II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1874

To improve the ability of small businesses, Federal agencies, industry, and

universities to work with Department of Energy contractor-operated facilities, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 27, 1998

Mr. DOMENICI (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr. BINGAMAN, and Mr. REID) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To improve the ability of small businesses, Federal agencies,

industry, and universities to work with Department of

Energy contractor-operated facilities, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy

5 Small Business and Industry Partnership Enhancement

6 Act of 1998’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) partnerships between contractor-operated

2 facilities of the Department of Energy and small

3 businesses can enhance growth of competitive small

4 business opportunities;

5 (2) the contractor-operated facilities represent a

6 national resource in science and technology;

7 (3) capacity for innovation in the United States

8 is enhanced when the capabilities of the contractor9 operated facilities are engaged with other providers

10 and users of the Nation’s science and technology

11 base;

12 (4) contributors to the Nation’s science and

13 technology delivery system, Federal agencies, private

14 industry, universities, and the contractor-operated

15 facilities can best perform their missions through

16 partnerships and interactions that leverage the re17 sources of each such entity;

18 (5) interactions of the contractor-operated fa19 cilities with industry and universities serve to—

20 (A) expand the technology base available

21 for missions of the Department of Energy; and

22 (B) instill sound business practices in the

23 contractor-operated facilities to enable cost-ef24 fective realization of the Federal missions of the

25 facilities;
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1 (6) the contractor-operated facilities benefit

2 from university interactions through access to lead3 ing edge research and through recruitment of the

4 talent needed to pursue the missions of the facilities;

5 (7) industry can improve products and proc6 esses leading to an enhanced competitive position

7 through simplified access to the science and tech8 nology developed by the contractor-operated facili9 ties; and

10 (8) other Federal agencies can advance their

11 own missions by using capabilities developed within

12 the contractor-operated facilities.

13 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

14 The purposes of this Act are—

15 (1) to improve the ability of small businesses,

16 Federal agencies, industry, and universities to work

17 with the contractor-operated facilities of the Depart18 ment of Energy while ensuring full cost recovery of

19 each contractor-operated facility’s expenses incurred

20 in such work;

21 (2) to encourage the contractor-operated facili22 ties to expand their partnerships with universities

23 and industries; and

24 (3) to expand interactions of contractor-oper25 ated facilities with small businesses so as to—
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1 (A) encourage commercial evaluation and

2 development of the science and technology base

3 of the contractor-operated facilities; and

4 (B) provide technical assistance to small

5 businesses.

6 SEC. 4. CONTRACT RESEARCH SERVICES.

7 Section 31a. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42

8 U.S.C. 2051(a)) is amended—

9 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

10 end;

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

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

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

14 ‘‘(7) areas of technology within the mission of

15 the Department of Energy as authorized by law.’’.

16 SEC. 5. COST RECOVERY.

17 Section 33 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42

18 U.S.C. 2053) is amended—

19 (1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 33. RESEARCH FOR OTH20 ERS.—Where’’ and inserting the following:

21 ‘‘SEC. 33. RESEARCH FOR OTHERS.

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Where’’; and

23 (2) by striking the last sentence and inserting

24 the following:

25 ‘‘(b) COST RECOVERY.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection

2 (a), the Secretary of Energy shall not recover more

3 than the full cost of work incurred at contractor-op4 erated facilities of the Department of Energy.

5 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Any costs in6 curred by the Department of Energy in connection

7 with work performed by contractor-operated facilities

8 of the Department of Energy shall be funded from

9 departmental administration accounts of the Depart10 ment of Energy.

11 ‘‘(3) CHARGES.—For work performed for a per12 son other than the Department of Energy (including

13 non-Federal entities and Federal agencies other than

14 the Department of Energy) (referred to in this para15 graph as an ‘external customer’), a contractor-oper16 ated facility may assess a charge in an amount that

17 does not exceed the sum of —

18 ‘‘(A) the direct cost to the contractor in

19 performing the work for the external customer;

20 and

21 ‘‘(B) a pro rata share of overhead charges

22 for overhead-funded services directly required

23 for performance of the specific work for exter24 nal customers as a whole or to a category of ex-
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1 ternal customers that includes the external cus2 tomer.’’.

3 SEC. 6. PARTNERSHIPS WITH UNIVERSITIES AND INDUS4 TRY.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 4 of title I of the Atomic

6 Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) is amended

7 by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 34. CONTRACTOR-OPERATED FACILITIES OF THE DE9 PARTMENT OF ENERGY.

10 ‘‘(a) METRICS.—

11 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF METRICS.—In this sub12 section, the term ‘metrics’ means a system of meas13 urements to determine levels of specific areas of per14 formance.

15 ‘‘(2) INCLUSION IN CONTRACTS.—Metrics—

16 ‘‘(A) shall be developed jointly by the Sec17 retary of Energy and each contractor operating

18 a facility of the Department of Energy to en19 sure that realistic goals are established that are

20 directly supportive of the mission and respon21 sibilities of the contractor-operated facility;

22 ‘‘(B) shall be specified in the contract for

23 operation of the facility; and

24 ‘‘(C) shall be used to evaluate the effective25 ness of partnership development by the facility.
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1 ‘‘(b) PARTNERSHIPS AND INTERACTIONS.—

2 ‘‘(1) ENCOURAGEMENT OF PARTNERSHIPS AND

3 INTERACTIONS.—The Secretary of Energy shall en4 courage partnerships and interactions with univer5 sities and private industry at each contractor-oper6 ated facility.

7 ‘‘(2) COMPONENT OF PERFORMANCE EVALUA8 TIONS.—The development and expansion of partner9 ships and interactions with universities and private

10 industry shall be a component in evaluating the an11 nual performance of each contractor-operated facil12 ity.

13 ‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP

14 PROGRAM.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy

16 shall require that each contractor operating a facility

17 of the Department of Energy create a small business

18 technology partnership program at each contractor19 operated facility.

20 ‘‘(2) FUNDING LEVEL.—A contractor may

21 spend not more than 0.25 percent of the total oper22 ating budget of a contractor-operated facility on the

23 program.

24 ‘‘(3) EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary shall annu25 ally evaluate the effectiveness of the program with
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1 each contractor to ensure that the program is pro2 viding opportunities for small businesses to interact

3 with and use the resources of each contractor-oper4 ated facility.

5 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds from the pro6 gram—

7 ‘‘(A) shall be used to cover a contractor8 operated facility’s costs of interactions with

9 small businesses; and

10 ‘‘(B) shall not be used for direct monetary

11 grants to small businesses.’’.

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con13 tents of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. prec.

14 2011) is amended by adding at the end of the items relat15 ing to chapter 4 of title I the following:

‘‘Sec. 34. Contractor-operated Facilities of the Department of Energy.’’.

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