I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 255 

To establish an interagency committee to coordinate Federal manufacturing 

research and development efforts in manufacturing, strengthen existing 

programs to assist manufacturing innovation and education, and expand 

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

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 5, 2007 

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

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To establish an interagency committee to coordinate Federal 

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

programs for small and medium-sized manufacturers, 

and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Manufacturing Tech5 nology Competitiveness Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE AND ADVISORY COM2 MITTEE. 

3 (a) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.— 

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

6 manufacturing research and development, which 

7 shall include representatives from the Office of 

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

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

12 Department of Energy, and any other agency that 

13 the President may designate. The Chair of the Inter14 agency Committee shall be designated by the Direc15 tor of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

16 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Committee 

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

19 and development through— 

20 (A) establishing goals and priorities for 

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

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

26 technical training; 


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1 (B) developing, within 6 months after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act, and updating 

3 every 3 years for delivery with the President’s 

4 annual budget request to Congress, a strategic 

5 plan, to be transmitted to the Committee on 

6 Science of the House of Representatives and 

7 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

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

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

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

14 United States competitiveness; 

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

17 development to the Office of Management and 

18 Budget; and 

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

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

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


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1 the manufacturing research and development 

2 problems that require additional attention, and 

3 recommendations of how Federal programs 

4 should address those problems. 

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

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

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

10 involved in manufacturing research and develop11 ment. 

12 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

13 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 

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

15 President shall establish or designate an advisory 

16 committee to provide advice and information to the 

17 Interagency Committee. 

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

20 providing it with recommendations on— 

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

23 (B) the strategic plan, including proposals 

24 on how to strengthen research and development 

25 to help manufacturing; and 


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1 (C) other issues it considers appropriate. 

2 (3) REPORT.—The Advisory Committee shall 

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

5 (A) the progress made in implementing the 

6 strategic plan and challenges to this progress; 

7 (B) the effectiveness of activities under the 

8 strategic plan in improving United States man9 ufacturing competitiveness; 

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

12 and 

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

16 the measurement and statistical analysis of 

17 manufacturing that may need to be considered 

18 by the Interagency Committee. 

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

21 Committee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Com22 mittee. 


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1 SEC. 3. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

2 PILOT GRANTS. 

3 The National Institute of Standards and Technology 

4 Act is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating the first section 32 (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 

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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. Not more than an additional one12 third of such costs may be obtained directly or indirectly 

13 from other Federal sources. 

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

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

16 time, and containing such information as the Director 

17 shall require. Such applications shall describe at a min18 imum— 

19 ‘‘(1) how each partner will participate in devel20 oping and carrying out the research agenda of the 

21 partnership; 

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

23 and 

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

25 award would contribute to improved performance, 


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1 productivity, and competitiveness of the United 

2 States manufacturing industry. 

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

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

7 broad impact on manufacturing; 

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

9 merit of the proposed projects; and 

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

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

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

16 of manufacturing industry sectors and a range of firm 

17 sizes. 

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

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

21 SEC. 4. MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

22 Section 18 of the National Institute of Standards and 

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

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

25 ‘‘The Director is authorized’’; and 


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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(b) MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.— 

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

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

8 ‘‘(A) postdoctoral research fellowships at 

9 the Institute for research activities related to 

10 manufacturing sciences; and 

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

13 of higher education who wish to pursue studies 

14 related to the manufacturing sciences at the In15 stitute. 

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

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

19 such manner, and containing such information as 

20 the Director may require. 

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

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

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1 ior research fellowships at levels consistent with sup2 port for a faculty member in a sabbatical position.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION. 

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

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

9 of the deficiencies in its performance and may be placed 

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

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

12 deficiencies identified by the panel, or shown a significant 

13 improvement in its performance, the Director may conduct 

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

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

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

18 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

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

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

21 sums as may be appropriated to the Secretary and Direc22 tor to operate the Centers program, the Secretary and Di23 rector also may accept funds from other Federal depart24 ments and agencies and under section 2(c)(7) from the 

25 private sector for the purpose of strengthening United 


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1 States manufacturing. Such funds, if allocated to a Center 

2 or Centers, shall not be considered in the calculation of 

3 the Federal share of capital and annual operating and 

4 maintenance costs under subsection (c).’’. 

5 (c) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTER COMPETI6 TIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the National Insti7 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub9 sections: 

10 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es12 tablish, within the Manufacturing Extension Part13 nership program under this section and section 26 

14 of this Act, a program of competitive awards among 

15 participants described in paragraph (2) for the pur16 poses described in paragraph (3). 

17 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving 

18 awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or 

19 a consortium of such Centers. 

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

21 under this subsection is to develop projects to solve 

22 new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter23 mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di24 rector of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

25 program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 


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1 National Advisory Board, and small and medium2 sized manufacturers. One or more themes for the 

3 competition may be identified, which may vary from 

4 year to year, depending on the needs of manufactur5 ers and the success of previous competitions. These 

6 themes shall be related to projects associated with 

7 manufacturing extension activities, including supply 

8 chain integration and quality management, or extend 

9 beyond these traditional areas. 

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

11 under this subsection shall be submitted in such 

12 manner, at such time, and containing such informa13 tion as the Director shall require, in consultation 

14 with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Na15 tional Advisory Board. 

16 ‘‘(5) SELECTION.—Awards under this sub17 section shall be peer reviewed and competitively 

18 awarded. The Director shall select proposals to re19 ceive awards— 

20 ‘‘(A) that utilize innovative or collaborative 

21 approaches to solving the problem described in 

22 the competition; 

23 ‘‘(B) that will improve the competitiveness 

24 of industries in the region in which the Center 

25 or Centers are located; and 


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

2 economic stability of that region. 

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

4 awards under this subsection shall not be required 

5 to provide a matching contribution. 

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

7 under this section shall submit annual audits to the Sec8 retary in accordance with Office of Management and 

9 Budget Circular A–133 and shall make such audits avail10 able to the public on request.’’. 

11 (d) PROGRAMMATIC AND OPERATIONAL PLAN.—Not 

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

13 Act, the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

14 and Technology shall transmit to the Committee on 

15 Science of the House of Representatives and the Com16 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

17 Senate a 3-year programmatic and operational plan for 

18 the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program under 

19 sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of Standards 

20 and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 278l). The plan 

21 shall include comments on the plan from the Manufac22 turing Extension Partnership State partners and the Man23 ufacturing Extension Partnership National Advisory 

24 Board. 


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1 SEC. 6. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERV2 ICES. 

3 (a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized 

4 to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the 

5 scientific and technical research and services laboratory 

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

8 (1) $505,340,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

9 (2) $555,874,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

10 (3) $611,461,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

11 (b) MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY

12 AWARD PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appro13 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm 

14 Baldrige National Quality Award program under section 

15 17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 

16 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a)— 

17 (1) $7,828,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

18 (2) $8,063,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

19 (3) $8,305,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

20 (c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are 

21 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com22 merce for construction and maintenance of facilities of the 

23 National Institute of Standards and Technology— 

24 (1) $94,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

25 (2) $94,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

26 (3) $94,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. 


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1 (d) ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM ELIMI2 NATION REPORT.—Not later than 3 months after the date 

3 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide to 

4 the Congress a report detailing the impacts of the possible 

5 elimination of the Advanced Technology Program on the 

6 laboratory programs at the National Institute of Stand7 ards Technology. 

8 (e) LOSS OF FUNDING.—At the time of the Presi9 dent’s budget request for fiscal year 2009, the Secretary 

10 shall provide the Congress a report on how the Depart11 ment of Commerce plans to absorb the loss of Advanced 

12 Technology Program funds to the laboratory programs at 

13 the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or 

14 otherwise mitigate the effects of this loss on its programs 

15 and personnel. 

16 SEC. 7. STANDARDS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

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

18 Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Institute 

19 Program, the Director of the National Institute of Stand20 ards and Technology shall carry out a Standards Edu21 cation program to award grants to institutions of higher 

22 education to support efforts by such institutions to develop 

23 curricula on the role of standards in the fields of engineer24 ing, business, science, and economics. The curricula 

25 should address topics such as— 


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1 (A) development of technical standards; 

2 (B) demonstrating conformity to standards; 

3 (C) intellectual property and antitrust issues; 

4 (D) standardization as a key element of busi5 ness strategy; 

6 (E) survey of organizations that develop stand7 ards; 

8 (F) the standards life cycle; 

9 (G) case studies in effective standardization; 

10 (H) managing standardization activities; and 

11 (I) managing organizations that develop stand12 ards. 

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

14 competitive, merit-reviewed basis and shall require cost15 sharing from non-Federal sources. 

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

17 higher education seeking funding under this section shall 

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

19 manner, and containing such information as the Director 

20 may require. The application shall include at a min21 imum— 

22 (A) a description of the content and schedule 

23 for adoption of the proposed curricula in the courses 

24 of study offered by the applicant; and 


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

2 cost-sharing to be provided. 

3 (2) In evaluating the applications submitted under 

4 paragraph (1) the Director shall consider, at a min5 imum— 

6 (A) the level of commitment demonstrated by 

7 the applicant in carrying out and sustaining lasting 

8 curricula changes in accordance with subsection 

9 (a)(1); and 

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

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com13 merce for the Teacher Science and Technology Enhance14 ment Institute program of the National Institute of Stand15 ards and Technology— 

16 (1) $773,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

17 (2) $796,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

18 (3) $820,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

19 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP

21 PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to 

22 the Secretary of Commerce, or other appropriate Federal 

23 agencies, for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

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

2 and 278l)— 

3 (1) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, of which 

4 not more than $1,000,000 shall be for the competi5 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

6 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)); 

7 (2) $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, of which 

8 not more than $4,000,000 shall be for the competi9 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

10 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)); and 

11 (3) $130,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, of which 

12 not more than $4,100,000 shall be for the competi13 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act 

14 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)). 

15 (b) COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH

16 PILOT GRANTS PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be 

17 appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Col18 laborative Manufacturing Research Pilot Grants program 

19 under section 33 of the National Institute of Standards 

20 and Technology Act— 

21 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

22 (2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

23 (3) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

24 (c) FELLOWSHIPS.—There are authorized to be ap25 propriated to the Secretary of Commerce for ManufacVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:44 Jan 12, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H255.IH H255

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1 turing Fellowships at the National Institute of Standards 

2 and Technology under section 18(b) of the National Insti3 tute of Standards and Technology Act, as added by section 

4 4 of this Act— 

5 (1) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

6 (2) $1,750,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

7 (3) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

Æ 


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