I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 973

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the operation by

the National Institutes of Health of an experimental program to stimulate competitive research.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 13, 2001

Mr. ISTOOK (for himself, Mr. POMEROY, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to

the operation by the National Institutes of Health of

an experimental program to stimulate competitive research.

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 ‘‘National Institutes of

5 Health EPSCoR Program Act of 2001’’.
2

•HR 973 IH

1 SEC. 2. EPSCOR PROGRAM AT NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF

2 HEALTH.

3 Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act

4 (42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.) is amended—

5 (1) in section 402—

6 (A) by striking subsection (g); and

7 (B) by redesignating subsections (h)

8 through (l) as subsections (g) through (k), re9 spectively; and

10 (2) by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘SEC. 404E. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM TO STIMULATE

12 COMPETITIVE RESEARCH.

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

14 ‘‘(1) ENHANCING RESEARCH COMPETITIVENESS

15 OF ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS.—The Director of NIH,

16 acting through the Director of the National Center

17 for Research Resources, shall in accordance with

18 this section establish a program for the purpose of

19 enhancing the competitiveness of eligible institutions

20 in obtaining funds from the national research insti21 tutes for conducting biomedical and behavioral re22 search.

23 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS; EPSCOR STATES,

24 COMMITTEES, AND FISCAL AGENTS.—In this section:
3

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term

2 ‘eligible institution’ means a research entity lo3 cated in an EPSCoR State.

4 ‘‘(B) RESEARCH ENTITY.—The term ‘re5 search entity’ means a non-Federal entity that

6 conducts biomedical or behavioral research, in7 cluding an individual or organization.

8 ‘‘(C) EPSCOR STATE.—The term ‘EPSCoR

9 State’ means a State for which—

10 ‘‘(i) the aggregate success rate for ap11 plications submitted to the national re12 search institutes by research entities in the

13 State has historically constituted a low

14 success rate of obtaining funds from such

15 institutes, relative to such aggregate rate

16 for research entities in other States; or

17 ‘‘(ii) the average of the annual aggre18 gate amount of funds received for the 5

19 preceding fiscal years by research entities

20 in such State pursuant to successful such

21 applications was not more than 1.08 per22 cent of the total amount that was received

23 during such years by research entities in

24 the States under grants, cooperative agree25 ments, and contracts awarded by the na-
4

•HR 973 IH

1 tional research institutes to support the

2 conduct of biomedical and behavioral re3 search.

4 ‘‘(D) NIH EPSCOR COMMITTEE.—

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘NIH

6 EPSCoR committee’ means, with respect

7 to an EPSCoR State, the single committee

8 established for the State under section 113

9 of the National Science Foundation Au10 thorization Act of 1988 (Public Law 100–

11 570), except as provided in clause (ii).

12 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—A committee re13 ferred to in clause (i) is not an NIH

14 EPSCoR committee for a State for pur15 poses of this section unless, when such

16 committee carries out activities pursuant

17 to this section, the following conditions are

18 met:

19 ‘‘(I) The membership of the com20 mittee includes individuals who are

21 representatives from the principal

22 nonprofit and for-profit biomedical

23 and behavioral research entities in the

24 State.
5

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(II) The membership of the

2 committee includes representatives of

3 the State legislature and the office of

4 the Governor.

5 ‘‘(III) The membership of the

6 committee shall serve staggered 4

7 year terms.

8 ‘‘(E) EPSCOR STATE FISCAL AGENT.—The

9 term ‘EPSCoR State fiscal agent’ means a fis10 cal intermediary that has been approved by an

11 NIH EPSCoR committee for a State, and that

12 acts on behalf of such committee by submitting

13 applications to the Federal Government for

14 awards of grants, cooperative agreements, and

15 contracts, and by disbursing amounts from such

16 awards.

17 ‘‘(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE; RESEARCH PLANS.—

18 The Director of NIH may under subsection (a) enhance

19 the competitiveness of eligible institutions through (di20 rectly or by grant or contract)—

21 ‘‘(1) providing technical assistance to such in22 stitutions, including technical assistance in the prep23 aration of applications for obtaining funds from the

24 national research institutes;
6

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(2) assisting the institutions in developing a

2 plan for biomedical or behavioral research proposals;

3 and

4 ‘‘(3) assisting the institutions in implementing

5 such plan.

6 ‘‘(c) FORMULA GRANTS FOR INCREASING INSTITU7 TIONAL CAPACITY.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of each

9 EPSCoR State fiscal agent that in accordance with

10 paragraph (3) submits to the Director of NIH an

11 application for a fiscal year, the Director shall under

12 subsection (a) make an award of a grant or coopera13 tive agreement for the fiscal year to such agent for

14 disbursement to eligible institutions in such State to

15 carry out the purposes described in paragraph (2)

16 (subject to amounts being appropriated under sub17 section (e) for the fiscal year). The grant shall con18 sist of the allotment determined for the State under

19 paragraph (4).

20 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES.—The pur21 poses referred to in paragraph (1) with respect to an

22 EPSCoR State are as follows:

23 ‘‘(A) Improving the capacity of eligible in24 stitutions in the State to conduct biomedical

25 and behavioral research through providing for
7

•HR 973 IH

1 faculty-related enhancement and development

2 programs (or other programs regarding profes3 sional staff); student programs; training pro4 grams; obtaining equipment, including instru5 mentation; obtaining facilities, including the

6 construction or renovation of facilities; estab7 lishing collaborative professional relationships

8 with other public or private research entities;

9 and other programs or activities determined by

10 the Director of NIH to be appropriate.

11 ‘‘(B) Carrying out projects that will have

12 significant short-term impact with respect to

13 improving the capacity of the institutions to

14 conduct biomedical and behavioral research.

15 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION FOR GRANT; CERTAIN RE16 QUIREMENTS.—An application under paragraph (1)

17 for an award for a fiscal year regarding an EPSCoR

18 State is in accordance with this paragraph if the fol19 lowing conditions are met:

20 ‘‘(A) The application identifies the specific

21 needs of eligible institutions in the EPSCoR

22 State with respect to the purposes described in

23 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2),

24 including identifying the categories of research

25 that are to receive priority.
8

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(B) The application contains a plan for

2 obtaining public or private funds (other than

3 from awards under paragraph (1)) to continue

4 in effect the improvements to be made with re5 spect to such institutions pursuant to the

6 award.

7 ‘‘(C) The EPSCoR State fiscal agent

8 agrees that, not later than 60 days after the

9 end of the fiscal year, the agent will submit to

10 the Director of NIH a report describing the

11 purposes for which the award was obligated or

12 expended.

13 ‘‘(D) The application meets such additional

14 requirements as the Director of NIH may es15 tablish, except that the Director may not re16 quire that non-Federal contributions be pro17 vided as a condition of receiving the award.

18 ‘‘(E) The NIH EPSCoR committee for the

19 State has approved the application as ade20 quately meeting the conditions described in sub21 paragraphs (A) through (D).

22 ‘‘(4) AMOUNT OF AWARD.—For purposes of

23 paragraph (1), an allotment for an EPSCoR State

24 for a fiscal year is determined in accordance with

25 this paragraph if the allotment is the quotient of—
9

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(A) the amount appropriated under sub2 section (e) and available for awards under para3 graph (1); divided by

4 ‘‘(B) the number of EPSCoR States for

5 which applications for awards under paragraph

6 (1) for the fiscal year are submitted in accord7 ance with paragraph (3).

8 ‘‘(d) EPSCOR COFUNDING PROGRAM.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH shall

10 under subsection (a) make awards of grants to eligi11 ble institutions for the purpose of carrying out

12 projects of research within categories identified

13 under subsection (c)(3)(A) as priorities for the eligi14 ble institutions involved.

15 ‘‘(2) COFUNDING.—

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH

17 may make an award under paragraph (1) only

18 if, in addition to such award, the project in19 volved will receive funding from one or more

20 other programs that are carried out by any of

21 the national research institutes (which other

22 programs are in this subsection referred to as

23 ‘Coprograms’).

24 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION BETWEEN PROGRAMS.—

25 Of the total amount made available for a
10

•HR 973 IH

1 project of an eligible institution pursuant to an

2 award under paragraph (1) and awards under

3 the Coprograms involved, not more than 50

4 percent may be provided in the award under

5 paragraph (1).

6 ‘‘(3) PRIORITIES.—In making awards under

7 paragraph (1), the Director of NIH shall give pri8 ority to the following projects:

9 ‘‘(A) Projects whose principal researchers

10 will be individuals who have not previously

11 served as principal researchers of projects sup12 ported by any of the national research insti13 tutes.

14 ‘‘(B) With respect to the process for peer

15 review of applications for awards, projects

16 whose applications under Coprograms were ap17 proved in such process but whose rankings pre18 cluded the provision of awards.

19 ‘‘(C) Projects that involve multiple areas of

20 research, each of which areas has, at the eligi21 ble institution involved, received funding under

22 this section.

23 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS.—An award

24 under paragraph (1) may be made only if the appli-
11

•HR 973 IH

1 cation for the award meets the following require2 ments:

3 ‘‘(A) The application identifies the specific

4 activities to be carried out with respect to the

5 purpose described in paragraph (1).

6 ‘‘(B) The application meets such additional

7 requirements as the Director of NIH may es8 tablish.

9 ‘‘(C) The NIH EPSCoR committee for the

10 State has approved the application as meeting

11 the requirements under this paragraph, and as

12 being consistent with the strategy adopted by

13 the State with respect to the purpose described

14 in subsection (a)(1).

15 ‘‘(e) FUNDING.—

16 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

17 For the purpose of carrying out this section, there

18 is authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 for

19 fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may be nec20 essary for each of the fiscal years 2003 through

21 2006.

22 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION REGARDING TECHNICAL AS23 SISTANCE AND RESEARCH PLANS.—Of the amounts

24 appropriated under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year,
12

•HR 973 IH

1 the Director of NIH shall reserve not to exceed 10

2 percent for carrying out subsection (b).

3 ‘‘(3) ALLOCATION REGARDING FORMULA

4 GRANTS FOR INCREASING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY;

5 ALLOCATION REGARDING COFUNDING PROGRAM.—Of

6 the amounts appropriated under paragraph (1) for

7 a fiscal year and available after compliance with

8 paragraph (2), the Director of NIH shall reserve—

9 ‘‘(A) with respect to fiscal year 2002—

10 ‘‘(i) 80 percent of such amounts for

11 awards under subsection (c); and

12 ‘‘(ii) 20 percent of such amounts for

13 awards under subsection (d)(1);

14 ‘‘(B) with respect to fiscal year 2003—

15 ‘‘(i) 70 percent of such amounts for

16 awards under subsection (c); and

17 ‘‘(ii) 30 percent of such amounts for

18 awards under subsection (d)(1);

19 ‘‘(C) with respect to fiscal year 2004—

20 ‘‘(i) 60 percent of such amounts for

21 awards under subsection (c); and

22 ‘‘(ii) 40 percent of such amounts for

23 awards under subsection (d)(1); and

24 ‘‘(D) with respect to each of fiscal years

25 2005 and 2006—
13

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(i) 50 percent of such amounts for

2 awards under subsection (c); and

3 ‘‘(ii) 50 percent of such amounts for

4 awards under subsection (d)(1).

5 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR COFUNDING

6 PROGRAM.—In addition to amounts reserved under

7 paragraph (3) for making awards under subsections

8 (c) and (d)(1), the Director of NIH shall reserve for

9 making such awards all savings in the indirect costs

10 of projects of research supported by the national re11 search institutes that are achieved as a result of car12 rying out projects in EPSCoR States rather than in

13 other States. Such savings shall be calculated based

14 on the previous 5 year average of the actual

15 amounts paid to each State in indirect costs. Such

16 additional funding from indirect cost savings shall be

17 allocated in a manner consistent with paragraph (3).

18 ‘‘(f) REPORTS.—

19 ‘‘(1) TO THE STATE.—The NIH EPSCoR com20 mittee of a State shall annually submit to the State

21 a report on the activities carried out under this sec22 tion in the State.
14

•HR 973 IH

1 ‘‘(2) TO NIH.—The State shall forward a copy

2 of each report received under paragraph (1) to the

3 Director of NIH.’’.

Æ