II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1698 

To provide for the establishment of clean technology consortia to enhance 

the economic, environmental, and energy security of the United States 

by promoting domestic development, manufacture, and deployment of 

clean technologies. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2013 

Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of clean technology consortia to enhance the economic, environmental, and energy security of the United States by promoting domestic 

development, manufacture, and deployment of clean technologies. 

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 ‘‘Consortia-Led Energy 

5 and Advanced Manufacturing Networks Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CLEAN TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘clean 

2 technology’’ means a technology, production process, 

3 or methodology that— 

4 (A) produces energy from solar, wind, geo5 thermal, biomass, tidal, wave, ocean, and other 

6 renewable energy sources (as defined in section 

7 609 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies 

8 Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 918c)); 

9 (B) more efficiently transmits, distributes, 

10 or stores energy; 

11 (C) enhances energy efficiency for build12 ings and industry, including combined heat and 

13 power; 

14 (D) enables the development of a Smart 

15 Grid (as described in section 1301 of the En16 ergy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

17 (42 U.S.C. 17381)), including integration of re18 newable energy sources and distributed genera19 tion, demand response, demand side manage20 ment, and systems analysis; 

21 (E) produces an advanced or sustainable 

22 material with energy or energy efficiency appli23 cations; 

24 (F) improves energy efficiency for trans25 portation, including electric vehicles; 


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1 (G) enhances water security through im2 proved water management, conservation, dis3 tribution, and end use applications; or 

4 (H) addresses challenges in advanced man5 ufacturing and supply chain integration. 

6 (2) CLUSTER.—The term ‘‘cluster’’ means a 

7 network of entities directly involved in the research, 

8 development, finance, and commercial application of 

9 clean technologies whose geographic proximity facili10 tates the use and sharing of skilled human re11 sources, infrastructure, research facilities, edu12 cational and training institutions, venture capital, 

13 and input suppliers. 

14 (3) CONSORTIUM.—The term ‘‘consortium’’ 

15 means a clean technology consortium established in 

16 accordance with this Act. 

17 (4) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ means an 

18 activity with respect to which a consortium provides 

19 support under this Act. 

20 (5) QUALIFYING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘quali21 fying entity’’ means— 

22 (A) a research university; 

23 (B) a Federal or State institution with a 

24 focus on developing clean technologies or clus25 ters; and 


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1 (C) a nongovernmental organization with 

2 expertise in translational research, clean tech3 nology, or cluster development. 

4 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of Commerce. 

6 (7) TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH.—The term 

7 ‘‘translational research’’ means the coordination of 

8 basic or applied research with technical applications 

9 to enable promising discoveries or inventions to 

10 achieve commercial application. 

11 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CLEAN TECHNOLOGY CON12 SORTIA PROGRAM. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 

14 carry out a program to establish clean technology con15 sortia to enhance the economic, environmental, and energy 

16 security of the United States by promoting domestic devel17 opment, manufacture, and deployment of clean, state-of18 the-art technologies. 

19 (b) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall carry out the 

20 program described in subsection (a) by leveraging the ex21 pertise and resources of private research communities, in22 stitutions of higher education, industry, venture capital, 

23 National Laboratories (as defined in section 2 of the En24 ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), and other 

25 participants in technology innovation— 


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1 (1) to support collaborative, cross-disciplinary 

2 research and development in areas not being served 

3 by the private sector; and 

4 (2) to develop and accelerate the commercial 

5 application of innovative clean technologies. 

6 (c) ROLE OF THE SECRETARY.—The Secretary 

7 shall— 

8 (1) carry out and oversee all aspects of the pro9 gram described in subsection (a); 

10 (2) select recipients of grants for the establish11 ment and operation of consortia through a competi12 tive selection process; and 

13 (3) coordinate the innovation activities of con14 sortia with activities carried out by the Secretary of 

15 Energy, the Secretary of Defense, other Federal 

16 agency heads, private industry, and academia, in17 cluding by annually— 

18 (A) issuing guidance regarding national 

19 clean technology and development priorities and 

20 strategic objectives; and 

21 (B) convening a conference relating to 

22 clean technology, which shall bring together 

23 representatives of Federal agencies, private in24 dustry, academia, and other entities to share 


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1 research and commercialization results, pro2 gram plans, and opportunities for collaboration. 

3 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—To receive support under this Act, 

5 a consortium shall submit to the Secretary an application 

6 in such manner, at such time, and containing such infor7 mation as the Secretary determines to be necessary. 

8 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—A consortium shall be eligible to 

9 receive support under this Act if— 

10 (1) the consortium consists of— 

11 (A) 1 or more research universities that 

12 can demonstrate a significant annual clean 

13 technology research budget, entrepreneurial 

14 support programs, and technology licensing ex15 pertise; and 

16 (B) a total of 5 or more qualifying entities 

17 that can demonstrate expertise in translational 

18 research, clean technology, and cluster develop19 ment; 

20 (2) the members of the consortium have estab21 lished a binding agreement that documents— 

22 (A) the structure of the partnership agree23 ment; 


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1 (B) a governance and management struc2 ture that enables cost-effective implementation 

3 of the program; 

4 (C) a conflicts of interest policy; 

5 (D) an accounting structure that meets the 

6 requirements of the Secretary and that may be 

7 audited under this Act; and 

8 (E) the existence of an external advisory 

9 committee; 

10 (3) the consortium receives funding from non11 Federal sources, such as a State and participants of 

12 the consortium, that may be used to support 

13 projects; 

14 (4) the consortium is part of an existing cluster 

15 or demonstrates high potential to develop a new 

16 cluster; and 

17 (5) the consortium operates as a nonprofit or18 ganization or as a public-private partnership under 

19 an operating agreement led by a nonprofit organiza20 tion. 

21 (c) SELECTION.—The Secretary may disqualify an 

22 application from a consortium under this Act if the Sec23 retary determines that the conflicts of interest policy of 

24 the consortium is inadequate. 

25 (d) EXTERNAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

2 grant under this Act, a consortium shall establish an 

3 external advisory committee, the members of which 

4 shall have extensive and relevant scientific, technical, 

5 industry, financial, or research management exper6 tise. 

7 (2) DUTIES.—An external advisory committee 

8 shall— 

9 (A) review the proposed plans, programs, 

10 project selection criteria, and projects of the 

11 consortium; and 

12 (B) ensure that projects selected by the 

13 consortium meet the applicable conflicts of in14 terest policy of the consortium. 

15 (3) MEMBERS.—An external advisory com16 mittee shall consist of— 

17 (A) the Secretary; 

18 (B) representatives of the members of the 

19 consortium; and 

20 (C) such representatives of private indus21 try, including entrepreneurs and venture cap22 italists, as the Secretary and members of the 

23 consortium determine to be necessary. 


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1 SEC. 5. GRANTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award grants, 

3 on a competitive basis, to 6 or more consortia. 

4 (b) TERMS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The initial term of a grant 

6 awarded under this Act shall not exceed 5 years. 

7 (2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may extend 

8 the term of a grant awarded under this Act for a 

9 period of not more than 5 additional years. 

10 (c) AMOUNTS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded to a con12 sortium under this Act shall not exceed— 

13 (A) $30,000,000 per fiscal year; or 

14 (B) the collective contributions of non-Fed15 eral entities to the consortium, as described in 

16 section 4(b)(3). 

17 (2) FLEXIBILITY.—In determining the amount 

18 of a grant under this section, the Secretary shall 

19 consider— 

20 (A) the translational research capacity of 

21 the consortium; 

22 (B) the financial, human, and facility re23 sources of the qualifying entities; and 

24 (C) the cluster of which the consortium is 

25 a part. 


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1 (3) INCREASES IN AMOUNTS.—Subject to para2 graph (1), a consortium may request an increase in 

3 the amount of a grant awarded under this Act at the 

4 time the consortium requests an extension of an ini5 tial grant. 

6 (d) USE OF AMOUNTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3), a 

8 consortium awarded a grant under this Act shall use 

9 the amounts to support translational research, tech10 nology development, manufacturing innovation, and 

11 commercialization activities relating to clean tech12 nology. 

13 (2) PROJECT SELECTION.—As a condition of 

14 receiving a grant under this Act, a consortium 

15 shall— 

16 (A) develop and make available to the pub17 lic on the website of the Department of Com18 merce proposed plans, programs, project selec19 tion criteria, and terms for individual project 

20 awards; 

21 (B) establish conflicts of interest proce22 dures, consistent with those of the Department 

23 of Commerce, to ensure that employees and 

24 designees for consortium activities who are in 

25 decisionmaking capacities disclose all material 


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1 conflicts of interest, including financial, organi2 zational, and personal conflicts of interest; 

3 (C) establish policies— 

4 (i) to prevent resources provided to 

5 the consortium from being used to displace 

6 private sector investment otherwise likely 

7 to occur, including investment from private 

8 sector entities that are members of the 

9 consortium; 

10 (ii) to facilitate the participation of 

11 private entities that invest in clean tech12 nologies to perform due diligence on award 

13 proposals, to participate in the award re14 view process, and to provide guidance to 

15 projects supported by the consortium; and 

16 (iii) to facilitate the participation of 

17 parties with a demonstrated history of 

18 commercial application of clean tech19 nologies in the development of consortium 

20 projects; 

21 (D) oversee project solicitations, review 

22 proposed projects, and select projects for 

23 awards; and 

24 (E) monitor project implementation. 

25 (3) LIMITATIONS.— 


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1 (A) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A con2 sortium may use not more than 10 percent of 

3 the amounts awarded to the consortium for ad4 ministrative expenses. 

5 (B) PROHIBITION ON USE.—A consortium 

6 shall not use any amounts awarded to the con7 sortium under this Act to construct a new 

8 building or facility. 

9 (e) AUDITS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—A consortium that receives a 

11 grant under this Act shall carry out, in accordance 

12 with such requirements as the Secretary may pre13 scribe, an annual audit to determine whether the 

14 grant has been used in accordance with this Act. 

15 (2) REPORT.—The consortium shall submit a 

16 copy of each audit under paragraph (1) to the Sec17 retary and the Comptroller General of the United 

18 States. 

19 (3) GAO REVIEW.—As a condition of receiving 

20 a grant under this Act, a consortium shall allow the 

21 Comptroller General of the United States, on the re22 quest of the Comptroller General, full access to the 

23 books, records, and personnel of consortium. 


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1 (4) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary 

2 shall submit to Congress annually a report that in3 cludes— 

4 (A) a copy of the audit described in para5 graph (1); and 

6 (B) any recommendations of the Secretary 

7 relating to the clean technology consortia pro8 gram. 

9 (f) REVOCATION OF AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 

10 have the authority— 

11 (1) to review grants awarded under this Act; 

12 and 

13 (2) to revoke a grant awarded under this Act 

14 if the Secretary determines that a consortium has 

15 used the grant in a manner that is not consistent 

16 with this Act. 

17 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

19 appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this sec20 tion $100,000,000. 

21 (2) RESCISSION.—There is hereby rescinded, 

22 from appropriated discretionary funds that remain 

23 available to the Secretary for obligation as of the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, $100,000,000. 

Æ 


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