IB 

Union Calendar No. 345 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3598 

[Report No. 108–581] 

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 

NOVEMBER 21, 2003 

Mr. EHLERS (for himself and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science 

JULY 1, 2004 

Additional sponsors: Mr. UPTON, Ms. HART, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. SOUDER, 

Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. QUINN, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. LIPINSKI, 

Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. DOYLE, Mrs. 

JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, 

Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. 

GILCHREST, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, 

Mr. CAMP, and Mr. ENGLISH

JULY 1, 2004 

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

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 21, 2003] 

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 2004’’. 

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

8 (a) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.— 

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

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

16 the National Science Foundation, the Department of 
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1 Energy, and any other agency that the President may 

2 designate. The Interagency Committee shall be 

3 chaired by the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

4 Technology. 

5 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Committee 

6 shall be responsible for the planning and coordination 

7 of Federal efforts in manufacturing research and de8 velopment through— 

9 (A) establishing goals and priorities for 

10 manufacturing research and development, in11 cluding the strengthening of United States man12 ufacturing through the support and coordination 

13 of Federal manufacturing research, development, 

14 technology transfer, standards, and technical 

15 training; 

16 (B) developing, within 6 months after the 

17 date of enactment of this Act, and updating 

18 every 3 years for delivery with the President’s 

19 annual budget request to Congress, a strategic 

20 plan, to be transmitted to the Committee on 

21 Science of the House of Representatives and the 

22 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor23 tation of the Senate, for manufacturing research 

24 and development that includes an analysis of the 

25 research, development, technology transfer, stand-
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1 ards, technical training, and integration needs of 

2 the manufacturing sector important to ensuring 

3 and maintaining United States competitiveness; 

4 (C) proposing an annual coordinated inter5 agency budget for manufacturing research and 

6 development to the Office of Management and 

7 Budget; and 

8 (D) developing and transmitting to Con9 gress an annual report on the Federal programs 

10 involved in manufacturing research, develop11 ment, technical training, standards, and integra12 tion, their funding levels, and their impacts on 

13 United States manufacturing competitiveness, 

14 including the identification and analysis of the 

15 manufacturing research and development prob16 lems that require additional attention, and rec17 ommendations of how Federal programs should 

18 address those problems. 

19 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS AND VIEWS.—In car20 rying out its functions under paragraph (2), the 

21 Interagency Committee shall consider the rec22 ommendations of the Advisory Committee and the 

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

24 involved in manufacturing research and development. 

25 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 
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1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 months 

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

3 shall establish or designate an advisory committee to 

4 provide advice and information to the Interagency 

5 Committee. 

6 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Advisory Com7 mittee shall assist the Interagency Committee by pro8 viding it with recommendations on— 

9 (A) the goals and priorities for manufac10 turing research and development; 

11 (B) the strategic plan, including proposals 

12 on how to strengthen research and development 

13 to help manufacturing; and 

14 (C) other issues it considers appropriate. 

15 (3) REPORT.—The Advisory Committee shall 

16 provide an annual report to the Interagency Com17 mittee and the Congress that shall assess— 

18 (A) the progress made in implementing the 

19 strategic plan and challenges to this progress; 

20 (B) the effectiveness of activities under the 

21 strategic plan in improving United States man22 ufacturing competitiveness; 

23 (C) the need to revise the goals and prior24 ities established by the Interagency Committee; 

25 and 
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1 (D) new and emerging problems and oppor2 tunities affecting the manufacturing research 

3 community, research infrastructure, and the 

4 measurement and statistical analysis of manu5 facturing that may need to be considered by the 

6 Interagency Committee. 

7 (4) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT APPLI8 CATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory Com9 mittee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Committee. 

10 SEC. 3. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

11 PILOT GRANTS. 

12 The National Institute of Standards and Technology 

13 Act is amended— 

14 (1) by redesignating the first section 32 as sec15 tion 34 and moving it to the end of the Act; and 

16 (2) by inserting before the section moved by 

17 paragraph (1) the following new section: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 33. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

19 PILOT GRANTS. 

20 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.— 

21 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall estab22 lish a pilot program of awards to partnerships among 

23 participants described in paragraph (2) for the pur24 poses described in paragraph (3). Awards shall be 

25 made on a peer-reviewed, competitive basis. 
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1 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Such partnerships shall 

2 include at least— 

3 ‘‘(A) 1 manufacturing industry partner; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(B) 1 nonindustry partner. 

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

7 under this section is to foster cost-shared collabora8 tions among firms, educational institutions, research 

9 institutions, State agencies, and nonprofit organiza10 tions to encourage the development of innovative, 

11 multidisciplinary manufacturing technologies. Part12 nerships receiving awards under this section shall 

13 conduct applied research to develop new manufac14 turing processes, techniques, or materials that would 

15 contribute to improved performance, productivity, 

16 and competitiveness of United States manufacturing, 

17 and build lasting alliances among collaborators. 

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

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

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

21 of such costs may be obtained directly or indirectly from 

22 other Federal sources. 

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

24 this section shall be submitted in such manner, at such 
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1 time, and containing such information as the Director shall 

2 require. Such applications shall describe at a minimum— 

3 ‘‘(1) how each partner will participate in devel4 oping and carrying out the research agenda of the 

5 partnership; 

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

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

8 award would contribute to improved performance, 

9 productivity, and competitiveness of the United States 

10 manufacturing industry. 

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

12 for awards under this section, the Director shall consider 

13 at a minimum— 

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

15 broad impact on manufacturing; 

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

17 merit of the proposed projects; and 

18 ‘‘(3) the demonstrated capabilities of the appli19 cants to successfully carry out the proposed research. 

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

21 this section the Director shall ensure, to the extent prac22 ticable, a distribution of overall awards among a variety 

23 of manufacturing industry sectors and a range of firm sizes. 
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1 ‘‘(f) DURATION.—In carrying out this section, the Di2 rector shall run a single pilot competition to solicit and 

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

4 SEC. 4. MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

5 Section 18 of the National Institute of Standards and 

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

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

8 ‘‘The Director is authorized’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub10 section: 

11 ‘‘(b) MANUFACTURING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.— 

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To promote the develop13 ment of a robust research community working at the 

14 leading edge of manufacturing sciences, the Director 

15 shall establish a program to award— 

16 ‘‘(A) postdoctoral research fellowships at the 

17 Institute for research activities related to manu18 facturing sciences; and 

19 ‘‘(B) senior research fellowships to estab20 lished researchers in industry or at institutions 

21 of higher education who wish to pursue studies 

22 related to the manufacturing sciences at the In23 stitute. 

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

25 under this subsection, an individual shall submit an 
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1 application to the Director at such time, in such 

2 manner, and containing such information as the Di3 rector may require. 

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

5 Director shall provide stipends for postdoctoral re6 search fellowships at a level consistent with the Na7 tional Institute of Standards and Technology 

8 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, and sen9 ior research fellowships at levels consistent with sup10 port for a faculty member in a sabbatical position.’’. 

11 SEC. 5. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION. 

12 (a) MANUFACTURING CENTER EVALUATION.—Section 

13 25(c)(5) of the National Institute of Standards and Tech14 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)(5)) is amended by inserting 

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

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

17 deficiencies in its performance and may be placed on proba18 tion for one year, after which time the panel may reevaluate 

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

20 identified by the panel, or shown a significant improvement 

21 in its performance, the Director may conduct a new com22 petition to select an operator for the Center or may close 

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

24 (b) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTER COMPETI25 TIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the National Insti-
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1 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) is 

2 amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.— 

4 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall estab5 lish, within the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

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

7 a program of competitive awards among participants 

8 described in paragraph (2) for the purposes described 

9 in paragraph (3). 

10 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving 

11 awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or 

12 a consortium of such Centers. 

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

14 under this subsection is to develop projects to solve 

15 new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter16 mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di17 rector of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

18 program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

19 National Advisory Board, and small and medium20 sized manufacturers. One or more themes for the com21 petition may be identified, which may vary from year 

22 to year, depending on the needs of manufacturers and 

23 the success of previous competitions. These themes 

24 shall be related to projects associated with manufac25 turing extension activities, including supply chain 
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1 integration and quality management, or extend be2 yond these traditional areas. 

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

4 under this subsection shall be submitted in such man5 ner, at such time, and containing such information 

6 as the Director shall require, in consultation with the 

7 Manufacturing Extension Partnership National Advi8 sory Board. 

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

10 shall be peer reviewed and competitively awarded. 

11 The Director shall select proposals to receive 

12 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 shall not be required to 

23 provide a matching contribution.’’. 
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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 ac6 tivities of the National Institute of Standards and Tech7 nology— 

8 (1) $425,688,000 for fiscal year 2005, of which— 

9 (A) $55,777,000 shall be for Electronics and 

10 Electrical Engineering; 

11 (B) $29,584,000 shall be for Manufacturing 

12 Engineering; 

13 (C) $50,142,000 shall be for Chemical 

14 Science and Technology; 

15 (D) $42,240,000 shall be for Physics; 

16 (E) $62,724,000 shall be for Material 

17 Science and Engineering; 

18 (F) $23,594,000 shall be for Building and 

19 Fire Research; 

20 (G) $60,660,000 shall be for Computer 

21 Science and Applied Mathematics, of which 

22 $2,800,000 shall be for activities in support of 

23 the Help America Vote Act of 2002; 

24 (H) $17,445,000 shall be for Technical As25 sistance; and 
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1 (I) $78,102,000 shall be for Research Sup2 port Activities; 

3 (2) $446,951,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

4 (3) $469,299,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

5 (4) $492,764,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

6 (b) MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD

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

8 Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm Baldrige National 

9 Quality Award program under section 17 of the Stevenson10 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

11 3711a)— 

12 (1) $5,400,000 for fiscal year 2005; 

13 (2) $5,535,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

14 (3) $5,674,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

15 (4) $5,815,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

16 (c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are 

17 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce 

18 for construction and maintenance of facilities of the Na19 tional Institute of Standards and Technology such sums as 

20 may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2008. 

21 SEC. 7. STANDARDS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

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

23 Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Institute 

24 Program, the Director of the National Institute of Stand25 ards and Technology shall carry out a Standards Edu-
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1 cation program to award grants to institutions of higher 

2 education to support efforts by such institutions to develop 

3 curricula on the role of standards in the fields of engineer4 ing, business, science, and economics. The curricula should 

5 address topics such as— 

6 (A) development of technical standards; 

7 (B) demonstrating conformity to standards; 

8 (C) intellectual property and antitrust issues; 

9 (D) standardization as a key element of business 

10 strategy; 

11 (E) survey of organizations that develop stand12 ards; 

13 (F) the standards life cycle; 

14 (G) case studies in effective standardization; 

15 (H) managing standardization activities; and 

16 (I) managing organizations that develop stand17 ards. 

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

19 competitive, merit-reviewed basis and shall require cost20 sharing from non-Federal sources. 

21 (b) SELECTION PROCESS.—(1) An institution of high22 er education seeking funding under this section shall submit 

23 an application to the Director at such time, in such man24 ner, and containing such information as the Director may 

25 require. The application shall include at a minimum— 
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1 (A) a description of the content and schedule for 

2 adoption of the proposed curricula in the courses of 

3 study offered by the applicant; and 

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

5 cost-sharing to be provided. 

6 (2) In evaluating the applications submitted under 

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

8 (A) the level of commitment demonstrated by the 

9 applicant in carrying out and sustaining lasting cur10 ricula changes in accordance with subsection (a)(1); 

11 and 

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

13 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 

14 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce 

15 for the Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Insti16 tute program of the National Institute of Standards and 

17 Technology— 

18 (1) $773,000 for fiscal year 2005; 

19 (2) $796,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

20 (3) $820,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

21 (4) $844,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

22 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 (a) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP PRO24 GRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec25 retary of Commerce, or other appropriate Federal agencies, 
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1 for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program 

2 under sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of Stand3 ards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 278l)— 

4 (1) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, of which 

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

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

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

8 (2) $115,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, of which 

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

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

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

12 (3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, of which 

13 not more than $4,200,000 shall be for the competitive 

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

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

16 (4) $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, of which 

17 not more than $4,300,000 shall be for the competitive 

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

19 U.S.C. 278k(e)). 

20 In any fiscal year for which appropriations are 

21 $106,000,000 or greater, none of the funds appropriated 

22 pursuant to this subsection shall be used for a general re23 competition of Centers established under section 25 of the 

24 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

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

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

5 under section 33 of the National Institute of Standards and 

6 Technology Act— 

7 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; 

8 (2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 

9 (3) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007. 

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

12 Fellowships at the National Institute of Standards and 

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

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

15 this Act— 

16 (1) $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2005; 

17 (2) $1,750,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

18 (3) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

19 (4) $2,250,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

Union Calendar No. 345 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3598 

[Report No. 108–581] 

A BILL 

To establish an interagency committee to coordiers, and for other purposes. grams for small and medium-sized manufactur- tion and education, and expand outreach pro- isting programs to assist manufacturing innova- opment efforts in manufacturing, strengthen ex- nate Federal manufacturing research and develJULY 1, 2004 

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