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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1744

To authorize appropriations for the National Institute of Standards and

Technology for fiscal years 2000 and 2001, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 10, 1999

Mrs. MORELLA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Science

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the National Institute of

Standards and Technology for fiscal years 2000 and

2001, 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 ‘‘National Institute of

5 Standards and Technology Authorization Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR SCI7 ENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND

8 SERVICES.

9 (a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized

10 to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the
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1 Scientific and Technical Research and Services laboratory

2 activities of the National Institute of Standards and

3 Technology—

4 (1) $274,513,000 for fiscal year 2000, of

5 which—

6 (A) $39,960,000 shall be for Electronics

7 and Electrical Engineering;

8 (B) $17,916,000 shall be for Manufac9 turing Engineering;

10 (C) $34,061,000 shall be for Chemical

11 Science and Technology;

12 (D) $29,569,000 shall be for Physics;

13 (E) $53,093,000 shall be for Material

14 Science and Engineering;

15 (F) $13,817,000 shall be for Building and

16 Fire Research;

17 (G) $37,058,000 shall be for Computer

18 Science and Applied Mathematics;

19 (H) $17,636,000 shall be for Technical As20 sistance; and

21 (I) $31,403,000 shall be for Research Sup22 port; and

23 (2) $285,152,000 for fiscal year 2001.

24 (b) MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY PRO25 GRAM.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the
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1 Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm Baldrige National

2 Quality Program under section 17 of the Stevenson3 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C.

4 3711a)—

5 (1) $5,100,000 for fiscal year 2000; and

6 (2) $5,100,000 for fiscal year 2001.

7 (c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—(1) There

8 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com9 merce for construction and maintenance of facilities of the

10 National Institute of Standards and Technology—

11 (A) $106,800,000 for fiscal year 2000; and

12 (B) $31,800,000 for fiscal year 2001.

13 (2) None of the funds authorized by paragraph

14 (1)(B) for construction of facilities may be obligated un15 less the Secretary of Commerce has certified to the Com16 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives and the

17 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of

18 the Senate that the obligation of funds is consistent with

19 a plan for meeting the facilities needs of the National In20 stitute of Standards and Technology that the Secretary

21 has transmitted to those committees.
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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE OF2 FICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR TECH3 NOLOGY.

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec5 retary of Commerce for the activities of the Under Sec6 retary for Technology and the Office of Technology

7 Policy—

8 (1) $7,500,000 for fiscal year 2000; and

9 (2) $7,500,000 for fiscal year 2001.

10 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR INDUS11 TRIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES.

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec13 retary of Commerce for the Industrial Technology Services

14 activities of the National Institute of Standards and

15 Technology—

16 (1) $297,500,000 for fiscal year 2000, of

17 which—

18 (A) $190,700,000 shall be for the Ad19 vanced Technology Program under section 28

20 of the National Institute of Standards and

21 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n); and

22 (B) $106,800,000 shall be for the Manu23 facturing Extension Partnerships program

24 under sections 25 and 26 of the National Insti25 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15

26 U.S.C. 278k and 278l); and
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1 (2) $256,700,000 for fiscal year 2001, of

2 which—

3 (A) $149,900,000 shall be for the Ad4 vanced Technology Program under section 28

5 of the National Institute of Standards and

6 Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n); and

7 (B) $106,800,000 shall be for the Manu8 facturing Extension Partnerships program

9 under sections 25 and 26 of the National Insti10 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15

11 U.S.C. 278k and 278l).

12 SEC. 5. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE.

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec14 retary of Commerce for the National Technical Informa15 tion Service $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2000.

16 SEC. 6. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECH17 NOLOGY ACT AMENDMENTS.

18 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 28 of the National Insti19 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278n)

20 is amended—

21 (1) by inserting ‘‘and if the non-Federal partici22 pants in the joint venture agree to pay at least 60

23 percent of the total costs of the joint venture during

24 the Federal participation period under this section,
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1 which shall not exceed 5 years,’’ in subsection

2 (b)(1)(B) after ‘‘participation to be appropriate,’’;

3 (2) by striking ‘‘(ii) provision of a minority

4 share of the cost of such joint ventures for up to 5

5 years, and (iii)’’ in subsection (b)(1)(B), and insert6 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘and (ii)’’;

7 (3) by striking ‘‘, provided that emphasis is’’ in

8 subsection (b)(2) and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘on

9 the condition that grant recipients (other than small

10 businesses within the meaning of the Small Business

11 Act) provide at least 60 percent of the costs of the

12 project, with emphasis’’;

13 (4) in subsection (d)(1), by inserting ‘‘and be of

14 a nature and scope that would not be pursued in a

15 timely manner without Federal assistance’’ after

16 ‘‘technical merit’’; and

17 (5) by adding at the end the following new sub18 section:

19 ‘‘(k) The Secretary, acting through the Director, may

20 vest title to tangible personal property in any recipient of

21 financial assistance under this section if—

22 ‘‘(1) the property is purchased with funds pro23 vided under this section; and
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1 ‘‘(2) the Secretary, acting through the Director,

2 determines that the vesting of such property fur3 thers the objectives of the Institute.

4 Vesting under this subsection shall be subject to such limi5 tations as are prescribed by the Secretary, acting through

6 the Director, and shall be made without further obligation

7 to the United States Government.’’.

8 (b) ADDITIONAL AMENDMENT.—(1) Section 28 of

9 the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act

10 (15 U.S.C. 278n) is further amended by striking the pe11 riod at the end of the first sentence of subsection

12 (d)(11)(A) and inserting in lieu thereof the following: ‘‘or

13 any other participant in a joint venture receiving financial

14 assistance under this section, as agreed by the parties,

15 notwithstanding the requirements of section 202 (a) and

16 (b) of title 35, United States Code.’’.

17 (2) The amendment made by this subsection shall be

18 effective only with respect to assistance for which solicita19 tions for proposals are made after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act.

21 SEC. 7. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

22 (a) RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS.—Section 18 of the

23 National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15

24 U.S.C. 278g–1) is amended by striking ‘‘up to 1 per cen25 tum of the’’.
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1 (b) OUTDATED SPECIFICATIONS.—Section 2 of the

2 Act entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize the Use of the Metric

3 System of Weights and Measures’’ enacted July 28, 1866

4 (15 U.S.C. 205) is amended to read as follows:

5 ‘‘SEC. 2. The metric system of measurement shall be

6 defined as the International System of Units as estab7 lished in 1960, and subsequently maintained, by the Gen8 eral Conference of Weights and Measures, and as inter9 preted or modified for the United States by the Secretary

10 of Commerce.’’.

11 SEC. 8. ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARDS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In13 stitute of Standards and Technology shall exclude from

14 consideration for grant agreements made by the Institute

15 after fiscal year 1999 any person who received funds,

16 other than those described in subsection (b), appropriated

17 for a fiscal year after fiscal year 1999, under a grant

18 agreement from any Federal funding source for a project

19 that was not subjected to a competitive, merit-based award

20 process, except as specifically authorized by this Act. Any

21 exclusion from consideration pursuant to this section shall

22 be effective for a period of 5 years after the person re23 ceives such Federal funds.

24 (b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to

25 the receipt of Federal funds by a person due to the mem-
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1 bership of that person in a class specified by law for which

2 assistance is awarded to members of the class according

3 to a formula provided by law.

4 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

5 term ‘‘grant agreement’’ means a legal instrument whose

6 principal purpose is to transfer a thing of value to the

7 recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stim8 ulation authorized by a law of the United States, and does

9 not include the acquisition (by purchase, lease, or barter)

10 of property or services for the direct benefit or use of the

11 United States Government. Such term does not include

12 a cooperative agreement (as such term is used in section

13 6305 of title 31, United States Code) or a cooperative re14 search and development agreement (as such term is de15 fined in section 12(d)(1) of the Stevenson-Wydler Tech16 nology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(d)(1))).

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