraph (1) to a 


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1 maximum of 200 4-year institutions of higher 

2 education. 

3 (B) TIME PERIOD OF GRANTS.—Grants 

4 awarded under this section shall be for one 3- 

5 year term. Grants may be renewed only once 

6 for a maximum of 2 additional years. 

7 (5) EVALUATION AND REPORTS.— 

8 (A) DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE

9 BENCHMARKS.—Prior to the start of the grant 

10 program, the National Science Foundation, in 

11 collaboration with 4-year institutions of higher 

12 education, shall develop performance bench13 marks to evaluate the pilot programs assisted 

14 by grants under this section. 

15 (B) EVALUATION.—For each year of the 

16 grant period, the Director, in consultation with 

17 4-year institutions of higher education, and 

18 Federal agencies that employ science-trained 

19 personnel, shall complete an evaluation of each 

20 pilot program assisted by grants under this sec21 tion. Any pilot program that fails to satisfy the 

22 performance benchmarks developed under sub23 paragraph (A) shall not be eligible for further 

24 funding. 


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1 (C) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the completion of an evaluation described 

3 in subparagraph (A), the Director, in consulta4 tion with industries and Federal agencies that 

5 employ science-trained personnel, shall submit a 

6 report to Congress that includes— 

7 (i) the results of the evaluation de8 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

9 (ii) recommendations for administra10 tive and legislative action that could opti11 mize the effectiveness of the pilot pro12 grams, as the Director determines to be 

13 appropriate. 

14 (c) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION DE15 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘institution of higher 

16 education’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

17 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

18 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Within 

19 the amounts authorized to be appropriated by section 301, 

20 there are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 

21 section $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2007 and such sums 

22 as may be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year. 


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1 SEC. 305. 304. INCREASED SUPPORT FOR SCIENCE EDU2 CATION THROUGH THE NATIONAL SCIENCE 

3 FOUNDATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within the amounts authorized to 

5 be appropriated by section 301, there are authorized to 

6 be appropriated to carry out the physical science, mathe7 matics, engineering, and technology talent expansion pro8 gram under section 8(7) of the National Science Founda9 tion Authorization Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–368, 116 

10 Stat. 3042)— 

11 (1) $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

12 (2) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

13 (3) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

14 (4) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

15 (b) OUTREACH PROGRAMS.—Section 8(7)(C) of the 

16 National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 

17 (Public Law 107–368, 116 Stat. 3042) is amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in 

19 clause (v); 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘students.’’ in clause (vi) and in21 serting ‘‘students; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(vii) outreach programs that provide 

24 middle and secondary school students and 

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1 ties to increase their exposure to engineering 

2 and technology.’’. 

3 SEC. 306. STUDY OF SERVICE SCIENCE. 

4 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con5 gress that, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of 

6 United States enterprises and institutions and to prepare 

7 the people of the United States for high-wage, high-skill 

8 employment, the Federal Government should better under9 stand and respond strategically to the emerging vocation 

10 and learning discipline known as service science. 

11 (b) STUDY.—Not later than 270 days after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the National 

13 Science Foundation, through the National Academy of 

14 Sciences, shall conduct a study and report to Congress re15 garding how the Federal Government should support, 

16 through research, education, and training, the new dis17 cipline of service science. 

18 (c) OUTSIDE RESOURCES.—In conducting the study 

19 under subsection (b), the Director of the National Science 

20 Foundation shall consult with leaders from 2- and 4-year 

21 institutions of higher education, as defined in section 101 

22 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), 

23 leaders from corporations, and other relevant parties. 

24 (d) SERVICE SCIENCE DEFINED.—In this section: 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘service science’’ 

2 means curricula, research programs, and training 

3 regimens, including service sciences, management, 

4 and engineering programs, to teach individuals to 

5 apply technology, organizational process manage6 ment, and industry-specific knowledge to solve com7 plex problems. 

8 (2) SERVICE SCIENCES, MANAGEMENT, AND EN9 GINEERING PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘service sciences, 

10 management, and engineering programs’’ means the 

11 discipline known as service sciences, management, 

12 and engineering that— 

13 (A) applies scientific, engineering, and 

14 management disciplines to tasks that one orga15 nization performs beneficially for others, gen16 erally as part of the services sector of the econ17 omy; and 

18 (B) integrates computer science, operations 

19 research, industrial engineering, business strat20 egy, management sciences, and social and legal 

21 sciences, in order to encourage innovation in 

22 how organizations create value for customers 

23 and shareholders that could not be achieved 

24 through such disciplines working in isolation. 


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1 SEC. 307. 305. MEETING CRITICAL NATIONAL SCIENCE 

2 NEEDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to assessing the de4 gree to which research award and grant proposals sub5 mitted to the Foundation, and research activities initiated 

6 by the Foundation, sustain and strengthen the nation’s 

7 traditional commitment to long-term basic research that 

8 have the potential to be transformational to maintain the 

9 flow of new ideas that fuel the economy, provide security, 

10 and enhance the quality of life, to developing and sus11 taining a world class scientific workforce. and to fostering 

12 the scientific literacy of its citizens, the Director of the 

13 National Science Foundation shall include consideration 

14 of the degree to which such awards and such research ac15 tivities may assist in meeting critical national needs in the 

16 physical sciences, technology, engineering, and mathe17 matics. 

18 (b) PRIORITY TREATMENT.—Proposed research ac19 tivities, and grants funded under the Foundation’s Re20 search and Related Activities Account, which can be ex21 pected to make contributions in physical and natural 

22 sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and 

23 other research that underpins these areas, shall be given 

24 priority in the selection of awards and in the allocation 

25 of Foundation resources. 


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1 (c) APPLICATION OF PRIORITY TREATMENT TO

2 OTHER PROGRAMS.—This requirement shall be applied to 

3 other fellowship, grant or award programs authorized in 

4 this title. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other criteria, 

6 the Director of the National Science Foundation shall in7 clude consideration of the degree to which awards and re8 search activities may assist in meeting critical national 

9 needs in innovation, competitiveness, the physical and nat10 ural sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

11 (b) PRIORITY TREATMENT.—The Director shall give 

12 priority in the selection of awards and the allocation of 

13 Foundation resources to proposed research activities, and 

14 grants funded under the Foundation’s Research and Related 

15 Activities Account, that can be expected to make contribu16 tions in physical or natural science, technology, engineer17 ing, or mathematics, or that enhance competitiveness or in18 novation in the United States. 

19 (c) APPLICATION OF PRIORITY TREATMENT TO OTHER

20 PROGRAMS.—The priority treatment described in sub21 section (b) shall be applied to other fellowship, grant, or 

22 award programs authorized by this title. 

23 (d) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section shall be con24 strued to restrict or bias the grant selection process against 

25 funding other areas of research deemed by the Foundation 


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1 to be consistent with its mandate nor to change the core 

2 mission of the Foundation. 

3 SEC. 308. 306. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM TO STIMULATE 

4 COMPETITIVE RESEARCH. 

5 Within the amounts authorized to be appropriated by 

6 section 301, there are authorized to be appropriated to 

7 the National Science Foundation for the Experimental 

8 Program to Stimulate Competitive Research authorized 

9 under section 113 of the National Science Foundation Au10 thorization Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 1862g)— 

11 (1) $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

12 (2) for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2011, 

13 an amount equal to $125,000,000 increased for each 

14 such year by an amount equal to the percentage in15 crease of the National Science Foundation’s budget 

16 request above the total amount appropriated to the 

17 Foundation for fiscal year 2007. 

18 SEC. 307. ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION. 

19 (a) MENTORING PROGRAM.—The Director of the Na20 tional Science Foundation shall establish a program to pro21 vide mentors for women who are interested in careers in 

22 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by pair23 ing such women who are in science, technology, engineering, 

24 or mathematics programs of study in high school, commuVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 nity college, undergraduate or graduate school with mentors 

2 who are working in industry. 

3 (b) APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM.—The Director shall 

4 also establish a program to provide grants to community 

5 colleges to provide apprenticeships and other appropriate 

6 training to allow women to enter higher-paying technical 

7 jobs in fields related to science, technology, engineering, or 

8 mathematics. 

9 (c) APPLICATIONS.—An institution of higher edu10 cation, including a community college, desiring a grant 

11 under this section shall submit an application at such time, 

12 in such manner, and accompanied by such information as 

13 the Director may require. 

14 (d) PROGRAM EVALUATION.—The Director shall estab15 lish metrics to evaluate the success of the programs estab16 lished under subsections (a) and (b) annually and report 

17 the findings and conclusions of the evaluations annually to 

18 the Congress. 

19 SEC. 308. CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE 

20 In order to continue and expand efforts to ensure that 

21 research institutions throughout the nation can fully par22 ticipate in research programs of the National Science Foun23 dation and collaborate with colleagues throughout the na24 tion, the Director, within 180 days after enactment of this 

25 Act, shall develop and publish a plan that describes the curVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 rent status of broadband access for scientific research pur2 poses in States located in EPSCoR-eligible jurisdictions 

3 and outlines actions which can be taken to ensure that such 

4 connections are available to enable participation in those 

5 National Science Foundation programs which rely heavily 

6 on high-speed networking and collaborations across institu7 tions and regions. 

8 SEC. 309. REAFFIRMATION OF THE MERIT-REVIEW PROCESS 

9 OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. 

10 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

11 Act, shall be interpreted to require or recommend that the 

12 National Science Foundation— 

13 (1) alter or modify its merit-review system or 

14 peer-review process; or 

15 (2) exclude the awarding of any proposal by 

16 means of the merit-review or peer-review process. 

17 TITLE IV—NATIONAL AERO18 NAUTICS AND SPACE ADMIN19 ISTRATION 

20 SEC. 401. NASA’S CONTRIBUTION TO INNOVATION. 

21 (a) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 

22 Congress that— 

23 (1) since its establishment the National Aero24 nautics and Space Administration has played an im25 portant role in stimulating excellence in the advanceVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 ment of physical science and engineering disciplines 

2 and in providing opportunities and incentives for the 

3 pursuit of academinc studies in science, technology, 

4 engineering, and mathematics; 

5 (2) a balanced science program as authorized 

6 by section 101(d) of the National Aeronautics and 

7 Space Administration Act 2005 (Public Law 109– 

8 155) contributes significantly to innovation in and 

9 the economic competitiveness of the United States; 

10 and 

11 (3) a robust National Aeronautics and Space 

12 Administration, funded at the levels authorized 

13 under sections 202 and 203 of that Act would offer 

14 a fair balance among science, aeronautics, explo15 ration, and human space flight programs, all of 

16 which can attract and employ scientists, engineers, 

17 and technicians across a broad range of fields in 

18 science, technology, mathematics, and engineering. 

19 (b) PARTICIPATION IN INNOVATION AND COMPETI20 TIVENESS PROGRAMS.—The Administrator shall fully par21 ticipate in any interagency efforts to promote innovation 

22 and economic competitiveness through scientific research 

23 and development. 


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1 SEC. 402. AERONAUTICS INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the Na3 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration shall estab4 lish within the Administration an Aeronautics Institute for 

5 Research to manage the Aeronautics research of the Ad6 ministration. The Institute shall be headed by a director 

7 with appropriate experience in aeronautics research and 

8 development. 

9 (b) DUTIES.—The Institute shall implement the pro10 grams authorized under Title IV of the National Aero11 nautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 

12 2005 (Public Law 109–155). 

13 (c) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The In14 stitute shall operate in conjunction with relevant programs 

15 in the Department of Transportation, the Department of 

16 Defense, the Department of Commerce, and the Depart17 ment of Homeland Security, including the activities of the 

18 Joint Planning and Development Office established under 

19 the VISION 100—Century of Aviation Reauthorization 

20 Act (Public Law 108–176). The Director of the Institute 

21 may accept assistance, staff, and funding from those De22 partments and other Federal agencies. Such funding shall 

23 be in addition to funds authorized for aeronautics under 

24 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Au25 thorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–155). The Di26 rector of the Institute may utilize the Next Generation Air 


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1 Transportation Senior Policy Committee established under 

2 section 710 of under the VISION 100—Century of Avia3 tion Reauthorization Act (Public Law 108–176) to coordi4 nate its programs with other Departments and agencies. 

5 (d) PARTNERSHIPS.—In developing and carrying out 

6 its plans, the Institute shall consult with the public and 

7 ensure the participation of experts from the private sector 

8 including representatives of commercial aviation, general 

9 aviation, aviation labor groups, aviation research and de10 velopment entities, aircraft and air traffic control sup11 pliers, and the space industry. 

12 SEC. 403. BASIC RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Na14 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Director 

15 of the National Science Foundation, the Secretary of En16 ergy, the Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of Com17 merce shall, to the extent practicable, coordinate basic and 

18 fundamental research activities related to physical 

19 sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

20 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF BASIC RESEARCH EXECU21 TIVE COUNCIL.—In order to ensure effective application 

22 of resources to basic science activity and to facilitate coop23 erative basic and fundamental research activities with 

24 other governmental organizations, the Administrator of 

25 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall 


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1 establish within the Administration a Basic Research Ex2 ecutive Council to oversee the distribution and manage3 ment of programs and resources engaged in support of 

4 basic research activity. 

5 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The membership of the Basic Re6 search Executive Council shall consist of the most senior 

7 agency official representing each of the following areas of 

8 research: 

9 (1) Space Science. 

10 (2) Earth Science. 

11 (3) Life and Microgravity Sciences. 

12 (4) Aeronautical Research. 

13 (d) LEADERSHIP.—The Council shall be chaired by 

14 an individual appointed for that purpose who shall have, 

15 as a minimum, a appropriate graduate degree in a rec16 ognizable discipline in the physical sciences, and appro17 priate experience in the conduct and management of basic 

18 research activity. The Chairman of the Council shall re19 port directly to the Administrator of the National Aero20 nautics and Space Administration. 

21 (e) SUPPORTING RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL.— 

22 The Chairman of the Council shall be provided with ade23 quate administrative staff support to conduct the activity 

24 and functions of the Council. 


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1 (f) DUTIES.—The Basic Research Executive Council 

2 shall have, at minimum, the following duties: 

3 (1) To establish criteria for the identification of 

4 research activity as basic in nature. 

5 (2) To establish, in consultation with the Office 

6 of Science and Technology Policy, the National 

7 Science Foundation, the National Academy of 

8 Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and 

9 other appropriate external organizations, a 

10 prioritization of fundamental research activity to be 

11 conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space 

12 Administration, to be reviewed and updated on an 

13 annual basis, taking into consideration evolving na14 tional research priorities. 

15 (3) To monitor, review, and evaluate all basic 

16 research activity of the National Aeronautics and 

17 Space Administration for compliance with basic re18 search priorities established under paragraph (2). 

19 (4) To make recommendations to the Adminis20 trator regarding adjustments in the basic research 

21 activities of the Administration to ensure consistency 

22 with the research priorities established under this 

23 section. 

24 (5) To provide an annual report to the Senate 

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1 tation and the House of Representatives Committee 

2 on Science outlining the activities of the Council 

3 during the preceding year and the status of basic re4 search activity within the Administration. The initial 

5 such report, to serve as a baseline document, shall 

6 be provided within 90 days after the establishment 

7 and initial operations of the Council. 

8 SEC. 404. AGING WORKFORCE ISSUES PROGRAM. 

9 It is the sense of the Congress that the Administrator 

10 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

11 should implement a program to address aging work force 

12 issues in aerospace that— 

13 (1) documents technical and management experi14 ences before senior people leave the Administration, 

15 including— 

16 (A) documenting lessons learned; 

17 (B) briefing organizations; 

18 (C) providing opportunities for archiving 

19 lessons in a database; and 

20 (D) providing opportunities for near-term 

21 retirees to transition out early from their pri22 mary assignment in order to document their ca23 reer lessons learned and brief new employees 

24 prior to their separation from the Administra25 tion; 


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1 (2) provides incentives for retirees to return and 

2 teach new employees about their career lessons and 

3 experiences; and 

4 (3) provides for the development of an award to 

5 recognize and reward outstanding senior employees 

6 for their contributions to knowledge sharing. 

7 SEC. 405. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

8 Section 101(d) of the National Aeronautics and Space 

9 Administration Authorization Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 

10 16611(d)) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in 

12 paragraph (2)(B); 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘Act.’’ in paragraph (2)(C) and 

14 inserting ‘‘Act; and’’; 

15 (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (2) the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(D) the number and content of science ac18 tivities which are undertaken in support of 

19 science missions described in subparagraph (A), 

20 and the number and content of science activities 

21 which may be considered as fundamental, or 

22 basic research, whether incorporated within spe23 cific missions or conducted independently of any 

24 specific mission.’’; and 


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1 (4) by adding at the end of paragraph (3) the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(H) How NASA science activities can best 

4 be structured to ensure that basic and funda5 mental research can be effectively maintained 

6 and coordinated in response to national goals in 

7 competitiveness and innovation, and in contrib8 uting to national scientific, technology, engineer9 ing and mathematics leadership.’’. 

10 SEC. 406. DIRECT NASA PARTICIPATION IN AMERICAN COM11 PETITIVENESS INITIATIVE. 

12 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Ad13 ministrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Admin14 istration shall increase funding for basic science and re15 search, including for the Explorer Program, for fiscal year 

16 2007 by $160,000,000 by transferring such amount for such 

17 purpose from accounts of the National Aeronautics and 

18 Space Administration. The transfer shall be contingent 

19 upon the availability of unobligated balances to the Na20 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration. 


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1 TITLE V—NATIONAL INSTITUTE 

2 OF STANDARDS AND TECH3 NOLOGY 

4 SEC. 501. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec6 retary of Commerce for the use of the National Institute 

7 of Standards and Technology— 

8 (1) for fiscal year 2007, $639,646,000, of 

9 which $106,000,000 $110,000,000 shall be used for 

10 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

11 Program; 

12 (2) for fiscal year 2008, $703,611,000, of 

13 which $106,000,000 $115,000,000 shall be used for 

14 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

15 Program; 

16 (3) for fiscal year 2009, $773,972,000, of 

17 which $106,000,000 $120,000,000 shall be used for 

18 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

19 Program; 

20 (4) for fiscal year 2010, $851,369,000, of 

21 which $106,000,000 $125,000,000 shall be used for 

22 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

23 Program; and 

24 (5) for fiscal year 2011, $936,506,000, of 

25 which $106,000,000 $130,000,000 shall be used for 


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1 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

2 Program. 

3 SEC. 502. AMENDMENTS TO THE STEVENSON-WYDLER 

4 TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION ACT OF 1980. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5 of the Stevenson6 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

7 3704) is repealed. 

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

9 (1) Section 5314 of title 5, United States Code, 

10 is amended by striking ‘‘Under Secretary of Com11 merce for Technology’’. 

12 (2) Section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Tech13 nology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703) is 

14 amended— 

15 (A) by striking paragraphs (1) and (3); 

16 and 

17 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 

18 through (13) as paragraphs (1) through (11), 

19 respectively. 

20 (3) Section 21(a) of the Stevenson-Wydler 

21 Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

22 3713(a)) is amended— 

23 (A) by striking out ‘‘sections 5, 11(g), and 

24 16’’ in paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘sections 

25 11(g) and 16’’; 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘$500,000 is authorized 

2 only for the purpose of carrying out the require3 ments of the Japanese technical literature pro4 gram established under section 5(d) of this 

5 Act;’’. 

6 (4) Section 208 of the High-Performance Com7 puting Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5528 is amended by 

8 striking subsection (c) and redesignating subsection 

9 (d) as subsection (c). 

10 (5) Section 6(b)(4)(B)(v) of the Assistive Tech11 nology Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 3005(b)(4)(B)(v)) is 

12 amended by striking ‘‘the Technology Administra13 tion of the Department of Commerce,’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘the National Institute of Standards and Tech15 nology,’’. 

16 SEC. 503. INNOVATION ACCELERATION. 

17 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—In order to implement sec18 tion 202 of this Act, the Director of the National Institute 

19 of Standards and Technology shall— 

20 (1) establish a program linked to the measure21 ment laboratories, to be known as the ‘‘Standards 

22 and Technology Acceleration Research Program’’, to 

23 support and promote innovation in the United States 

24 through high-risk, high-reward research; and 


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1 (2) set aside not less than 8 percent of the 

2 funds available to the Institute each fiscal year for 

3 the program. 

4 (b) EXTERNAL FUNDING.—The Director shall ensure 

5 that at least 80 percent of the funds available for the pro6 gram shall be used to award competitive, merit-reviewed 

7 grants, cooperative agreements or contracts to public or 

8 private entities, including businesses and universities. In 

9 selecting these projects, the Director shall ensure that all 

10 projects have scientific and technical merit and that any 

11 resulting intellectual property shall vest in a company or 

12 companies incorporated in the United States. Each exter13 nal project shall involve at least one small or medium-sized 

14 business and the Director shall give priority to joint ven15 tures between small or medium-sized businesses and edu16 cational institutions. Any grant shall be for a period not 

17 to exceed 3 years. 

18 (c) COMPETITIONS.—The Director shall solicit pro19 posals annually to address areas of national need for high20 risk, high-reward research, as identified by the Director. 

21 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Each year the Director shall 

22 issue an annual report describing the program’s activities, 

23 including include a description of the metrics upon which 

24 grant funding decisions were made in the previous fiscal 

25 year, any proposed changes to those metrics, metrics for 


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1 evaluating the success of ongoing and completed grants, 

2 and an evaluation of ongoing and completed grants. The 

3 first annual report shall include best practices for manage4 ment of programs to stimulate high-risk, high-reward re5 search. 

6 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—No more than 5 

7 percent of the finding available to the program may be 

8 used for administrative expenses. 

9 (f) HIGH-RISK, HIGH-REWARD RESEARCH DE10 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘high-risk, high-reward 

11 research’’ means research that— 

12 (1) has the potential for yielding results with 

13 far-ranging or wide-ranging implications; and 

14 (2) addresses critical national needs related to 

15 measurement standards and technology; but 

16 (3) is too novel or spans too diverse a range of 

17 disciplines to fare well in the traditional peer review 

18 process. 

19 SEC. 504. DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING 

20 SYSTEMS. 

21 (a) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—The Director 

22 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

23 shall support research and development in collaboration 

24 with entities and organizations from the industrial sector 

25 to supplement and support work in the private sector on 


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1 advanced manufacturing systems designed to increase pro2 ductivity and efficiency and to create competitive advan3 tages for United States businesses. These research and de4 velopment activities should focus on the following activi5 ties: 

6 (1) Supporting industry efforts to develop inno7 vative, state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, ad8 vanced technologies through interoperable standards, 

9 and related concepts, including— 

10 (A) advanced distributed and desktop man11 ufacturing linked to and made compatible with 

12 the extended production enterprise system de13 scribed in paragraph (2); 

14 (B) non-contact quality inspection proc15 esses linked to and made compatible with the 

16 extended production enterprise system; 

17 (C) small lot manufacturing processes that 

18 are— 

19 (i) as cost-effective as mass produc20 tion processes; and 

21 (ii) linked to and compatible with the 

22 extended production enterprise system; and 

23 (D) the use of state-of-the-art materials 

24 and processes at the nanotechnological level. 


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1 (2) Supporting industry efforts to develop an 

2 extended production enterprise system that inte3 grates key entities, including entities engaged in 

4 product design and development, manufacturing, 

5 sourcing, distribution, and user entities, including 

6 through the development of— 

7 (A) interoperable software and standards 

8 designed to maximize the compatibility of the 

9 design, modeling, and manufacturing stages of 

10 the manufacturing process; and 

11 (B) supply chain software. 

12 (b) COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES.—The Director 

13 shall coordinate activities under subsection (a) with activi14 ties under— 

15 (1) the Small Business Innovation Research 

16 Program (as defined in section 2500(11) of title 10, 

17 United States Code); 

18 (2) the Small Business Technology Transfer 

19 Program (as defined in section 2500(12) of title 10, 

20 United States Code); and 

21 (3) the Manufacturing Technology Program es22 tablished under section 2521 of title 10, United 

23 States Code. 

24 (c) TESTING.—The Director shall support the work 

25 of entities and organizations from the industrial sector in 


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1 developing prototypes and testing areas for testing and re2 fining, in actual production conditions, the processes, tech3 nologies, and extended production enterprise system de4 scribed in subsection (a)(2) in order to maximize produc5 tivity gains and cost efficiencies. 

6 (d) DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDS.—The Director, 

7 in coordination with entities and organizations from the 

8 industrial sector and the Manufacturing Technology Pro9 gram, shall support standards to be used as manufac10 turing performance criteria to accelerate the adoption of 

11 improvements and innovative processes and protocols de12 veloped under subsection (a). 

13 (e) PILOT TEST BEDS OF EXCELLENCE.— 

14 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall, in 

15 collaboration with entities and organizations from 

16 the industrial sector, support not more than 3 pilot 

17 testbeds of excellence in manufacturing fields impor18 tant to advanced technologies developed under sub19 section (a), such as nanotechnology or fuel cell tech20 nology, to be used by the public and private sector. 

21 The testbeds of excellence shall focus on production 

22 development, particularly the invention, prototyping, 

23 and engineering development stages of the manufac24 turing process. 


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1 (2) COMPETITION.—The Director shall conduct 

2 a competition to select the pilot testbeds of excel3 lence based on criteria and metrics established by 

4 the Secretary prior to the competition. 

5 (3) FUNDING.—The Director may provide the 

6 pilot testbeds of excellence selected pursuant to the 

7 competition set forth in paragraph (2) with an ap8 propriate level of funding if and only if the following 

9 conditions are satisfied: 

(A) No more than 1 10 ⁄3 of the funding of 

11 each testbed of excellence is provided by the 

12 Federal Government. 

(B) At least 1 13 ⁄3 of the cost of each testbed 

14 of excellence is provided by participants from 

15 the private sector. 

(C) At least 1 16 ⁄3 of the cost of each testbed 

17 of excellence is provided by State or local gov18 ernments. 

19 (4) REVIEW OF FUNDED TESTBEDS.—Within 3 

20 years of the start of Federal funding for any testbed 

21 of excellence pursuant to this section, the Director 

22 shall use the metrics established pursuant to para23 graph (2) and any additional review metrics that the 

24 Director determines appropriate to assess the per25 formance of the federally funded testbeds of excelVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 lence. Any testbed of excellence that fails to satisfy 

2 any of the performance metrics will be ineligible for 

3 additional Federal funding. 

4 (5) SUNSET PROVISION.—Federal funding of 

5 any testbed of excellence shall cease 5 years after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act. 

7 (f) HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PART8 NERSHIP FOCUS ON INNOVATION.—The Director of the 

9 National Institute of Standards and Technology shall en10 sure that the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partner11 ship program develops a focus on innovation, including 

12 through technology diffusion, supply and distribution 

13 chain integration, and the dissemination of the processes, 

14 technologies, and extended production enterprise systems 

15 developed under this section. 

16 (g) EXTENDED PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE.—In this 

17 section the term ‘‘extended production enterprise’’ means 

18 a system in which key entities in the manufacturing chain, 

19 including entities engaged in product design and develop20 ment, manufacturing, sourcing, distribution, and user en21 tities, are linked together through information technology 

22 and other means to promote efficiency and productivity. 


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1 SEC. 505. 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 (15 

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

7 end of the Act; and 

8 (2) by inserting before the section moved by 

9 paragraph (1) the following new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 33. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

11 PILOT GRANTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.— 

13 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es14 tablish a pilot program of awards to partnerships 

15 among participants described in paragraph (2) for 

16 the purposes described in paragraph (3). Awards 

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

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

19 include at least— 

20 ‘‘(A) 1 manufacturing industry partner; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) 1 nonindustry partner. 

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

24 under this section is to foster cost-shared collabora25 tions among firms, educational institutions, research 

26 institutions, State agencies, and nonprofit organizaVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 tions to encourage the development of innovative, 

2 multidisciplinary manufacturing technologies. Part3 nerships receiving awards under this section shall 

4 conduct applied research to develop new manufac5 turing processes, techniques, or materials that would 

6 contribute to improved performance, productivity, 

7 and competitiveness of United States manufacturing, 

8 and build lasting alliances among collaborators. 

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

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

11 costs of a partnership. 

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

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

14 time, and containing such information as the Director 

15 shall require. Such applications shall describe at a min16 imum— 

17 ‘‘(1) how each partner will participate in devel18 oping and carrying out the research agenda of the 

19 partnership; 

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

21 and 

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

23 award would contribute to improved performance, 

24 productivity, and competitiveness of the United 

25 States manufacturing industry. 


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1 ‘‘(d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting applica2 tions for awards under this section, the Director shall con3 sider at a minimum— 

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

5 broad impact on manufacturing; 

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

7 merit of the proposed projects; and 

8 ‘‘(3) the demonstrated capabilities of the appli9 cants to successfully carry out the proposed re10 search. 

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

12 this section the Director shall ensure, to the extent prac13 ticable, a distribution of overall awards among a variety 

14 of manufacturing industry sectors and a range of firm 

15 sizes. 

16 ‘‘(f) DURATION.—In carrying out this section, the Di17 rector shall run a single pilot competition to solicit and 

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

19 SEC. 506. 504. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION. 

20 (a) MANUFACTURING CENTER EVALUATION.—Sec21 tion 25(c)(5) of the National Institute of Standards and 

22 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)(5)) is amended by in23 serting ‘‘A Center that has not received a positive evalua24 tion by the evaluation panel shall be notified by the panel 

25 of the deficiencies in its performance and shall be placed 


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1 on probation for one year, after which time the panel shall 

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

3 deficiencies identified by the panel, or shown a significant 

4 improvement in its performance, the Director shall con5 duct a new competition to select an operator for the Cen6 ter or may close the Center.’’ after ‘‘at declining levels.’’. 

7 (b) FEDERAL SHARE.—Strike section 25(d) of the 

8 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

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

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

11 sums as may be appropriated to the Secretary and Direc12 tor to operate the Centers program, the Secretary and Di13 rector also may accept funds from other Federal depart14 ments and agencies and under section 2(c)(7) from the 

15 private sector for the purpose of strengthening United 

16 States manufacturing. Such funds from the private sector, 

17 if allocated to a Center or Centers, shall not be considered 

18 in the calculation of the Federal share of capital and an19 nual operating and maintenance costs under subsection 

20 (c).’’. 

21 (c) HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CEN22 TER COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the 

23 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

24 U.S.C. 278k) is amended by adding at the end the fol25 lowing new subsections: 


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1 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.— 

2 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es3 tablish, within the Hollings Manufacturing Exten4 sion Partnership program under this section and 

5 section 26 of this Act, a program of competitive 

6 awards among participants described in paragraph 

7 (2) for the purposes described in paragraph (3). 

8 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving 

9 awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or 

10 a consortium of such Centers. 

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

12 under this subsection is to develop projects to solve 

13 new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter14 mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di15 rector of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension 

16 Partnership program, the Hollings Manufacturing 

17 Extension Partnership National Advisory Board, 

18 and small and medium-sized manufacturers. One or 

19 more themes for the competition may be identified, 

20 which may vary from year to year, depending on the 

21 needs of manufacturers and the success of previous 

22 competitions. These themes shall be related to 

23 projects associated with manufacturing extension ac24 tivities, including supply chain integration and qualVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 ity management, or extend beyond these traditional 

2 areas. 

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

4 under this subsection shall be submitted in such 

5 manner, at such time, and containing such informa6 tion as the Director shall require, in consultation 

7 with the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partner8 ship National Advisory Board. 

9 ‘‘(5) SELECTION.—Awards under this sub10 section shall be peer reviewed and competitively 

11 awarded. The Director shall select proposals to re12 ceive awards— 

13 ‘‘(A) that utilize innovative or collaborative 

14 approaches to solving the problem described in 

15 the competition; 

16 ‘‘(B) that will improve the competitiveness 

17 of industries in the region in which the Center 

18 or Centers are located; and 

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

20 economic stability of that region. 

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

22 awards under this subsection may be required to 

23 provide a matching contribution. 

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

25 under this section shall submit annual audits to the SecVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 retary in accordance with Office of Management and 

2 Budget Circular A-133 and shall make such audits avail3 able to the public on request.’’. 

4 (d) PROGRAMMATIC AND OPERATIONAL PLAN.—Not 

5 later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this 

6 Act, the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

7 and Technology shall transmit to the Committee on 

8 Science of the House of Representatives and the Com9 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

10 Senate a 3-year programmatic and operational plan for 

11 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership pro12 gram under sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute 

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

14 278l). The plan shall include comments on the plan from 

15 the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership State 

16 partners and the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Part17 nership National Advisory Board. 

18 SEC. 507. 505. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM TO STIMULATE 

19 COMPETITIVE TECHNOLOGY. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In21 stitutes of Standards and Technology shall re-establish the 

22 Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Tech23 nology. The purpose of the program shall be to strengthen 

24 the technological competitiveness of those States that have 


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1 historically received less Federal research and development 

2 funds than a majority of the States have received. 

3 (b) ARRANGEMENTS.—In carrying out the program, 

4 the Director shall cooperate with State, regional, or local 

5 science and technology-based economic development orga6 nization and with representatives of small business firms 

7 and other appropriate technology-based businesses. 

8 (c) GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—In 

9 carrying out the program, the Director may make grants 

10 or enter into cooperative agreements to provide for— 

11 (1) technology research and development; 

12 (2) technology transfer from university re13 search; 

14 (3) technology deployment and diffusion; and 

15 (4) the strengthening of technological and inno16 vation capabilities through consortia comprised of— 

17 (A) technology-based small business firms; 

18 (B) industries and emerging companies; 

19 (C) institutions of higher education includ20 ing community colleges; and 

21 (D) State and local development agencies 

22 and entities. 

23 (d) REQUIREMENTS FOR MAKING AWARDS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—In making awards under 

25 this section, the Director shall ensure that the 


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1 awards are awarded on a competitive basis that in2 cludes a review of the merits of the activities that 

3 are the subject of the award, giving special emphasis 

4 to those projects which will increase the participa5 tion of women women, Native Americans (including 

6 Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives), and under7 represented groups in science and technology. 

8 (2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The non-Fed9 eral share of the activities (other than planning ac10 tivities) carried out under an award under this sub11 section shall be not less than 50 percent of the cost 

12 of those activities. 

13 (e) CRITERIA FOR STATES.—The Director shall es14 tablish criteria for achievement by each State that partici15 pates in the program. Upon the achievement of all such 

16 criteria, a State shall cease to be eligible to participate 

17 in the program. 

18 (f) COORDINATION.—To the extent practicable, in 

19 carrying out this subsection, the Director shall coordinate 

20 the program with other programs of the Department of 

21 Commerce. 

22 (g) REPORT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

24 the enactment of this act, the Director shall prepare 

25 and submit a report that meets the requirements of 


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1 this paragraph to the Senate Committee on Com2 merce, Science, and Transportation and the House 

3 of Representatives Committee on Science. 

4 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORT.—The report 

5 prepared under this paragraph shall contain— 

6 (A) a description of the structure and pro7 cedures of the program; 

8 (B) a management plan for the program; 

9 (C) a description of the merit-based review 

10 process to be used in the program; 

11 (D) milestones for the evaluation of activi12 ties to be assisted under the program in fiscal 

13 year 2008; 

14 (E) an assessment of the eligibility of each 

15 State that participates in the Experimental 

16 Program to Stimulate Competitive Research of 

17 the National Science Foundation to participate 

18 in the program under this subsection; and 

19 (F) the evaluation criteria with respect to 

20 which the overall management and effectiveness 

21 of the program will be evaluated. 


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1 SEC. 508. 506. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL 

2 INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECH3 NOLOGY ACT AND OTHER TECHNICAL 

4 AMENDMENTS. 

5 (a) RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS.—Section 18 of the 

6 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

7 U.S.C. 278g–1) is amended by striking ‘‘up to 1 per cen8 tum of the’’ in the first sentence. 

9 (b) FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS.— 

10 (1) CLARIFICATION.—Section 2(b)(4) of the 

11 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 272(b)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘and 

13 grants and cooperative agreements,’’ after ‘‘arrange14 ments,’’. 

15 (2) MEMBERSHIPS.—Section 2(c) of the Na16 tional Institute of Standards and Technology Act 

17 (15 U.S.C. 272(c)) is amended— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon 

19 in paragraph (21); 

20 (B) by redesignating paragraph (22) as 

21 paragraph (23); and 

22 (C) by inserting after paragraph (21) the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(22) notwithstanding subsection (b)(4) of this 

25 section, the Grants and Cooperative Agreements Act 

26 (31 U.S.C. 6301–6308), the Competition in ConVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:51 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.RS S2802

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1 tracting Act (31 U.S.C. 3551–3556), and the Fed2 eral Acquisition Regulations set forth in title 48, 

3 Code of Federal Regulations, to expend appropriated 

4 funds for National Institute of Standards and Tech5 nology memberships in scientific organizations, reg6 istration fees for attendance at conferences, and 

7 sponsorship of conferences in furtherance of tech8 nology transfer; and’’. 

9 (c) WORKING CAPITAL FUND.—Section 12 of the 

10 National Institute of Standards and Development Act (15 

11 U.S.C. 278b) is amended by adding at the end the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(g) AMOUNT AND SOURCE OF TRANSFERS.—Not to 

14 exceed one-quarter per centum of the amounts appro15 priated to the Institute for any fiscal year may be trans16 ferred to the fund, in addition to any other transfer au17 thority. In addition, funds provided to the Institute from 

18 other Federal agencies for the purpose of production of 

19 Standard Reference Materials may be transferred to the 

20 fund.’’. 

21 (d) OUTDATED SPECIFICATIONS.— 

22 (1) REDEFINITION OF METRIC SYSTEM.—The 

23 Metric System Act of 1866 (15 U.S.C. 205; 14 Stat. 

24 339, 340) is amended by striking the text of section 

25 2 and inserting the following: Section 2 of the Act of 


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1 July 28, 1866, entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize the Use 

2 of the Metric System of Weights and Measures’’ (15 

3 U.S.C. 205; 14 Stat. 339, 340) is amended to read as 

4 follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 2. METRIC SYSTEM DEFINED. 

6 ‘‘The metric system of measurement shall be defined 

7 as the International System of Units as established in 

8 1960, and subsequently maintained, by the General Con9 ference of Weights and Measures, and as interpreted or 

10 modified for the United States by the Secretary of Com11 merce.’’. 

12 (2) REPEAL OF REDUNDANT AND OBSOLETE

13 AUTHORITY.—The Act of July 21, 1950, entitled, 

14 ‘‘An Act To redefine the units and establish the 

15 standards of electrical and photometric measure16 ments of 1950’’ (15 U.S.C. 223, 224) is hereby re17 pealed. 

18 (3) STANDARD TIME.—The first section of the 

19 Act of March 19, 1918, (15 U.S.C 261; commonly 

20 known as the Calder Act) is amended— 

21 (A) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ be22 fore ‘‘For the purpose’’; 

23 (B) by striking the second sentence and 

24 the extra period after it and inserting ‘‘Except 

25 as provided in section 3(a) of the Uniform Time 


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1 Act of 1966, the standard time of the first zone 

2 shall be Coordinated Universal Time retarded 

3 by 4 hours; that of the second zone retarded by 

4 5 hours; that of the third zone retarded by 6 

5 hours; that of the fourth zone retarded by 7 

6 hours; that of the fifth zone retarded 8 hours; 

7 that of the sixth zone retarded by 9 hours; that 

8 of the seventh zone retarded by 10 hours; that 

9 of the eighth zone retarded by 11 hours; and 

10 that of the ninth zone shall be Coordinated 

11 Universal Time advanced by 10 hours.’’; and 

12 (C) adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(b) COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME DEFINED.—In 

14 this section, the term ‘Coordinated Universal Time’ means 

15 the time scale maintained through the General Conference 

16 of Weights and Measures and interpreted or modified for 

17 the United States by the Secretary of Commerce.’. 

18 (e) RETENTION OF DEPRECIATION SURCHARGE.— 

19 Section 14 of the National Institute of Standards and 

20 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278d) is amended— 

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

22 ‘‘Within’’; and 

23 (2) adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(b) RETENTION OF FEES.—The Director is author25 ized to retain all building use and depreciation surcharge 


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1 fees collected pursuant to OMB Circular A–25. Such fees 

2 shall be collected and credited to the Construction of Re3 search Facilities Appropriation Account for use in mainte4 nance and repair of National Institute of Standards and 

5 Technology’s existing facilities.’’. 

6 (f) NON-ENERGY INVENTIONS PROGRAM.—Section 

7 28 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

8 Act, as redesignated by section 202 of this Act (formerly 

9 15 U.S.C. 278m), is repealed. 

10 TITLE VI—OCEAN AND 

11 ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS. 

12 SEC. 601. OCEAN AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND DE13 VELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

14 The Administrator of the National Oceanic and At15 mospheric Administration, in consultation with the Direc16 tor of the National Science Foundation and the Adminis17 trator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra18 tion, shall establish a coordinated program of ocean and 

19 atmospheric research and development, in collaboration 

20 with academic institutions and other nongovernmental en21 tities, that shall focus on the development of advanced tech22 nologies and analytical methods that will promote United 

23 States leadership in ocean and atmospheric science and 

24 competitiveness in the applied uses of such knowledge. 


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74 

•S 2802 RS 

1 SEC. 602. NOAA OCEAN AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE EDU2 CATION PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the National 

4 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall conduct, de5 velop, support, promote, and coordinate formal and infor6 mal educational activities at all levels to enhance public 

7 awareness and understanding of ocean, coastal, and atmos8 pheric science and stewardship by the general public and 

9 other coastal stakeholders, including underrepresented 

10 groups in ocean and atmospheric science and policy careers. 

11 In conducting those activities, the Administrator shall build 

12 upon the educational programs and activities of the agency. 

13 (b) NOAA SCIENCE EDUCATION PLAN.—The Adminis14 trator, appropriate National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad15 ministration programs, ocean atmospheric science and edu16 cation experts, and interested members of the public shall 

17 develop a science education plan setting forth education 

18 goals and strategies for the Administration, as well as pro19 grammatic actions to carry out such goals and priorities 

20 over the next 20 years, and evaluate and update such plan 

21 every 5 years. 


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Calendar No. 524 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2802 

[Report No. 109

–285] 

A BILL 

To improve American innovation and 

competitiveness in the global economy. 

JULY 19, 2006 

Reported with amendments 


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