II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3527 

To require the Under Secretary of Technology of the Department of Commerce to establish an Advanced Multidisciplinary Computing Software 

Institute. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2006 

Mr. DEWINE (for himself and Mr. KOHL) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Under Secretary of Technology of the Department of Commerce to establish an Advanced Multidisciplinary Computing Software Institute. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Blue Collar Computing 

5 and Business Assistance Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) Computational science, the use of advanced 

2 computing capabilities to understand and solve com3 plex problems, including the development of new 

4 products and processes, is now critical to scientific 

5 leadership, economic competitiveness, and national 

6 security. 

7 (2) Advances in computational science and high 

8 performance computing provide a competitive advan9 tage because they allow businesses to run faster sim10 ulations of complex systems or to develop more pre11 cise computer models. 

12 (3) The Federal Government is one of the in13 vestors in research aimed at the development of new 

14 computational science and high-performance com15 puting capabilities. 

16 (4) As determined by the Council on Competi17 tiveness, the Nation’s small businesses and manufac18 turers must ‘‘Out Compute to Out Compete’’. How19 ever, new computational science technologies are not 

20 being transferred effectively from the research orga21 nizations to small businesses and manufacturers. 

22 (5) Small businesses and manufacturers are es23 pecially well-positioned to benefit from increased 

24 availability and utilization of high-performance com25 puting technologies and software. 


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1 (6) Current cost and technology barriers associ2 ated with high-performance computing and software 

3 algorithms often inhibit small businesses and manu4 facturers from successfully making use of these tech5 nologies. 

6 (7) The establishment of an advanced multi7 disciplinary computing software institute will help 

8 make existing high performance computing resources 

9 more accessible to small businesses and manufactur10 ers. This will create new opportunities for economic 

11 growth, jobs, and product development. 

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

13 grants for the creation of an Advanced Multidisciplinary 

14 Computing Software Institute that will— 

15 (1) develop and compile high-performance com16 puting software and algorithms suitable for applica17 tions in small business and manufacturing; 

18 (2) effectively carry out the transfer of new 

19 computational science and high-performance com20 puting technologies to small businesses and manu21 facturers; and 

22 (3) actively assist small businesses and manu23 facturers in utilizing such technologies. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADVANCED MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMPUTING

2 SOFTWARE CENTER; CENTER.—The term ‘‘Advanced 

3 Multidisciplinary Computing Software Center’’ or 

4 ‘‘Center’’ is a center created by an eligible entity 

5 with a grant awarded under section 4. 

6 (2) ADVANCED MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMPUTING

7 SOFTWARE INSTITUTE.—The term ‘‘Advanced Multi8 disciplinary Computing Software Institute’’ means a 

9 network of up to 5 Advanced Multidisciplinary Com10 puting Software Centers located throughout the 

11 United States. 

12 (3) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

13 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means any organization if 

14 such organization is described in section 501(c)(3) 

15 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is exempt 

16 from tax under section 501(a) of such Code. 

17 (4) SMALL BUSINESS OR MANUFACTURER.— 

18 The term ‘‘small business or manufacturer’’ means 

19 a small business concern as that term is defined by 

20 section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

21 632(a)), including a small manufacturing concern. 

22 (5) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

23 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Tech24 nology of the Department of Commerce. 


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1 SEC. 4. GRANTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of Tech3 nology of the Department of Commerce shall award grants 

4 to establish up to 5 Advanced Multidisciplinary Com5 puting Software Centers at eligible entities throughout the 

6 United States. Each Center shall— 

7 (1) conduct general outreach to small busi8 nesses and manufacturers in all industry sectors 

9 within a geographic region assigned by the Under 

10 Secretary; and 

11 (2) conduct technology transfer, development, 

12 and utilization programs relating to a specific indus13 try sector, for all firms in that sector nationwide, as 

14 assigned by the Under Secretary. 

15 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For the purposes of this 

16 section, an eligible entity is any— 

17 (1) nonprofit organization; 

18 (2) consortia of nonprofit organizations; or 

19 (3) partnership between a for-profit and a non20 profit organization. 

21 (c) APPLICATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible entity that de23 sires to receive a grant under this Act shall submit 

24 an application to the Under Secretary, at such time, 

25 in such manner, and accompanied by such additional 


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1 information as the Under Secretary may reasonably 

2 require. 

3 (2) PUBLICATION IN FEDERAL REGISTER.—The 

4 Under Secretary shall publish the requirements de5 scribed in paragraph (1) in the Federal Register no 

6 later than 6 months after the date of the enactment 

7 of this Act. 

8 (3) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

9 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include the fol10 lowing: 

11 (A) An application that conforms to the re12 quirements set by the Under Secretary under 

13 paragraph (1). 

14 (B) A proposal for the allocation of the 

15 legal rights associated with any invention that 

16 may result from the activities of the proposed 

17 Center. 

18 (4) SELECTION CRITERIA.—Each application 

19 submitted under paragraph (1) shall be evaluated by 

20 the Under Secretary on the basis of merit review. In 

21 carrying out this merit review process, the Under 

22 Secretary shall consider— 

23 (A) the extent to which the eligible enti24 ty— 


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1 (i) has a partnership with nonprofit 

2 organizations, businesses, software ven3 dors, and academia recognized for relevant 

4 expertise in their selected industry sector; 

5 (ii) makes use of State-funded aca6 demic supercomputing centers and univer7 sities or colleges with expertise in the com8 putational needs of the industry assigned 

9 to the eligible entity under subsection 

10 (a)(1); 

11 (iii) has a history of working with 

12 businesses; 

13 (iv) has experience providing edu14 cational programs aimed at helping organi15 zations adopt the use of high-performance 

16 computing and computational science; 

17 (v) has partnerships with education or 

18 training organizations that can help edu19 cate future workers on the application of 

20 computational science to industry needs; 

21 (vi) is accessible to businesses, aca22 demia, incubators, or other economic devel23 opment organizations via high-speed net24 works; and 


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1 (vii) is capable of partnering with 

2 small businesses and manufacturers for the 

3 purpose of enhancing the ability of such 

4 entities to compete in the global market5 place; 

6 (B) the ability of the eligible entity to 

7 enter successfully into collaborative agreements 

8 with small businesses and manufacturers in 

9 order to experiment with new high performance 

10 computing and computational science tech11 nologies; and 

12 (C) such other factors as identified by the 

13 Under Secretary. 

14 (d) AMOUNT.—A grant awarded under this section 

15 shall not exceed $5,000,000 for any year of the grant pe16 riod. 

17 (e) DURATION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except for a renewal under 

19 paragraph (2), the duration of any grant awarded 

20 under subsection (a) may not exceed 5 years. 

21 (2) RENEWAL.—Any grant awarded under sub22 section (a) may be renewed at the discretion of the 

23 Under Secretary. 

24 (f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re2 ceives a grant under subsection (a) shall provide at 

3 least 50 percent of the capital and annual operating 

4 and maintenance funds required to create and main5 tain a Center. 

6 (2) FUNDING FROM OTHER FEDERAL, STATE, 

7 OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.—The funds pro8 vided by the eligible entity under paragraph (1) may 

9 consist of amounts received by the eligible entity 

10 from a Federal department or agency, other than 

11 the Department of Commerce, or a State or local 

12 government agency. 

13 (g) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

14 The Under Secretary may establish a reasonable limita15 tion on the portion of each grant awarded under sub16 section (a) that may be used for administrative expenses 

17 or other overhead costs. 

18 (h) FEES AND ALTERNATIVE FUNDING SOURCES

19 AUTHORIZED.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Center established pursu21 ant to this Act may, according to regulations estab22 lished by the Under Secretary— 

23 (A) collect a nominal fee from a small 

24 business or manufacturer for a service provided 


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1 pursuant to this Act, if such fee is utilized for 

2 the budget and operation of the Center; and 

3 (B) accept funds from any other Federal 

4 department or agency for the purpose of cov5 ering capital costs or operating budget ex6 penses. 

7 (2) CONDITION.—Any Center that is supported 

8 with funds that originally came from a Federal de9 partment or agency, other than the Department of 

10 Commerce, may be selected, and if selected shall be 

11 operated, according to the provisions of this section. 

12 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 

13 An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 

14 4(a) shall use the funds for the benefit of businesses in 

15 the industry sector designated by the Under Secretary 

16 under such subsection, and the eligible entity shall use 

17 such funds to— 

18 (1) create a repository of nonclassified, non19 proprietary new and existing federally-funded soft20 ware and algorithms; 

21 (2) test and validate software in the repository; 

22 (3) determine when and how the industry sector 

23 it serves could benefit from resources in the reposi24 tory; 


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1 (4) work with software vendors to commer2 cialize repository software and algorithms from the 

3 repository; 

4 (5) make software available to small businesses 

5 and manufacturers where it has not been commer6 cialized by a software vendor; 

7 (6) help software vendors, small businesses, and 

8 manufacturers test or utilize the software on high9 performance computing systems; and 

10 (7) maintain a research and outreach team that 

11 will work with small businesses and manufacturers 

12 to aid in the identification of software or computa13 tional science techniques which can be used to solve 

14 challenging problems, or meet contemporary busi15 ness needs of such organizations. 

16 SEC. 6. REPORTS AND EVALUATIONS. 

17 (a) REPORT.—Each eligible entity who receives a 

18 grant under section 4(a) shall submit to the Under Sec19 retary on an annual basis, a report describing the goals 

20 of the Center established by the eligible entity and the 

21 progress the eligible entity has achieved towards meeting 

22 the purposes of this Act. 

23 (b) EVALUATION.—The Under Secretary shall estab24 lish a peer review committee, consisting of representatives 


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1 from industry and academia, to review the goals and 

2 progress made by each Center during the grant period. 

3 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro5 priated $25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007, 

6 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 to carry out the provisions 

7 of this Act. 

8 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds provided for the estab9 lishment and operation of Centers under this Act shall re10 main available until expended. 

Æ 


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