108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3598

AN ACT

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 devel-

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3598

AN ACT

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.
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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 es10 tablish or designate an interagency committee on

11 manufacturing research and development, which

12 shall include representatives from the Office of

13 Science and Technology Policy, the National Insti14 tute of Standards and Technology, the Science and

15 Technology Directorate of the Department of Home16 land Security, the National Science Foundation, the

17 Department of Energy, and any other agency that

18 the President may designate. The Interagency Com19 mittee shall be chaired by the Under Secretary of

20 Commerce for Technology.

21 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Committee

22 shall be responsible for the planning and coordina23 tion of Federal efforts in manufacturing research

24 and development through—
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1 (A) establishing goals and priorities for

2 manufacturing research and development, in3 cluding the strengthening of United States

4 manufacturing through the support and coordi5 nation of Federal manufacturing research, de6 velopment, technology transfer, standards, and

7 technical training;

8 (B) developing, within 6 months after the

9 date of enactment of this Act, and updating

10 every 3 years for delivery with the President’s

11 annual budget request to Congress, a strategic

12 plan, to be transmitted to the Committee on

13 Science of the House of Representatives and

14 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and

15 Transportation of the Senate, for manufac16 turing research and development that includes

17 an analysis of the research, development, tech18 nology transfer, standards, technical training,

19 and integration needs of the manufacturing sec20 tor important to ensuring and maintaining

21 United States competitiveness;

22 (C) proposing an annual coordinated inter23 agency budget for manufacturing research and

24 development to the Office of Management and

25 Budget; and
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1 (D) developing and transmitting to Con2 gress an annual report on the Federal programs

3 involved in manufacturing research, develop4 ment, technical training, standards, and inte5 gration, their funding levels, and their impacts

6 on United States manufacturing competitive7 ness, including the identification and analysis of

8 the manufacturing research and development

9 problems that require additional attention, and

10 recommendations of how Federal programs

11 should address those problems.

12 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS AND VIEWS.—In car13 rying out its functions under paragraph (2), the

14 Interagency Committee shall consider the rec15 ommendations of the Advisory Committee and the

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

17 involved in manufacturing research and develop18 ment.

19 (b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—

20 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6

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

22 President shall establish or designate an advisory

23 committee to provide advice and information to the

24 Interagency Committee.
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1 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Advisory Com2 mittee shall assist the Interagency Committee by

3 providing it with recommendations on—

4 (A) the goals and priorities for manufac5 turing research and development;

6 (B) the strategic plan, including proposals

7 on how to strengthen research and development

8 to help manufacturing; and

9 (C) other issues it considers appropriate.

10 (3) REPORT.—The Advisory Committee shall

11 provide an annual report to the Interagency Com12 mittee and the Congress that shall assess—

13 (A) the progress made in implementing the

14 strategic plan and challenges to this progress;

15 (B) the effectiveness of activities under the

16 strategic plan in improving United States man17 ufacturing competitiveness;

18 (C) the need to revise the goals and prior19 ities established by the Interagency Committee;

20 and

21 (D) new and emerging problems and op22 portunities affecting the manufacturing re23 search community, research infrastructure, and

24 the measurement and statistical analysis of
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1 manufacturing that may need to be considered

2 by the Interagency Committee.

3 (4) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT AP4 PLICATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory

5 Committee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Com6 mittee.

7 SEC. 3. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH

8 PILOT GRANTS.

9 The National Institute of Standards and Technology

10 Act is amended—

11 (1) by redesignating the first section 32 as sec12 tion 34 and moving it to the end of the Act; and

13 (2) by inserting before the section moved by

14 paragraph (1) the following new section:

15 ‘‘SEC. 33. COLLABORATIVE MANUFACTURING RESEARCH

16 PILOT GRANTS.

17 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—

18 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es19 tablish a pilot program of awards to partnerships

20 among participants described in paragraph (2) for

21 the purposes described in paragraph (3). Awards

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

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

24 include at least—
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1 ‘‘(A) 1 manufacturing industry partner;

2 and

3 ‘‘(B) 1 nonindustry partner.

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

5 under this section is to foster cost-shared collabora6 tions among firms, educational institutions, research

7 institutions, State agencies, and nonprofit organiza8 tions to encourage the development of innovative,

9 multidisciplinary manufacturing technologies. Part10 nerships receiving awards under this section shall

11 conduct applied research to develop new manufac12 turing processes, techniques, or materials that would

13 contribute to improved performance, productivity,

14 and competitiveness of United States manufacturing,

15 and build lasting alliances among collaborators.

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

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

18 costs of a partnership. Not more than an additional one19 third of such costs may be obtained directly or indirectly

20 from other Federal sources.

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

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

23 time, and containing such information as the Director

24 shall require. Such applications shall describe at a

25 minimum—
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1 ‘‘(1) how each partner will participate in devel2 oping and carrying out the research agenda of the

3 partnership;

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

5 and

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

7 award would contribute to improved performance,

8 productivity, and competitiveness of the United

9 States manufacturing industry.

10 ‘‘(d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting applica11 tions for awards under this section, the Director shall con12 sider at a minimum—

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

14 broad impact on manufacturing;

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

16 merit of the proposed projects; and

17 ‘‘(3) the demonstrated capabilities of the appli18 cants to successfully carry out the proposed re19 search.

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

24 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 devel13 opment of a robust research community working at

14 the leading edge of manufacturing sciences, the Di15 rector shall establish a program to award—

16 ‘‘(A) postdoctoral research fellowships at

17 the Institute for research activities related to

18 manufacturing 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

25 award under this subsection, an individual shall sub-
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1 mit an application to the Director at such time, in

2 such manner, and containing such information as

3 the Director 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.—Sec13 tion 25(c)(5) of the National Institute of Standards and

14 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)(5)) is amended by in15 serting ‘‘A Center that has not received a positive evalua16 tion by the evaluation panel shall be notified by the panel

17 of the deficiencies in its performance and may be placed

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

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

20 deficiencies identified by the panel, or shown a significant

21 improvement in its performance, the Director may conduct

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

23 may close the Center.’’ after ‘‘sixth year at declining lev24 els.’’.
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1 (b) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTER COMPETI2 TIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the National Insti3 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k)

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub5 sections:

6 ‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—

7 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es8 tablish, within the Manufacturing Extension Part9 nership program under this section and section 26

10 of this Act, a program of competitive awards among

11 participants described in paragraph (2) for the pur12 poses described in paragraph (3).

13 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving

14 awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or

15 a consortium of such Centers.

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

17 under this subsection is to develop projects to solve

18 new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter19 mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di20 rector of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership

21 program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership

22 National Advisory Board, and small and medium23 sized manufacturers. One or more themes for the

24 competition may be identified, which may vary from

25 year to year, depending on the needs of manufactur-
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1 ers and the success of previous competitions. These

2 themes shall be related to projects associated with

3 manufacturing extension activities, including supply

4 chain integration and quality management, or extend

5 beyond these traditional areas.

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

7 under this subsection shall be submitted in such

8 manner, at such time, and containing such informa9 tion as the Director shall require, in consultation

10 with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Na11 tional Advisory Board.

12 ‘‘(5) SELECTION.—Awards under this sub13 section shall be peer reviewed and competitively

14 awarded. The Director shall select proposals to re15 ceive awards—

16 ‘‘(A) that utilize innovative or collaborative

17 approaches to solving the problem described in

18 the competition;

19 ‘‘(B) that will improve the competitiveness

20 of industries in the region in which the Center

21 or Centers are located; and

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

23 economic stability of that region.
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1 ‘‘(6) PROGRAM CONTRIBUTION.—Recipients of

2 awards under this subsection shall not be required

3 to provide a matching contribution.

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

5 under this section shall submit annual audits to the Sec6 retary in accordance with Office of Management and

7 Budget Circular A–133 and shall make such audits avail8 able to the public on request.’’.

9 SEC. 6. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERV10 ICES.

11 (a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized

12 to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the

13 scientific and technical research and services laboratory

14 activities of the National Institute of Standards and

15 Technology—

16 (1) $425,688,000 for fiscal year 2005, of

17 which—

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

19 and Electrical Engineering;

20 (B) $29,584,000 shall be for Manufac21 turing Engineering;

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

23 Science and Technology;

24 (D) $42,240,000 shall be for Physics;
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1 (E) $62,724,000 shall be for Material

2 Science and Engineering;

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

4 Fire Research;

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

6 Science and Applied Mathematics, of which

7 $2,800,000 shall be for activities in support of

8 the Help America Vote Act of 2002;

9 (H) $17,445,000 shall be for Technical As10 sistance; and

11 (I) $78,102,000 shall be for Research Sup12 port Activities;

13 (2) $446,951,000 for fiscal year 2006;

14 (3) $469,299,000 for fiscal year 2007; and

15 (4) $492,764,000 for fiscal year 2008.

16 (b) MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY

17 AWARD PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appro18 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm

19 Baldrige National Quality Award program under section

20 17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of

21 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a)—

22 (1) $5,400,000 for fiscal year 2005;

23 (2) $5,535,000 for fiscal year 2006;

24 (3) $5,674,000 for fiscal year 2007; and

25 (4) $5,815,000 for fiscal year 2008.
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1 (c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are

2 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com3 merce for construction and maintenance of facilities of the

4 National Institute of Standards and Technology such

5 sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2005

6 through 2008.

7 SEC. 7. STANDARDS EDUCATION PROGRAM.

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

9 Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Institute

10 Program, the Director of the National Institute of Stand11 ards and Technology shall carry out a Standards Edu12 cation program to award grants to institutions of higher

13 education to support efforts by such institutions to develop

14 curricula on the role of standards in the fields of engineer15 ing, business, science, and economics. The curricula

16 should address topics such as—

17 (A) development of technical standards;

18 (B) demonstrating conformity to standards;

19 (C) intellectual property and antitrust issues;

20 (D) standardization as a key element of busi21 ness strategy;

22 (E) survey of organizations that develop stand23 ards;

24 (F) the standards life cycle;

25 (G) case studies in effective standardization;
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1 (H) managing standardization activities; and

2 (I) managing organizations that develop stand3 ards.

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

5 competitive, merit-reviewed basis and shall require cost6 sharing from non-Federal sources.

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

8 higher education seeking funding under this section shall

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

10 manner, and containing such information as the Director

11 may require. The application shall include at a

12 minimum—

13 (A) a description of the content and schedule

14 for adoption of the proposed curricula in the courses

15 of study offered by the applicant; and

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

17 cost-sharing to be provided.

18 (2) In evaluating the applications submitted under

19 paragraph (1) the Director shall consider, at a

20 minimum—

21 (A) the level of commitment demonstrated by

22 the applicant in carrying out and sustaining lasting

23 curricula changes in accordance with subsection

24 (a)(1); and

25 (B) the amount of cost-sharing provided.
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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com3 merce for the Teacher Science and Technology Enhance4 ment Institute program of the National Institute of Stand5 ards and Technology—

6 (1) $773,000 for fiscal year 2005;

7 (2) $796,000 for fiscal year 2006;

8 (3) $820,000 for fiscal year 2007; and

9 (4) $844,000 for fiscal year 2008.

10 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 (a) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP

12 PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to

13 the Secretary of Commerce, or other appropriate Federal

14 agencies, for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership

15 program under sections 25 and 26 of the National Insti16 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k

17 and 278l)—

18 (1) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, of which

19 not more than $4,000,000 shall be for the competi20 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act

21 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e));

22 (2) $115,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, of which

23 not more than $4,100,000 shall be for the competi24 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act

25 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e));
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1 (3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, of which

2 not more than $4,200,000 shall be for the competi3 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act

4 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)); and

5 (4) $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, of which

6 not more than $4,300,000 shall be for the competi7 tive grant program under section 25(e) of such Act

8 (15 U.S.C. 278k(e)).

9 In any fiscal year for which appropriations are

10 $106,000,000 or greater, none of the funds appropriated

11 pursuant to this subsection shall be used for a general re12 competition of Centers established under section 25 of the

13 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15

14 U.S.C. 278k).

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 2005;

22 (2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and

23 (3) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.

24 (c) FELLOWSHIPS.—There are authorized to be ap25 propriated to the Secretary of Commerce for Manufac-
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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 2005;

6 (2) $1,750,000 for fiscal year 2006;

7 (3) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and

8 (4) $2,250,000 for fiscal year 2008.

Passed the House of Representatives July 9, 2004.

Attest:

Clerk.