I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6490 

To invest in innovation through research and development, and to improve 

the competitiveness of the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

Mr. SMITH of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the 

Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, and Education and 

the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To invest in innovation through research and development, 

and to improve the competitiveness of the United States. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘American Innovation and Competitiveness Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 


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TITLE I—MAXIMIZING BASIC RESEARCH 

Sec. 101. Reaffirmation of merit-based peer review. 

Sec. 102. Transparency and accountability. 

Sec. 103. EPSCoR reaffirmation and update. 

Sec. 104. Cybersecurity research. 

Sec. 105. Networking and Information Technology Research and Development 

Update. 

Sec. 106. Physical sciences coordination. 

Sec. 107. Laboratory program improvements. 

Sec. 108. Standard Reference Data Act update. 

Sec. 109. NSF mid-scale project investments. 

Sec. 110. Oversight of NSF major multi-user research facility projects. 

Sec. 111. Personnel oversight. 

Sec. 112. Management of the U.S. Antarctic Program. 

Sec. 113. NIST campus security. 

Sec. 114. Coordination of sustainable chemistry research and development. 

Sec. 115. Misrepresentation of research results. 

Sec. 116. Research reproducibility and replication. 

Sec. 117. Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative. 

TITLE II—ADMINISTRATIVE AND REGULATORY BURDEN 

REDUCTION 

Sec. 201. Interagency working group on research regulation. 

Sec. 202. Scientific and technical collaboration. 

Sec. 203. NIST grants and cooperative agreements update. 

Sec. 204. Repeal of certain obsolete reports. 

Sec. 205. Repeal of certain provisions. 

Sec. 206. Grant subrecipient transparency and oversight. 

Sec. 207. Micro-purchase threshold for procurement solicitations by research institutions. 

Sec. 208. Coordination of international science and technology partnerships. 

TITLE III—SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH 

EDUCATION 

Sec. 301. Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program update. 

Sec. 302. Space grants. 

Sec. 303. STEM Education Advisory Panel. 

Sec. 304. Committee on STEM Education. 

Sec. 305. Programs to expand STEM opportunities. 

Sec. 306. NIST education and outreach. 

Sec. 307. Presidential awards for excellence in STEM mentoring. 

Sec. 308. Working group on inclusion in STEM fields. 

Sec. 309. Improving undergraduate STEM experiences. 

Sec. 310. Computer science education research. 

Sec. 311. Informal STEM education. 

Sec. 312. Developing STEM apprenticeships. 

Sec. 313. NSF report on broadening participation. 

Sec. 314. NOAA science education programs. 

Sec. 315. Hispanic-serving institutions undergraduate program update. 

TITLE IV—LEVERAGING THE PRIVATE SECTOR 

Sec. 401. Prize competition authority update. 


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Sec. 402. Crowdsourcing and citizen science. 

Sec. 403. NIST director functions update. 

Sec. 404. NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology update. 

TITLE V—MANUFACTURING 

Sec. 501. Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership improvements. 

TITLE VI—INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 

Sec. 601. Innovation Corps. 

Sec. 602. Translational research grants. 

Sec. 603. Optics and photonics technology innovations. 

Sec. 604. United States Chief Technology Officer. 

Sec. 605. National Research Council study on technology for emergency notifications on campuses. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act, unless expressly provided otherwise: 

3 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON4 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con5 gress’’ means the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

6 and Transportation of the Senate and the Com7 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

8 House of Representatives. 

9 (2) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 

10 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ has the meaning given the 

11 term in section 103 of the America COMPETES 

12 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6623). 

13 (3) FOUNDATION.—The term ‘‘Foundation’’ 

14 means the National Science Foundation. 

15 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

16 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

17 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

18 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 


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1 (5) NIST.—The term ‘‘NIST’’ means the Na2 tional Institute of Standards and Technology. 

3 (6) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ has the mean4 ing given the term in section 2 of the America COM5 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

6 6621 note). 

7 (7) STEM EDUCATION.—The term ‘‘STEM 

8 education’’ has the meaning given the term in sec9 tion 2 of the STEM Education Act of 2015 (42 

10 U.S.C. 6621 note). 

11 TITLE I—MAXIMIZING BASIC 

12 RESEARCH 

13 SEC. 101. REAFFIRMATION OF MERIT-BASED PEER REVIEW. 

14 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that— 

16 (1) sustained, predictable Federal funding of 

17 basic research is essential to United States leader18 ship in science and technology; 

19 (2) the Foundation’s intellectual merit and 

20 broader impacts criteria are appropriate for evalu21 ating grant proposals, as concluded by the 2011 Na22 tional Science Board Task Force on Merit Review; 

23 (3) evaluating proposals on the basis of the 

24 Foundation’s intellectual merit and broader impacts 

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1 tion’s activities are in the national interest as these 

2 reviews can affirm that— 

3 (A) the proposals funded by the Founda4 tion are of high quality and advance scientific 

5 knowledge; and 

6 (B) the Foundation’s grants address soci7 etal needs through basic research findings or 

8 through related activities; and 

9 (4) as evidenced by the Foundation’s contribu10 tions to scientific advancement, economic growth, 

11 human health, and national security, its peer review 

12 and merit review processes have identified and fund13 ed scientifically and societally relevant basic research 

14 and should be preserved. 

15 (b) MERIT REVIEW CRITERIA.—The Foundation 

16 shall maintain the intellectual merit and broader impacts 

17 criteria, among other specific criteria as appropriate, as 

18 the basis for evaluating grant proposals in the merit re19 view process. 

20 (c) UPDATES.—If after the date of enactment of this 

21 Act a change is made to the merit review process, the Di22 rector shall submit a report to the appropriate committees 

23 of Congress not later than 30 days after the date of the 

24 change. 


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1 SEC. 102. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.— 

3 (1) Building the understanding of and con4 fidence in investments in basic research is essential 

5 to public support for sustained, predictable Federal 

6 funding. 

7 (2) The Foundation has improved transparency 

8 and accountability of the outcomes made through 

9 the merit review process, but additional trans10 parency into individual grants is valuable in commu11 nicating and assuring the public value of federally 

12 funded research. 

13 (3) The Foundation should commit to trans14 parency and accountability and to clear, consistent 

15 public communication regarding the national interest 

16 for each Foundation-awarded grant and cooperative 

17 agreement. 

18 (b) GUIDANCE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Founda20 tion shall issue and periodically update, as appro21 priate, policy guidance for both Foundation staff 

22 and other Foundation merit review process partici23 pants on the importance of transparency and ac24 countability to the outcomes made through the merit 

25 review process. 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The guidance under 

2 paragraph (1) shall require that each public notice 

3 of a Foundation-funded research project justify the 

4 expenditure of Federal funds by— 

5 (A) describing how the project— 

6 (i) reflects the statutory mission of 

7 the Foundation, as established in the Na8 tional Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 

9 U.S.C. 1861 et seq.); and 

10 (ii) addresses the Foundation’s intel11 lectual merit and broader impacts criteria; 

12 and 

13 (B) clearly identifying the research goals 

14 of the project in a manner that can be easily 

15 understood by both technical and nontechnical 

16 audiences. 

17 (c) BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERION UP18 DATE.—Section 526(a) of the America COMPETES Re19 authorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p–14(a)) is 

20 amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(a) GOALS.—The Foundation shall apply a broader 

22 impacts review criterion to identify and demonstrate 

23 project support of the following goals: 

24 ‘‘(1) Increasing the economic competitiveness of 

25 the United States. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Advancing of the health and welfare of the 

2 American public. 

3 ‘‘(3) Supporting the national defense of the 

4 United States. 

5 ‘‘(4) Enhancing partnerships between academia 

6 and industry in the United States. 

7 ‘‘(5) Developing an American STEM workforce 

8 that is globally competitive through improved pre9 kindergarten through grade 12 STEM education, 

10 and teacher development and improved under11 graduate STEM education and instruction. 

12 ‘‘(6) Improving public scientific literacy and en13 gagement with science and technology in the United 

14 States. 

15 ‘‘(7) Expanding participation of women and in16 dividuals from underrepresented groups in STEM.’’. 

17 SEC. 103. EPSCOR REAFFIRMATION AND UPDATE. 

18 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 517(a) of the America COM19 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p– 

20 9(a)) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘The National’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘the National’’; and 

24 (B) by striking ‘‘education,’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘education’’; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘with 27 

2 States’’ and all that follows through the semicolon at 

3 the end and inserting ‘‘with 28 States and jurisdic4 tions, taken together, receiving only about 12 per5 cent of all National Science Foundation research 

6 funding;’’; 

7 (3) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(3) each of the States described in paragraph 

10 (2) receives only a fraction of 1 percent of the Foun11 dation’s research dollars each year;’’; and 

12 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(4) first established at the National Science 

14 Foundation in 1979, the Experimental Program to 

15 Stimulate Competitive Research (referred to in this 

16 section as ‘EPSCoR’) assists States and jurisdic17 tions historically underserved by Federal research 

18 and development funding in strengthening their re19 search and innovation capabilities; 

20 ‘‘(5) the EPSCoR structure requires each par21 ticipating State to develop a science and technology 

22 plan suited to State and local research, education, 

23 and economic interests and objectives; 

24 ‘‘(6) EPSCoR has been credited with advancing 

25 the research competitiveness of participating States, 


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1 improving awareness of science, promoting policies 

2 that link scientific investment and economic growth, 

3 and encouraging partnerships between government, 

4 industry, and academia; 

5 ‘‘(7) EPSCoR proposals are evaluated through 

6 a rigorous and competitive merit review process to 

7 ensure that awarded research and development ef8 forts meet high scientific standards; and 

9 ‘‘(8) according to the National Academy of 

10 Sciences, EPSCoR has strengthened the national re11 search infrastructure and enhanced the educational 

12 opportunities needed to develop the science and engi13 neering workforce.’’. 

14 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress 

16 that— 

17 (A) since maintaining the Nation’s sci18 entific and economic leadership requires the 

19 participation of talented individuals nationwide, 

20 EPSCoR investments into State research and 

21 education capacities are in the Federal interest 

22 and should be sustained; and 

23 (B) EPSCoR should maintain its experi24 mental component by supporting innovative 


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1 methods for improving research capacity and 

2 competitiveness. 

3 (2) DEFINITION OF EPSCOR.—In this sub4 section, the term ‘‘EPSCoR’’ has the meaning given 

5 the term in section 502 of the America COMPETES 

6 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p 

7 note). 

8 (c) AWARD STRUCTURE UPDATES.—Section 517 of 

9 the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 

10 (42 U.S.C. 1862p–9) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(g) AWARD STRUCTURE UPDATES.—In imple13 menting the mandate to maximize the impact of Federal 

14 EPSCoR support on building competitive research infra15 structure, and based on the inputs and recommendations 

16 of previous EPSCoR reviews, the head of each Federal 

17 agency administering an EPSCoR program shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) consider modifications to EPSCoR pro19 posal solicitation, award type, and project evalua20 tion— 

21 ‘‘(A) to more closely align with current 

22 agency priorities and initiatives; 

23 ‘‘(B) to focus EPSCoR funding on achiev24 ing critical scientific, infrastructure, and edu25 cational needs of that agency; 


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1 ‘‘(C) to encourage collaboration between 

2 EPSCoR-eligible institutions and researchers, 

3 including with institutions and researchers in 

4 other States and jurisdictions; 

5 ‘‘(D) to improve communication between 

6 State and Federal agency proposal reviewers; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(E) to continue to reduce administrative 

9 burdens associated with EPSCoR; 

10 ‘‘(2) consider modifications to EPSCoR award 

11 structures— 

12 ‘‘(A) to emphasize long-term investments 

13 in building research capacity, potentially 

14 through the use of larger, renewable funding 

15 opportunities; and 

16 ‘‘(B) to allow the agency, States, and juris17 dictions to experiment with new research and 

18 development funding models; and 

19 ‘‘(3) consider modifications to the mechanisms 

20 used to monitor and evaluate EPSCoR awards— 

21 ‘‘(A) to increase collaboration between 

22 EPSCoR-funded researchers and agency staff, 

23 including by providing opportunities for men24 toring young researchers and for the use of 

25 Federal facilities; 


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1 ‘‘(B) to identify and disseminate best prac2 tices; and 

3 ‘‘(C) to harmonize metrics across partici4 pating Federal agencies, as appropriate.’’. 

5 (d) REPORTS.— 

6 (1) CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS.—Section 517 of 

7 the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 

8 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p–9), as amended, is further 

9 amended— 

10 (A) by striking subsection (c); 

11 (B) by redesignating subsections (d) 

12 through (g) as subsections (c) through (f), re13 spectively; 

14 (C) in subsection (c), as redesignated— 

15 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Ex16 perimental Programs to Stimulate Com17 petitive Research’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘EPSCoR’’; and 

19 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 

20 (I) in subparagraphs (A) and 

21 (E), by striking ‘‘EPSCoR and Fed22 eral EPSCoR-like programs’’ and in23 serting ‘‘each EPSCoR’’; 

24 (II) in subparagraph (D), by 

25 striking ‘‘EPSCoR and other Federal 


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1 EPSCoR-like programs’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘each EPSCoR’’; 

3 (III) in subparagraph (E), by 

4 striking ‘‘EPSCoR or Federal 

5 EPSCoR-like programs’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘each EPSCoR’’; and 

7 (IV) in subparagraph (G), by 

8 striking ‘‘EPSCoR programs’’ and in9 serting ‘‘each EPSCoR’’; 

10 (D) by amending subsection (d), as redes11 ignated, to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(d) FEDERAL AGENCY REPORTS.—Each Federal 

13 agency that administers an EPSCoR shall submit to Con14 gress, as part of its Federal budget submission— 

15 ‘‘(1) a description of the program strategy and 

16 objectives; 

17 ‘‘(2) a description of the awards made in the 

18 previous fiscal year, including— 

19 ‘‘(A) the total amount made available, by 

20 State, under EPSCoR; 

21 ‘‘(B) the total amount of agency funding 

22 made available to all institutions and entities 

23 within each EPSCoR State; 


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1 ‘‘(C) the efforts and accomplishments to 

2 more fully integrate the EPSCoR States in 

3 major agency activities and initiatives; 

4 ‘‘(D) the percentage of EPSCoR reviewers 

5 from EPSCoR States; and 

6 ‘‘(E) the number of programs or large col7 laborator awards involving a partnership of or8 ganizations and institutions from EPSCoR and 

9 non-EPSCoR States; and 

10 ‘‘(3) an analysis of the gains in academic re11 search quality and competitiveness, and in science 

12 and technology human resource development, 

13 achieved by the program over the last 5 fiscal 

14 years.’’; and 

15 (E) in subsection (e)(1), as redesignated, 

16 by striking ‘‘Experimental Program to Stimu17 late Competitive Research or a program similar 

18 to the Experimental Program to Stimulate 

19 Competitive Research’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘EPSCoR’’. 

21 (2) RESULTS OF AWARD STRUCTURE PLAN.— 

22 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act, the EPSCoR Interagency Coordinating 

24 Committee shall brief the appropriate committees of 

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1 ture under 517(f) of the America COMPETES Re2 authorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p–9(f)), 

3 as amended by this subsection. 

4 (e) DEFINITION OF EPSCOR.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 502 of the America 

6 COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 

7 U.S.C. 1862p note) is amended by amending para8 graph (2) to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(2) EPSCOR.—The term ‘EPSCoR’ means— 

10 ‘‘(A) the Established Program to Stimulate 

11 Competitive Research established by the Foun12 dation; or 

13 ‘‘(B) a program similar to the Established 

14 Program to Stimulate Competitive Research at 

15 another Federal agency.’’. 

16 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND17 MENTS.—Section 113 of the National Science Foun18 dation Authorization Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 1862g) 

19 is amended— 

20 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘EXPERI21 MENTAL’’ and inserting ‘‘ESTABLISHED’’; 

22 (B) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘an Ex23 perimental Program to Stimulate Competitive 

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1 lished Program to Stimulate Competitive Re2 search’)’’; and 

3 (C) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘the pro4 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘the Program’’. 

5 SEC. 104. CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH. 

6 (a) FOUNDATION CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH.—Sec7 tion 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Security Research and Develop8 ment Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. 7403(a)(1)) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in subparagraph (O), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

11 the end; 

12 (2) in subparagraph (P), by striking the period 

13 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

15 ‘‘(Q) security of election-dedicated voting 

16 system software and hardware; and 

17 ‘‘(R) role of the human factor in cyberse18 curity and the interplay of computers and hu19 mans and the physical world.’’. 

20 (b) NIST CYBERSECURITY PRIORITIES.— 

21 (1) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AWARENESS.— 

22 The Director of NIST shall continue to raise public 

23 awareness of the voluntary, industry-led cybersecu24 rity standards and best practices for critical infra25 structure developed under section 2(c)(15) of the 


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1 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act 

2 (15 U.S.C. 272(c)(15)). 

3 (2) QUANTUM COMPUTING.—Under section 2(b) 

4 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech5 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(b)) and section 20 of 

6 that Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–3), the Director of NIST 

7 shall— 

8 (A) research information systems for fu9 ture cybersecurity needs; and 

10 (B) coordinate with relevant stakeholders 

11 to develop a process— 

12 (i) to research and identify or, if nec13 essary, develop cryptography standards 

14 and guidelines for future cybersecurity 

15 needs, including quantum-resistant cryp16 tography standards; and 

17 (ii) to provide recommendations to 

18 Congress, Federal agencies, and industry 

19 consistent with the National Technology 

20 Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 

21 (Public Law 104–113; 110 Stat. 775), for 

22 a secure and smooth transition to the 

23 standards under clause (i). 

24 (3) FEDERAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS RE25 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—Section 20(d)(3) of 


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1 the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

2 Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–3(d)(3)) is amended to read as 

3 follows: 

4 ‘‘(3) conduct research and analysis— 

5 ‘‘(A) to determine the nature and extent of 

6 information security vulnerabilities and tech7 niques for providing cost-effective information 

8 security; 

9 ‘‘(B) to review and determine prevalent in10 formation security challenges and deficiencies 

11 identified by agencies or the Institute, including 

12 any challenges or deficiencies described in any 

13 of the annual reports under section 3553 or 

14 3554 of title 44, United States Code, and in 

15 any of the reports and the independent evalua16 tions under section 3555 of that title, that may 

17 undermine the effectiveness of agency informa18 tion security programs and practices; and 

19 ‘‘(C) to evaluate the effectiveness and suf20 ficiency of, and challenges to, Federal agencies’ 

21 implementation of standards and guidelines de22 veloped under this section and policies and 

23 standards promulgated under section 11331 of 

24 title 40, United States Code;’’. 


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1 (4) VOTING.—Section 2(c) of the National In2 stitute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 272(c)) is amended— 

4 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (16) 

5 through (23) as paragraphs (17) through (24), 

6 respectively; and 

7 (B) by inserting after paragraph (15) the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(16) perform research to support the develop10 ment of voluntary, consensus-based, industry-led 

11 standards and recommendations on the security of 

12 computers, computer networks, and computer data 

13 storage used in election systems to ensure voters can 

14 vote securely and privately.’’. 

15 SEC. 105. NETWORKING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 

16 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT UPDATE. 

17 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

18 ‘‘Networking and Information Technology Research and 

19 Development Modernization Act of 2016’’. 

20 (b) FINDINGS.—Section 2 of the High-Performance 

21 Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5501) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraphs (2) and (5), by striking 

23 ‘‘high-performance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘net24 working and information technology, including high25 performance computing,’’; and 


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1 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘high-per2 formance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and 

3 information technology, including high-performance 

4 computing’’. 

5 (c) PURPOSES.—Section 3 of the High-Performance 

6 Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5502) is amended— 

7 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

8 striking ‘‘high-performance computing’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘networking and information technology’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

11 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

12 (A), by striking ‘‘expanding Federal support for 

13 research, development, and application of high14 performance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘sup15 porting Federal research, development, and ap16 plication of networking and information tech17 nology’’; 

18 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

19 ‘‘high-performance computing’’ both places it 

20 appears and inserting ‘‘networking and infor21 mation technology’’; 

22 (C) by striking subparagraphs (C) and 

23 (D); 

24 (D) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) stimulate research on and promote 

2 more rapid development of high-end computing 

3 systems software and applications software;’’; 

4 (E) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) 

5 through (H) as subparagraphs (D) through 

6 (G), respectively; 

7 (F) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated, 

8 by inserting ‘‘high-end’’ after ‘‘the development 

9 of’’; 

10 (G) in subparagraphs (E) and (F), as re11 designated, by striking ‘‘high-performance com12 puting’’ each place it appears and inserting 

13 ‘‘networking and information technology’’; and 

14 (H) in subparagraph (G), as redesignated, 

15 by striking ‘‘high-performance’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘high-end’’; and 

17 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘high-performance com19 puting and’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and in20 formation technology and’’; and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘high-performance com22 puting network’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and 

23 information technology’’. 


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1 (d) DEFINITIONS.—Section 4 of the High-Perform2 ance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5503) is amend3 ed— 

4 (1) by striking paragraphs (3) and (5); 

5 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (4), 

6 (6), and (7) as paragraphs (2), (3), (5), (8), and 

7 (9), respectively; 

8 (3) by inserting before paragraph (2), as redes9 ignated, the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) ‘cyber-physical systems’ means physical or 

11 engineered systems whose networking and informa12 tion technology functions and physical elements are 

13 deeply integrated and are actively connected to the 

14 physical world through sensors, actuators, or other 

15 means to enable safe and effective, real-time per16 formance in safety-critical and other applications;’’; 

17 (4) in paragraph (3), as redesignated, by strik18 ing ‘‘high-performance computing’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘networking and information technology’’; 

20 (5) by inserting after paragraph (3), as redesig21 nated, the following: 

22 ‘‘(4) ‘high-end computing’ means the most ad23 vanced and capable computing systems, including 

24 their hardware, storage, networking and software, 

25 encompassing both massive computational capability 


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•HR 6490 IH

1 and large-scale data analytics to solve computational 

2 problems of national importance that are beyond the 

3 capability of small- to medium-scale systems, includ4 ing computing formerly known as high-performance 

5 computing;’’; 

6 (6) by inserting after paragraph (5), as redesig7 nated, the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) ‘networking and information technology’ 

9 means high-end computing, communications, and in10 formation technologies, high-capacity and high-speed 

11 networks, special purpose and experimental systems, 

12 high-end computing systems software and applica13 tions software, and the management of large data 

14 sets; 

15 ‘‘(7) ‘participating agency’ means an agency de16 scribed in section 101(a)(3)(C);’’; and 

17 (7) in paragraph (8), as redesignated, by strik18 ing ‘‘National High-Performance Computing Pro19 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘Networking and Information 

20 Technology Research and Development Program’’. 

21 (e) TITLE I HEADING.—The heading of title I of the 

22 High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 

23 5511 et seq.) is amended by striking ‘‘HIGH-PER24 FORMANCE COMPUTING’’ and inserting ‘‘NETVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 14, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6490.IH H6490

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1 WORKING AND INFORMATION TECH2 NOLOGY’’. 

3 (f) NETWORKING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

4 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.—Section 101 

5 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 

6 U.S.C. 5511) is amended— 

7 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘NA8 TIONAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING

9 PROGRAM’’ and inserting ‘‘NETWORKING AND

10 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND

11 DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (a)— 

13 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

14 ‘‘NATIONAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING

15 PROGRAM’’ and inserting ‘‘NETWORKING AND

16 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND

17 DEVELOPMENT’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (i) in the matter preceding subpara20 graph (A), by striking ‘‘National High-Per21 formance Computing Program’’ and insert22 ing ‘‘Networking and Information Tech23 nology Research and Development Pro24 gram’’; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘high-performance computing, including 

3 networking’’ and inserting ‘‘networking 

4 and information technology’’; 

5 (iii) in subparagraphs (B) and (G), by 

6 striking ‘‘high-performance’’ each place it 

7 appears and inserting ‘‘high-end’’; 

8 (iv) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

9 ‘‘high-performance computing and net10 working’’ and inserting ‘‘high-end com11 puting, distributed, and networking’’; 

12 (v) by amending subparagraph (D) to 

13 read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(D) provide for efforts to increase soft15 ware security and reliability;’’; 

16 (vi) in subparagraph (H)— 

17 (I) by inserting ‘‘support and 

18 guidance’’ after ‘‘provide’’; and 

19 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

20 semicolon; 

21 (vii) in subparagraph (I)— 

22 (I) by striking ‘‘improving the se23 curity’’ and inserting ‘‘improving the 

24 security, reliability, and resilience’’; 

25 and 


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•HR 6490 IH

1 (II) by striking the period at the 

2 end and inserting a semicolon; and 

3 (viii) by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(J) provide for increased understanding 

6 of the scientific principles of cyber-physical sys7 tems and improve the methods available for the 

8 design, development, and operation of cyber9 physical systems that are characterized by high 

10 reliability, safety, and security; 

11 ‘‘(K) provide for research and development 

12 on human-computer interactions, visualization, 

13 and big data; 

14 ‘‘(L) provide for research and development 

15 on the enhancement of cybersecurity, including 

16 the human facets of cyber threats and secure 

17 cyber systems; 

18 ‘‘(M) provide for the understanding of the 

19 science, engineering, policy, and privacy protec20 tion related to networking and information 

21 technology; 

22 ‘‘(N) provide for the transition of high-end 

23 computing hardware, system software, develop24 ment tools, and applications into development 

25 and operations; and 


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1 ‘‘(O) foster public-private collaboration 

2 among government, industry research labora3 tories, academia, and nonprofit organizations to 

4 maximize research and development efforts and 

5 the benefits of networking and information 

6 technology, including high-end computing.’’; 

7 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

8 (i) by amending subparagraph (A) to 

9 read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(A) establish the goals and priorities for 

11 Federal networking and information technology 

12 research, development, education, and other ac13 tivities;’’; 

14 (ii) by amending subparagraph (C) to 

15 read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(C) provide for interagency coordination 

17 of Federal networking and information tech18 nology research, development, education, and 

19 other activities undertaken pursuant to the Pro20 gram— 

21 ‘‘(i) among the participating agencies; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) to the extent practicable, with 

24 other Federal agencies not described in 

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1 vate research laboratories, industry, re2 search entities, institutions of higher edu3 cation, relevant nonprofit organizations, 

4 and international partners of the United 

5 States;’’; 

6 (iii) by amending subparagraph (E) to 

7 read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(E) encourage and monitor the efforts of 

9 the agencies participating in the Program to al10 locate the level of resources and management 

11 attention necessary to ensure that the strategic 

12 plans under subsection (e) are developed and 

13 executed effectively and that the objectives of 

14 the Program are met; and’’; and 

15 (iv) in subparagraph (F), by striking 

16 ‘‘high-performance’’ and inserting ‘‘high17 end’’; and 

18 (D) in paragraph (3)— 

19 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 

20 (B), (C), (D), and (E) as subparagraphs 

21 (C), (D), (E), and (G), respectively; 

22 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 

23 (A) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(B) provide a detailed description of the 

2 nature and scope of research infrastructure des3 ignated as such under the Program;’’; 

4 (iii) in subparagraph (C), as redesig5 nated— 

6 (I) by amending clause (i) to 

7 read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(i) the Department of Justice;’’; 

9 (II) by redesignating clauses (vii) 

10 through (xi) as clauses (viii) through 

11 (xii), respectively; 

12 (III) by inserting after clause (vi) 

13 the following: 

14 ‘‘(vii) the Department of Homeland 

15 Security;’’; and 

16 (IV) by amending clause (viii), as 

17 redesignated, to read as follows: 

18 ‘‘(viii) the National Archives and 

19 Records Administration;’’; 

20 (iv) in subparagraph (D), as redesig21 nated— 

22 (I) by striking ‘‘is submitted,’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘is submitted, the levels 

24 for the previous fiscal year,’’; and 


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1 (II) by striking ‘‘each Program 

2 Component Area;’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘each Program Component Area and 

4 research area supported in accordance 

5 with section 102;’’; 

6 (v) by amending subparagraph (E), as 

7 redesignated, to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(E) describe the levels of Federal funding 

9 for each participating agency, and for each Pro10 gram Component Area, for the fiscal year dur11 ing which such report is submitted, the levels 

12 for the previous fiscal year, and the levels pro13 posed for the fiscal year with respect to which 

14 the budget submission applies;’’; and 

15 (vi) by inserting after subparagraph 

16 (E), as redesignated, the following: 

17 ‘‘(F) include a description of how the ob18 jectives for each Program Component Area, and 

19 the objectives for activities that involve multiple 

20 Program Component Areas, relate to the objec21 tives of the Program identified in the strategic 

22 plans required under subsection (e); and’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (b)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre25 ceding subparagraph (A)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘high-performance 

2 computing’’ both places it appears and in3 serting ‘‘networking and information tech4 nology’’; and 

5 (ii) after the first sentence, by insert6 ing the following: ‘‘Each chair of the advi7 sory committee shall meet the qualifica8 tions of committee membership and may 

9 be a member of the President’s Council of 

10 Advisors on Science and Technology.’’; 

11 (B) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking 

12 ‘‘high-performance computing, networking tech13 nology, and related software’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘networking and information technology’’; and 

15 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 

17 ‘‘2’’ and inserting ‘‘3’’; 

18 (ii) by striking ‘‘Committee on Science 

19 and Technology’’ and inserting ‘‘Com20 mittee on Science, Space, and Tech21 nology’’; and 

22 (iii) by striking ‘‘The first report shall 

23 be due within 1 year after the date of en24 actment of the America COMPETES 

25 Act.’’; 


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1 (4) in subsection (c)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘high2 performance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘networking 

3 and information technology’’; and 

4 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(d) PERIODIC REVIEWS.—The heads of the partici6 pating agencies, working through the National Science 

7 and Technology Council and the Program, shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) periodically assess and update, as appro9 priate, the structure of the Program, including the 

10 Program Component Areas and associated contents, 

11 scope, and funding levels, taking into consideration 

12 any relevant recommendations of the advisory com13 mittee established under subsection (b); and 

14 ‘‘(2) ensure that such agency’s implementation 

15 of the Program includes foundational, large-scale, 

16 long-term, and interdisciplinary information tech17 nology research and development activities, including 

18 activities described in section 102. 

19 ‘‘(e) STRATEGIC PLANS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The heads of the partici21 pating agencies, working through the National 

22 Science and Technology Council and the Program, 

23 shall develop and implement strategic plans to 

24 guide— 


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1 ‘‘(A) emerging activities of Federal net2 working and information technology research 

3 and development; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the activities described in subsection 

5 (a)(1). 

6 ‘‘(2) UPDATES.—The heads of the participating 

7 agencies shall update the strategic plans as appro8 priate. 

9 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS.—Each strategic plan shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) specify near-term and long-term ob11 jectives for the portions of the Program rel12 evant to the strategic plan, the anticipated 

13 schedule for achieving the near-term and long14 term objectives, and the metrics to be used for 

15 assessing progress toward the near-term and 

16 long-term objectives; 

17 ‘‘(B) specify how the near-term and long18 term objectives complement research and devel19 opment areas in which academia and the pri20 vate sector are actively engaged; 

21 ‘‘(C) describe how the heads of the partici22 pating agencies will support mechanisms for 

23 foundational, large-scale, long-term, and inter24 disciplinary information technology research 


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1 and development and for Grand Challenges, in2 cluding through collaborations— 

3 ‘‘(i) across Federal agencies; 

4 ‘‘(ii) across Program Component 

5 Areas; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) with industry, Federal and pri7 vate research laboratories, research enti8 ties, institutions of higher education, rel9 evant nonprofit organizations, and inter10 national partners of the United States; 

11 ‘‘(D) describe how the heads of the partici12 pating agencies will foster the rapid transfer of 

13 research and development results into new tech14 nologies and applications in the national inter15 est, including through cooperation and collabo16 rations with networking and information tech17 nology research, development, and technology 

18 transition initiatives supported by the States; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(E) describe how the portions of the Pro21 gram relevant to the strategic plan will address 

22 long-term challenges for which solutions require 

23 foundational, large-scale, long-term, and inter24 disciplinary information technology research 

25 and development. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PRIVATE SECTOR EFFORTS.—In devel2 oping, implementing, and updating strategic plans, 

3 the heads of the participating agencies, working 

4 through the National Science and Technology Coun5 cil and the Program, shall coordinate with industry, 

6 academia, and other interested stakeholders to en7 sure, to the extent practicable, that the Federal net8 working and information technology research and 

9 development activities carried out under this section 

10 do not duplicate the efforts of the private sector. 

11 ‘‘(5) RECOMMENDATIONS.—In developing and 

12 updating strategic plans, the heads of the partici13 pating agencies shall solicit recommendations and 

14 advice from— 

15 ‘‘(A) the advisory committee under sub16 section (b); 

17 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Science and rel18 evant subcommittees of the National Science 

19 and Technology Council; and 

20 ‘‘(C) a wide range of stakeholders, includ21 ing industry, academia, National Laboratories, 

22 and other relevant organizations and institu23 tions. 

24 ‘‘(f) REPORTS.—The heads of the participating agen25 cies, working through the National Science and TechVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 14, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6490.IH H6490

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1 nology Council and the Program, shall submit to the advi2 sory committee, the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

3 and Transportation of the Senate, and the Committee on 

4 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep5 resentatives— 

6 ‘‘(1) the strategic plans developed under sub7 section (e)(1); and 

8 ‘‘(2) each update under subsection (e)(2).’’. 

9 (g) NATIONAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NET10 WORK.—Section 102 of the High-Performance Computing 

11 Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5512) is repealed. 

12 (h) NEXT GENERATION INTERNET.—Section 103 of 

13 the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 

14 5513) is repealed. 

15 (i) GRAND CHALLENGES IN AREAS OF NATIONAL IM16 PORTANCE.—Title I of the High-Performance Computing 

17 Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5511 et seq.) is amended by add18 ing at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 102. GRAND CHALLENGES IN AREAS OF NATIONAL 

20 IMPORTANCE. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall encourage 

22 the participating agencies to support foundational, large23 scale, long-term, interdisciplinary, and interagency infor24 mation technology research and development activities in 

25 networking and information technology directed toward 


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1 agency mission areas that have the potential for signifi2 cant contributions to national economic competitiveness 

3 and for other significant societal benefits. Such activities, 

4 ranging from basic research to the demonstration of tech5 nical solutions, shall be designed to advance the develop6 ment of fundamental discoveries. The advisory committee 

7 established under section 101(b) shall make recommenda8 tions to the Program for candidate research and develop9 ment areas for support under this section. 

10 ‘‘(b) CHARACTERISTICS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Research and development 

12 activities under this section shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) include projects selected on the basis 

14 of applications for support through a competi15 tive, merit-based process; 

16 ‘‘(B) to the extent practicable, involve col17 laborations among researchers in institutions of 

18 higher education and industry, and may involve 

19 nonprofit research institutions and Federal lab20 oratories, as appropriate; 

21 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, leverage 

22 Federal investments through collaboration with 

23 related State and private sector initiatives; and 

24 ‘‘(D) include a plan for fostering the trans25 fer of research discoveries and the results of 


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1 technology demonstration activities, including 

2 from institutions of higher education and Fed3 eral laboratories, to industry for commercial de4 velopment. 

5 ‘‘(2) COST-SHARING.—In selecting applications 

6 for support, the agencies may give special consider7 ation to projects that include cost sharing from non8 Federal sources.’’. 

9 (j) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES.— 

10 Section 201 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 

11 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5521) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘(a) GENERAL RESPON14 SIBILITIES.—’’; 

15 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

16 (i) by inserting ‘‘high-end’’ after ‘‘Na17 tional Science Foundation shall provide’’; 

18 and 

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘high-performance 

20 computing’’ and all that follows through 

21 ‘‘networking;’’ and inserting ‘‘networking 

22 and information technology; and’’; 

23 (C) by striking paragraphs (2) through 

24 (4); and 


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1 (D) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(2) the National Science Foundation shall use 

4 its existing programs, in collaboration with other 

5 agencies, as appropriate, to improve the teaching 

6 and learning of networking and information tech7 nology at all levels of education and to increase par8 ticipation in networking and information technology 

9 fields, including by individuals identified in sections 

10 33 and 34 of the Science and Engineering Equal 

11 Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a and 1885b).’’; 

12 and 

13 (2) by striking subsection (b). 

14 (k) NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINIS15 TRATION ACTIVITIES.—Section 202 of the High-Perform16 ance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5522) is amend17 ed— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) GENERAL RESPONSIBIL19 ITIES.—’’; 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘high-performance computing’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘networking and information tech22 nology’’; and 

23 (3) by striking subsection (b). 


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1 (l) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ACTIVITIES.—Section 

2 203 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 

3 U.S.C. 5523) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) GENERAL RESPONSIBIL5 ITIES.—’’; 

6 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘high-per7 formance computing and networking’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘networking and information technology’’; 

9 (3) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘high-per10 formance’’ and inserting ‘‘high-end’’; and 

11 (4) by striking subsection (b). 

12 (m) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ACTIVITIES.—Sec13 tion 204 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 

14 (15 U.S.C. 5524) is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

16 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

17 ‘‘high-performance computing systems and net18 works’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and informa19 tion technology systems and capabilities’’; 

20 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

21 ‘‘interoperability of high-performance com22 puting systems in networks and for common 

23 user interfaces to systems’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘interoperability and usability of networking 

25 and information technology systems’’; and 


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1 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

2 ‘‘high-performance computing’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘networking and information technology’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (b)— 

5 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘HIGH6 PERFORMANCE COMPUTING AND NETWORK’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘NETWORKING AND INFORMA8 TION TECHNOLOGY’’; 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘Pursuant to the Com10 puter Security Act of 1987 (Public Law 100– 

11 235; 101 Stat. 1724), the’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘The’’; and 

13 (C) by striking ‘‘sensitive information in 

14 Federal computer systems’’ and inserting ‘‘Fed15 eral agency information and information sys16 tems’’; and 

17 (3) by striking subsections (c) and (d). 

18 (n) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ACTIVI19 TIES.—Section 205 of the High-Performance Computing 

20 Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5525) is repealed. 

21 (o) ROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.— 

22 Section 206 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 

23 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5526) is repealed. 


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1 (p) MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.—Section 207 of 

2 the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 

3 5527) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘para5 graphs (1) through (5) of section 2315(a) of title 

6 10’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3552(b)(6)(A)(i) of title 

7 44’’; and 

8 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘high-per9 formance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and 

10 information technology’’. 

11 (q) REPEAL.—Section 208 of the High-Performance 

12 Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5528) is repealed. 

13 (r) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RESEARCH.— 

14 Section 4(b)(5)(K) of the Cyber Security Research and 

15 Development Act (15 U.S.C. 7403(b)(5)(K)) is amended 

16 by striking ‘‘high-performance computing’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘networking and information technology’’. 

18 (s) NATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RE19 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.—Section 

20 13202(b) of the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act 

21 of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 17912(b)) is amended by striking 

22 ‘‘National High-Performance Computing Program’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘Networking and Information Technology Re24 search and Development Program’’. 


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1 (t) FEDERAL CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH AND DE2 VELOPMENT.—Section 201(a)(4) of the Cybersecurity En3 hancement Act of 2014 (15 U.S.C. 7431(a)(4)) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘clauses (i) through (x)’’ and in6 serting ‘‘clauses (i) through (xi)’’; and 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘under clause (xi)’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘under clause (xii)’’. 

9 (u) ADDITIONAL REPEAL.—Section 4 of the Depart10 ment of Energy High-End Computing Revitalization Act 

11 of 2004 (15 U.S.C. 5543) is repealed. 

12 SEC. 106. PHYSICAL SCIENCES COORDINATION. 

13 (a) HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Physical Science Sub15 committee of the National Science and Technology 

16 Council (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sub17 committee’’) shall continue to coordinate Federal ef18 forts related to high-energy physics research to 

19 maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of United 

20 States investment in high-energy physics. 

21 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Sub22 committee include— 

23 (A) to advise and assist the Committee on 

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1 dures, and plans in the physical sciences, in2 cluding high-energy physics; and 

3 (B) to identify emerging opportunities, 

4 stimulate international cooperation, and foster 

5 the development of the physical sciences in the 

6 United States, including— 

7 (i) in high-energy physics research, in8 cluding related underground science and 

9 engineering research; 

10 (ii) in physical infrastructure and fa11 cilities; 

12 (iii) in information and analysis; and 

13 (iv) in coordination activities. 

14 (3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—In regard to coordi15 nating Federal efforts related to high-energy physics 

16 research, the Subcommittee shall, taking into ac17 count the findings and recommendations of relevant 

18 advisory committees— 

19 (A) provide recommendations on planning 

20 for construction and stewardship of large facili21 ties participating in high-energy physics; 

22 (B) provide recommendations on research 

23 coordination and collaboration among the pro24 grams and activities of Federal agencies related 


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1 to underground science, neutrino research, dark 

2 energy, and dark matter research; 

3 (C) establish goals and priorities for high4 energy physics, related underground science, 

5 and research and development that will 

6 strengthen United States competitiveness in 

7 high-energy physics; 

8 (D) propose methods for engagement with 

9 international, Federal, and State agencies and 

10 Federal laboratories not represented on the Na11 tional Science and Technology Council to iden12 tify and reduce regulatory, logistical, and fiscal 

13 barriers that inhibit United States leadership in 

14 high-energy physics and related underground 

15 science; and 

16 (E) develop, and update as necessary, a 

17 strategic plan to guide Federal programs and 

18 activities in support of high-energy physics re19 search, including— 

20 (i) the efforts taken in support of 

21 paragraph (2) since the last strategic plan; 

22 (ii) an evaluation of the current re23 search needs for maintaining United States 

24 leadership in high-energy physics; and 


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1 (iii) an identification of future prior2 ities in the area of high-energy physics. 

3 (b) RADIATION BIOLOGY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Subcommittee shall con5 tinue to coordinate Federal efforts related to radi6 ation biology research to maximize the efficiency and 

7 effectiveness of United States investment in radi8 ation biology. 

9 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES FOR RADIATION BIOL10 OGY.—In regard to coordinating Federal efforts re11 lated to radiation biology research, the Sub12 committee shall— 

13 (A) advise and assist the National Science 

14 and Technology Council on policies and initia15 tives in radiation biology, including enhancing 

16 scientific knowledge of the effects of low dose 

17 radiation on biological systems to improve radi18 ation risk management methods; 

19 (B) identify opportunities to stimulate 

20 international cooperation and leverage research 

21 and knowledge from sources outside of the 

22 United States; 

23 (C) ensure coordination between the De24 partment of Energy Office of Science, Founda25 tion, National Aeronautics and Space AdminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Dec 14, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6490.IH H6490

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1 tration, National Institutes of Health, Environ2 mental Protection Agency, Department of De3 fense, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and De4 partment of Homeland Security; 

5 (D) identify ongoing scientific challenges 

6 for understanding the long-term effects of ion7 izing radiation on biological systems; and 

8 (E) formulate overall scientific goals for 

9 the future of low-dose radiation research in the 

10 United States. 

11 (c) FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Subcommittee shall con13 tinue to coordinate Federal efforts related to fusion 

14 energy research to maximize the efficiency and effec15 tiveness of United States investment in fusion en16 ergy sciences. 

17 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES FOR FUSION ENERGY

18 SCIENCES.—In regard to coordinating Federal ef19 forts related to fusion energy sciences, the Sub20 committee shall— 

21 (A) advise and assist the National Science 

22 and Technology Council on policies and initia23 tives in fusion energy sciences, including en24 hancing scientific knowledge of fusion energy 


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1 science, plasma physics, and related materials 

2 sciences; 

3 (B) identify opportunities to stimulate 

4 international cooperation and leverage research 

5 and knowledge from sources outside of the 

6 United States, including the ITER project; 

7 (C) ensure coordination between the De8 partment of Energy Office of Science, National 

9 Nuclear Security Administration, Advanced Re10 search Projects Agency-Energy, National Aero11 nautics and Space Administration, Foundation, 

12 and Department of Defense regarding fusion 

13 energy sciences and plasma physics; and 

14 (D) formulate overall scientific goals for 

15 the future of fusion energy sciences and plasma 

16 physics. 

17 SEC. 107. LABORATORY PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIST, acting 

19 through the Associate Director for Laboratory Programs, 

20 shall develop and implement a comprehensive strategic 

21 plan for laboratory programs that expands— 

22 (1) interactions with academia, international re23 searchers, and industry; and 

24 (2) commercial and industrial applications. 


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1 (b) OPTIMIZING COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL AP2 PLICATIONS.—In accordance with the purpose under sec3 tion 1(b)(3) of the National Institute of Standards and 

4 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 271(b)(3)), the comprehensive 

5 strategic plan shall— 

6 (1) include performance metrics for the dissemi7 nation of fundamental research results, measure8 ments, and standards research results to industry, 

9 including manufacturing, and other interested par10 ties; 

11 (2) document any positive benefits of research 

12 on the competitiveness of the interested parties de13 scribed in paragraph (1); 

14 (3) clarify the current approach to the tech15 nology transfer activities of NIST; and 

16 (4) consider recommendations from the Na17 tional Academy of Sciences. 

18 SEC. 108. STANDARD REFERENCE DATA ACT UPDATE. 

19 Section 2 of the Standard Reference Data Act (15 

20 U.S.C. 290a) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

22 ‘‘For the purposes of this Act: 

23 ‘‘(1) STANDARD REFERENCE DATA.—The term 

24 ‘standard reference data’ means data that is— 

25 ‘‘(A) either— 


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1 ‘‘(i) quantitative information related 

2 to a measurable physical, or chemical, or 

3 biological property of a substance or sys4 tem of substances of known composition 

5 and structure; 

6 ‘‘(ii) measurable characteristics of a 

7 physical artifact or artifacts; 

8 ‘‘(iii) engineering properties or per9 formance characteristics of a system; or 

10 ‘‘(iv) one or more digital data objects 

11 that serve— 

12 ‘‘(I) to calibrate or characterize 

13 the performance of a detection or 

14 measurement system; or 

15 ‘‘(II) to interpolate or extrapo16 late, or both, data described in sub17 paragraph (A) through (C); and 

18 ‘‘(B) that is critically evaluated as to its 

19 reliability under section 3 of this Act. 

20 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

21 the Secretary of Commerce.’’. 

22 SEC. 109. NSF MID-SCALE PROJECT INVESTMENTS. 

23 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find24 ings: 


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1 (1) The Foundation funds major research facili2 ties, infrastructure, and instrumentation that pro3 vide unique capabilities at the frontiers of science 

4 and engineering. 

5 (2) Modern and effective research facilities, in6 frastructure, and instrumentation are critical to 

7 maintaining United States leadership in science and 

8 engineering. 

9 (3) The costs of some proposed research instru10 mentation, equipment, and upgrades to major re11 search facilities fall between programs currently 

12 funded by the Foundation, creating a gap between 

13 the established parameters of the Major Research 

14 Instrumentation and Major Research Equipment 

15 and Facilities Construction programs, including 

16 projects that have been identified as cost-effective 

17 additions of high priority to the advancement of sci18 entific understanding. 

19 (4) The 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics 

20 Decadal Survey recommended a mid-scale innova21 tions program. 

22 (b) MID-SCALE PROJECTS.— 

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1 ciplines supported by the Foundation, for mid-scale 

2 projects. 

3 (2) STRATEGY.—The Director of the Founda4 tion shall develop a strategy to address the needs 

5 identified in paragraph (1). 

6 (3) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

8 the Foundation shall provide a briefing to the appro9 priate committees of Congress on the evaluation 

10 under paragraph (1) and the strategy under para11 graph (2). 

12 (4) DEFINITION OF MID-SCALE PROJECTS.—In 

13 this subsection, the term ‘‘mid-scale projects’’ means 

14 research instrumentation, equipment, and upgrades 

15 to major research facilities or other research infra16 structure investments that exceed the maximum 

17 award funded by the major research instrumentation 

18 program and are below the minimum award funded 

19 by the major research equipment and facilities con20 struction program as described in section 507 of the 

21 America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 

22 (Public Law 111–358; 124 Stat. 4008). 

23 SEC. 110. OVERSIGHT OF NSF MAJOR MULTI-USER RE24 SEARCH FACILITY PROJECTS. 

25 (a) FACILITIES OVERSIGHT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Founda2 tion shall strengthen oversight and accountability 

3 over the full life cycle of each major multi-user re4 search facility project, including planning, develop5 ment, procurement, construction, operations, and 

6 support, and shutdown of the facility, in order to 

7 maximize research investment. 

8 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out para9 graph (1), the Director shall— 

10 (A) prioritize the scientific outcomes of a 

11 major multi-user research facility project and 

12 the internal management and financial over13 sight of the major multi-user research facility 

14 project; 

15 (B) clarify the roles and responsibilities of 

16 all organizations, including offices, panels, com17 mittees, and directorates, involved in supporting 

18 a major multi-user research facility project, in19 cluding the role of the Major Research Equip20 ment and Facilities Construction Panel; 

21 (C) establish policies and procedures for 

22 the planning, management, and oversight of a 

23 major multi-user research facility project at 

24 each phase of the life cycle of the major multi25 user research facility project; 


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1 (D) ensure that policies for estimating and 

2 managing costs and schedules are consistent 

3 with the best practices described in the Govern4 ment Accountability Office Cost Estimating and 

5 Assessment Guide, the Government Account6 ability Office Schedule Assessment Guide, and 

7 the Office of Management and Budget Uniform 

8 Guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200); 

9 (E) establish the appropriate project man10 agement and financial management expertise 

11 required for Foundation staff to oversee each 

12 major multi-user research facility project effec13 tively, including by improving project manage14 ment training and certification; 

15 (F) coordinate the sharing of the best 

16 management practices and lessons learned from 

17 each major multi-user research facility project; 

18 (G) continue to maintain a Large Facilities 

19 Office to support the research directorates in 

20 the development, implementation, and oversight 

21 of each major multi-user research facility 

22 project, including by— 

23 (i) serving as the Foundation’s pri24 mary resource for all policy or process 

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1 mentation, and oversight of a major multi2 user research facility project; 

3 (ii) serving as a Foundation-wide re4 source on project management, including 

5 providing expert assistance on nonscientific 

6 and nontechnical aspects of project plan7 ning, budgeting, implementation, manage8 ment, and oversight; 

9 (iii) coordinating and collaborating 

10 with research directorates to share best 

11 management practices and lessons learned 

12 from prior major multi-user research facil13 ity projects; and 

14 (iv) assessing each major multi-user 

15 research facility project for cost and sched16 ule risk; and 

17 (H) appoint a senior agency official whose 

18 responsibility is oversight of the development, 

19 construction, and operations of major multi20 user research facilities across the Foundation. 

21 (b) FACILITIES FULL LIFE CYCLE COSTS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c)(1), 

23 the Director of the Foundation shall require that 

24 any pre-award analysis of a major multi-user re25 search facility project includes the development and 


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1 consideration of the full life cycle cost (as defined in 

2 section 2 of the National Science Foundation Au3 thorization Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 1862k note)) in 

4 accordance with section 14 of the National Science 

5 Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 

6 1862n–4). 

7 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—Based on the pre8 award analysis described in paragraph (1), the Di9 rector of the Foundation shall include projected 

10 operational costs within the Foundation’s out-years 

11 as part of the President’s annual budget submission 

12 to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, United 

13 States Code. 

14 (c) COST OVERSIGHT.— 

15 (1) PRE-AWARD ANALYSIS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the 

17 Foundation and the National Science Board 

18 may not approve or execute any agreement to 

19 start construction on any proposed major multi20 user research facility project unless— 

21 (i) an external analysis of the pro22 posed budget has been conducted to ensure 

23 the proposal is complete and reasonable; 


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1 (ii) the analysis under clause (i) fol2 lows the Government Accountability Office 

3 Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide; 

4 (iii) except as provided under sub5 paragraph (C), an analysis of the account6 ing systems has been conducted; 

7 (iv) an independent cost estimate of 

8 the construction of the project has been 

9 conducted using the same detailed tech10 nical information as the project proposal 

11 estimate to determine whether the estimate 

12 is well-supported and realistic; and 

13 (v) the Foundation and the National 

14 Science Board have considered the anal15 yses under clauses (i) and (iii) and the 

16 independent cost estimate under clause (iv) 

17 and resolved any major issues identified 

18 therein. 

19 (B) AUDITS.—An external analysis under 

20 subparagraph (A)(i) may include an audit. 

21 (C) EXCEPTION.—The Director of the 

22 Foundation, at the Director’s discretion, may 

23 waive the requirement under subparagraph 

24 (A)(iii) if a similar analysis of the accounting 

25 systems was conducted in the prior years. 


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1 (2) CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.—The Director 

2 of the Foundation shall require for each major 

3 multi-user research facility project— 

4 (A) periodic external reviews on project 

5 management and performance; 

6 (B) adequate internal controls, policies, 

7 and procedures, and reliable accounting systems 

8 in preparation for the incurred cost audits 

9 under subparagraph (D); 

10 (C) annual incurred cost submissions of fi11 nancial expenditures; and 

12 (D) an incurred cost audit of the major 

13 multi-user research facility project in accord14 ance with Government Accountability Office 

15 Government Auditing Standards— 

16 (i) at least once during construction 

17 at a time determined based on risk anal18 ysis and length of the award, except that 

19 the length of time between audits may not 

20 exceed 3 years; and 

21 (ii) at the completion of the construc22 tion phase. 

23 (3) OPERATIONS COST ANALYSIS.—The Direc24 tor of the Foundation shall require an independent 


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1 cost analysis of the operational proposal for each 

2 major multi-user research facility project. 

3 (d) CONTINGENCY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Founda5 tion shall strengthen internal controls to improve 

6 oversight of contingency on a major multi-user re7 search facility project. 

8 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out para9 graph (1), the Director of the Foundation shall— 

10 (A) only include contingency amounts in 

11 an award in accordance with section 200.433 of 

12 title 2, Code of Federal Regulations (relating to 

13 contingency provisions), or any successor regu14 lation; 

15 (B) retain control over funds budgeted for 

16 contingency, except that the Director may dis17 burse budgeted contingency funds incrementally 

18 to the awardee to ensure project stability and 

19 continuity; 

20 (C) track contingency use; and 

21 (D) ensure that contingency amounts allo22 cated to the performance baseline are reason23 able and allowable. 

24 (e) USE OF FEES.— 


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1 (1) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

2 Congress that— 

3 (A) the use of taxpayer-funded award fees 

4 should be transparent and explicable; and 

5 (B) the Foundation should implement an 

6 award fee policy that ensures more trans7 parency and accountability in the funding of 

8 necessary and appropriate expenses directly re9 lated to the construction and operation of major 

10 multi-user research facilities. 

11 (2) REPORTING AND RECORDKEEPING.—The 

12 Director of the Foundation shall establish guidelines 

13 for awardees regarding inappropriate expenditures 

14 associated with all fee types used in cooperative 

15 agreements, including for alcoholic beverages, lob16 bying, meals or entertainment for nonbusiness pur17 poses, nonbusiness travel, and any other purpose the 

18 Director determines is inappropriate. 

19 (f) OVERSIGHT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS.—The 

20 Director of the Foundation shall— 

21 (1) not later than 90 days after the date of en22 actment of this Act, and periodically thereafter until 

23 the completion date, provide a briefing to the appro24 priate committees of Congress on the response to or 

25 progress made toward implementation of— 


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1 (A) this section; 

2 (B) all of the issues and recommendations 

3 identified in cooperative agreement audit re4 ports and memoranda issued by the Inspector 

5 General of the Foundation in the last 5 years; 

6 and 

7 (C) all of the issues and recommendations 

8 identified by a panel of the National Academy 

9 of Public Administration in the December 2015 

10 report entitled ‘‘National Science Foundation: 

11 Use of Cooperative Agreements to Support 

12 Large Scale Investment in Research’’; and 

13 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en14 actment of this Act, notify the appropriate commit15 tees of Congress when the Foundation has imple16 mented the recommendations identified in a panel of 

17 the National Academy of Public Administration re18 port issued December 2015. 

19 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON21 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con22 gress’’ means the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

23 and Transportation and the Committee on Appro24 priations of the Senate and the Committee on 


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1 Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee 

2 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

3 (2) MAJOR MULTI-USER RESEARCH FACILITY

4 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘ ‘major multi-user research 

5 facility project’ ’’ means a science and engineering 

6 facility project that— 

7 (A) exceeds the lesser of— 

8 (i) 10 percent of a Directorate’s an9 nual budget; or 

10 (ii) $100,000,000 in total project 

11 costs; or 

12 (B) is funded by the major research equip13 ment and facilities construction account, or any 

14 successor account. 

15 SEC. 111. PERSONNEL OVERSIGHT. 

16 (a) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—The Director of the 

17 Foundation shall update the policy and procedure of the 

18 Foundation relating to conflicts of interest to improve doc19 umentation and management of any known conflict of in20 terest of an individual on temporary assignment at the 

21 Foundation, including an individual on assignment under 

22 the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970 (42 U.S.C. 

23 4701 et seq.). 

24 (b) JUSTIFICATIONS.—The Deputy Director of the 

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1 mittees of Congress written justification for each rotator 

2 employed under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 

3 1970 (42 U.S.C. 4701 et seq.), or other rotator employed, 

4 by the Foundation that year that is paid at a rate that 

5 exceeds the maximum rate of pay for the Senior Executive 

6 Service, including, if applicable, the level of adjustment for 

7 the certified Senior Executive Service Performance Ap8 praisal System. 

9 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

10 of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Foundation 

11 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 

12 a report on the Foundation’s efforts to control costs asso13 ciated with employing rotators, including the results of 

14 and participation in the Foundation’s cost-sharing pilot 

15 program and the Foundation’s progress in responding to 

16 the findings and implementing the recommendations of 

17 the Office of Inspector General of the Foundation related 

18 to the employment of rotators. 

19 SEC. 112. MANAGEMENT OF THE U.S. ANTARCTIC PRO20 GRAM. 

21 (a) REVIEW.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Founda23 tion shall continue to review the efforts by the Foun24 dation to sustain and strengthen scientific efforts in 


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1 the face of logistical challenges for the United States 

2 Antarctic Program. 

3 (2) ISSUES TO BE EXAMINED.—In conducting 

4 the review, the Director shall examine, at a min5 imum, the following: 

6 (A) Implementation by the Foundation of 

7 issues and recommendations identified by— 

8 (i) the Inspector General of the Na9 tional Science Foundation in audit reports 

10 and memoranda on the United States Ant11 arctic Program in the last 4 years; 

12 (ii) the U.S. Antarctic Program Blue 

13 Ribbon Panel report, More and Better 

14 Science in Antarctica through Increased 

15 Logistical Effectiveness, issued July 23, 

16 2012; and 

17 (iii) the National Research Council re18 port, Future Science Opportunities in Ant19 arctica and the Southern Ocean, issued 

20 September 2011. 

21 (B) Efforts by the Foundation to track its 

22 progress in addressing the issues and rec23 ommendations under subparagraph (A). 

24 (C) Efforts by the Foundation to address 

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1 forts on scientific research, coordination with 

2 other Federal agencies and international part3 ners, logistics and transportation, health and 

4 safety of participants, oversight and financial 

5 management of awardees and contractors, and 

6 resources and policy challenges. 

7 (b) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall brief the 

9 appropriate committees of Congress on the ongoing re10 view, including findings and any recommendations. 

11 SEC. 113. NIST CAMPUS SECURITY. 

12 (a) SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY.—The Department of 

13 Commerce Office of Security shall directly manage the law 

14 enforcement and site security programs of NIST through 

15 an assigned Director of Security for NIST without in16 creasing the number of full-time equivalent employees of 

17 the Department of Commerce, including NIST. 

18 (b) REPORTS.—The Director of Security for NIST 

19 shall provide an activities and security report on a quar20 terly basis for the first year after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act, and on an annual basis thereafter, to the 

22 Under Secretary for Standards and Technology and the 

23 appropriate committees of Congress. 


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1 SEC. 114. COORDINATION OF SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY RE2 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

3 (a) IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY.—It 

4 is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) the science of chemistry is vital to improv6 ing the quality of human life and plays an important 

7 role in addressing critical global challenges, includ8 ing water quality, energy, health care, and agri9 culture; 

10 (2) sustainable chemistry can reduce risks to 

11 human health and the environment, reduce waste, 

12 improve pollution prevention, promote safe and effi13 cient manufacturing, and promote efficient use of re14 sources in developing new materials, processes, and 

15 technologies that support viable long-term solutions 

16 to a significant number of challenges; 

17 (3) sustainable chemistry can stimulate innova18 tion, encourage new and creative approaches to 

19 problems, create jobs, and save money; and 

20 (4) a coordinated effort on sustainable chem21 istry will allow for a greater return on research in22 vestment in this area. 

23 (b) SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY BASIC RESEARCH.— 

24 Subject to the availability of appropriated funds, the Di25 rector of the Foundation may continue to carry out the 

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1 ized under section 509 of the National Science Foundation 

2 Authorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p–3). 

3 SEC. 115. MISREPRESENTATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS. 

4 (a) PROHIBITION.—The Director of the Foundation 

5 may revise the regulations under part 689 of title 45, Code 

6 of Federal Regulations (relating to research misconduct), 

7 to ensure that the findings and conclusions of any article 

8 authored by a principal investigator, using the results of 

9 research conducted under a Foundation grant, that is pub10 lished in a peer-reviewed publication, made publicly avail11 able, or incorporated in an application for a research grant 

12 or grant extension from the Foundation, does not contain 

13 any falsification, fabrication, or plagiarism. 

14 (b) INTERAGENCY COMMUNICATION.—Upon a find15 ing that research misconduct has occurred, the Founda16 tion shall, in addition to any possible final action under 

17 section 689.3 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, no18 tify other Federal science agencies of the finding. 

19 SEC. 116. RESEARCH REPRODUCIBILITY AND REPLICA20 TION. 

21 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con22 gress that— 

23 (1) the gold standard of good science is the 

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1 produce a published research finding, including 

2 methods; 

3 (2) there is growing concern that some pub4 lished research findings cannot be reproduced or 

5 replicated, which can negatively affect the public’s 

6 trust in science; 

7 (3) there are a complex set of factors affecting 

8 reproducibility and replication; and 

9 (4) the increasing interdisciplinary nature and 

10 complexity of scientific research may be a contrib11 uting factor to issues with research reproducibility 

12 and replication. 

13 (b) REPORT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days after 

15 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

16 the Foundation shall enter into an agreement with 

17 the National Research Council— 

18 (A) to assess research and data reproduc19 ibility and replicability issues in interdiscipli20 nary research; 

21 (B) to make recommendations for improv22 ing rigor and transparency in scientific re23 search; and 

24 (C) to submit to the Director of the Foun25 dation a report on the assessment, including its 


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1 findings and recommendations, not later than 1 

2 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 

3 (2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

4 60 days after the date the Director of the Founda5 tion receives the report under paragraph (1)(C), the 

6 Director shall submit the report to the appropriate 

7 committees of Congress, including a response from 

8 the Director of the Foundation and the Chair of the 

9 National Science Board as to whether they agree 

10 with each of the findings and recommendations in 

11 the report. 

12 SEC. 117. BRAIN RESEARCH THROUGH ADVANCING INNO13 VATIVE NEUROTECHNOLOGIES INITIATIVE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Foundation shall support re15 search activities related to the interagency Brain Research 

16 through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initia17 tive. 

18 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con19 gress that the Foundation should work in conjunction with 

20 the Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience estab21 lished by the National Science and Technology Council, 

22 Committee on Science to determine how to use the data 

23 infrastructure of the Foundation and other applicable 

24 Federal science agencies to help neuroscientists collect, 

25 standardize, manage, and analyze the large amounts of 


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1 data that result from research attempting to understand 

2 how the brain functions. 

3 TITLE II—ADMINISTRATIVE AND 

4 REGULATORY BURDEN RE5 DUCTION 

6 SEC. 201. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON RESEARCH 

7 REGULATION. 

8 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

9 ‘‘Research and Development Efficiency Act’’. 

10 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find11 ings: 

12 (1) Scientific and technological advancement 

13 have been the largest drivers of economic growth in 

14 the last 50 years, with the Federal Government 

15 being the largest investor in basic research. 

16 (2) Substantial and increasing administrative 

17 burdens and costs in Federal research administra18 tion, particularly in the higher education sector 

19 where most federally funded research is performed, 

20 are eroding funds available to carry out basic sci21 entific research. 

22 (3) Federally funded grants are increasingly 

23 competitive, with the Foundation funding only ap24 proximately 1 in every 5 grant proposals. 


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1 (4) Progress has been made over the last dec2 ade in streamlining the pre-award grant application 

3 process through the Federal Government’s 

4 Grants.gov website. 

5 (5) Post-award administrative costs have in6 creased as Federal research agencies have continued 

7 to impose agency-unique compliance and reporting 

8 requirements on researchers and research institu9 tions. 

10 (6) Researchers spend as much as 42 percent 

11 of their time complying with Federal regulations, in12 cluding administrative tasks such as applying for 

13 grants or meeting reporting requirements. 

14 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that— 

16 (1) administrative burdens faced by researchers 

17 may be reducing the return on investment of feder18 ally funded research and development; and 

19 (2) it is a matter of critical importance to 

20 United States competitiveness that administrative 

21 costs of federally funded research be streamlined so 

22 that a higher proportion of Federal funding is ap23 plied to direct research activities. 

24 (d) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

25 Management and Budget, in coordination with the Office 


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1 of Science and Technology Policy, shall establish an inter2 agency working group (referred to in this section as the 

3 ‘‘Working Group’’) for the purpose of reducing adminis4 trative burdens on federally funded researchers while pro5 tecting the public interest through the transparency of and 

6 accountability for federally funded activities. 

7 (e) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group shall— 

9 (A) regularly review relevant, administra10 tion-related regulations imposed on federally 

11 funded researchers; 

12 (B) recommend those regulations or proc13 esses that may be eliminated, streamlined, or 

14 otherwise improved for the purpose described in 

15 subsection (d); 

16 (C) recommend ways to minimize the regu17 latory burden on United States institutions of 

18 higher education performing federally funded 

19 research while maintaining accountability for 

20 Federal funding; and 

21 (D) recommend ways to identify and up22 date specific regulations to refocus on perform23 ance-based goals rather than on process while 

24 achieving the outcome described in subpara25 graph (C). 


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1 (2) GRANT REVIEW.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group 

3 shall— 

4 (i) conduct a comprehensive review of 

5 Federal science agency grant proposal doc6 uments; and 

7 (ii) develop, to the extent practicable, 

8 a simplified, uniform grant format to be 

9 used by all Federal science agencies. 

10 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the 

11 uniform grant format, the Working Group shall 

12 consider whether to implement— 

13 (i) procedures for preliminary project 

14 proposals in advance of peer-review selec15 tion; 

16 (ii) increased use of ‘‘Just-In-Time’’ 

17 procedures for documentation that does 

18 not bear directly on the scientific merit of 

19 a proposal; 

20 (iii) simplified initial budget proposals 

21 in advance of peer review selection; and 

22 (iv) detailed budget proposals for ap23 plicants that peer review selection identi24 fies as likely to be funded. 


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1 (3) CENTRALIZED RESEARCHER PROFILE DATA2 BASE.— 

3 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Working 

4 Group shall establish, to the extent practicable, 

5 a secure, centralized database for investigator 

6 biosketches, curriculum vitae, licenses, lists of 

7 publications, and other documents considered 

8 relevant by the Working Group. 

9 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the 

10 centralized profile database under subparagraph 

11 (A), the Working Group shall consider incor12 porating existing investigator databases. 

13 (C) GRANT PROPOSALS.—To the extent 

14 practicable, all grant proposals shall utilize the 

15 centralized investigator profile database estab16 lished under subparagraph (A). 

17 (D) REQUIREMENTS.—Each investigator 

18 shall— 

19 (i) be responsible for ensuring the in20 vestigator’s profile is current and accurate; 

21 and 

22 (ii) be assigned a unique identifier 

23 linked to the database and accessible to all 

24 Federal funding agencies. 


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1 (4) CENTRALIZED ASSURANCES REPOSITORY.— 

2 The Working Group shall— 

3 (A) establish a central repository for all of 

4 the assurances required for Federal research 

5 grants; and 

6 (B) provide guidance to institutions of 

7 higher education and Federal science agencies 

8 on the use of the centralized assurances reposi9 tory. 

10 (5) COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group 

12 shall— 

13 (i) conduct a comprehensive review of 

14 the mandated progress reports for federally 

15 funded research; and 

16 (ii) develop a strategy to simplify in17 vestigator progress reports. 

18 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the 

19 strategy, the Working Group shall consider lim20 iting progress reports to performance outcomes. 

21 (f) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out its responsibil22 ities under subsection (e)(1), the Working Group shall 

23 consult with academic researchers outside the Federal 

24 Government, including— 

25 (1) federally funded researchers; 


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1 (2) nonfederally funded researchers; 

2 (3) institutions of higher education and their 

3 representative associations; 

4 (4) scientific and engineering disciplinary soci5 eties and associations; 

6 (5) nonprofit research institutions; 

7 (6) industry, including small businesses; 

8 (7) federally funded research and development 

9 centers; and 

10 (8) members of the public with a stake in en11 suring effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability in 

12 the performance of scientific research. 

13 (g) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

14 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 

15 years, the Working Group shall submit to the appropriate 

16 committees of Congress a report on its responsibilities 

17 under this section, including a discussion of the consider18 ations described in paragraphs (2)(B), (3)(B), and (5)(B) 

19 of subsection (e) and recommendations made under sub20 section (e)(1). 

21 SEC. 202. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COLLABORATION. 

22 (a) DEFINITION OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL

23 WORKSHOP.—In this section, the term ‘‘scientific and 

24 technical workshop’’ means a symposium, seminar, or any 

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1 neers working in STEM research and development fields 

2 assemble to coordinate, exchange and disseminate infor3 mation or to explore or clarify a defined subject, problem 

4 or area of knowledge in the STEM fields. 

5 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con6 gress that— 

7 (1) the United States should encourage broad 

8 dissemination of Federal research findings and en9 gagement of Federal researchers with the scientific 

10 and technical community; and 

11 (2) laboratory, test center, and field center di12 rectors and other similar heads of offices should ap13 prove scientific and technical workshop attendance 

14 if— 

15 (A) that attendance would meet the mis16 sion of the laboratory or test center; and 

17 (B) sufficient laboratory or test center 

18 funds are available for that purpose. 

19 (c) ATTENDANCE POLICIES.—Not later than 180 

20 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the heads 

21 of the Federal science agencies shall each develop an ac22 tion plan for the implementation of revisions and updates 

23 to their policies on attendance at scientific and technical 

24 workshops. 


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1 (d) NIST WORKSHOPS.—Section 2(c) of the National 

2 Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 272(c)), as amended by section 104 of this Act, is further 

4 amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (19) through 

6 (24) as paragraphs (22) through (27), respectively; 

7 and 

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (18) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(19) host, participate in, and support scientific 

11 and technical workshops (as defined in section 202 

12 of the American Innovation and Competitiveness 

13 Act); 

14 ‘‘(20) collect and retain any fees charged by the 

15 Secretary for hosting a scientific and technical work16 shop described in paragraph (19); 

17 ‘‘(21) notwithstanding title 31 of the United 

18 States Code, use the fees described in paragraph 

19 (20) to pay for any related expenses, including sub20 sistence expenses for participants;’’. 

21 SEC. 203. NIST GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS 

22 UPDATE. 

23 Section 8(a) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology In24 novation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3706(a)) is amended by 

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1 tive agreement may not exceed 75 percent of the total cost 

2 of the program.’’. 

3 SEC. 204. REPEAL OF CERTAIN OBSOLETE REPORTS. 

4 (a) REPEAL OF CERTAIN OBSOLETE REPORTS.— 

5 (1) NIST REPORTS.— 

6 (A) REPORT ON DONATION OF EDUCA7 TIONALLY USEFUL FEDERAL EQUIPMENT TO

8 SCHOOLS.—Section 6(b) of the Technology Ad9 ministration Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) 

10 is amended— 

11 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(1) 

12 IN GENERAL.—’’ and indenting appro13 priately; and 

14 (ii) by striking paragraph (2). 

15 (B) THREE-YEAR PROGRAMMATIC PLAN16 NING DOCUMENT.— 

17 (i) IN GENERAL.—Section 23 of the 

18 National Institute of Standards and Tech19 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 278i) is amended by 

20 striking subsections (c) and (d). 

21 (ii) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Sec22 tion 10(h)(1) of the National Institute of 

23 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 

24 278(h)(1)) is amended by striking the last 

25 sentence. 


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1 (2) MULTI-AGENCY REPORT ON INNOVATION

2 ACCELERATION RESEARCH.—Section 1008 of the 

3 America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 6603) is 

4 amended— 

5 (A) by striking subsection (c); and 

6 (B) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub7 section (c). 

8 (3) NSF REPORTS.— 

9 (A) FUNDING FOR SUCCESSFUL STEM

10 EDUCATION PROGRAMS; REPORT TO CON11 GRESS.—Section 7012 of the America COM12 PETES Act (42 U.S.C. 1862o–4) is amended 

13 by striking subsection (c). 

14 (B) ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION; EVAL15 UATION AND REPORT.—Section 7031 of the 

16 America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 1862o– 

17 11) is amended by striking subsection (b). 

18 (C) MATH AND SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS

19 PROGRAM COORDINATION REPORT.—Section 

20 9(c) of the National Science Foundation Au21 thorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n(c)) is 

22 amended— 

23 (i) by striking paragraph (4); and 

24 (ii) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

25 paragraph (4). 


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1 (b) NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE RE2 PORTS.—The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and 

3 Development Act (15 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) by amending section 2(c)(4) (15 U.S.C. 

5 7501(c)(4)) to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(4) develop, not later than 5 years after the 

7 date of the release of the most recent strategic plan, 

8 and update every 5 years thereafter, a strategic plan 

9 to guide the activities described under subsection (b) 

10 that describes— 

11 ‘‘(A) the near-term and long-term objec12 tives for the Program; 

13 ‘‘(B) the anticipated schedule for achieving 

14 the near-term objectives; 

15 ‘‘(C) the metrics that will be used to assess 

16 progress toward the near-term and long-term 

17 objectives; 

18 ‘‘(D) how the Program will move results 

19 out of the laboratory and into application for 

20 the benefit of society; 

21 ‘‘(E) the Program’s support for long-term 

22 funding for interdisciplinary research and devel23 opment in nanotechnology; and 

24 ‘‘(F) the allocation of funding for inter25 agency nanotechnology projects;’’; 


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1 (2) by amending section 4(d) (15 U.S.C. 

2 7503(d)) to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(d) REPORTS.—Not later than 4 years after the 

4 date of the most recent assessment under subsection (c), 

5 and quadrennially thereafter, the Advisory Panel shall 

6 submit to the President, the Committee on Commerce, 

7 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and the Com8 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House 

9 of Representatives a report on its assessments under sub10 section (c) and its recommendations for ways to improve 

11 the Program.’’; and 

12 (3) in section 5 (15 U.S.C. 7504)— 

13 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘TRI14 ENNIAL’’ and inserting ‘‘QUADRENNIAL’’; 

15 (B) in subsection (a), in the matter pre16 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘triennial’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘quadrennial’’; 

18 (C) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘tri19 ennial’’ and inserting ‘‘quadrennial’’; 

20 (D) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘tri21 ennial’’ and inserting ‘‘quadrennial’’; and 

22 (E) by amending subsection (d) to read as 

23 follows: 

24 ‘‘(d) REPORT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days 

2 after the date the first evaluation under subsection 

3 (a) is received, and quadrennially thereafter, the Di4 rector of the National Nanotechnology Coordination 

5 Office shall report to the President its assessments 

6 under subsection (c) and its recommendations for 

7 ways to improve the Program. 

8 ‘‘(2) CONGRESS.—Not later than 30 days after 

9 the date the President receives the report under 

10 paragraph (1), the Director of the Office of Science 

11 and Technology Policy shall transmit a copy of the 

12 report to Congress.’’. 

13 (c) MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES

14 CONSTRUCTION.—Section 14 of the National Science 

15 Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n– 

16 4) is amended— 

17 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol18 lows: 

19 ‘‘(a) PRIORITIZATION OF PROPOSED MAJOR RE20 SEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF PRIORITIES.—The Di22 rector shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) develop a list indicating by number 

24 the relative priority for funding under the 

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1 struction account that the Director assigns to 

2 each project the Board has approved for inclu3 sion in a future budget request; and 

4 ‘‘(B) submit the list described in subpara5 graph (A) to the Board for approval. 

6 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—The Director shall include in 

7 the criteria for developing the list under paragraph 

8 (1) the readiness of plans for construction and oper9 ation, including confidence in the estimates of the 

10 full life cycle cost (as defined in section 2 of the Na11 tional Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1998 

12 (42 U.S.C. 1862k note)) and the proposed schedule 

13 of completion. 

14 ‘‘(3) UPDATES.—The Director shall update the 

15 list prepared under paragraph (1) each time the 

16 Board approves a new project that would receive 

17 funding under the major research equipment and fa18 cilities construction account and periodically submit 

19 any updated list to the Board for approval.’’; 

20 (2) by striking subsection (e); 

21 (3) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

22 subsections (b) and (c), respectively; and 

23 (4) by amending subsection (c), as redesig24 nated, to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(c) BOARD APPROVAL OF MAJOR RESEARCH

2 EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES PROJECTS.—The Board 

3 shall explicitly approve any project to be funded out of 

4 the major research equipment and facilities construction 

5 account before any funds may be obligated from such ac6 count for such project.’’. 

7 SEC. 205. REPEAL OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS. 

8 (a) TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION PROGRAM.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 28 of the National 

10 Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

11 U.S.C. 278n) is repealed. 

12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

13 (A) ADDITIONAL AWARD CRITERIA.—Sec14 tion 4226(b) of the Small Business Jobs Act of 

15 2010 (15 U.S.C. 278n note) is repealed. 

16 (B) MANAGEMENT COSTS.—Section 2(d) of 

17 the National Institute of Standards and Tech18 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(d)) is amended by 

19 striking ‘‘sections 25, 26, and 28’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘sections 25 and 26’’. 

21 (C) ANNUAL AND OTHER REPORTS TO

22 SECRETARY AND CONGRESS.—Section 10(h)(1) 

23 of the National Institute of Standards and 

24 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278(h)(1)) is 


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1 amended by striking ‘‘, including the Program 

2 established under section 28,’’. 

3 (b) TEACHERS FOR A COMPETITIVE TOMORROW.— 

4 Sections 6111 through 6116 of the America COMPETES 

5 Act (20 U.S.C. 9811, 9812, 9813, 9814, 9815, 9816) and 

6 the items relating to those sections in the table of contents 

7 under section 2 of that Act (Public Law 110–69; 121 Stat. 

8 572) are repealed. 

9 SEC. 206. GRANT SUBRECIPIENT TRANSPARENCY AND 

10 OVERSIGHT. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of 

13 the Foundation shall prepare and submit to the appro14 priate committees of Congress an audit of the Founda15 tion’s policies and procedures governing the monitoring of 

16 pass-through entities with respect to subrecipients. 

17 (b) CONTENTS.—The audit shall include the fol18 lowing: 

19 (1) Information regarding the Foundation’s 

20 process to oversee— 

21 (A) the compliance of pass-through entities 

22 under section 200.331 and subpart F of part 

23 200 of chapter II of subtitle A of title 2, Code 

24 of Federal Regulations, and the other require25 ments of that title for subrecipients; 


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1 (B) whether pass-through entities have 

2 processes and controls in place regarding finan3 cial compliance of subrecipients, where appro4 priate; and 

5 (C) whether pass-through entities have 

6 processes and controls in place to maintain ap7 proved grant objectives for subrecipients, where 

8 appropriate. 

9 (2) Recommendations, if necessary, to increase 

10 transparency and oversight while balancing adminis11 trative burdens. 

12 SEC. 207. MICRO-PURCHASE THRESHOLD FOR PROCURE13 MENT SOLICITATIONS BY RESEARCH INSTI14 TUTIONS. 

15 (a) MICRO-PURCHASE THRESHOLD.—The micro-pur16 chase threshold for procurement activities administered 

17 under sections 6303 through 6305 of title 31, United 

18 States Code, awarded by the Foundation, the National 

19 Aeronautics and Space Administration, or the National 

20 Institute of Standards and Technology to institutions of 

21 higher education, or related or affiliated nonprofit entities, 

22 or to nonprofit research organizations or independent re23 search institutes is— 

24 (1) $10,000 (as adjusted periodically to account 

25 for inflation); or 


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1 (2) such higher threshold as determined appro2 priate by the head of the relevant executive agency 

3 and consistent with audit findings under chapter 75 

4 of title 31, United States Code, internal institutional 

5 risk assessment, or State law. 

6 (b) UNIFORM GUIDANCE.—The Uniform Guidance 

7 shall be revised to conform with the requirements of this 

8 section. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term 

9 ‘‘Uniform Guidance’’ means the uniform administrative 

10 requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements for 

11 Federal awards contained in part 200 of title 2 of the 

12 Code of Federal Regulations. 

13 SEC. 208. COORDINATION OF INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE 

14 AND TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS. 

15 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

16 ‘‘International Science and Technology Cooperation Act of 

17 2016’’. 

18 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

19 Science and Technology Policy shall establish a body 

20 under the National Science and Technology Council with 

21 the responsibility to identify and coordinate international 

22 science and technology cooperation that can strengthen 

23 the United States science and technology enterprise, im24 prove economic and national security, and support United 

25 States foreign policy goals. 


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1 (c) NSTC BODY LEADERSHIP.—The body estab2 lished under subsection (b) shall be co-chaired by senior 

3 level officials from the Office of Science and Technology 

4 Policy and the Department of State. 

5 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The body established under 

6 subsection (b) shall— 

7 (1) plan and coordinate interagency inter8 national science and technology cooperative research 

9 and training activities and partnerships supported or 

10 managed by Federal agencies; 

11 (2) work with other National Science and Tech12 nology Council committees to help plan and coordi13 nate the international component of national science 

14 and technology priorities; 

15 (3) establish Federal priorities and policies for 

16 aligning, as appropriate, international science and 

17 technology cooperative research and training activi18 ties and partnerships supported or managed by Fed19 eral agencies with the foreign policy goals of the 

20 United States; 

21 (4) identify opportunities for new international 

22 science and technology cooperative research and 

23 training partnerships that advance both the science 

24 and technology and the foreign policy priorities of 

25 the United States; 


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1 (5) in carrying out paragraph (4), solicit input 

2 and recommendations from non-Federal science and 

3 technology stakeholders, including institutions of 

4 higher education, scientific and professional soci5 eties, industry, and other relevant organizations and 

6 institutions; and 

7 (6) identify broad issues that influence the abil8 ity of United States scientists and engineers to col9 laborate with foreign counterparts, including bar10 riers to collaboration and access to scientific infor11 mation. 

12 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director of the Of13 fice of Science and Technology Policy shall submit to the 

14 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

15 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 

16 and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

17 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 

18 Representatives a biennial report on the requirements of 

19 this section. 

20 (f) WEBSITE.—The Director shall make each report 

21 available to the public on the Office of Science and Tech22 nology Policy website. 

23 (g) TERMINATION.—The body established under sub24 section (b) shall terminate on the date that is 10 years 

25 after the date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 (h) ADDITIONAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Di2 rector of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall 

3 submit, not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act and annually thereafter, to the Committee on 

5 Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Com6 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Com7 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Com8 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 

9 a report that lists and describes the details of all foreign 

10 travel by Office of Science and Technology Policy staff and 

11 detailees. 

12 TITLE III—SCIENCE, TECH13 NOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND 

14 MATH EDUCATION 

15 SEC. 301. ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PRO16 GRAM UPDATE. 

17 Section 10A of the National Science Foundation Au18 thorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n–1a) is amended 

19 by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(k) STEM TEACHER SERVICE AND RETENTION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall develop 

22 and implement practices for increasing the propor23 tion of individuals receiving fellowships under this 

24 section who— 


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1 ‘‘(A) fulfill the service obligation required 

2 under subsection (h); and 

3 ‘‘(B) remain in the teaching profession in 

4 a high need local educational agency beyond the 

5 service obligation. 

6 ‘‘(2) PRACTICES.—The practices described 

7 under paragraph (1) may include— 

8 ‘‘(A) partnering with nonprofit or profes9 sional associations or with other government en10 tities to provide individuals receiving fellowships 

11 under this section with opportunities for profes12 sional development, including mentorship pro13 grams that pair those individuals with currently 

14 employed and recently retired science, tech15 nology, engineering, mathematics, or computer 

16 science professionals; 

17 ‘‘(B) increasing recruitment from high 

18 need districts; 

19 ‘‘(C) establishing a system to better collect, 

20 track, and respond to data on the career deci21 sions of individuals receiving fellowships under 

22 this section; 

23 ‘‘(D) conducting research to better under24 stand factors relevant to teacher service and re25 tention, including factors specifically impacting 


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1 the retention of teachers who are individuals 

2 identified in sections 33 and 34 of the Science 

3 and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b); and 

5 ‘‘(E) conducting pilot programs to improve 

6 teacher service and retention.’’. 

7 SEC. 302. SPACE GRANTS. 

8 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con9 gress that the National Space Grant College and Fellow10 ship Program has been an important program by which 

11 the Federal Government has partnered with universities, 

12 colleges, industry, and other organizations to provide 

13 hands-on STEM experiences, fostering of multidisci14 plinary space research, and supporting graduate fellow15 ships in space-related fields, among other purposes. 

16 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Section 40303 of title 

17 51, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘(d) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION COSTS.—In car20 rying out the provisions of this chapter, the Adminis21 trator— 

22 ‘‘(1) shall maximize appropriated funds for 

23 grants and contracts made under section 40304 in 

24 each fiscal year; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) in each fiscal year, the Administrator shall 

2 limit its program administration costs to no more 

3 than 5 percent of funds appropriated for this pro4 gram for that fiscal year. 

5 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.—For any fiscal year in which the Ad6 ministrator cannot meet the administration cost target 

7 under subsection (d)(2), if the Administration is unable 

8 to limit program costs under subsection (b), the Adminis9 trator shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con10 gress a report, including— 

11 ‘‘(1) a description of why the Administrator did 

12 not meet the cost target under subsection (d); and 

13 ‘‘(2) the measures the Administrator will take 

14 in the next fiscal year to meet the cost target under 

15 subsection (d) without drawing upon other Federal 

16 funding.’’. 

17 SEC. 303. STEM EDUCATION ADVISORY PANEL. 

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

19 the date of enactment this Act, the Director of the Foun20 dation, Secretary of Education, Administrator of the Na21 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Admin22 istrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin23 istration shall jointly establish an advisory panel (referred 

24 to in this section as the ‘‘STEM Education Advisory 

25 Panel’’) to advise the Committee on STEM Education of 


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1 the National Science and Technology Council (referred to 

2 in this section as ‘‘CoSTEM’’) on matters relating to 

3 STEM education. 

4 (b) MEMBERS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The STEM Education Advi6 sory Panel shall be composed of not less than 11 

7 members. 

8 (2) APPOINTMENT.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara10 graph (B), the Director of the Foundation, in 

11 consultation with the Secretary of Education 

12 and the heads of the Federal science agencies, 

13 shall appoint the members of the STEM Edu14 cation Advisory Panel. 

15 (B) CONSIDERATION.—In selecting individ16 uals to appoint under subparagraph (A), the 

17 Director of the Foundation shall seek and give 

18 consideration to recommendations from Con19 gress, industry, the scientific community, in20 cluding the National Academy of Sciences, sci21 entific professional societies, academia, State 

22 and local governments, organizations rep23 resenting individuals identified in section 33 or 

24 section 34 of the Science and Engineering 

25 Equal Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 


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1 1885b), and such other organizations as the Di2 rector considers appropriate. 

3 (C) QUALIFICATIONS.—Members shall— 

4 (i) primarily be individuals from aca5 demic institutions, nonprofit organizations, 

6 and industry, including in-school, out-of7 school, and informal education practi8 tioners; and 

9 (ii) be individuals who are qualified to 

10 provide advice and information on STEM 

11 education research, development, training, 

12 implementation, interventions, professional 

13 development, or workforce needs or con14 cerns. 

15 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The STEM Education Advi17 sory Panel shall— 

18 (A) advise CoSTEM; 

19 (B) periodically assess CoSTEM’s progress 

20 in carrying out its responsibilities under section 

21 101(b) of the America COMPETES Reauthor22 ization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621(b)); and 

23 (C) help identify any need or opportunity 

24 to update the strategic plan under section 

25 101(b) of that Act. 


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1 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In its advisory role, the 

2 STEM Education Advisory Panel shall consider— 

3 (A) the management, coordination, and im4 plementation of STEM education programs and 

5 activities across the Federal Government; 

6 (B) the appropriateness of criteria used by 

7 Federal agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of 

8 Federal STEM education programs and activi9 ties; 

10 (C) whether societal and workforce con11 cerns are adequately addressed by current Fed12 eral STEM education programs and activities; 

13 (D) how Federal agencies can incentivize 

14 institutions of higher education to improve re15 tention of STEM students; 

16 (E) ways to leverage private and nonprofit 

17 STEM investments and encourage public-pri18 vate partnerships to strengthen STEM edu19 cation and help build the STEM workforce 

20 pipeline; 

21 (F) ways to incorporate workforce needs 

22 into Federal STEM education programs and 

23 activities, particularly for specific employment 

24 fields of national interest and employment fields 

25 experiencing high unemployment rates; 


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1 (G) ways to better vertically and hori2 zontally integrate Federal STEM education 

3 programs and activities from pre-kindergarten 

4 through graduate study and the workforce, and 

5 from in-school to out-of-school in order to im6 prove transitions for students moving through 

7 the STEM education and workforce pipelines; 

8 (H) the extent to which Federal STEM 

9 education programs and activities are contrib10 uting to recruitment and retention of individ11 uals identified in sections 33 and 34 of the 

12 Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities 

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b) in the STEM 

14 education and workforce pipelines; and 

15 (I) ways to encourage geographic diversity 

16 in the STEM education and the workforce pipe17 lines. 

18 (3) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The STEM Edu19 cation Advisory Panel shall make recommendations 

20 to improve Federal STEM education programs and 

21 activities based on each assessment under paragraph 

22 (1)(B). 

23 (d) FUNDING.—The Director of the Foundation, the 

24 Secretary of Education, the Administrator of the National 

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1 trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis2 tration shall jointly make funds available on an annual 

3 basis to support the activities of the STEM Education Ad4 visory Panel. 

5 (e) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act, and after each assessment under 

7 subsection (c)(1)(B), the STEM Education Advisory 

8 Panel shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con9 gress and CoSTEM a report on its assessment under that 

10 subsection and its recommendations under subsection 

11 (c)(3). 

12 (f) TRAVEL EXPENSES OF NON-FEDERAL MEM13 BERS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Non-Federal members of the 

15 STEM Education Advisory Panel, while attending 

16 meetings of the panel or while otherwise serving at 

17 the request of a co-chairperson away from their 

18 homes or regular places of business, may be allowed 

19 travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsist20 ence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5, 

21 United States Code, for individuals in the Govern22 ment serving without pay. 

23 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

24 subsection shall be construed to prohibit members of 

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1 ployees of the United States from being allowed 

2 travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsist3 ence, in accordance with existing law. 

4 (g) TERMINATION.—The STEM Education Advisory 

5 Panel established under subsection (a) shall terminate on 

6 the date that is 5 years after the date that it is estab7 lished. 

8 SEC. 304. COMMITTEE ON STEM EDUCATION. 

9 (a) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Section 101(b) of the Amer10 ica COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

11 6621(b)) is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (5)(D), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

13 and inserting a semicolon; 

14 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 

15 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

17 ‘‘(7) collaborate with the STEM Education Ad18 visory Panel established under section 303 of the 

19 American Innovation and Competitiveness Act and 

20 other outside stakeholders to ensure the engagement 

21 of the STEM education community; 

22 ‘‘(8) review the measures used by a Federal 

23 agency to evaluate its STEM education activities 

24 and programs; 


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1 ‘‘(9) request and review feedback from States 

2 on how the States are utilizing Federal STEM edu3 cation programs and activities; and 

4 ‘‘(10) recommend the reform, termination, or 

5 consolidation of Federal STEM education activities 

6 and programs, taking into consideration the rec7 ommendations of the STEM Education Advisory 

8 Panel.’’. 

9 (b) REPORTS.—Section 101 of the America COM10 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621) 

11 is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘(c) REPORT.—’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘(d) REPORTS.—’’; 

14 (2) by striking ‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF

15 OSTP.—’’ and inserting ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF

16 OSTP.—’’; and 

17 (3) in subsection (d), as redesignated— 

18 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

19 and inserting a semicolon; 

20 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe21 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

22 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(6) a description of all consolidations and ter24 minations of Federal STEM education programs 

25 and activities implemented in the previous fiscal 


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1 year, including an explanation for the consolidations 

2 and terminations; 

3 ‘‘(7) recommendations for reforms, consolida4 tions, and terminations of STEM education pro5 grams or activities in the upcoming fiscal year; and 

6 ‘‘(8) a description of any significant new STEM 

7 education public-private partnerships.’’. 

8 SEC. 305. PROGRAMS TO EXPAND STEM OPPORTUNITIES. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find10 ings: 

11 (1) Economic projections by the Bureau of 

12 Labor Statistics indicate that by 2018, there could 

13 be 2,400,000 unfilled STEM jobs. 

14 (2) Women represent slightly more than half 

15 the United States population, and projections indi16 cate that 54 percent of the population will be a 

17 member of a racial or ethnic minority group by 

18 2050. 

19 (3) Despite representing half the population, 

20 women comprise only about 30 percent of STEM 

21 workers according to a 2015 report by the National 

22 Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 

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1 lations leave the STEM fields at higher rates than 

2 their counterparts. 

3 (5) The representation of women in STEM 

4 drops significantly at the faculty level. Overall, 

5 women hold only 25 percent of all tenured and ten6 ure-track positions and 17 percent of full professor 

7 positions in STEM fields in our Nation’s universities 

8 and 4-year colleges. 

9 (6) Black and Hispanic faculty together hold 

10 about 6.5 percent of all tenured and tenure-track po11 sitions and 5 percent of full professor positions. 

12 (7) Many of the numbers in the American In13 dian or Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian or 

14 Other Pacific Islander categories for different fac15 ulty ranks were too small for the Foundation to re16 port publicly without potentially compromising con17 fidential information about the individuals being sur18 veyed. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con20 gress that— 

21 (1) it is critical to our Nation’s economic lead22 ership and global competitiveness that the United 

23 States educate, train, and retain more scientists, en24 gineers, and computer scientists; 


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1 (2) there is currently a disconnect between the 

2 availability of and growing demand for STEM3 skilled workers; 

4 (3) historically, underrepresented populations 

5 are the largest untapped STEM talent pools in the 

6 United States; and 

7 (4) given the shifting demographic landscape, 

8 the United States should encourage full participation 

9 of individuals from underrepresented populations in 

10 STEM fields. 

11 (c) REAFFIRMATION.—The Director of the Founda12 tion shall continue to support programs designed to broad13 en participation of underrepresented populations in STEM 

14 fields. 

15 (d) GRANTS TO BROADEN PARTICIPATION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Founda17 tion shall award grants on a competitive, merit-re18 viewed basis, to eligible entities to increase the par19 ticipation of underrepresented populations in STEM 

20 fields, including individuals identified in section 33 

21 or section 34 of the Science and Engineering Equal 

22 Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b). 

23 (2) CENTER OF EXCELLENCE.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded under 

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1 tablishment of a Center of Excellence to collect, 

2 maintain, and disseminate information to in3 crease participation of underrepresented popu4 lations in STEM fields. 

5 (B) PURPOSE.—The purpose of a Center 

6 of Excellence under this subsection is to pro7 mote diversity in STEM fields by building on 

8 the success of the INCLUDES programs, pro9 viding technical assistance, maintaining best 

10 practices, and providing related training at fed11 erally funded academic institutions. 

12 (e) ACCOUNTABILITY AND DISSEMINATION.— 

13 (1) EVALUATION.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Di16 rector of the Foundation shall evaluate the 

17 grants provided under this section. 

18 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the 

19 evaluation under subparagraph (A), the Direc20 tor shall— 

21 (i) use a common set of benchmarks 

22 and assessment tools to identify best prac23 tices and materials developed or dem24 onstrated by the research; and 


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1 (ii) to the extent practicable, combine 

2 the research resulting from the grant activ3 ity under subsection (e) with the current 

4 research on serving underrepresented stu5 dents in grades kindergarten through 8. 

6 (2) REPORT ON EVALUATIONS.—Not later than 

7 180 days after the completion of the evaluation 

8 under paragraph (1), the Director of the Foundation 

9 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con10 gress and make widely available to the public a re11 port that includes— 

12 (A) the results of the evaluation; and 

13 (B) any recommendations for administra14 tive and legislative action that could optimize 

15 the effectiveness of the program. 

16 (f) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

17 Director of the Foundation shall consult and cooperate 

18 with the programs and policies of other relevant Federal 

19 agencies to avoid duplication with and enhance the effec20 tiveness of the program under this section. 

21 SEC. 306. NIST EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. 

22 (a) REPEAL.—The National Institute of Standards 

23 and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 271 et seq.) is amended 

24 by striking section 18 (15 U.S.C. 278g–1). 


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1 (b) EDUCATION AND OUTREACH.—The National In2 stitute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 271 

3 et seq.), as amended, is further amended by inserting after 

4 section 17, the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 18. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director is authorized to ex7 pend funds appropriated for activities of the Institute in 

8 any fiscal year, to support, promote, and coordinate activi9 ties and efforts to enhance public awareness and under10 standing of measurement sciences, standards and tech11 nology at the national measurement laboratories and oth12 erwise in fulfillment of the mission of the Institute. The 

13 Director may carry out activities under this subsection, 

14 including education and outreach activities to the general 

15 public, industry and academia in support of the Institute’s 

16 mission. 

17 ‘‘(b) HIRING.—The Director, in coordination with the 

18 Director of the Office of Personnel Management, may re19 vise the procedures the Director applies when making ap20 pointments to laboratory positions within the competitive 

21 service— 

22 ‘‘(1) to ensure corporate memory of and exper23 tise in the fundamental ongoing work, and on devel24 oping new capabilities in priority areas; 


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1 ‘‘(2) to maintain high overall technical com2 petence; 

3 ‘‘(3) to improve staff diversity; 

4 ‘‘(4) to balance emphases on the noncore and 

5 core areas; or 

6 ‘‘(5) to improve the ability of the Institute to 

7 compete in the marketplace for qualified personnel. 

8 ‘‘(c) VOLUNTEERS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may establish 

10 a program to use volunteers in carrying out the pro11 grams of the Institute. 

12 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF PERSONNEL.—The Direc13 tor may accept, subject to regulations issued by the 

14 Office of Personnel Management, voluntary service 

15 for the Institute for such purpose if the service— 

16 ‘‘(A) is to be without compensation; and 

17 ‘‘(B) will not be used to displace any cur18 rent employee or act as a substitute for any fu19 ture full-time employee of the Institute. 

20 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL EMPLOYEE STATUS.—Any indi21 vidual who provides voluntary service under this sub22 section shall not be considered a Federal employee, 

23 except for purposes of chapter 81 of title 5, United 

24 States Code (relating to compensation for injury), 


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1 and sections 2671 through 2680 of title 28, United 

2 States Code (relating to tort claims). 

3 ‘‘(d) RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may expend 

5 funds appropriated for activities of the Institute in 

6 any fiscal year, as the Director considers appro7 priate, for awards of research fellowships and other 

8 forms of financial and logistical assistance, including 

9 direct stipend awards to— 

10 ‘‘(A) students at institutions of higher 

11 learning within the United States who show 

12 promise as present or future contributors to the 

13 mission of the Institute; and 

14 ‘‘(B) United States citizens for research 

15 and technical activities of the Institute, includ16 ing programs. 

17 ‘‘(2) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The selection of 

18 persons to receive such fellowships and assistance 

19 shall be made on the basis of ability and of the rel20 evance of the proposed work to the mission and pro21 grams of the Institute. 

22 ‘‘(3) FINANCIAL AND LOGISTICAL ASSIST23 ANCE.—Notwithstanding section 1345 of title 31, 

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1 cial or logistical assistance under this subsection 

2 temporary housing and transportation to and from 

3 Institute facilities. 

4 ‘‘(e) EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES.—The 

5 Director may— 

6 ‘‘(1) facilitate education programs for under7 graduate and graduate students, postdoctoral re8 searchers, and academic and industry employees; 

9 ‘‘(2) sponsor summer workshops for STEM kin10 dergarten through grade 12 teachers as appropriate; 

11 ‘‘(3) develop programs for graduate student in12 ternships and visiting faculty researchers; 

13 ‘‘(4) document publications, presentations, and 

14 interactions with visiting researchers and sponsoring 

15 interns as performance metrics for improving and 

16 continuing interactions with those individuals; and 

17 ‘‘(5) facilitate laboratory tours and provide 

18 presentations for educational, industry, and commu19 nity groups.’’. 

20 (c) POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—Sec21 tion 19 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech22 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–2) is amended to read as fol23 lows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 19. POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Institute and the National 

3 Academy of Sciences, jointly, shall establish and conduct 

4 a post-doctoral fellowship program, subject to the avail5 ability of appropriations. 

6 ‘‘(b) ORGANIZATION.—The post-doctoral fellowship 

7 program shall include not less than 20 new fellows per 

8 fiscal year. 

9 ‘‘(c) EVALUATIONS.—In evaluating applications for 

10 post-doctoral fellowships under this section, the Director 

11 of the Institute and the President of the National Acad12 emy of Sciences shall give consideration to the goal of pro13 moting the participation of individuals identified in sec14 tions 33 and 34 of the Science and Engineering Equal 

15 Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b) in research 

16 areas supported by the Institute.’’. 

17 (d) SAVINGS CLAUSES.— 

18 (1) RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS AND OTHER FI19 NANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO STUDENTS AT INSTITUTES

20 OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The repeal made by sub21 section (a) of this section shall not affect any award 

22 of a research fellowship or other form of financial 

23 assistance made under section 18 of the National In24 stitute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 

25 278g–1) before the date of enactment of this Act. 

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1 quirements to which such funds were subject under 

2 that section before the date of enactment of this Act. 

3 (2) POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.— 

4 The amendment made by subsection (c) of this sec5 tion shall not affect any award of a post-doctoral fel6 lowship or other form of financial assistance made 

7 under section 19 of the National Institute of Stand8 ards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–2) before 

9 the date of enactment of this Act. Such awards shall 

10 continue to be subject to the requirements to which 

11 such funds were subject under that section before 

12 the date of enactment of this Act. 

13 SEC. 307. PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN 

14 STEM MENTORING. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Foundation 

16 shall continue to administer awards on behalf of the Office 

17 of Science and Technology Policy to recognize outstanding 

18 mentoring in STEM fields. 

19 (b) ANNUAL AWARD RECIPIENTS.—The Director of 

20 the Foundation shall provide Congress with a list of award 

21 recipients, including the name, institution, and a brief syn22 opsis of the impact of the mentoring efforts. 


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1 SEC. 308. WORKING GROUP ON INCLUSION IN STEM 

2 FIELDS. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Office of Science and 

4 Technology Policy, in collaboration with Federal depart5 ments and agencies, shall establish an interagency work6 ing group to compile and summarize available research 

7 and best practices on how to promote diversity and inclu8 sions in STEM fields and examine whether barriers exist 

9 to promoting diversity and inclusion within Federal agen10 cies employing scientists and engineers. 

11 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The working group shall be 

12 responsible for reviewing and assessing research, best 

13 practices, and policies across Federal science agencies re14 lated to the inclusion of individuals identified in sections 

15 33 and 34 of the Science and Engineering Equal Opportu16 nities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b) in the Federal STEM 

17 workforce, including available research and best practices 

18 on how to promote diversity and inclusion in STEM fields, 

19 including— 

20 (1) policies providing flexibility for scientists 

21 and engineers that are also caregivers, particularly 

22 on the timing of research grants; 

23 (2) policies to address the proper handling of 

24 claims of sexual harassment; 


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1 (3) policies to minimize the effects of implicit 

2 bias and other systemic factors in hiring, promotion, 

3 evaluation and the workplace in general; and 

4 (4) other evidence-based strategies that the 

5 working group considers effective for promoting di6 versity and inclusion in the STEM fields. 

7 (c) STAKEHOLDER INPUT.—In carrying out the re8 sponsibilities under section (b), the working group shall 

9 solicit and consider input and recommendations from non10 Federal stakeholders, including— 

11 (1) the Council of Advisors on Science and 

12 Technology; 

13 (2) federally funded and nonfederally funded re14 searchers, institutions of higher education, scientific 

15 disciplinary societies, and associations; 

16 (3) nonprofit research institutions; 

17 (4) industry, including small businesses; 

18 (5) federally funded research and development 

19 centers; 

20 (6) nongovernmental organizations; and 

21 (7) such other members of the public interested 

22 in promoting a diverse and inclusive Federal STEM 

23 workforce. 

24 (d) PUBLIC REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 

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1 after, the working group shall publish a report on the re2 view and assessment under subsection (b), including a 

3 summary of available research and best practices, any rec4 ommendations for Federal actions to promote a diverse 

5 and inclusive Federal STEM workforce, and updates on 

6 the implementation of previous recommendations for Fed7 eral actions. 

8 (e) TERMINATION.—The interagency working group 

9 established under subsection (a) shall terminate on the 

10 date that is 10 years after the date that it is established. 

11 SEC. 309. IMPROVING UNDERGRADUATE STEM EXPERI12 ENCES. 

13 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con14 gress that each Federal science agency should invest in 

15 and expand research opportunities for undergraduate stu16 dents attending institutions of higher education during the 

17 undergraduate students’ first 2 academic years of postsec18 ondary education. 

19 (b) IDENTIFICATION OF RESEARCH PROGRAMS.— 

20 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

21 Act, the head of each Federal agency shall submit to the 

22 President recommendations regarding how the agency 

23 could best fulfill the goals described in subsection (a). 


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1 SEC. 310. COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that as the lead Fed3 eral agency for building the research knowledge base for 

4 computer science education, the Foundation is well posi5 tioned to make investments that will accelerate ongoing 

6 efforts to enable rigorous and engaging computer science 

7 throughout the Nation as an integral part of STEM edu8 cation. 

9 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Founda11 tion shall award grants to eligible entities to re12 search computer science education and computa13 tional thinking. 

14 (2) RESEARCH.—The research described in 

15 paragraph (1) may include the development or adap16 tation, piloting or full implementation, and testing 

17 of— 

18 (A) models of preservice preparation for 

19 teachers who will teach computer science and 

20 computational thinking; 

21 (B) scalable and sustainable models of pro22 fessional development and ongoing support for 

23 the teachers described in subparagraph (A); 

24 (C) tools and models for teaching and 

25 learning aimed at supporting student success 

26 and inclusion in computing within and across 


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1 diverse populations, particularly poor, rural, 

2 and tribal populations and other populations 

3 that have been historically underrepresented in 

4 computer science and STEM fields; and 

5 (D) high-quality learning opportunities for 

6 teaching computer science and, especially in 

7 poor, rural, or tribal schools at the elementary 

8 school and middle school levels, for integrating 

9 computational thinking into STEM teaching 

10 and learning. 

11 (c) COLLABORATIONS.—In carrying out the grants 

12 established in subsection (b), eligible entities may collabo13 rate and partner with local or remote schools to support 

14 the integration of computing and computational thinking 

15 within pre-kindergarten through grade 12 STEM cur16 ricula and instruction. 

17 (d) METRICS.—The Director of the Foundation shall 

18 develop metrics to measure the success of the grant pro19 gram funded under this section in achieving program 

20 goals. 

21 (e) REPORT.—The Director of the Foundation shall 

22 report, in the annual budget submission to Congress, on 

23 the success of the program as measured by the metrics 

24 in subsection (d). 


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1 (f) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec2 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an institution of 

3 higher education or a nonprofit research organization. 

4 SEC. 311. INFORMAL STEM EDUCATION. 

5 (a) NATIONAL STEM PARTNERSHIP GRANTS.—Sec6 tion 3(a) of the STEM Education Act of 2015 (42 U.S.C. 

7 1862q(a)) is amended— 

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

9 inserting a semicolon; 

10 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 

11 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

13 ‘‘(3) a national partnership of institutions in14 volved in informal STEM learning.’’. 

15 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Section 3(b) of the STEM 

16 Education Act of 2015 (42 U.S.C. 1862q(b)) is amend17 ed— 

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

19 inserting a semicolon; 

20 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 

21 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

23 ‘‘(3) fostering on-going partnerships between 

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1 stitutions of higher education, and education re2 search centers; and 

3 ‘‘(4) developing, and making available informal 

4 STEM education activities and educational mate5 rials.’’. 

6 SEC. 312. DEVELOPING STEM APPRENTICESHIPS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) The lack of data on the return on invest10 ment for United States employers using registered 

11 apprenticeships makes it difficult— 

12 (A) to communicate the value of these pro13 grams to businesses; and 

14 (B) to expand registered apprenticeships. 

15 (2) The lack of data on the value and impact 

16 of employer-provided worker training, which is likely 

17 substantial, hinders the ability of the Federal Gov18 ernment to formulate policy related to workforce 

19 training. 

20 (3) The Secretary of Commerce has initiated— 

21 (A) the first study on the return on invest22 ment for United States employers using reg23 istered apprenticeships through case studies of 

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1 munity with data on employer benefits and 

2 costs; and 

3 (B) discussions with officials at relevant 

4 Federal agencies about the need to collect com5 prehensive data on— 

6 (i) employer-provided worker training; 

7 and 

8 (ii) existing tools that could be used 

9 to collect such data. 

10 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF APPRENTICESHIP INFORMA11 TION.—The Secretary of Commerce shall continue to re12 search the value to businesses of utilizing apprenticeship 

13 programs, including— 

14 (1) evidence of return on investment of appren15 ticeships, including estimates for the average time it 

16 takes a business to recover the costs associated with 

17 training apprentices; and 

18 (2) data from the United States Census Bureau 

19 and other statistical surveys on employer-provided 

20 training, including apprenticeships and other on-the21 job training and industry-recognized certification 

22 programs. 

23 (c) DISSEMINATION OF APPRENTICESHIP INFORMA24 TION.—The Secretary of Commerce shall disseminate 


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1 findings from research on apprenticeships to businesses 

2 and other relevant stakeholders, including— 

3 (1) institutions of higher education; 

4 (2) State and local chambers of commerce; and 

5 (3) workforce training organizations. 

6 (d) NEW APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM STUDY.—The 

7 Secretary of Commerce may collaborate with the Secretary 

8 of Labor to study approaches for reducing the cost of cre9 ating new apprenticeship programs and hosting appren10 tices for businesses, particularly small businesses, includ11 ing— 

12 (1) training sharing agreements; 

13 (2) group training models; and 

14 (3) pooling resources and best practices. 

15 (e) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

16 GRANTS.—The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 

17 Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.) is amended by add18 ing at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 28. STEM APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce may 

21 carry out a grant program to identify the need for skilled 

22 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (re23 ferred to in this section as ‘STEM’) workers and to ex24 pand STEM apprenticeship programs. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT DEFINED.—In this sec2 tion, the term ‘eligible recipient’ means— 

3 ‘‘(1) a State; 

4 ‘‘(2) an Indian tribe; 

5 ‘‘(3) a city or other political subdivision of a 

6 State; 

7 ‘‘(4) an entity that— 

8 ‘‘(A) is a nonprofit organization, an insti9 tution of higher education, a public-private 

10 partnership, a science or research park, a Fed11 eral laboratory, or an economic development or12 ganization or similar entity; and 

13 ‘‘(B) has an application that is supported 

14 by a State, a political subdivision of a State, or 

15 a native organization; or 

16 ‘‘(5) a consortium of any of the entities de17 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (5). 

18 ‘‘(c) NEEDS ASSESSMENT GRANTS.—The Secretary 

19 of Commerce may provide a grant to an eligible recipient 

20 to conduct a needs assessment to identify— 

21 ‘‘(1) the unmet need of a region’s employer 

22 base for skilled STEM workers; 

23 ‘‘(2) the potential of STEM apprenticeships to 

24 address the unmet need described in paragraph (1); 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(3) any barriers to addressing the unmet need 

2 described in paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(d) APPRENTICESHIP EXPANSION GRANTS.—The 

4 Secretary of Commerce may provide a grant to an eligible 

5 recipient that has conducted a needs assessment as de6 scribed in subsection (c)(1) to develop infrastructure to 

7 expand STEM apprenticeship programs.’’. 

8 SEC. 313. NSF REPORT ON BROADENING PARTICIPATION. 

9 Section 204(e) of the National Science Foundation 

10 Authorization Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 1885c(e)) is amend11 ed to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(e) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Every 2 years, the Com13 mittee shall prepare and submit to the Director a report 

14 on its activities during the previous 2 years and proposed 

15 activities for the next 2 years. The Director shall submit 

16 to Congress the report, unaltered, together with such com17 ments as the Director considers appropriate, including— 

18 ‘‘(1) review data on the participation in Foun19 dation activities of institutions serving populations 

20 that are underrepresented in STEM disciplines, in21 cluding poor, rural, and tribal populations; and 

22 ‘‘(2) recommendations regarding how the Foun23 dation could improve outreach and inclusion of these 

24 populations in Foundation activities.’’. 


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1 SEC. 314. NOAA SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4002(a) of the America 

3 COMPETES Act (33 U.S.C. 893a(a)) is amended by 

4 striking ‘‘agency, with consideration given to the goal of 

5 promoting the participation of individuals from underrep6 resented groups’’ and inserting ‘‘the agency, with consid7 eration given to the goal of promoting the participation 

8 of individuals identified in sections 33 and 34 of the 

9 Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (42 

10 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b)’’. 

11 (b) EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM GOALS.—Section 

12 4002(b)(4) of the America COMPETES Act (33 U.S.C. 

13 893a(b)(4)) is amended— 

14 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

15 the end; 

16 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub17 paragraph (D); 

18 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(C) are designed considering the unique 

21 needs of underrepresented groups, translating 

22 such materials and other resources;’’; and 

23 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(E) are promoted widely, especially 

25 among individuals identified in sections 33 and 

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1 portunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b); 

2 and’’. 

3 (c) METRICS.—Section 4002 of the America COM4 PETES Act (33 U.S.C. 893a) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 

6 subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 

7 (2) by adding after subsection (c) the following: 

8 ‘‘(d) METRICS.—In executing the National Oceanic 

9 and Atmospheric Administration science education plan 

10 under subsection (c), the Administrator shall maintain a 

11 comprehensive system for evaluating the Administration’s 

12 educational programs and activities. In so doing, the Ad13 ministrator shall ensure that such education programs 

14 have measurable objectives and milestones as well as clear, 

15 documented metrics for evaluating programs. For each 

16 such education program or portfolio of similar programs, 

17 the Administrator shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) encourage the collection of evidence as rel19 evant to the measurable objectives and milestones; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(2) ensure that program or portfolio evalua22 tions focus on educational outcomes and not just in23 puts, activities completed, or the number of partici24 pants.’’. 


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1 SEC. 315. HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS UNDER2 GRADUATE PROGRAM UPDATE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7033(a) of the America 

4 COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 1862o–12(a)) is amended as 

5 follows: 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall award grants 

7 on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to Hispanic-serving 

8 institutions (as defined in section 502 of the Higher Edu9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a)) to enhance the 

10 quality of undergraduate STEM education at such institu11 tions and to increase the retention and graduation rates 

12 of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees 

13 in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.’’. 

14 (b) SAVINGS PROVISION.—The amendment made by 

15 subsection (a) of this section shall not affect any award 

16 of a grant or other form of financial assistance made 

17 under section 7033 of the America COMPETES Act (42 

18 U.S.C. 1862o–12) before the date of enactment of this 

19 Act. Such awards shall continue to be subject to the re20 quirements to which such funds were subject under that 

21 section before the date of enactment of this Act. 

22 TITLE IV—LEVERAGING THE 

23 PRIVATE SECTOR 

24 SEC. 401. PRIZE COMPETITION AUTHORITY UPDATE. 

25 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

26 ‘‘Science Prize Competition Act’’. 


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1 (b) IN GENERAL.—Section 24 of the Stevenson2 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

3 3719) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (c)— 

5 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

6 ‘‘PRIZES’’ and by inserting ‘‘PRIZE COMPETI7 TIONS’’; 

8 (B) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

9 by striking ‘‘prize may be one or more of the 

10 following’’ and inserting ‘‘prize competition may 

11 be one or more of the following types of activi12 ties’’; 

13 (C) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘com14 petition’’ after ‘‘prize’’; and 

15 (D) in paragraphs (3) and (4), by striking 

16 ‘‘prizes’’ and inserting ‘‘prize competitions’’; 

17 (2) in subsection (f)— 

18 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

19 by striking ‘‘in the Federal Register’’ and in20 serting ‘‘on a publicly accessible Government 

21 website, such as www.challenge.gov,’’; 

22 (B) in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), by in23 serting ‘‘prize’’ before ‘‘competition’’; and 


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1 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘prize’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘cash prize purse or non-cash 

3 prize award’’; 

4 (3) in subsection (g)— 

5 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

6 by striking ‘‘prize’’ and inserting ‘‘cash prize 

7 purse’’; and 

8 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘prize’’ 

9 before ‘‘competition’’; 

10 (4) in subsection (h), by inserting ‘‘prize’’ be11 fore ‘‘competition’’ each place it appears; 

12 (5) in subsection (i)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting 

14 ‘‘prize’’ before ‘‘competition’’; 

15 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting 

16 ‘‘prize’’ before ‘‘competition’’ each place it ap17 pears; 

18 (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

19 paragraph (4); and 

20 (D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(3) WAIVERS.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An agency may waive 

24 the requirement under paragraph (2). 


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1 ‘‘(B) LIST.—The Director shall include a 

2 list of all of the waivers granted under this 

3 paragraph during the preceding fiscal year, in4 cluding a detailed explanation of the reason for 

5 granting the waiver.’’; 

6 (6) in subsection (j)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘prize’’ 

8 before ‘‘competition’’; and 

9 (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 

10 follows: 

11 ‘‘(2) LICENSES.—As appropriate and to further 

12 the goals of a prize competition, the Federal Govern13 ment may negotiate a license for the use of intellec14 tual property developed by a registered participant 

15 in a prize competition.’’; 

16 (7) in subsection (k)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘each 

18 competition’’ and inserting ‘‘each prize competi19 tion’’ each place it appears; 

20 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting 

21 ‘‘prize’’ before ‘‘competition’’; and 

22 (C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘prize’’ 

23 before ‘‘competitions’’ each place it appears; 

24 (8) in subsection (l), by striking ‘‘an agreement 

25 with’’ and all that follows through the period at the 


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1 end and inserting ‘‘a grant, contract, cooperative 

2 agreement, or other agreement with a private sector 

3 for-profit or nonprofit entity or State or local gov4 ernment agency to administer the prize competition, 

5 subject to the provisions of this section.’’; 

6 (9) in subsection (m)— 

7 (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

8 follows: 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Support for a prize com10 petition under this section, including financial sup11 port for the design and administration of a prize 

12 competition or funds for a cash prize purse, may 

13 consist of Federal appropriated funds and funds 

14 provided by private sector for-profit and nonprofit 

15 entities. The head of an agency may request and ac16 cept funds from other Federal agencies, State, 

17 United States territory, local, or tribal government 

18 agencies, private sector for-profit entities, and non19 profit entities, to be available to the extent provided 

20 by appropriations Acts, to support such prize com21 petitions. The head of an agency may not give any 

22 special consideration to any agency or entity in re23 turn for a donation.’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘prize 

2 awards’’ and inserting ‘‘cash prize purses or 

3 non-cash prize awards’’; 

4 (C) in paragraph (3)— 

5 (i) by amending subparagraph (A) to 

6 read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(A) ANNOUNCEMENT.—No prize competi8 tion may be announced under subsection (f) 

9 until all the funds needed to pay out the an10 nounced amount of the cash prize purse have 

11 been appropriated or committed in writing by a 

12 private or State, United States territory, local, 

13 or tribal government source.’’; and 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

15 (I) in the matter preceding clause 

16 (i), by striking ‘‘a prize’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘a cash prize purse or non-cash prize 

18 award’’; 

19 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 

20 ‘‘competition’’ after ‘‘prize’’; and 

21 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 

22 ‘‘or State, United States territory, 

23 local, or tribal government’’ after 

24 ‘‘private’’; and 

25 (D) in paragraph (4)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

2 (I) by striking ‘‘a prize’’ and in3 serting ‘‘a cash prize purse or a non4 cash prize award’’; and 

5 (II) by striking ‘‘Science and 

6 Technology’’ and inserting ‘‘Science, 

7 Space, and Technology’’; and 

8 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

9 ‘‘cash prizes’’ and inserting ‘‘cash prize 

10 purses or non-cash prize awards’’; 

11 (10) in subsection (n)— 

12 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘SERVICE’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘SERVICES’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘the date of the enactment 

15 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization 

16 Act of 2010,’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of enact17 ment of the American Innovation and Competi18 tiveness Act,’’; and 

19 (C) by inserting ‘‘for both for-profit and 

20 nonprofit entities and State, United States ter21 ritory, local, and tribal government entities,’’ 

22 after ‘‘contract vehicle’’; 

23 (11) in subsection (o)(1), by striking ‘‘or pro24 viding a prize’’ and inserting ‘‘a prize competition or 


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1 providing a cash prize purse or non-cash prize 

2 award’’; and 

3 (12) in subsection (p)— 

4 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘ANNUAL’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL’’; 

6 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

7 (i) by striking ‘‘each year’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘every other year’’; 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘Science and Tech10 nology’’ and inserting ‘‘Science, Space, and 

11 Technology’’; and 

12 (iii) by striking ‘‘fiscal year’’ and in13 serting ‘‘2 fiscal years’’; and 

14 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

15 (i) by striking ‘‘The report for a fiscal 

16 year’’ and inserting ‘‘A report’’; 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 

18 (I) in the heading, by striking 

19 ‘‘PRIZES’’ and inserting ‘‘PRIZE

20 PURSES OR NON-CASH PRIZE

21 AWARDS’’; and 

22 (II) by striking ‘‘cash prizes’’ 

23 each place it appears and inserting 

24 ‘‘cash prize purses or non-cash prize 

25 awards’’; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(G) PLAN.—A description of crosscutting 

4 topical areas and agency-specific mission needs 

5 that may be the strongest opportunities for 

6 prize competitions during the upcoming 2 fiscal 

7 years.’’. 

8 SEC. 402. CROWDSOURCING AND CITIZEN SCIENCE. 

9 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

10 ‘‘Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act’’. 

11 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con12 gress that— 

13 (1) the authority granted to Federal agencies 

14 under the America COMPETES Reauthorization 

15 Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–358; 124 Stat. 3982) 

16 to pursue the use of incentive prizes and challenges 

17 has yielded numerous benefits; 

18 (2) crowdsourcing and citizen science projects 

19 have a number of additional unique benefits, includ20 ing accelerating scientific research, increasing cost 

21 effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dol22 lars, addressing societal needs, providing hands-on 

23 learning in STEM, and connecting members of the 

24 public directly to Federal science agency missions 

25 and to each other; and 


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1 (3) granting Federal science agencies the direct, 

2 explicit authority to use crowdsourcing and citizen 

3 science will encourage its appropriate use to advance 

4 Federal science agency missions and stimulate and 

5 facilitate broader public participation in the innova6 tion process, yielding numerous benefits to the Fed7 eral Government and citizens who participate in 

8 such projects. 

9 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) CITIZEN SCIENCE.—The term ‘‘citizen 

11 science’’ means a form of open collaboration in 

12 which individuals or organizations participate volun13 tarily in the scientific process in various ways, in14 cluding— 

15 (A) enabling the formulation of research 

16 questions; 

17 (B) creating and refining project design; 

18 (C) conducting scientific experiments; 

19 (D) collecting and analyzing data; 

20 (E) interpreting the results of data; 

21 (F) developing technologies and applica22 tions; 

23 (G) making discoveries; and 

24 (H) solving problems. 


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1 (2) CROWDSOURCING.—The term 

2 ‘‘crowdsourcing’’ means a method to obtain needed 

3 services, ideas, or content by soliciting voluntary 

4 contributions from a group of individuals or organi5 zations, especially from an online community. 

6 (3) PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘‘participant’’ 

7 means any individual or other entity that has volun8 teered in a crowdsourcing or citizen science project 

9 under this section. 

10 (d) CROWDSOURCING AND CITIZEN SCIENCE.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each Federal 

12 science agency, or the heads of multiple Federal 

13 science agencies working cooperatively, may utilize 

14 crowdsourcing and citizen science to conduct 

15 projects designed to advance the mission of the re16 spective Federal science agency or the joint mission 

17 of Federal science agencies, as applicable. 

18 (2) VOLUNTARY SERVICES.—Notwithstanding 

19 section 1342 of title 31, United States Code, the 

20 head of a Federal science agency may accept, sub21 ject to regulations issued by the Director of the Of22 fice of Personnel Management, in coordination with 

23 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

24 Policy, services from participants under this section 

25 if such services— 


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1 (A) are performed voluntarily as a part of 

2 a crowdsourcing or citizen science project au3 thorized under paragraph (1); 

4 (B) are not financially compensated for 

5 their time; and 

6 (C) will not be used to displace any em7 ployee of the Federal Government. 

8 (3) OUTREACH.—The head of each Federal 

9 science agency engaged in a crowdsourcing or citizen 

10 science project under this section shall make public 

11 and promote such project to encourage broad par12 ticipation. 

13 (4) CONSENT, REGISTRATION, AND TERMS OF

14 USE.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal science 

16 agency shall determine the appropriate level of 

17 consent, registration, or acknowledgment of the 

18 terms of use that are required from participants 

19 in crowdsourcing or citizen science projects 

20 under this section on a per-project basis. 

21 (B) DISCLOSURES.—In seeking consent, 

22 conducting registration, or developing terms of 

23 use for a project under this subsection, a Fed24 eral science agency shall disclose the privacy, 

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1 pensation, service, program, and other terms of 

2 use to the participant in a clear and reasonable 

3 manner. 

4 (C) MODE OF CONSENT.—A Federal agen5 cy or Federal science agencies, as applicable, 

6 may obtain consent electronically or in written 

7 form from participants under this section. 

8 (5) PROTECTIONS FOR HUMAN SUBJECTS.— 

9 Any crowdsourcing or citizen science project under 

10 this section that involves research involving human 

11 subjects shall be subject to part 46 of title 28, Code 

12 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 

13 (6) DATA.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—A Federal science 

15 agency shall, where appropriate and to the ex16 tent practicable, make data collected through a 

17 crowdsourcing or citizen science project under 

18 this section available to the public, in a machine 

19 readable format, unless prohibited by law. 

20 (B) NOTICE.—As part of the consent proc21 ess, the Federal science agency shall notify all 

22 participants— 

23 (i) of the expected uses of the data 

24 compiled through the project; 


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1 (ii) if the Federal science agency will 

2 retain ownership of such data; 

3 (iii) if and how the data and results 

4 from the project would be made available 

5 for public or third-party use; and 

6 (iv) if participants are authorized to 

7 publish such data. 

8 (7) TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS.—Fed9 eral science agencies shall endeavor to make tech10 nologies, applications, code, and derivations of such 

11 intellectual property developed through a 

12 crowdsourcing or citizen science project under this 

13 section available to the public. 

14 (8) LIABILITY.—Each participant in a 

15 crowdsourcing or citizen science project under this 

16 section shall agree— 

17 (A) to assume any and all risks associated 

18 with such participation; and 

19 (B) to waive all claims against the Federal 

20 Government and its related entities, except for 

21 claims based on willful misconduct, for any in22 jury, death, damage, or loss of property, rev23 enue, or profits (whether direct, indirect, or 

24 consequential) arising from participation in the 

25 project. 


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1 (9) RESEARCH MISCONDUCT.—Federal science 

2 agencies coordinating crowdsourcing or citizen 

3 science projects under this section shall make all 

4 practicable efforts to ensure that participants adhere 

5 to all relevant Federal research misconduct policies 

6 and other applicable ethics policies. 

7 (10) MULTI-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS.—The 

8 head of each Federal science agency engaged in 

9 crowdsourcing or citizen science under this section, 

10 or the heads of multiple Federal science agencies 

11 working cooperatively, may enter into a contract or 

12 other agreement to share administrative duties for 

13 such projects with— 

14 (A) a for-profit or nonprofit private sector 

15 entity, including a private institution of higher 

16 education; 

17 (B) a State, tribal, local, or foreign govern18 ment agency, including a public institution of 

19 higher education; or 

20 (C) a public-private partnership. 

21 (11) FUNDING.—In carrying out crowdsourcing 

22 and citizen science projects under this section, the 

23 head of a Federal science agency, or the heads of 

24 multiple Federal science agencies working coopera25 tively— 


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1 (A) may use funds appropriated by Con2 gress; 

3 (B) may publicize projects and solicit and 

4 accept funds or in-kind support for such 

5 projects, to be available to the extent provided 

6 by appropriations Acts, from— 

7 (i) other Federal agencies; 

8 (ii) for-profit or nonprofit private sec9 tor entities, including private institutions 

10 of higher education; or 

11 (iii) State, tribal, local, or foreign gov12 ernment agencies, including public institu13 tions of higher education; and 

14 (C) may not give any special consideration 

15 to any entity described in subparagraph (B) in 

16 return for such funds or in-kind support. 

17 (12) FACILITATION.— 

18 (A) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

19 ASSISTANCE.—The Administrator of the Gen20 eral Services Administration, in coordination 

21 with the Director of the Office of Personnel 

22 Management and the Director of the Office of 

23 Science and Technology Policy, shall, at no cost 

24 to Federal science agencies, identify and de25 velop relevant products, training, and services 


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1 to facilitate the use of crowdsourcing and cit2 izen science projects under this section, includ3 ing by specifying the appropriate contract vehi4 cles and technology and organizational plat5 forms to enhance the ability of Federal science 

6 agencies to carry out the projects under this 

7 section. 

8 (B) ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE.—The head of 

9 each Federal science agency engaged in 

10 crowdsourcing or citizen science under this sec11 tion may— 

12 (i) consult any guidance provided by 

13 the Director of the Office of Science and 

14 Technology Policy, including the Federal 

15 Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Tool16 kit; 

17 (ii) designate a coordinator for that 

18 Federal science agency’s crowdsourcing 

19 and citizen science projects; and 

20 (iii) share best practices with other 

21 Federal agencies, including participation of 

22 staff in the Federal Community of Practice 

23 for Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science. 

24 (e) REPORT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

3 of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall 

4 include, as a component of an annual report re5 quired under section 24(p) of the Stevenson-Wydler 

6 Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

7 3719(p)), a report on the projects and activities car8 ried out under this section. 

9 (2) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—The report re10 quired under paragraph (1) shall include— 

11 (A) a summary of each crowdsourcing and 

12 citizen science project conducted by a Federal 

13 science agency during the most recently com14 pleted 2 fiscal years, including a description of 

15 the proposed goals of each crowdsourcing and 

16 citizen science project; 

17 (B) an analysis of why the utilization of a 

18 crowdsourcing or citizen science project summa19 rized in subparagraph (A) was the preferable 

20 method of achieving the goals described in sub21 paragraph (A) as opposed to other authorities 

22 available to the Federal science agency, such as 

23 contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and 

24 prize competitions; 


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1 (C) the participation rates, submission lev2 els, number of consents, and any other statistic 

3 that might be considered relevant in each 

4 crowdsourcing and citizen science project; 

5 (D) a detailed description of— 

6 (i) the resources, including personnel 

7 and funding, that were used in the execu8 tion of each crowdsourcing and citizen 

9 science project; 

10 (ii) the project activities for which 

11 such resources were used; and 

12 (iii) how the obligations and expendi13 tures relating to the project’s execution 

14 were allocated among the accounts of the 

15 Federal science agency, including a de16 scription of the amount and source of all 

17 funds, private, public, and in-kind, contrib18 uted to each crowdsourcing and citizen 

19 science project; 

20 (E) a summary of the use of 

21 crowdsourcing and citizen science by all Federal 

22 science agencies, including interagency and 

23 multi-sector partnerships; 

24 (F) a description of how each 

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1 vanced the mission of each participating Fed2 eral science agency; 

3 (G) an identification of each crowdsourcing 

4 or citizen science project where data collected 

5 through such project was not made available to 

6 the public, including the reasons for such ac7 tion; and 

8 (H) any other information that the Direc9 tor of the Office of Science and Technology Pol10 icy considers relevant. 

11 (f) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this section 

12 may be construed— 

13 (1) to affect the authority to conduct 

14 crowdsourcing and citizen science authorized by any 

15 other provision of law; or 

16 (2) to displace Federal Government resources 

17 allocated to the Federal science agencies that use 

18 crowdsourcing or citizen science authorized under 

19 this section to carry out a project. 

20 SEC. 403. NIST DIRECTOR FUNCTIONS UPDATE. 

21 Section 2(b) of the National Institute of Standards 

22 and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(b)), as amended by 

23 section 403 of this Act, is further amended— 

24 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

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1 ized to serve as the President’s principal adviser on 

2 standards policy pertaining to the Nation’s techno3 logical competitiveness and innovation ability and to 

4 take’’; 

5 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘compare 

6 standards’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Federal 

7 Government’’ and inserting ‘‘facilitate standards-re8 lated information sharing and cooperation between 

9 Federal agencies’’; and 

10 (3) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘Federal, 

11 State, and local’’ and all that follows through ‘‘pri12 vate sector’’ and inserting ‘‘technical standards ac13 tivities and conformity assessment activities of Fed14 eral, State, and local governments with private sec15 tor’’. 

16 SEC. 404. NIST VISITING COMMITTEE ON ADVANCED TECH17 NOLOGY UPDATE. 

18 Section 10 of the National Institute of Standards and 

19 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘15 

22 members appointed by the Director, at least 10 

23 of whom’’ and ‘‘not fewer than 9 members ap24 pointed by the Director, a majority of whom’’; 

25 and 


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1 (B) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘Na2 tional Bureau of Standards’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘National Institute of Standards and Tech4 nology’’; and 

5 (2) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ‘‘, including 

6 the Program established under section 28,’’. 

7 TITLE V—MANUFACTURING 

8 SEC. 501. HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PART9 NERSHIP IMPROVEMENTS. 

10 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

11 ‘‘Manufacturing Extension Partnership Improvement 

12 Act’’. 

13 (b) IN GENERAL.—Section 25 of the National Insti14 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) 

15 is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 25. HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PART17 NERSHIP. 

18 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON20 GRESS.—The term ‘appropriate committees of Con21 gress’ means— 

22 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Commerce, 

23 Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Science, Space, 

2 and Technology of the House of Representa3 tives. 

4 ‘‘(2) AREA CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDU5 CATION SCHOOL.—The term ‘area career and tech6 nical education school’ has the meaning given the 

7 term in section 3 of the Vocational Education Act of 

8 1963 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 

9 ‘‘(3) CENTER.—The term ‘Center’ means a 

10 manufacturing extension center that— 

11 ‘‘(A) is created under subsection (b); and 

12 ‘‘(B) is affiliated with an eligible entity 

13 that applies for and is awarded financial sup14 port under subsection (e). 

15 ‘‘(4) COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The term ‘com16 munity college’ means an institution of higher edu17 cation (as defined under section 101(a) of the High18 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) at 

19 which the highest degree that is predominately 

20 awarded to students is an associate’s degree. 

21 ‘‘(5) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en22 tity’ means a United States-based nonprofit institu23 tion, or consortium thereof, an institution of higher 

24 education, or a State, United States territory, local, 

25 or tribal government. 


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1 ‘‘(6) HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION

2 PARTNERSHIP OR PROGRAM.—The term ‘Hollings 

3 Manufacturing Extension Partnership’ or ‘Program’ 

4 means the program established under subsection (b). 

5 ‘‘(7) MEP ADVISORY BOARD.—The term ‘MEP 

6 Advisory Board’ means the Manufacturing Exten7 sion Partnership Advisory Board established under 

8 subsection (n). 

9 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—The Sec10 retary, acting through the Director and, if appropriate, 

11 through other Federal officials, shall establish a program 

12 to provide assistance for the creation and support of man13 ufacturing extension centers for the transfer of manufac14 turing technology and best business practices. 

15 ‘‘(c) OBJECTIVE.—The objective of the Program shall 

16 be to enhance competitiveness, productivity, and techno17 logical performance in United States manufacturing 

18 through— 

19 ‘‘(1) the transfer of manufacturing technology 

20 and techniques developed at the Institute to Centers 

21 and, through them, to manufacturing companies 

22 throughout the United States; 

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1 priate, the Institute in cooperative technology trans2 fer activities; 

3 ‘‘(3) efforts to make new manufacturing tech4 nology and processes usable by United States-based 

5 small and medium-sized companies; 

6 ‘‘(4) the active dissemination of scientific, engi7 neering, technical, and management information 

8 about manufacturing to industrial firms, including 

9 small and medium-sized manufacturing companies; 

10 ‘‘(5) the utilization, when appropriate, of the 

11 expertise and capability that exists in Federal agen12 cies, other than the Institute, and federally spon13 sored laboratories; 

14 ‘‘(6) the provision to community colleges and 

15 area career and technical education schools of infor16 mation about the job skills needed in manufacturing 

17 companies, including small and medium-sized manu18 facturing businesses in the regions they serve; 

19 ‘‘(7) the promotion and expansion of certifi20 cation systems offered through industry, associa21 tions, and local colleges when appropriate, including 

22 efforts such as facilitating training, supporting new 

23 or existing apprenticeships, and providing access to 

24 information and experts, to address workforce needs 


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1 and skills gaps in order to assist small and medium2 sized manufacturing businesses; and 

3 ‘‘(8) the growth in employment and wages at 

4 United States-based small and medium-sized compa5 nies. 

6 ‘‘(d) ACTIVITIES.—The activities of a Center shall in7 clude— 

8 ‘‘(1) the establishment of automated manufac9 turing systems and other advanced production tech10 nologies, based on Institute-supported research, for 

11 the purpose of demonstrations and technology trans12 fer; 

13 ‘‘(2) the active transfer and dissemination of re14 search findings and Center expertise to a wide range 

15 of companies and enterprises, particularly small and 

16 medium-sized manufacturers; and 

17 ‘‘(3) the facilitation of collaborations and part18 nerships between small and medium-sized manufac19 turing companies, community colleges, and area ca20 reer and technical education schools, to help those 

21 entities better understand the specific needs of man22 ufacturers and to help manufacturers better under23 stand the skill sets that students learn in the pro24 grams offered by such colleges and schools. 

25 ‘‘(e) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in 

2 paragraph (2), the Secretary may provide financial 

3 assistance for the creation and support of a Center 

4 through a cooperative agreement with an eligible en5 tity. 

6 ‘‘(2) COST SHARING.—The Secretary may not 

7 provide more than 50 percent of the capital and an8 nual operating and maintenance funds required to 

9 establish and support a Center. 

10 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes 

11 of paragraph (2), any amount received by an eligible 

12 entity for a Center under a provision of law other 

13 than paragraph (1) shall not be considered an 

14 amount provided under paragraph (1). 

15 ‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may revise 

16 or promulgate such regulations as necessary to carry 

17 out this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(f) APPLICATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity shall sub20 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 

21 such manner, and containing such information as 

22 the Secretary may require. 

23 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM DESCRIPTION.—The Secretary 

24 shall establish and update, as necessary— 

25 ‘‘(A) a description of the Program; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the application procedures; 

2 ‘‘(C) performance metrics; 

3 ‘‘(D) criteria for determining qualified ap4 plicants; 

5 ‘‘(E) criteria for choosing recipients of fi6 nancial assistance from among the qualified ap7 plicants; 

8 ‘‘(F) procedures for determining allowable 

9 cost share contributions; and 

10 ‘‘(G) such other program policy objectives 

11 and operational procedures as the Secretary 

12 considers necessary. 

13 ‘‘(3) COST SHARING.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be considered for 

15 financial assistance under this section, an appli16 cant shall provide adequate assurances that the 

17 applicant and if applicable, the applicant’s 

18 partnering organizations, will obtain funding 

19 for not less than 50 percent of the capital and 

20 annual operating and maintenance funds re21 quired to establish and support the Center from 

22 sources other than the financial assistance pro23 vided under subsection (e). 

24 ‘‘(B) AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER ENTI25 TIES.—In meeting the cost-sharing requirement 


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1 under subparagraph (A), an eligible entity may 

2 enter into an agreement with one or more other 

3 entities, such as a private industry, institutions 

4 of higher education, or a State, United States 

5 territory, local, or tribal government for the 

6 contribution by that other entity of funding if 

7 the Secretary determines the agreement— 

8 ‘‘(i) is programmatically reasonable; 

9 ‘‘(ii) will help accomplish pro10 grammatic objectives; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) is allocable under Program pro12 cedures under subsection (f)(2). 

13 ‘‘(4) LEGAL RIGHTS.—Each applicant shall in14 clude in the application a proposal for the allocation 

15 of the legal rights associated with any intellectual 

16 property which may result from the activities of the 

17 Center. 

18 ‘‘(5) MERIT REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

20 subject each application to merit review. 

21 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making a de22 cision whether to approve an application and 

23 provide financial assistance under subsection 

24 (e), the Secretary shall consider, at a min25 imum— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the merits of the application, par2 ticularly those portions of the application 

3 regarding technology transfer, training and 

4 education, and adaptation of manufac5 turing technologies to the needs of par6 ticular industrial sectors; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the quality of service to be pro8 vided; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the geographical diversity and 

10 extent of the service area; and 

11 ‘‘(iv) the type and percentage of fund12 ing and in-kind commitment from other 

13 sources under paragraph (3). 

14 ‘‘(g) EVALUATIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) THIRD AND EIGHTH YEAR EVALUATIONS

16 BY PANEL.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

18 ensure that each Center is evaluated during its 

19 third and eighth years of operation by an eval20 uation panel appointed by the Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(B) COMPOSITION.—The Secretary shall 

22 ensure that each evaluation panel appointed 

23 under subparagraph (A) is composed of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) private experts, none of whom are 

2 connected with the Center evaluated by the 

3 panel; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) Federal officials. 

5 ‘‘(C) CHAIRPERSON.—For each evaluation 

6 panel appointed under subparagraph (B), the 

7 Secretary shall appoint a chairperson who is an 

8 official of the Institute. 

9 ‘‘(2) FIFTH YEAR EVALUATIONS BY SEC10 RETARY.—In the fifth year of operation of a Center, 

11 the Secretary shall conduct a review of the Center. 

12 ‘‘(3) PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT.—In evalu13 ating a Center an evaluation panel or the Secretary, 

14 as applicable, shall measure the performance of the 

15 Center against— 

16 ‘‘(A) the objective specified in subsection 

17 (c); 

18 ‘‘(B) the performance metrics under sub19 section (f)(2)(C); and 

20 ‘‘(C) such other criterion as considered ap21 propriate by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(4) POSITIVE EVALUATIONS.—If an evaluation 

23 of a Center is positive, the Secretary may continue 

24 to provide financial assistance for the Center— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of an evaluation occurring 

2 in the third year of a Center, through the fifth 

3 year of the Center; 

4 ‘‘(B) in the case of an evaluation occurring 

5 in the fifth year of a Center, through the eighth 

6 year of the Center; and 

7 ‘‘(C) in the case of an evaluation occurring 

8 in the eighth year of a Center, through the 

9 tenth year of the Center. 

10 ‘‘(5) OTHER THAN POSITIVE EVALUATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) PROBATION.—If an evaluation of a 

12 Center is other than positive, the Secretary 

13 shall put the Center on probation during the 

14 period beginning on the date that the Center 

15 receives notice under subparagraph (B)(i) and 

16 ending on the date that the reevaluation is com17 plete under subparagraph (B)(iii). 

18 ‘‘(B) NOTICE AND REEVALUATION.—If a 

19 Center receives an evaluation that is other than 

20 positive, the evaluation panel or Secretary, as 

21 applicable, shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) notify the Center of the reason, 

23 including any deficiencies in the perform24 ance of the Center identified during the 

25 evaluation; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) assist the Center in remedying 

2 the deficiencies by providing the Center, 

3 not less frequently than once every 3 

4 months, an analysis of the Center, if con5 sidered appropriate by the panel or Sec6 retary, as applicable; and 

7 ‘‘(iii) reevaluate the Center not later 

8 than 1 year after the date of the notice 

9 under clause (i). 

10 ‘‘(C) CONTINUED SUPPORT DURING PE11 RIOD OF PROBATION.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

13 may continue to provide financial assist14 ance under subsection (e) for a Center 

15 during the probation period. 

16 ‘‘(ii) POST PROBATION.—After the pe17 riod of probation, the Secretary shall not 

18 provide any financial assistance unless the 

19 Center has received a positive evaluation 

20 under subparagraph (B)(iii). 

21 ‘‘(6) FAILURE TO REMEDY.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a Center fails to 

23 remedy a deficiency or to show significant im24 provement in performance before the end of the 

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1 retary shall conduct a competition to select an 

2 operator for the Center under subsection (h). 

3 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF CENTERS SUBJECT

4 TO NEW COMPETITION.—Upon the selection of 

5 an operator for a Center under subsection (h), 

6 the Center shall be considered a new Center 

7 and the calculation of the years of operation of 

8 that Center for purposes of paragraphs (1) 

9 through (5) of this subsection and subsection 

10 (h)(1) shall start anew. 

11 ‘‘(h) REAPPLICATION COMPETITION FOR FINANCIAL

12 ASSISTANCE AFTER 10 YEARS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If an eligible entity has op14 erated a Center under this section for a period of 10 

15 consecutive years, the Secretary shall conduct a com16 petition to select an eligible entity to operate the 

17 Center in accordance with the process plan under 

18 subsection (i). 

19 ‘‘(2) INCUMBENT ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eli20 gible entity that has received financial assistance 

21 under this section for a period of 10 consecutive 

22 years and that the Secretary determines is in good 

23 standing shall be eligible to compete in the competi24 tion under paragraph (1). 


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1 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF CENTERS SUBJECT TO RE2 APPLICATION COMPETITION.—Upon the selection of 

3 an operator for a Center under paragraph (1), the 

4 Center shall be considered a new Center and the cal5 culation of the years of operation of that Center for 

6 purposes of paragraphs (1) through (5) of sub7 section (g) shall start anew. 

8 ‘‘(i) PROCESS PLAN.—Not later than 180 days after 

9 the date of the enactment of the American Innovation and 

10 Competitiveness Act, the Secretary shall implement and 

11 submit to Congress a plan for how the Institute will con12 duct an evaluation, competition, and reapplication com13 petition under this section. 

14 ‘‘(j) OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA16 TION OF CENTER CLIENTS.—The following informa17 tion, if obtained by the Federal Government in con18 nection with an activity of a Center or the Program, 

19 shall be exempt from public disclosure under section 

20 552 of title 5, United States Code: 

21 ‘‘(A) Information on the business operation 

22 of any participant in the Program or of a client 

23 of a Center. 

24 ‘‘(B) Trade secrets of any client of a Cen25 ter. 


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1 ‘‘(k) OVERSIGHT BOARDS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt of 

3 financial assistance for a Center under subsection 

4 (e), an eligible entity shall establish a board to over5 see the operations of the Center. 

6 ‘‘(2) STANDARDS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es8 tablish appropriate standards for each board 

9 described under paragraph (1). 

10 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing 

11 the standards, the Director shall take into ac12 count the type and organizational structure of 

13 an eligible entity. 

14 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS.—The standards 

15 shall address— 

16 ‘‘(i) membership; 

17 ‘‘(ii) composition; 

18 ‘‘(iii) term limits; 

19 ‘‘(iv) conflicts of interest; and 

20 ‘‘(v) such other requirements as the 

21 Director considers necessary. 

22 ‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each board estab24 lished under paragraph (1) shall be composed 

25 of members as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(i) The membership of each board 

2 shall be representative of stakeholders in 

3 the region in which the Center is located. 

4 ‘‘(ii) A majority of the members of the 

5 board shall be selected from among indi6 viduals who own or are employed by small 

7 or medium-sized manufacturers. 

8 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A member of a board 

9 established under paragraph (1) may not serve 

10 on more than 1 board established under that 

11 paragraph. 

12 ‘‘(4) BYLAWS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each board estab14 lished under paragraph (1) shall adopt and sub15 mit to the Director bylaws to govern the oper16 ation of the board. 

17 ‘‘(B) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—Bylaws 

18 adopted under subparagraph (A) shall include 

19 policies to minimize conflicts of interest, includ20 ing such policies relating to disclosure of rela21 tionships and recusal as may be necessary to 

22 minimize conflicts of interest. 

23 ‘‘(l) ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS.—In addition to such 

24 sums as may be appropriated to the Secretary and Direc25 tor to operate the Program, the Secretary and Director 


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1 may also accept funds from other Federal departments 

2 and agencies and from the private sector under section 

3 2(c)(7) of this Act (15 U.S.C. 272(c)(7)), to be available 

4 to the extent provided by appropriations Acts, for the pur5 pose of strengthening United States manufacturing. 

6 ‘‘(m) MEP ADVISORY BOARD.— 

7 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

8 within the Institute a Manufacturing Extension 

9 Partnership Advisory Board. 

10 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

11 ‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The MEP Advi13 sory Board shall consist of not fewer than 

14 10 members appointed by the Director and 

15 broadly representative of stakeholders. 

16 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—Of the mem17 bers appointed under clause (i)— 

18 ‘‘(I) at least 2 members shall be 

19 employed by or on an advisory board 

20 for a Center; 

21 ‘‘(II) at least 5 members shall be 

22 from United States small businesses 

23 in the manufacturing sector; and 

24 ‘‘(III) at least 1 member shall 

25 represent a community college. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) LIMITATION.—No member of 

2 the MEP Advisory Board shall be an em3 ployee of the Federal Government. 

4 ‘‘(B) TERM.—Except as provided in sub5 paragraph (C), the term of office of each mem6 ber of the MEP Advisory Board shall be 3 

7 years. 

8 ‘‘(C) VACANCIES.—Any member appointed 

9 to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expira10 tion of the term for which his predecessor was 

11 appointed shall be appointed for the remainder 

12 of such term. 

13 ‘‘(D) SERVING CONSECUTIVE TERMS.— 

14 Any person who has completed 2 consecutive 

15 full terms of service on the MEP Advisory 

16 Board shall thereafter be ineligible for appoint17 ment during the 1-year period following the ex18 piration of the second such term. 

19 ‘‘(3) MEETINGS.—The MEP Advisory Board 

20 shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) meet not less than biannually; and 

22 ‘‘(B) provide to the Director— 

23 ‘‘(i) advice on the activities, plans, 

24 and policies of the Program; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) assessments of the soundness of 

2 the plans and strategies of the Program; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(iii) assessments of current perform5 ance against the plans of the Program. 

6 ‘‘(4) FACA APPLICABILITY.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In discharging its du8 ties under this subsection, the MEP Advisory 

9 Board shall function solely in an advisory ca10 pacity, in accordance with the Federal Advisory 

11 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.). 

12 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Section 14 of the Fed13 eral Advisory Committee Act shall not apply to 

14 the MEP Advisory Board. 

15 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At a minimum, the 

17 MEP Advisory Board shall transmit an annual 

18 report to the Secretary for transmittal to Con19 gress not later than 30 days after the submis20 sion to Congress of the President’s annual 

21 budget under section 1105 of title 31, United 

22 States Code. 

23 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The report shall ad24 dress the status of the Program and describe 

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1 ning document and updates thereto transmitted 

2 to Congress by the Director under subsections 

3 (c) and (d) of section 23 (15 U.S.C. 278i). 

4 ‘‘(n) SMALL MANUFACTURERS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) EVALUATION OF OBSTACLES.—As part of 

6 the Program, the Director shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) identify obstacles that prevent small 

8 manufacturers from effectively competing in the 

9 global market; 

10 ‘‘(B) implement a comprehensive plan to 

11 train the Centers to address the obstacles iden12 tified in paragraph (2); and 

13 ‘‘(C) facilitate improved communication be14 tween the Centers to assist such manufacturers 

15 in implementing appropriate, targeted solutions 

16 to the obstacles identified in paragraph (2). 

17 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN ACCESS RE18 SOURCES.—As part of the Program, the Secretary 

19 shall develop open access resources that address best 

20 practices related to inventory sourcing, supply chain 

21 management, manufacturing techniques, available 

22 Federal resources, and other topics to further the 

23 competitiveness and profitability of small manufac24 turers.’’. 


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1 (c) COMPETITIVE AWARDS PROGRAM.—The National 

2 Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 271 

3 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 25 the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 25A. COMPETITIVE AWARDS PROGRAM. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall establish 

7 within the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

8 under section 25 (15 U.S.C. 278k) and section 26 (15 

9 U.S.C. 278l) a program of competitive awards among par10 ticipants described in subsection (b) of this section for the 

11 purposes described in subsection (c). 

12 ‘‘(b) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants receiving awards 

13 under this section shall be Centers, or a consortium of 

14 Centers. 

15 ‘‘(c) PURPOSE, THEMES, AND REIMBURSEMENT.— 

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

17 established under subsection (a) is to add capabili18 ties to the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Part19 nership, including the development of projects to 

20 solve new or emerging manufacturing problems as 

21 determined by the Director, in consultation with the 

22 Director of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension 

23 Partnership, the MEP Advisory Board, other Fed24 eral agencies, and small and medium-sized manufac25 turers. 


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1 ‘‘(2) THEMES.—The Director may identify one 

2 or more themes for a competition carried out under 

3 this section, which may vary from year to year, as 

4 the Director considers appropriate after assessing 

5 the needs of manufacturers and the success of pre6 vious competitions. 

7 ‘‘(3) REIMBURSEMENT.—Centers may be reim8 bursed for costs incurred by the Centers under this 

9 section. 

10 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for awards under 

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

12 time, and containing such information as the Director 

13 shall require in consultation with the MEP Advisory 

14 Board. 

15 ‘‘(e) SELECTION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) PEER REVIEW AND COMPETITIVELY

17 AWARDED.—The Director shall ensure that awards 

18 under this section are peer reviewed and competi19 tively awarded. 

20 ‘‘(2) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—The Director 

21 shall endeavor to have broad geographic diversity 

22 among selected proposals. 

23 ‘‘(3) CRITERIA.—The Director shall select ap24 plications to receive awards that the Director deter25 mines will achieve one or more of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Improve the competitiveness of indus2 tries in the region in which the Center or Cen3 ters are located. 

4 ‘‘(B) Create jobs or train newly hired em5 ployees. 

6 ‘‘(C) Promote the transfer and commer7 cialization of research and technology from in8 stitutions of higher education, national labora9 tories or other federally funded research pro10 grams, and nonprofit research institutes. 

11 ‘‘(D) Recruit a diverse manufacturing 

12 workforce, including through outreach to under13 represented populations, including individuals 

14 identified in section 33 or section 34 of the 

15 Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b). 

17 ‘‘(E) Such other result as the Director de18 termines will advance the objective set forth in 

19 section 25(c) (15 U.S.C. 278k) or in section 26 

20 (15 U.S.C. 278l). 

21 ‘‘(f) PROGRAM CONTRIBUTION.—Recipients of 

22 awards under this section shall not be required to provide 

23 a matching contribution. 

24 ‘‘(g) GLOBAL MARKETPLACE PROJECTS.—In making 

25 an award under this section, the Director, in consultation 


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1 with the MEP Advisory Board and the Secretary, may 

2 take into consideration whether an application has signifi3 cant potential for enhancing the competitiveness of small 

4 and medium-sized United States manufacturers in the 

5 global marketplace. 

6 ‘‘(h) DURATION.—The duration of an award under 

7 this section shall be for not more than 3 years. 

8 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—The terms used in this section 

9 have the meanings given the terms in section 25 (15 

10 U.S.C. 278k).’’. 

11 (d) REPORTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

14 General of the United States, in consultation with 

15 the MEP Advisory Board (as defined in section 25 

16 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech17 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k)), shall submit to the 

18 appropriate committees of Congress a report ana19 lyzing— 

20 (A) the effectiveness of the changes in the 

21 cost share to Centers under section 25 of the 

22 National Institute of Standards and Technology 

23 Act (15 U.S.C. 278k); 

24 (B) the engagement in services and the 

25 characteristics of services provided by 2 types of 


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1 Centers, including volume and type of service; 

2 and 

3 (C) whether the cost-sharing ratio has any 

4 effect on the services provided by either type of 

5 Center. 

6 (2) INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 

8 after the date of submission of the report under 

9 paragraph (1), the Director of NIST shall con10 tract with an independent organization to per11 form an assessment of the implementation of 

12 the reapplication competition process. 

13 (B) CONSULTATION.—The independent or14 ganization performing the assessment under 

15 subparagraph (A) may consult with the MEP 

16 Advisory Board (as defined in section 25 of the 

17 National Institute of Standards and Technology 

18 Act (15 U.S.C. 278k)). 

19 (3) COMPARISON OF CENTERS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Di22 rector shall submit to the appropriate commit23 tees of Congress a report providing information 

24 on the first and second years of operations for 

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1 tional Institute of Standards and Technology 

2 Act (15 U.S.C. 278k)) operating from new com3 petitions or recompetition as compared to long4 standing Centers. 

5 (B) CONTENTS.—The report shall provide 

6 detail on the engagement in services provided 

7 by Centers and the characteristics of services 

8 provided, including volume and type of services, 

9 so that the appropriate committees of Congress 

10 can evaluate whether the cost-sharing ratio has 

11 an effect on the services provided at Centers. 

12 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

13 (1) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2199(3) of title 10, 

14 United States Code, is amended— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘regional center’’ and in16 serting ‘‘manufacturing extension center’’; 

17 (B) by inserting ‘‘and best business prac18 tices’’ before ‘‘referred’’; and 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘25(a)’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘25(b)’’. 

21 (2) ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION INITIATIVE.— 

22 Section 3(a) of the Enterprise Integration Act of 

23 2002 (15 U.S.C. 278g–5(a)) is amended by inserting 

24 ‘‘Hollings’’ before ‘‘Manufacturing Extension Part25 nership’’. 


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1 (3) ASSISTANCE TO STATE TECHNOLOGY PRO2 GRAMS.—Section 26(a) of the National Institute of 

3 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278l(a)) 

4 is amended by striking ‘‘Centers program created’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘Hollings Manufacturing Extension 

6 Partnership’’. 

7 (f) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.—Notwithstanding the 

8 amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) of this sec9 tion, the Secretary of Commerce may carry out section 

10 25 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

11 Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) as that section was in effect on the 

12 day before the date of enactment of this Act, with respect 

13 to existing grants, agreements, cooperative agreements, or 

14 contracts, and with respect to applications for such items 

15 that are received by the Secretary prior to the date of en16 actment of this Act. 

17 (g) PATENT RIGHTS.—The provisions of chapter 18 

18 of title 35, United States Code, shall apply, to the extent 

19 not inconsistent with section 25 of the National Institute 

20 of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) and 

21 section 25 of that Act, to the promotion of technology 

22 from research by Centers under those sections, except for 

23 contracts for such specific technology extension or transfer 

24 services as may be specified by the Director of NIST or 

25 under other law. 


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1 TITLE VI—INNOVATION AND 

2 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 

3 SEC. 601. INNOVATION CORPS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) The National Science Foundation Innova7 tion Corps (referred to in this section as the ‘‘I8 Corps’’) was established to foster a national innova9 tion ecosystem by encouraging institutions, sci10 entists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to identify and 

11 explore the innovation and commercial potential of 

12 National Science Foundation-funded research well 

13 beyond the laboratory. 

14 (2) Through I-Corps, the Foundation invests in 

15 entrepreneurship and commercialization education, 

16 training, and mentoring that can ultimately lead to 

17 the practical deployment of technologies, products, 

18 processes, and services that improve the Nation’s 

19 competitiveness, promote economic growth, and ben20 efit society. 

21 (3) By building networks of entrepreneurs, edu22 cators, mentors, institutions, and collaborations, and 

23 supporting specialized education and training, I24 Corps is at the leading edge of a strong, lasting 

25 foundation for an American innovation ecosystem. 


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1 (4) By translating federally funded research to 

2 a commercial stage more quickly and efficiently, pro3 grams like the I-Corps create new jobs and compa4 nies, help solve societal problems, and provide tax5 payers with a greater return on their investment in 

6 research. 

7 (5) The I-Corps program model has a strong 

8 record of success that should be replicated at all 

9 Federal science agencies. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con11 gress that— 

12 (1) commercialization of federally funded re13 search can improve the Nation’s competitiveness, 

14 grow the economy, and benefit society; 

15 (2) I-Corps is a useful tool in promoting the 

16 commercialization of federally funded research by 

17 training researchers funded by the Foundation in 

18 entrepreneurship and commercialization; 

19 (3) I-Corps should continue to build a network 

20 of entrepreneurs, educators, mentors, and institu21 tions and support specialized education and training; 

22 (4) researchers other than those funded by the 

23 Foundation may also benefit from the education and 

24 training described in paragraph (3); and 


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1 (5) I-Corps should continue to promote a strong 

2 innovation system by investing in and supporting fe3 male entrepreneurs through mentorship, education, 

4 and training because they are historically underrep5 resented in entrepreneurial fields. 

6 (c) I-CORPS PROGRAM.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to promote a 

8 strong, lasting foundation for the national innova9 tion ecosystem and increase the positive economic 

10 and social impact of federally funded research, the 

11 Director of the Foundation shall set forth eligibility 

12 requirements and carry out a program to award 

13 grants for entrepreneurship and commercialization 

14 education, training, and mentoring. 

15 (2) EXPANSION OF I-CORPS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director— 

17 (i) shall encourage the development 

18 and expansion of I-Corps and other train19 ing programs that focus on professional 

20 development, including education in entre21 preneurship and commercialization; and 

22 (ii) may establish an agreement with 

23 another Federal science agency— 

24 (I) to make researchers, stu25 dents, and institutions funded by that 


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1 agency eligible to participate in the I2 Corps program; or 

3 (II) to assist that agency with 

4 the design and implementation of its 

5 own program that is similar to the I6 Corps program. 

7 (B) PARTNERSHIP FUNDING.—In negoti8 ating an agreement with another Federal 

9 science agency under subparagraph (A)(ii), the 

10 Director shall require that Federal science 

11 agency to provide funding for— 

12 (i) the training for researchers, stu13 dents, and institutions selected for the I14 Corps program; and 

15 (ii) the locations that Federal science 

16 agency designates as regional and national 

17 infrastructure for science and engineering 

18 entrepreneurship. 

19 (3) FOLLOW-ON GRANTS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara21 graph (B), the Director, in consultation with 

22 the Director of the Small Business Innovation 

23 Research Program, shall make funds available 

24 for competitive grants, including to I-Corps par25 ticipants, to help support— 


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1 (i) prototype or proof-of-concept devel2 opment; and 

3 (ii) such activities as the Director con4 siders necessary to build local, regional, 

5 and national infrastructure for science and 

6 engineering entrepreneurship. 

7 (B) LIMITATION.—Grants under subpara8 graph (A) shall be limited to participants with 

9 innovations that because of the early stage of 

10 development are not eligible to participate in a 

11 Small Business Innovation Research Program 

12 or a Small Business Technology Transfer Pro13 gram. 

14 (4) STATE AND LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS.—The 

15 Director may engage in partnerships with State and 

16 local governments, economic development organiza17 tions, and nonprofit organizations to provide access 

18 to the I-Corps program to support entrepreneurship 

19 education and training for researchers, students, and 

20 institutions under this subsection. 

21 (5) REPORTS.—The Director shall submit to 

22 the appropriate committees of Congress a biennial 

23 report on I-Corps program efficacy, including 

24 metrics on the effectiveness of the program. Each 

25 Federal science agency participating in the I-Corps 


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1 program or that implements a similar program 

2 under paragraph (2)(A) shall contribute to the re3 port. 

4 (6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

5 terms ‘‘Small Business Innovation Research Pro6 gram’’ and ‘‘Small Business Technology Transfer 

7 Program’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

8 section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

9 638). 

10 SEC. 602. TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH GRANTS. 

11 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con12 gress that— 

13 (1) commercialization of federally funded re14 search may benefit society and the economy; and 

15 (2) not-for-profit organizations support the 

16 commercialization of federally funded research by 

17 providing useful business and technical expertise to 

18 researchers. 

19 (b) COMMERCIALIZATION PROMOTION.—The Direc20 tor of the Foundation shall continue to award grants on 

21 a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to eligible entities to 

22 promote the commercialization of federally funded re23 search results. 

24 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Activities supported by grants 

25 under this section may include— 


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1 (1) identifying Foundation-sponsored research 

2 and technologies that have the potential for acceler3 ated commercialization; 

4 (2) supporting prior or current Foundation5 sponsored investigators, institutions of higher edu6 cation, and nonprofit organizations that partner 

7 with an institution of higher education in under8 taking proof-of-concept work, including development 

9 of prototypes of technologies that are derived from 

10 Foundation-sponsored research and have potential 

11 market value; 

12 (3) promoting sustainable partnerships between 

13 Foundation-funded institutions, industry, and other 

14 organizations within academia and the private sector 

15 with the purpose of accelerating the transfer of tech16 nology; 

17 (4) developing multidisciplinary innovation eco18 systems which involve and are responsive to specific 

19 needs of academia and industry; and 

20 (5) providing professional development, men21 toring, and advice in entrepreneurship, project man22 agement, and technology and business development 

23 to innovators. 

24 (d) ELIGIBILITY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The following organizations 

2 may be eligible for grants under this section: 

3 (A) Institutions of higher education. 

4 (B) Public or nonprofit technology transfer 

5 organizations. 

6 (C) A nonprofit organization that partners 

7 with an institution of higher education. 

8 (D) A consortia of two or more of the or9 ganizations described under subparagraphs (A) 

10 through (C). 

11 (2) LEAD ORGANIZATIONS.—Any eligible orga12 nization under paragraph (1) may apply as a lead 

13 organization. 

14 (e) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity seeking a 

15 grant under this section shall submit an application to the 

16 Director at such time, in such manner, and containing 

17 such information as the Director may require. 

18 SEC. 603. OPTICS AND PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY INNOVA19 TIONS. 

20 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find21 ings: 

22 (1) The 1998 National Research Council Re23 port, ‘‘Harnessing Light’’ presented a comprehensive 

24 overview on the importance of optics and photonics 

25 to various sectors of the United States economy. 


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1 (2) In 2012, in response to increased coordina2 tion and investment by other nations, the National 

3 Research Council released a follow up study recom4 mending a national photonics initiative to increase 

5 collaboration and coordination among United States 

6 industry, Federal and State government, and aca7 demia to identify and further advance areas of 

8 photonics critical to regaining United States com9 petitiveness and maintaining national security. 

10 (3) Publicly traded companies focused on optics 

11 and photonics in the United States enable more than 

12 $3 trillion in revenue annually. 

13 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con14 gress that— 

15 (1) optics and photonics research and tech16 nologies promote United States global competitive17 ness in industry sectors, including telecommuni18 cations and information technology, energy, 

19 healthcare and medicine, manufacturing, and de20 fense; 

21 (2) Federal science agencies, industry, and aca22 demia should seek partnerships with each other to 

23 develop basic research in optics and photonics into 

24 more mature technologies and capabilities; and 


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1 (3) each Federal science agency, as appropriate, 

2 should— 

3 (A) survey and identify optics and 

4 photonics-related programs within that Federal 

5 science agency and share results with other 

6 Federal science agencies for the purpose of gen7 erating multiple applications and uses; 

8 (B) partner with the private sector and 

9 academia to leverage knowledge and resources 

10 to maximize opportunities for innovation in op11 tics and photonics; 

12 (C) explore research and development op13 portunities, including Federal and private sec14 tor-sponsored internships, to ensure a highly 

15 trained optics and photonics workforce in the 

16 United States; 

17 (D) encourage partnerships between aca18 demia and industry to promote improvement in 

19 the education of optics and photonics techni20 cians at the secondary school level, under21 graduate level, and 2-year college level, includ22 ing through the Foundation’s Advanced Tech23 nological Education program; and 

24 (E) assess existing programs and explore 

25 alternatives to modernize photonics laboratory 


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1 equipment in undergraduate institutions in the 

2 United States to facilitate critical hands-on 

3 learning. 

4 SEC. 604. UNITED STATES CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER. 

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

6 ‘‘United States Chief Technology Officer Act’’. 

7 (b) IN GENERAL.—Section 203 the National Science 

8 and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act 

9 of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6612) is amended— 

10 (1) by inserting ‘‘(b) ASSOCIATE

11 DIRECTORS.—’’ before ‘‘The President is author12 ized’’ and indenting appropriately; 

13 (2) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 

14 ‘‘There shall be’’ and indenting appropriately; and 

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

16 ‘‘(c) CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER.—Subject to sub17 section (b), the President is authorized to designate one 

18 of the Associate Directors under that subsection as a 

19 United States Chief Technology Officer.’’. 

20 SEC. 605. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL STUDY ON TECH21 NOLOGY FOR EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS 

22 ON CAMPUSES. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office 

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1 rangement with the National Research Council to conduct 

2 and complete a study to identify and review technologies 

3 employed at institutions of higher education to provide no4 tifications to students, faculty, and other personnel during 

5 emergency situations in accordance with law. 

6 (b) CONTENTS.—The study shall address— 

7 (1) the timeliness of notifications provided by 

8 the technologies during emergency situations; 

9 (2) the durability of the technologies in deliv10 ering the notifications to students, faculty, and other 

11 personnel; and 

12 (3) the limitations exhibited by the technologies 

13 to successfully deliver the notifications not more 

14 than 30 seconds after the institution of higher edu15 cation transmits the notifications. 

16 (c) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year after 

17 the date that the National Research Council enters into 

18 the arrangement under subsection (a), the Director of the 

19 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall submit to 

20 Congress a report on the study, including recommenda21 tions for addressing any limitations identified under sub22 section (b)(3). 

Æ 


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