I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5143 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary prizes for achievements in overcoming scientific and technical barriers associated with 

hydrogen energy. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2006 

Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. 

WAMP, Mr. WOLF, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. BARTLETT of 

Maryland, Mr. WYNN, Mr. DENT, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 

MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. WILSON of South 

Carolina, and Mr. TERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary 

prizes for achievements in overcoming scientific and technical barriers associated with hydrogen energy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘H-Prize Act of 2006’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 


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1 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

2 means the Department of Energy. 

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

4 the Secretary of Energy. 

5 SEC. 3. PRIZE AUTHORITY. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

7 program to competitively award cash prizes only in con8 formity with this Act to advance the research, develop9 ment, demonstration, and commercial application of hy10 drogen energy technologies. 

11 (b) ADVERTISING AND SOLICITATION OF COMPETI12 TORS.— 

13 (1) ADVERTISING.—The Secretary shall widely 

14 advertise prize competitions to encourage broad par15 ticipation, including by individuals, universities, and 

16 large and small businesses. 

17 (2) ANNOUNCEMENT THROUGH FEDERAL REG18 ISTER NOTICE.—The Secretary shall announce each 

19 prize competition by publishing a notice in the Fed20 eral Register. This notice shall include the subject of 

21 the competition, the duration of the competition, the 

22 eligibility requirements for participation in the com23 petition, the process for participants to register for 

24 the competition, the amount of the prize, and the 

25 criteria for awarding the prize. 


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1 (c) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITIONS.—The Sec2 retary shall enter into an agreement with a private, non3 profit entity to administer the prize competitions, subject 

4 to the provisions of this Act. 

5 (d) FUNDING SOURCES.—Prizes under this Act may 

6 consist of Federal appropriated funds and funds provided 

7 by private entities or individuals for such cash prizes. The 

8 Secretary may accept funds from other Federal agencies 

9 for such cash prizes. The Secretary may not give any spe10 cial consideration to any private sector entity or individual 

11 in return for a donation. 

12 (e) ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZES.—The Secretary 

13 may not issue a notice required by subsection (b)(2) until 

14 all the funds needed to pay out the announced amount 

15 of the prize have been appropriated or committed in writ16 ing by a private source. The Secretary may increase the 

17 amount of a prize after an initial announcement is made 

18 under subsection (b)(2) if— 

19 (1) notice of the increase is provided in the 

20 same manner as the initial notice of the prize; and 

21 (2) the funds needed to pay out the announced 

22 amount of the increase have been appropriated or 

23 committed in writing by a private source. 


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1 (f) SUNSET.—The authority to announce prize com2 petitions under this Act shall terminate on September 30, 

3 2017. 

4 SEC. 4. PRIZE CATEGORIES. 

5 (a) CATEGORIES.—The Secretary shall establish 

6 prizes for— 

7 (1) advancements in components or systems re8 lated to— 

9 (A) hydrogen production; 

10 (B) hydrogen storage; 

11 (C) hydrogen distribution; and 

12 (D) hydrogen utilization; 

13 (2) prototypes of hydrogen-powered vehicles or 

14 other hydrogen-based products that best meet or ex15 ceed objective performance criteria, such as comple16 tion of a race over a certain distance or terrain or 

17 generation of energy at certain levels of efficiency; 

18 and 

19 (3) transformational changes in technologies for 

20 the distribution or production of hydrogen that meet 

21 or exceed far-reaching objective criteria, which shall 

22 include minimal carbon emissions and which may in23 clude cost criteria designed to facilitate the eventual 

24 market success of a winning technology. 

25 (b) AWARDS.— 


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1 (1) ADVANCEMENTS.—To the extent permitted 

2 under section 3(e), the prizes authorized under sub3 section (a)(1) shall be awarded biennially to the 

4 most significant advance made in each of the four 

5 subcategories described in subparagraphs (A) 

6 through (D) of subsection (a)(1) since the submis7 sion deadline of the previous prize competition in the 

8 same category under subsection (a)(1) or the date of 

9 enactment of this Act, whichever is later. No one 

10 such prize may exceed $1,000,000. If less than 

11 $4,000,000 is available for a prize competition under 

12 subsection (a)(1), the Secretary may omit one or 

13 more subcategories, reduce the amount of the prizes, 

14 or not hold a prize competition. 

15 (2) PROTOTYPES.—To the extent permitted 

16 under section 3(e), prizes authorized under sub17 section (a)(2) shall be awarded biennially in alter18 nate years from the prizes authorized under sub19 section (a)(1). The Secretary is authorized to award 

20 up to one prize in this category in each 2-year pe21 riod. No such prize may exceed $4,000,000. If no 

22 registered participants meet the objective perform23 ance criteria established pursuant to subsection (c) 

24 for a competition under this paragraph, the Sec25 retary shall not award a prize. 


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1 (3) TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES.—To 

2 the extent permitted under section 3(e), the Sec3 retary shall announce at least one prize competition 

4 authorized under subsection (a)(3) as soon after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act as is practicable. To 

6 the extent permitted under section 3(e), the Sec7 retary may announce additional prize competitions 

8 authorized under subsection (a)(3) as appropriate to 

9 accelerate the development and adoption of hydrogen 

10 technologies. A prize offered under this paragraph 

11 shall be in the amount of $100,000,000. The Sec12 retary may allow the winner of a prize under this 

13 paragraph to receive up to $10,000,000 of the prize 

14 in a lump sum as cash. Any portion of the prize not 

15 received as a lump sum in cash shall be paid to the 

16 winner as a Federal match for each dollar of private 

17 funding raised by the winner for the hydrogen tech18 nology beginning on the date the winner was named. 

19 The match shall be provided for 3 years after the 

20 date the prize winner is named or until the full 

21 amount of the prize has been paid out, whichever oc22 curs first. A prize winner may elect to have the Fed23 eral match amount paid to another entity that is 

24 continuing the development of the winning tech25 nology. The Secretary shall announce how much of 


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1 a prize will be available as a lump sum and the rules 

2 for receiving the Federal match in the notice re3 quired by section 3(b)(2). The Secretary shall award 

4 a prize under this paragraph only when a registered 

5 participant has met the objective criteria established 

6 for the prize pursuant to subsection (c) and an7 nounced pursuant to section 3(b)(2). 

8 (c) CRITERIA.—In establishing the criteria required 

9 by this Act, the Secretary shall consult with— 

10 (1) the Department’s Hydrogen Technical and 

11 Fuel Cell Advisory Committee; 

12 (2) other Federal agencies, including the Na13 tional Science Foundation; and 

14 (3) private organizations, including professional 

15 societies, industry associations, and the National 

16 Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of 

17 Engineering. 

18 (d) JUDGES.—For each prize competition, the Sec19 retary, through an agreement under section 3(c), shall as20 semble a panel of qualified judges to select the winner or 

21 winners on the basis of the criteria established under sub22 section (c). Judges for each prize competition shall include 

23 individuals from outside the Department, including from 

24 the private sector. A judge may not— 


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1 (1) have personal or financial interests in, or be 

2 an employee, officer, director, or agent of, any entity 

3 that is a registered participant in the prize competi4 tion for which he or she will serve as a judge; or 

5 (2) have a familial or financial relationship with 

6 an individual who is a registered participant in the 

7 prize competition for which he or she will serve as 

8 a judge. 

9 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY. 

10 To be eligible to win a prize under this Act, an indi11 vidual or entity— 

12 (1) shall have complied with all the require13 ments in accordance with the Federal Register no14 tice required under section 3(b)(2); 

15 (2) in the case of a private entity, shall be in16 corporated in and maintain a primary place of busi17 ness in the United States, and in the case of an in18 dividual, whether participating singly or in a group, 

19 shall be a citizen of, or an alien lawfully admitted 

20 for permanent residence in, the United States; and 

21 (3) shall not be a Federal entity, a Federal em22 ployee acting within the scope of his employment, or 

23 an employee of a national laboratory acting within 

24 the scope of his employment. 


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1 SEC. 6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. 

2 The Federal Government shall not, by virtue of offer3 ing or awarding a prize under this Act, be entitled to any 

4 intellectual property rights derived as a consequence of, 

5 or direct relation to, the participation by a registered par6 ticipant in a competition authorized by this Act. This sec7 tion shall not be construed to prevent the Federal Govern8 ment from negotiating a license for the use of intellectual 

9 property developed for a prize competition under this Act. 

10 SEC. 7. LIABILITY. 

11 (a) WAIVER OF LIABILITY.—Registered participants 

12 shall be required to agree to assume any and all risks, 

13 and waive claims against the Federal Government and its 

14 related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, 

15 for, any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, rev16 enue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, 

17 arising from their participation in a competition under 

18 this Act, whether such injury, death, damage, or loss 

19 arises through negligence or otherwise. For the purposes 

20 of this subsection, the term ‘‘related entity’’ means a con21 tractor or subcontractor at any tier, and a supplier, user, 

22 customer, cooperating party, grantee, investigator, or 

23 detailee. 

24 (b) LIABILITY INSURANCE.— 

25 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Participants shall be re26 quired to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate 


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1 financial responsibility, in amounts determined by 

2 the Secretary, for claims by— 

3 (A) a third party for death, bodily injury, 

4 or property damage or loss resulting from an 

5 activity carried out in connection with participa6 tion in a competition under this Act; and 

7 (B) the Federal Government for damage or 

8 loss to Government property resulting from 

9 such an activity. 

10 (2) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INSURED.—The 

11 Federal Government shall be named as an additional 

12 insured under a registered participant’s insurance 

13 policy required under paragraph (1)(A), and reg14 istered participants shall be required to agree to in15 demnify the Federal Government against third party 

16 claims for damages arising from or related to com17 petition activities. 

18 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for car21 rying out this Act $55,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

22 2007 through 2016, of which no more than $1,000,000 

23 for any fiscal year may be used for administrative ex24 penses. 


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1 (b) CARRYOVER OF FUNDS.—Funds appropriated 

2 pursuant to this Act shall remain available until expended. 

3 SEC. 9. NONSUBSTITUTION. 

4 The programs created under this Act shall not be 

5 considered a substitute for Federal research and develop6 ment programs. 

Æ 


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