II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3792 

To expand the functions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to include workforce frameworks for critical and emerging technologies, to require the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology to develop an artificial intelligence workforce framework, 

and periodically review and update the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 7), 2024 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. SCHMITT) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To expand the functions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to include workforce frameworks 

for critical and emerging technologies, to require the 

Director of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology to develop an artificial intelligence workforce 

framework, and periodically review and update the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Workforce 

Framework for Cybersecurity, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Technology Workforce 

3 Framework Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. WORKFORCE FRAMEWORKS FOR CRITICAL AND 

5 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES. 

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the terms 

8 ‘‘competencies’’, ‘‘workforce categories’’, and ‘‘work9 force framework’’ have the meanings given such 

10 terms in subsection (f) of section 2 of the National 

11 Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

12 U.S.C. 272), as added by subsection (b) of this sec13 tion. 

14 (2) AMENDMENT TO NIST ACT.—Section 2 of 

15 such Act (15 U.S.C. 272) is amended by adding at 

16 the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) COMPETENCIES.—The term ‘competencies’ 

19 means knowledge and skills. 

20 ‘‘(2) WORKFORCE CATEGORIES.—The term 

21 ‘workforce categories’ means a high-level grouping of 

22 tasks that are performed by workers within an orga23 nization. 

24 ‘‘(3) WORKFORCE FRAMEWORK.—The term 

25 ‘workforce framework’ means a common taxonomy 

26 and lexicon for any given domain that includes the 


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1 building blocks of tasks, knowledge, or skills that 

2 can be structured to form work roles or competency 

3 areas.’’. 

4 (b) EXPANSION OF FUNCTIONS OF DIRECTOR OF NA5 TIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY TO

6 INCLUDE WORKFORCE FRAMEWORKS FOR CRITICAL AND

7 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.—Section 2(b) of such Act 

8 (15 U.S.C. 272(b)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

10 inserting a semicolon; 

11 (2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period at 

12 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(14)(A) to develop, maintain, and provide in15 dustry, government, research, nonprofit, and edu16 cational institutions with workforce frameworks for 

17 critical and emerging technologies and other science, 

18 technology, engineering, and mathematics domains 

19 for the purpose of bolstering scientific and technical 

20 education, training, and workforce development; 

21 ‘‘(B) at least once every 3 years— 

22 ‘‘(i) to determine if an update to any work23 force framework, or its components or associ24 ated materials, including work roles or comVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Feb 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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1 petency areas, provided pursuant to subpara2 graph (A) are appropriate; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) if the Director determines it is appro4 priate under clause (i), to update such frame5 works and components; 

6 ‘‘(C) consider including in all workforce frame7 works, or associated materials— 

8 ‘‘(i) relevant professional skills or employ9 ability skills; 

10 ‘‘(ii) relevant support or operations skills 

11 or workforce categories, work roles, and com12 petency areas such as administration and fi13 nance, law and policy, ethics, privacy, human 

14 resources, information technology, operational 

15 technology, supply chain security, and acquisi16 tion and procurement; 

17 ‘‘(iii) information for how individuals with 

18 nontechnical or other nontraditional back19 grounds and education may utilize their skills 

20 for work roles or tasks in such frameworks; 

21 ‘‘(iv) distinctions between certifications, 

22 certificates, and degrees, including— 

23 ‘‘(I) the importance of each; 

24 ‘‘(II) how each should be used; and 


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1 ‘‘(III) where each one is most bene2 ficial; and 

3 ‘‘(v) methods for validation of skills; 

4 ‘‘(D) consult, as the Director considers appro5 priate, with Federal agencies, industry, State, local, 

6 Tribal, and territorial government, nonprofit, re7 search, and academic institutions in the development 

8 of workforce frameworks, or associated materials; 

9 ‘‘(E) to produce resources in multiple languages 

10 to support global adoption of the frameworks pro11 vided pursuant to subparagraph (A); and 

12 ‘‘(F) after each determination under subpara13 graph (B), to submit to Congress a report on such 

14 determination and any plans to review and update 

15 any workforce frameworks under this paragraph.’’. 

16 (c) NICE WORKFORCE FRAMEWORK FOR CYBERSE17 CURITY UPDATE.— 

18 (1) REPORT ON UPDATES.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

20 days after the date of the enactment of this 

21 Act, and subsequently pursuant to paragraph 

22 (14)(F) of section (2)(b) of the National Insti23 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

24 U.S.C. 272(b)), as added by subsection (b) of 

25 this section, the Director of the National InstiVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Feb 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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1 tute of Standards and Technology shall submit 

2 to Congress a report that describes the process 

3 for ongoing review and updates to the National 

4 Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Work5 force Framework for Cybersecurity (NIST Spe6 cial Publication 800–181), or a successor 

7 framework. 

8 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—Each report sub9 mitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall— 

10 (i) summarize proposed changes to 

11 the framework; 

12 (ii) identify, with regard to the work 

13 roles, tasks, knowledge, and skills included 

14 in the framework, how industry, academia, 

15 and relevant government agencies are con16 sulted in the update; and 

17 (iii) describe— 

18 (I) the ongoing process and 

19 timeline for updating the framework; 

20 and 

21 (II) the incorporation of any ad22 ditional work roles or competency 

23 areas in domains such as administra24 tion and finance, law and policy, eth25 ics, privacy, human resources, inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Feb 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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1 mation technology, operational tech2 nology, supply chain security, and ac3 quisition and procurement. 

4 (2) REPORT ON APPLICATION AND USE OF NICE

5 FRAMEWORK.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently 

7 than once every 3 years thereafter for 9 years, the 

8 Director shall, in consultation with industry, govern9 ment, nonprofit, research, and academic institutions, 

10 submit to Congress a report that identifies— 

11 (A) applications and uses of the framework 

12 described in paragraph (1)(A) in practice; 

13 (B) any guidance that the program office 

14 of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity 

15 Education provides to increase adoption by em16 ployers and education and training providers of 

17 the work roles and competency areas for indi18 viduals who perform cybersecurity work at all 

19 proficiency levels; 

20 (C) available information regarding em21 ployer and education and training provider use 

22 of the framework; 

23 (D) an assessment of the use and effective24 ness of the framework by and for individuals 

25 with nontraditional backgrounds or education, 


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1 especially individuals making a career change or 

2 not pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher; and 

3 (E) any additional actions taken by the Di4 rector to increase the use of the framework. 

5 (3) CYBERSECURITY CAREER EXPLORATION RE6 SOURCES.—The Director, acting through the Na7 tional Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, shall 

8 disseminate cybersecurity career resources for all 

9 age groups, including kindergarten through sec10 ondary and postsecondary education and adult work11 ers. 

12 (d) ADDITIONAL WORKFORCE FRAMEWORKS.— 

13 (1) FRAMEWORK ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 

14 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

15 the Director shall assess the need for additional 

16 workforce frameworks for critical and emerging 

17 technologies, such as quantum information science. 

18 (2) DEVELOPMENT OF ADDITIONAL FRAME19 WORKS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall de21 velop and publish a workforce framework for 

22 each additional workforce framework that the 

23 Director determines is needed pursuant to an 

24 assessment carried out pursuant to paragraph 

25 (1). 


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1 (B) REQUIRED AI FRAMEWORK.—Notwith2 standing paragraph (1) and subparagraph (A) 

3 of this paragraph, not less than 540 days after 

4 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di5 rector shall develop and publish a workforce 

6 framework, workforce categories, work roles, 

7 and competency areas for artificial intelligence. 

8 (3) MODEL.—In developing a workforce frame9 work under paragraph (2), the Director may use the 

10 Playbook for Workforce Frameworks developed by 

11 the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education 

12 that is modeled after the National Initiative for Cy13 bersecurity Education Workforce Framework for Cy14 bersecurity (NIST Special Publication 800–181), or 

15 a successor framework. 

16 (4) FRAMEWORK COMPONENTS.—Each frame17 work developed pursuant to paragraph (2) shall in18 clude appropriate support or operations skills or 

19 workforce categories, work roles, and competency 

20 areas such as administration and finance, law and 

21 policy, ethics, privacy, human resources, information 

22 technology, operational technology, supply chain se23 curity, and acquisition and procurement, as the Di24 rector considers appropriate, in alignment with para25 graph (14)(C) of section 2(b) of the National InstiVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Feb 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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

2 272(b), as added by subsection (b). 

3 (5) PROFESSIONAL SKILLS REQUIRED.—Each 

4 framework developed pursuant to paragraph (2) 

5 shall include professional skills or employability 

6 skills, as the Director considers appropriate, in 

7 alignment with paragraph (14)(C) of section 2(b) of 

8 the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

9 Act (15 U.S.C. 272(b), as added by subsection (b). 

10 (6) NONTRADITIONAL BACKGROUNDS.—Each 

11 framework developed under paragraph (2), or mate12 rials associated with each framework, shall include 

13 information for how individuals with nontechnical or 

14 other nontraditional backgrounds and education may 

15 utilize their skills for such frameworks’ roles and 

16 tasks, in alignment with paragraph (14)(D) of sec17 tion 2(b) of the such Act (15 U.S.C. 

18 272(b)(14)(D)), as so added. 

19 (7) UPDATES.—The Director shall update each 

20 framework developed under paragraph (2) in accord21 ance with subparagraph (B) of paragraph (14) of 

22 section 2(b) of the National Institute of Standards 

23 and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(b)), as added by 

24 subsection (b) of this section, and submit to ConVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Feb 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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1 gress reports in accordance with subparagraph (F) 

2 of such paragraph. 

Æ 


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