Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 171 / Friday, September 4, 2009 / Notices 45823 

Committee to consult with industry 

representatives that produce, process, or 

consume the materials contained in the 

stockpile. 

In Attachment 1, the Defense National 

Stockpile Center (DNSC) lists the 

proposed quantities that are enumerated 

in the stockpile inventory for the FY 

2011 Annual Materials Plan. The 

Committee is seeking public comments 

on the potential market impact of the 

sale of these materials. Public comments 

are an important element of the 

Committee’s market impact review 

process. 

The quantities listed in Attachment 1 

are not disposal or sales target 

quantities, but rather a statement of the 

proposed maximum disposal quantity of 

each listed material that may be sold in 

a particular fiscal year by the DNSC. 

The quantity of each material that will 

actually be offered for sale will depend 

on the market for the material at the 

time of the offering as well as on the 

quantity of each material approved for 

disposal by Congress. 

Submission of Comments 

The Committee requests that 

interested parties provide written 

comments, supporting data and 

documentation, and any other relevant 

information on the potential market 

impact of the sale of these commodities. 

All comments must be submitted to the 

address indicated in this notice. All 

comments submitted through e-mail 

must include the phrase ‘‘Market Impact 

Committee Notice of Inquiry’’ in the 

subject line. 

The Committee encourages interested 

persons who wish to comment to do so 

at the earliest possible time. The period 

for submission of comments will close 

on October 5, 2009. The Committee will 

consider all comments received before 

the close of the comment period. 

Comments received after the end of the 

comment period will be considered, if 

possible, but their consideration cannot 

be assured. 

All comments submitted in response 

to this notice will be made a matter of 

public record and will be available for 

public inspection and copying. Anyone 

submitting business confidential 

information should clearly identify the 

business confidential portion of the 

submission and also provide a nonconfidential submission that can be 

placed in the public record. The 

Committee will seek to protect such 

information to the extent permitted by 

law. 

The Office of Administration, Bureau 

of Industry and Security, U.S. 

Department of Commerce, displays 

public comments on the BIS Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) Web site at 

http://www.bis.doc.gov/foia. This office 

does not maintain a separate public 

inspection facility. If you have technical 

difficulties accessing this Web site, 

please call BIS’s Office of 

Administration at (202) 482–1900 for 

assistance. 

Dated: August 28, 2009. 

Matthew S. Borman, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Export 

Administration. 

Attachment 1 

PROPOSED FY 2011 ANNUAL MATERIALS PLAN

Material Unit Quantity Footnote 

Beryl Ore ........................................................................................................... ST ........................................................ 1 (1) 

Beryllium Metal .................................................................................................. ST ........................................................ 60 

Chromite, Refractory ......................................................................................... SDT ..................................................... 2,000 

Chromium, Ferro ............................................................................................... ST ........................................................ 100,000 

Chromium, Metal ............................................................................................... ST ........................................................ 500 

Cobalt ................................................................................................................ LB Co .................................................. 1,000,000 (1) 

Columbium Metal Ingots .................................................................................... LB Cb .................................................. 22,000 (1) 

Germanium ........................................................................................................ Kg ........................................................ 8,000 

Manganese, Chemical Grade ............................................................................ SDT ..................................................... 5,000 (1) 

Manganese, Ferro ............................................................................................. ST ........................................................ 100,000 

Manganese, Metallurgical Grade ...................................................................... SDT ..................................................... 100,000 (1) 

Platinum ............................................................................................................. Tr Oz ................................................... 9,000 (1) 

Platinum—Iridium .............................................................................................. Tr Oz ................................................... 1,000 (1) 

Talc .................................................................................................................... ST ........................................................ 1,000 (1) 

Tantalum Carbide Powder ................................................................................. LB Ta ................................................... 4,000 (1) 

Tin ...................................................................................................................... MT ....................................................... 4,000 (1) 

Tungsten Metal Powder .................................................................................... LB W .................................................... 300,000 (1) 

Tungsten Ores & Concentrates ......................................................................... LB W .................................................... 8,000,000 

Zinc .................................................................................................................... ST ........................................................ 8,500 (1) 

1Actual quantity will be limited to remaining inventory. 

[FR Doc. E9–21350 Filed 9–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

Technology Innovation Program (TIP) 

Seeks White Papers 

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology (NIST), Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The National Institute of 

Standards and Technology’s (NIST) 

Technology Innovation Program (TIP) 

announces that it is seeking white 

papers from any interested party, 

including academia; federal, state, and 

local governments; industry; national 

laboratories; and professional 

organizations/societies. White papers 

will be used to identify and select areas 

of critical national need and the 

associated technical challenges to be 

addressed in future TIP competitions. 

DATES: The suggested dates for 

submission of white papers are 

November 9, 2009, February 15, 2010, 

May 10, 2010, and July 12, 2010. 

However, TIP will accept white papers 

at any time during the period November 

9, 2009 through September 30, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: White papers must be 

submitted to TIP as follows: 

Electronic (e-mail) submission: 

tipwhitepaper@nist.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Wiggins at 301–975–5416 or by 

e-mail at thomas.wiggins@nist.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


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45824 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 171 / Friday, September 4, 2009 / Notices 

Background Information: The 

Technology Innovation Program (TIP) at 

the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) was established for 

the purpose of assisting U.S. businesses 

and institutions of higher education or 

other organizations, such as national 

laboratories and nonprofit research 

institutions, to support, promote, and 

accelerate innovation in the United 

States through high-risk, high-reward 

research in areas of Critical National 

Need. The TIP statutory authority is 

Section 3012 of the America Creating 

Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote 

Excellence in Technology, Education, 

and Science (COMPETES) Act, Public 

Law 110–69 (August 9, 2007), 15 

U.S.C.A. § 278n (2008). The TIP 

implementing regulations are published 

at 15 CFR Part 296 (73 FR 35,913 (June 

25, 2008)). 

TIP holds competitions for funding 

based on addressing areas of critical 

national need. TIP identifies and selects 

topics for areas of critical national need 

based on input from within NIST, the 

TIP Advisory Board, the science and 

technology communities, and from the 

public. TIP is interested in receiving 

input on the identification and 

definition of problems that are 

sufficiently large in magnitude that they 

have the potential to inhibit the growth 

and well-being of our nation today. This 

announcement explains the 

requirements and process for submitting 

white papers to TIP by interested 

parties. White papers from experts in 

other federal agencies are valued and 

welcome, and will enable TIP to 

complement the efforts of other mission 

agencies and avoid duplication of their 

efforts, thereby leveraging resources to 

benefit the nation. 

The key concepts, enumerated below, 

are the foundation of TIP and should 

form the basis of an effective white 

paper: 

a. An area of critical national need 

means an area that justifies government 

attention because the magnitude of the 

problem is large and the associated 

societal challenges that need to be 

overcome are not being addressed, but 

could be addressed through high-risk, 

high-reward research. 

b. A societal challenge is a problem or 

issue confronted by society that when 

not addressed could negatively affect 

the overall function and quality of life 

of the Nation, and as such, justifies 

government action. A societal challenge 

is associated with barriers preventing 

the successful development of solutions 

to the area of critical national need. 

TIP’s mission is to tackle the technical 

issues that can be addressed through 

high-risk, high-reward research. The 

results of the high-risk, high-reward 

research should have the potential for 

transformational results. 

c. A transformational result is a 

potential project outcome that enables 

disruptive changes over and above 

current methods and strategies. 

Transformational results have the 

potential to radically improve our 

understanding of systems and 

technologies, challenging the status quo 

of research approaches and 

applications. 

The white papers are expected to 

contain: A description of an area of 

critical national need and the associated 

societal challenge(s) (what is the 

problem, why is it a problem, and why 

is it challenging); why government 

support is needed, and what could 

happen if that support is not provided 

in the proposed time frame; and a high 

level discussion of potential scientific 

advancements and/or technologies that 

are needed to address the societal 

challenges; and an indication of the 

types of entities or groups who might be 

interested in developing proposal 

submissions to fund these scientific 

and/or technology approaches. Do not 

include ideas for specific proposals in 

the white paper (i.e., your specific 

solution to the problem). 

This solicitation for white papers is 

neither a Request for Proposals (RFP) 

nor should it be viewed as a request for 

pre-proposals. Rather, it is a way to 

include ideas from the public to identify 

problems that justify government 

support and can be addressed by 

technological innovations that are not 

currently being sufficiently supported to 

meet the challenge. 

White papers must not contain 

proprietary information. Submission of 

a white paper means that the author(s) 

agrees that all the information in the 

white paper can be made available to 

the public. 

Information contained in these white 

papers will be considered and combined 

with information from other resources— 

including the vision of the 

Administration, NIST, other government 

agencies, technical communities, the 

TIP Advisory Board, and other 

stakeholders—to develop the scope of 

future competitions and to shape TIP’s 

collaborative outreach. White papers are 

a valuable resource that adds to TIP’s 

understanding of the significance and 

scope of critical national needs and 

associated societal challenges. The 

white papers submitted could be shared 

with the Administration, NIST, other 

government agencies, technical 

communities, the TIP Advisory Board, 

other stakeholders and the public as 

part of the selection process for future 

competitions. 

For detailed instructions on how to 

prepare and submit white papers, refer 

to ‘‘A Guide for Preparing and 

Submitting White Papers on Areas of 

Critical National Need.’’ The Guide is 

available on the TIP Web site at 

http://www.nist.gov/tip/ 

guide_for_white_papers.pdf. 

In this call for white papers, TIP is 

seeking information in all areas of 

critical national need, but also seeks 

information to assist TIP in further 

defining several topic areas under 

development. White papers that address 

any of the following areas may further 

develop the definition and scope of the 

critical national need suggested by these 

topic areas, and should additionally 

identify and explain specific societal 

challenges within these critical national 

need areas that require a technical 

solution. White papers may discuss any 

critical national need area of interest to 

the submitter, or may address any of the 

following topic areas: 

Civil Infrastructure: Civil 

infrastructure constitutes the basic 

fabric of the world in which we live and 

work. It is the combination of 

fundamental systems that support a 

community, region, or country. The 

civil infrastructure includes systems for 

transportation (airport facilities, roads, 

bridges, rail, waterway locks); and 

systems for water distribution and flood 

control (water distribution systems, 

storm and waste water collection, dams, 

and levees). New construction 

approaches and materials to improve 

the infrastructure and for mitigating the 

expense of repairing or replacing 

existing infrastructure appear to be areas 

with the potential for specific societal 

challenges within this area of critical 

national need. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Advanced materials for repair 

and rehabilitation of existing 

infrastructure, advanced inspection and 

monitoring technologies that assist 

public safety officials in determining the 

condition of structures, or areas of 

sustainability of infrastructure 

construction. 

Complex networks and complex 

systems: Society is increasingly 

dependent on complex networks like 

those used for energy delivery, 

telecommunication, transportation, and 

finance over which we have imperfect 

control. No single organization and no 

collection of organizations have the 

ability to effectively control these multiscale, distributed, highly interactive 

networks. Complex network theory will 

also be important in modeling neural 

systems, molecular physiological 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 171 / Friday, September 4, 2009 / Notices 45825 

response to disease, and environmental 

systems. The current technical and 

mathematical methodologies that 

underpin our ability to simulate and 

model physical systems are unable to 

predict and control the behavior of 

complex systems. Stability and control 

of these networks can have far reaching 

consequences to our quality of life. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Theoretical advances and/or 

proof-of-concept applications; or 

capabilities that can potentially address 

and advance the use of complex 

network analyses in the following 

areas—sustainable manufacturing 

models, resource management and 

environmental impacts (energy, water, 

agriculture), intelligent transportation 

systems, biological systems, 

communications networks, security 

systems, personalized healthcare, and 

others. 

Energy: From agriculture to 

manufacturing, all endeavors require 

energy as input. Escalating energy 

demands throughout the world can lead 

to national security challenges, 

financially challenge national 

economies, and contribute to 

environmental alterations. Although 

heavily supported projects exist in 

energy research, there remain technical 

roadblocks that affect full deployment of 

new and emerging energy technologies. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Technologies for improved 

manufacturing of critical components 

for alternative energy production; 

replacement of fossil-fuel derived fuels 

with non-food, renewably produced 

fuels; or improved technologies for 

stable connections of many power 

sources to the electrical grid. 

Ensuring Future Water Supply: The 

Nation’s population and economic 

growth places greater demands on 

freshwater resources. At the same time, 

temporary or permanent drought 

conditions and water access rights affect 

regional freshwater availability. Water 

needs threaten to outstrip available 

freshwater, now and in the future. Water 

quality, both in terms of 

decontamination and disinfection of 

water supplies, is also being pressured 

by emerging contaminants that must 

either be removed from distributed 

water or converted to harmless forms of 

waste. Food contaminations are often 

traced back to water contaminations, 

either in the field or in processing. 

Municipal waste streams and irrigation 

runoff may waste resources that are not 

captured and/or recovered. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Means to provide future fresh 

water supplies without undue 

consumption of energy resources; means 

that determine and assure the safety of 

water and food from waterborne 

contamination; or means to 

economically recover resources from 

wastewater streams and lower the 

energy cost of producing freshwater and 

potable water from marginalized water 

resources. 

Healthcare: Healthcare spending per 

capita in the United States is high and 

rising, and currently approved drugs 

work only in a fraction of the 

population. Doctors are unable to select 

optimal drug treatments and dosages 

based on the patient’s unique genetics, 

physiology, and metabolic processes, 

resulting in a trial and error component 

to treatment. As a consequence, 

significant expenditures result in drugs 

that are ineffective on subsets of 

patients, and a clearer understanding of 

which patients may suffer side effects 

from prescribed medicine is lacking. 

The key to patient response lies in 

greater understanding of both genetic 

variability and environmental 

influences on disease mechanisms. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Cost effective advanced tools 

and techniques for genomics and 

proteomics research that provide greater 

understanding of complex biological 

systems, biomarker identification, and 

targeted drug and vaccine delivery 

systems; improved and low cost 

diagnostic and therapeutic systems; or 

better methods of integration and 

analysis of biological data, especially 

when combined with environmental 

and patient history data. 

Manufacturing: Manufacturing is a 

vital part of our nation’s economy, 

which now is facing increasing global 

competitiveness challenges, regulations 

and controls over environmental and 

resource issues, and other economic 

pressures. Technical advances have at 

times been able to address productivity 

and other issues, but the recent 

pressures on the manufacturing 

community have hindered their ability 

to focus the necessary resources on 

longer term solutions that could lead to 

economic growth in this sector which 

the nation needs. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Manufacturing systems that 

have shorter innovation cycles, more 

flexibility, and are rapidly 

reconfigurable; accelerating 

commodization of next generation, highperformance materials, such as 

nanomaterials, composites, and alloys to 

specification, in a consistent, efficient 

and effective manner; or life cycle 

assessment tools, an aid toward 

sustainable manufacturing; and better 

automation solutions. 

Nanomaterials/nanotechnology: The 

unique properties of nanomaterials 

provide extraordinary promise. There is 

a need for greater understanding and 

solutions to overcome the barriers 

associated with manufacturing 

nanomaterials and their incorporation 

into products, while maintaining the 

unique functionality of the 

nanomaterial. Although many processes 

are achievable in the laboratory, the 

scale-up to industrial production 

without compromising the quality of the 

produced material can be highly 

problematic. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Methods required for 

manufacturing nanomaterials with prespecified functionality and morphology; 

methods for inspection and real-time 

monitoring the processing of 

nanomaterials; or methods for 

incorporation of nanomaterial into 

products without compromising the 

material’s required properties. 

Sustainability: ‘‘Sustainability,’’ as 

defined by a widely used definition is 

‘‘meeting the needs of the present 

generation without compromising the 

ability of future generations to meet 

their needs.’’ Clearly, sustainability is 

an attractive and desirable concept for 

the nation. TIP is interested in 

technologies that reduce or eliminate 

the environmental ‘‘footprint’’ of 

industrial processes and public waste 

streams. Sustainability is a complex and 

highly-interdisciplinary endeavor with 

economic, environmental, and societal 

dimensions. In this context, the white 

papers should address elements such as 

cost effectiveness, energy efficiency, 

recyclability, safety, resource use, lifecycle analysis, and ecosystem health. 

Examples could include challenges 

such as: Technologies to develop 

feedstocks from renewable sources; 

technologies to recover resources 

(minerals, materials, energy, water) from 

industry and other/public waste 

streams; low-cost, low-energy separation 

technologies; and replacement of 

hazardous/toxic materials with safer, 

more cost effective materials and/or 

process technology. 

Dated: September 1, 2009. 

Patrick Gallagher, 

Deputy Director. 

[FR Doc. E9–21421 Filed 9–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 


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