H. R. 5116 

One Hundred Eleventh Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 

the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten 

An Act 

To invest in innovation through research and development, to improve the competitiveness of the United States, and for other purposes. 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

(a) SHORT TITLE.—this Act may be cited as the ‘‘America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010’’ or the ‘‘America Creating 

Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, 

Education, and Science Reauthorization Act of 2010’’. 

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act 

is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Budgetary impact statement. 

TITLE I—OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY 

Sec. 101. Coordination of Federal STEM education. 

Sec. 102. Coordination of advanced manufacturing research and development. 

Sec. 103. Interagency public access committee. 

Sec. 104. Federal scientific collections. 

Sec. 105. Prize competitions. 

TITLE II—NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

Sec. 201. NASA’s contribution to innovation and competitiveness. 

Sec. 202. NASA’s contribution to education. 

Sec. 203. Assessment of impediments to space science and engineering workforce 

development for minority and under-represented groups at NASA. 

Sec. 204. International Space Station’s contribution to national competitiveness enhancement. 

Sec. 205. Study of potential commercial orbital platform program impact on 

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. 

Sec. 206. Definitions. 

TITLE III—NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 

Sec. 301. Oceanic and atmospheric research and development program. 

Sec. 302. Oceanic and atmospheric science education programs. 

Sec. 303. Workforce study. 

TITLE IV—NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY 

Sec. 401. Short title. 

Sec. 402. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 403. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. 

Sec. 404. Manufacturing Extension Partnership. 

Sec. 405. Emergency communication and tracking technologies research initiative. 

Sec. 406. Broadening participation. 

Sec. 407. NIST Fellowships. 

Sec. 408. Green manufacturing and construction. 

Sec. 409. Definitions. 
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TITLE V—SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS 

SUPPORT PROGRAMS 

SUBTITLE A—NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Sec. 501. Short title. 

Sec. 502. Definitions. 

Sec. 503. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 504. National Science Board administrative amendments. 

Sec. 505. National Center for Science and Engineering statistics. 

Sec. 506. National Science Foundation manufacturing research and education. 

Sec. 507. National Science Board report on mid-scale instrumentation. 

Sec. 508. Partnerships for innovation. 

Sec. 509. Sustainable chemistry basic research. 

Sec. 510. Graduate student support. 

Sec. 511. Robert Noyce teacher scholarship program. 

Sec. 512. Undergraduate broadening participation program. 

Sec. 513. Research experiences for high school students. 

Sec. 514. Research experiences for undergraduates. 

Sec. 515. STEM industry internship programs. 

Sec. 516. Cyber-enabled learning for national challenges. 

Sec. 517. Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. 

Sec. 518. Sense of the Congress regarding the science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics talent expansion program. 

Sec. 519. Sense of the Congress regarding the National Science Foundation’s contributions to basic research and education. 

Sec. 520. Academic technology transfer and commercialization of university research. 

Sec. 521. Study to develop improved impact-on-society metrics. 

Sec. 522. NSF grants in support of sponsored post-doctoral fellowship programs. 

Sec. 523. Collaboration in planning for stewardship of large-scale facilities. 

Sec. 524. Cloud computing research enhancement. 

Sec. 525. Tribal colleges and universities program. 

Sec. 526. Broader impacts review criterion. 

Sec. 527. Twenty-first century graduate education. 

SUBTITLE B—STEM-TRAINING GRANT PROGRAM 

Sec. 551. Purpose. 

Sec. 552. Program requirements. 

Sec. 553. Grant program. 

Sec. 554. Grant oversight and administration. 

Sec. 555. Definitions. 

Sec. 556. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE VI—INNOVATION 

Sec. 601. Office of innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Sec. 602. Federal loan guarantees for innovative technologies in manufacturing. 

Sec. 603. Regional innovation program. 

Sec. 604. Study on economic competitiveness and innovative capacity of United 

States and development of national economic competitiveness strategy. 

Sec. 605. Promoting use of high-end computing simulation and modeling by smalland medium-sized manufacturers. 

TITLE VII—NIST GREEN JOBS 

Sec. 701. Short title. 

Sec. 702. Findings. 

Sec. 703. National Institute of Standards and Technology competitive grant program. 

TITLE VIII—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

Sec. 801. Government Accountability Office review. 

Sec. 802. Salary restrictions. 

Sec. 803. Additional research authorities of the FCC. 

TITLE IX—DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Sec. 901. Science, engineering, and mathematics education programs. 

Sec. 902. Energy research programs. 

Sec. 903. Basic research. 

Sec. 904. Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy. 

TITLE X—EDUCATION 

Sec. 1001. References 
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Sec. 1002. Repeals and conforming amendments. 

Sec. 1003. Authorizations of appropriations and matching requirement. 

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

In this Act: 

(1) DIRECTOR.—In title I, the term ‘‘Director’’ means the 

Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

(2) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means the academic and 

professional disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics. 

SEC. 3. BUDGETARY IMPACT STATEMENT. 

The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying 

with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 2010, shall be determined 

by reference to the latest statement titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of 

PAYGO Legislation’’ for this Act, submitted for printing in the 

Congressional Record by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior 

to the vote on passage. 

TITLE I—OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND 

TECHNOLOGY POLICY 

SEC. 101. COORDINATION OF FEDERAL STEM EDUCATION. 

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall establish a committee 

under the National Science and Technology Council, including the 

Office of Management and Budget, with the responsibility to coordinate Federal programs and activities in support of STEM education, 

including at the National Science Foundation, the Department of 

Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department 

of Education, and all other Federal agencies that have programs 

and activities in support of STEM education. 

(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The committee established under subsection (a) shall— 

(1) coordinate the STEM education activities and programs 

of the Federal agencies; 

(2) coordinate STEM education activities and programs 

with the Office of Management and Budget; 

(3) encourage the teaching of innovation and entrepreneurship as part of STEM education activities; 

(4) review STEM education activities and programs to 

ensure they are not duplicative of similar efforts within the 

Federal government; 

(5) develop, implement through the participating agencies, 

and update once every 5 years a 5-year STEM education strategic plan, which shall— 

(A) specify and prioritize annual and long-term objectives; 

(B) specify the common metrics that will be used to 

assess progress toward achieving the objectives; 

(C) describe the approaches that will be taken by each 

participating agency to assess the effectiveness of its STEM 

education programs and activities; and 

(D) with respect to subparagraph (A), describe the 

role of each agency in supporting programs and activities 

designed to achieve the objectives; and 
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(6) establish, periodically update, and maintain an inventory of federally sponsored STEM education programs and 

activities, including documentation of assessments of the 

effectiveness of such programs and activities and rates of 

participation by women, underrepresented minorities, and persons in rural areas in such programs and activities. 

(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF OSTP.—The Director shall encourage 

and monitor the efforts of the participating agencies to ensure 

that the strategic plan under subsection (b)(5) is developed and 

executed effectively and that the objectives of the strategic plan 

are met. 

(c) REPORT.—The Director shall transmit a report annually 

to Congress at the time of the President’s budget request describing 

the plan required under subsection (b)(5). The annual report shall 

include— 

(1) a description of the STEM education programs and 

activities for the previous and current fiscal years, and the 

proposed programs and activities under the President’s budget 

request, of each participating Federal agency; 

(2) the levels of funding for each participating Federal 

agency for the programs and activities described under paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal year and under the President’s 

budget request; 

(3) an evaluation of the levels of duplication and fragmentation of the programs and activities described under paragraph 

(1); 

(4) except for the initial annual report, a description of 

the progress made in carrying out the implementation plan, 

including a description of the outcome of any program assessments completed in the previous year, and any changes made 

to that plan since the previous annual report; and 

(5) a description of how the participating Federal agencies 

will disseminate information about federally supported 

resources for STEM education practitioners, including teacher 

professional development programs, to States and to STEM 

education practitioners, including to teachers and administrators in schools that meet the criteria described in subsection 

(c)(1)(A) and (B) of section 3175 of the Department of Energy 

Science Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 7381j(c)(1)(A) 

and (B)). 

SEC. 102. COORDINATION OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING RESEARCH 

AND DEVELOPMENT. 

(a) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.—The Director shall establish or 

designate a Committee on Technology under the National Science 

and Technology Council. The Committee shall be responsible for 

planning and coordinating Federal programs and activities in 

advanced manufacturing research and development. 

(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEE.—The Committee shall— 

(1) coordinate the advanced manufacturing research and 

development programs and activities of the Federal agencies; 

(2) establish goals and priorities for advanced manufacturing research and development that will strengthen United 

States manufacturing; 

(3) work with industry organizations, Federal agencies, 

and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers not 
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represented on the Committee, to identify and reduce regulatory, logistical, and fiscal barriers within the Federal government and State governments that inhibit United States manufacturing; 

(4) facilitate the transfer of intellectual property and technology based on federally supported university research into 

commercialization and manufacturing; 

(5) identify technological, market, or business challenges 

that may best be addressed by public-private partnerships, 

and are likely to attract both participation and primary funding 

from industry; 

(6) encourage the formation of public-private partnerships 

to respond to those challenges for transition to United States 

manufacturing; and 

(7) develop, and update every 5 years, a strategic plan 

to guide Federal programs and activities in support of advanced 

manufacturing research and development, which shall— 

(A) specify and prioritize near-term and long-term 

research and development objectives, the anticipated time 

frame for achieving the objectives, and the metrics for 

use in assessing progress toward the objectives; 

(B) specify the role of each Federal agency in carrying 

out or sponsoring research and development to meet the 

objectives of the strategic plan; 

(C) describe how the Federal agencies and Federally 

Funded Research and Development Centers supporting 

advanced manufacturing research and development will 

foster the transfer of research and development results 

into new manufacturing technologies and United States 

based manufacturing of new products and processes for 

the benefit of society to ensure national, energy, and economic security; 

(D) describe how Federal agencies and Federally 

Funded Research and Development Centers supporting 

advanced manufacturing research and development will 

strengthen all levels of manufacturing education and 

training programs to ensure an adequate, well-trained 

workforce; 

(E) describe how the Federal agencies and Federally 

Funded Research and Development Centers supporting 

advanced manufacturing research and development will 

assist small- and medium-sized manufacturers in developing and implementing new products and processes; and 

(F) take into consideration the recommendations of 

a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives 

from diverse manufacturing companies, academia, and 

other relevant organizations and institutions. 

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

of this Act, the Director shall transmit the strategic plan developed 

under subsection (b)(7) to the Senate Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation, and the House of Representatives 

Committee on Science and Technology, and shall transmit subsequent updates to those committees as appropriate. 

SEC. 103. INTERAGENCY PUBLIC ACCESS COMMITTEE. 

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall establish a working 

group under the National Science and Technology Council with 
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the responsibility to coordinate Federal science agency research 

and policies related to the dissemination and long-term stewardship 

of the results of unclassified research, including digital data and 

peer-reviewed scholarly publications, supported wholly, or in part, 

by funding from the Federal science agencies. 

(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The working group shall— 

(1) identify the specific objectives and public interests that 

need to be addressed by any policies coordinated under (a); 

(2) take into account inherent variability among Federal 

science agencies and scientific disciplines in the nature of 

research, types of data, and dissemination models; 

(3) coordinate the development or designation of standards 

for research data, the structure of full text and metadata, 

navigation tools, and other applications to maximize interoperability across Federal science agencies, across science and 

engineering disciplines, and between research data and scholarly publications, taking into account existing consensus standards, including international standards; 

(4) coordinate Federal science agency programs and activities that support research and education on tools and systems 

required to ensure preservation and stewardship of all forms 

of digital research data, including scholarly publications; 

(5) work with international science and technology counterparts to maximize interoperability between United States based 

unclassified research databases and international databases 

and repositories; 

(6) solicit input and recommendations from, and collaborate 

with, non-Federal stakeholders, including the public, universities, nonprofit and for-profit publishers, libraries, federally 

funded and non federally funded research scientists, and other 

organizations and institutions with a stake in long term 

preservation and access to the results of federally funded 

research; 

(7) establish priorities for coordinating the development 

of any Federal science agency policies related to public access 

to the results of federally funded research to maximize the 

benefits of such policies with respect to their potential economic 

or other impact on the science and engineering enterprise and 

the stakeholders thereof; 

(8) take into consideration the distinction between scholarly 

publications and digital data; 

(9) take into consideration the role that scientific publishers 

play in the peer review process in ensuring the integrity of 

the record of scientific research, including the investments and 

added value that they make; and 

(10) examine Federal agency practices and procedures for 

providing research reports to the agencies charged with locating 

and preserving unclassified research. 

(c) PATENT OR COPYRIGHT LAW.—Nothing in this section shall 

be construed to undermine any right under the provisions of title 

17 or 35, United States Code. 

(d) APPLICATION WITH EXISTING LAW.—Nothing defined in section (b) shall be construed to affect existing law with respect to 

Federal science agencies’ policies related to public access. 

(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall transmit a report 

to Congress describing— 
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(1) the specific objectives and public interest identified 

under (b)(1); 

(2) any priorities established under subsection (b)(7); 

(3) the impact the policies described under (a) have had 

on the science and engineering enterprise and the stakeholders, 

including the financial impact on research budgets; 

(4) the status of any Federal science agency policies related 

to public access to the results of federally funded research; 

and 

(5) how any policies developed or being developed by Federal science agencies, as described in subsection (a), incorporate 

input from the non-Federal stakeholders described in subsection 

(b)(6). 

(f) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY DEFINED.—For the purposes of 

this section, the term ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any Federal 

agency with an annual extramural research expenditure of over 

$100,000,000. 

SEC. 104. FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC COLLECTIONS. 

(a) MANAGEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC COLLECTIONS.—The Office of 

Science and Technology Policy shall develop policies for the management and use of Federal scientific collections to improve the quality, 

organization, access, including online access, and long-term 

preservation of such collections for the benefit of the scientific 

enterprise. In developing those policies the Office of Science and 

Technology Policy shall consult, as appropriate, with— 

(1) Federal agencies with such collections; and 

(2) representatives of other organizations, institutions, and 

other entities not a part of the Federal Government that have 

a stake in the preservation, maintenance, and accessibility 

of such collections, including State and local government agencies, institutions of higher education, museums, and other entities engaged in the acquisition, holding, management, or use 

of scientific collections. 

(b) CLEARINGHOUSE.—The Office of Science and Technology 

Policy, in consultation with relevant Federal agencies, shall ensure 

the development of an online clearinghouse for information on the 

contents of and access to Federal scientific collections. 

(c) DISPOSAL OF COLLECTIONS.—The policies developed under 

subsection (a) shall— 

(1) require that, before disposing of a scientific collection, 

a Federal agency shall— 

(A) conduct a review of the research value of the collection; and 

(B) consult with researchers who have used the collection, and other potentially interested parties, concerning— 

(i) the collection’s value for research purposes; and 

(ii) possible additional educational uses for the 

collection; and 

(2) include procedures for Federal agencies to transfer scientific collections they no longer need to researchers at institutions or other entities qualified to manage the collections. 

(d) COST PROJECTIONS.—The Office of Science and Technology 

Policy, in consultation with relevant Federal agencies, shall develop 

a common set of methodologies to be used by Federal agencies 

for the assessment and projection of costs associated with the 

management and preservation of their scientific collections. 
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(e) SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

‘‘scientific collection’’ means a set of physical specimens, living or 

inanimate, created for the purpose of supporting science and serving 

as a long-term research asset, rather than for their market value 

as collectibles or their historical, artistic, or cultural significance, 

and, as appropriate and feasible, the associated specimen data 

and materials. 

SEC. 105. PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 

Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

the end the following: 

‘‘SEC. 24. PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 

‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ means a Federal agency. 

‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means the Director 

of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

‘‘(3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal agency’ has the 

meaning given under section 4, except that term shall not 

include any agency of the legislative branch of the Federal 

Government. 

‘‘(4) HEAD OF AN AGENCY.—The term ‘head of an agency’ 

means the head of a Federal agency. 

‘‘(b) IN GENERAL.—Each head of an agency, or the heads of 

multiple agencies in cooperation, may carry out a program to award 

prizes competitively to stimulate innovation that has the potential 

to advance the mission of the respective agency. 

‘‘(c) PRIZES.—For purposes of this section, a prize may be one 

or more of the following: 

‘‘(1) A point solution prize that rewards and spurs the 

development of solutions for a particular, well-defined problem. 

‘‘(2) An exposition prize that helps identify and promote 

a broad range of ideas and practices that may not otherwise 

attract attention, facilitating further development of the idea 

or practice by third parties. 

‘‘(3) Participation prizes that create value during and after 

the competition by encouraging contestants to change their 

behavior or develop new skills that may have beneficial effects 

during and after the competition. 

‘‘(4) Such other types of prizes as each head of an agency 

considers appropriate to stimulate innovation that has the 

potential to advance the mission of the respective agency. 

‘‘(d) TOPICS.—In selecting topics for prize competitions, the 

head of an agency shall consult widely both within and outside 

the Federal Government, and may empanel advisory committees. 

‘‘(e) ADVERTISING.—The head of an agency shall widely advertise each prize competition to encourage broad participation. 

‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS AND REGISTRATION.—For each prize competition, the head of an agency shall publish a notice in the Federal 

Register announcing— 

‘‘(1) the subject of the competition; 

‘‘(2) the rules for being eligible to participate in the competition; 

‘‘(3) the process for participants to register for the competition; 

‘‘(4) the amount of the prize; and 

‘‘(5) the basis on which a winner will be selected. 
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‘‘(g) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to win a prize under this section, an individual or entity— 

‘‘(1) shall have registered to participate in the competition 

under any rules promulgated by the head of an agency under 

subsection (f); 

‘‘(2) shall have complied with all the requirements under 

this section; 

‘‘(3) in the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated 

in and maintain a primary place of business in the United 

States, and in the case of an individual, whether participating 

singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident 

of the United States; and 

‘‘(4) may not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting 

within the scope of their employment. 

‘‘(h) CONSULTATION WITH FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—An individual 

or entity shall not be deemed ineligible under subsection (g) because 

the individual or entity used Federal facilities or consulted with 

Federal employees during a competition if the facilities and 

employees are made available to all individuals and entities participating in the competition on an equitable basis. 

‘‘(i) LIABILITY.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the term ‘related 

entity’ means a contractor or subcontractor at any tier, 

and a supplier, user, customer, cooperating party, grantee, 

investigator, or detailee. 

‘‘(B) LIABILITY.—Registered participants shall be 

required to agree to assume any and all risks and waive 

claims against the Federal Government and its related 

entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any 

injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or 

profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising 

from their participation in a competition, whether the 

injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence 

or otherwise. 

‘‘(2) INSURANCE.—Participants shall be required to obtain 

liability insurance or demonstrate financial responsibility, in 

amounts determined by the head of an agency, for claims 

by— 

‘‘(A) a third party for death, bodily injury, or property 

damage, or loss resulting from an activity carried out in 

connection with participation in a competition, with the 

Federal Government named as an additional insured under 

the registered participant’s insurance policy and registered 

participants agreeing to indemnify the Federal Government 

against third party claims for damages arising from or 

related to competition activities; and 

‘‘(B) the Federal Government for damage or loss to 

Government property resulting from such an activity. 

‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—The head of an agency may not require 

a participant to waive claims against the administering entity 

arising out of the unauthorized use or disclosure by the agency 

of the intellectual property, trade secrets, or confidential business information of the participant. 

‘‘(j) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.— ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON THE GOVERNMENT ACQUIRING

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.—The Federal Government 
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may not gain an interest in intellectual property developed 

by a participant in a competition without the written consent 

of the participant. 

‘‘(2) LICENSES.—The Federal Government may negotiate 

a license for the use of intellectual property developed by a 

participant for a competition. 

‘‘(k) JUDGES.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each competition, the head of an 

agency, either directly or through an agreement under subsection (l), shall appoint one or more qualified judges to select 

the winner or winners of the prize competition on the basis 

described under subsection (f). Judges for each competition 

may include individuals from outside the agency, including 

from the private sector. 

‘‘(2) RESTRICTIONS.—A judge may not— 

‘‘(A) have personal or financial interests in, or be an 

employee, officer, director, or agent of any entity that is 

a registered participant in a competition; or 

‘‘(B) have a familial or financial relationship with an 

individual who is a registered participant. 

‘‘(3) GUIDELINES.—The heads of agencies who carry out 

competitions under this section shall develop guidelines to 

ensure that the judges appointed for such competitions are 

fairly balanced and operate in a transparent manner. 

‘‘(4) EXEMPTION FROM FACA.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to any committee, 

board, commission, panel, task force, or similar entity, created 

solely for the purpose of judging prize competitions under this 

section. 

‘‘(l) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITION.—The head of an agency 

may enter into an agreement with a private, nonprofit entity to 

administer a prize competition, subject to the provisions of this 

section. 

‘‘(m) FUNDING.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Support for a prize competition under 

this section, including financial support for the design and 

administration of a prize or funds for a monetary prize purse, 

may consist of Federal appropriated funds and funds provided 

by the private sector for such cash prizes. The head of an 

agency may accept funds from other Federal agencies to support 

such competitions. The head of an agency may not give any 

special consideration to any private sector entity in return 

for a donation. 

‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any other 

provision of law, funds appropriated for prize awards under 

this section shall remain available until expended. No provision 

in this section permits obligation or payment of funds in violation of section 1341 of title 31, United States Code. 

‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF PRIZE.— 

‘‘(A) ANNOUNCEMENT.—No prize may be announced 

under subsection (f) until all the funds needed to pay 

out the announced amount of the prize have been appropriated or committed in writing by a private source. 

‘‘(B) INCREASE IN AMOUNT.—The head of an agency 

may increase the amount of a prize after an initial 

announcement is made under subsection (f) only if— 
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‘‘(i) notice of the increase is provided in the same 

manner as the initial notice of the prize; and 

‘‘(ii) the funds needed to pay out the announced 

amount of the increase have been appropriated or committed in writing by a private source. 

‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.— 

‘‘(A) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.—No prize competition under 

this section may offer a prize in an amount greater than 

$50,000,000 unless 30 days have elapsed after written 

notice has been transmitted to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

Committee on Science and Technology of the House of 

Representatives. 

‘‘(B) APPROVAL OF HEAD OF AGENCY.—No prize competition under this section may result in the award of more 

than $1,000,000 in cash prizes without the approval of 

the head of an agency. 

‘‘(n) GENERAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANCE.—Not later 

than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the America 

COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, the General Services 

Administration shall provide government wide services to share 

best practices and assist agencies in developing guidelines for 

issuing prize competitions. The General Services Administration 

shall develop a contract vehicle to provide agencies access to relevant products and services, including technical assistance in structuring and conducting prize competitions to take maximum benefit 

of the marketplace as they identify and pursue prize competitions 

to further the policy objectives of the Federal Government. 

‘‘(o) COMPLIANCE WITH EXISTING LAW.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Government shall not, by 

virtue of offering or providing a prize under this section, be 

responsible for compliance by registered participants in a prize 

competition with Federal law, including licensing, export control, and nonproliferation laws, and related regulations. 

‘‘(2) OTHER PRIZE AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section 

affects the prize authority authorized by any other provision 

of law. 

‘‘(p) ANNUAL REPORT.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 of each year, 

the Director shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee 

on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives 

a report on the activities carried out during the preceding 

fiscal year under the authority in subsection (b). 

‘‘(2) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—The report for a fiscal year 

under this subsection shall include, for each prize competition 

under subsection (b), the following: 

‘‘(A) PROPOSED GOALS.—A description of the proposed 

goals of each prize competition. 

‘‘(B) PREFERABLE METHOD.—An analysis of why the 

utilization of the authority in subsection (b) was the preferable method of achieving the goals described in subparagraph (A) as opposed to other authorities available to the 

agency, such as contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements. 

‘‘(C) AMOUNT OF CASH PRIZES.—The total amount of 

cash prizes awarded for each prize competition, including 
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a description of amount of private funds contributed to 

the program, the sources of such funds, and the manner 

in which the amounts of cash prizes awarded and claimed 

were allocated among the accounts of the agency for 

recording as obligations and expenditures. 

‘‘(D) SOLICITATIONS AND EVALUATION OF SUBMISSIONS.—The methods used for the solicitation and evaluation of submissions under each prize competition, together 

with an assessment of the effectiveness of such methods 

and lessons learned for future prize competitions. 

‘‘(E) RESOURCES.—A description of the resources, 

including personnel and funding, used in the execution 

of each prize competition together with a detailed description of the activities for which such resources were used 

and an accounting of how funding for execution was allocated among the accounts of the agency for recording as 

obligations and expenditures. 

‘‘(F) RESULTS.—A description of how each prize competition advanced the mission of the agency concerned.’’. 

(b) REPEAL OF SPACE ACT LIMITATION.—Section 314(a) of the 

National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2459f– 

1 is amended by striking ‘‘The Administration may carry out a 

program to award prizes only in conformity with this section.’’. 

TITLE II—NATIONAL AERONAUTICS 

AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

SEC. 201. NASA’S CONTRIBUTION TO INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS. 

It is the sense of Congress that a renewed emphasis on technology development would enhance current mission capabilities and 

enable future missions, while encouraging NASA, private industry, 

and academia to spur innovation. NASA’s Innovative Partnership 

Program is a valuable mechanism to accelerate technology maturation and encourage the transfer of technology into the private 

sector. 

SEC. 202. NASA’S CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION. 

(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that 

NASA is uniquely positioned to interest students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, not only by the example 

it sets, but through its education programs. 

(b) EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM GOALS.—NASA shall develop and 

maintain educational programs— 

(1) to carry out and support research based programs and 

activities designed to increase student interest and participation in STEM, including students from minority and underrepresented groups; 

(2) to improve public literacy in STEM; 

(3) that employ proven strategies and methods for 

improving student learning and teaching in STEM; 

(4) to provide curriculum support materials and other 

resources that— 

(A) are designed to be integrated with comprehensive 

STEM education; 
H. R. 5116—13 

(B) are aligned with national science education standards; 

(C) promote the adoption and implementation of highquality education practices that build toward college and 

career-readiness; and 

(5) to create and support opportunities for enhanced and 

ongoing professional development for teachers using best practices that improve the STEM content and knowledge of the 

teachers, including through programs linking STEM teachers 

with STEM educators at the higher education level. 

SEC. 203. ASSESSMENT OF IMPEDIMENTS TO SPACE SCIENCE AND 

ENGINEERING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT FOR 

MINORITY AND UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS AT NASA. 

(a) ASSESSMENT.—The Administrator shall enter into an 

arrangement for an independent assessment of any impediments 

to space science and engineering workforce development for 

minority and underrepresented groups at NASA, including recommendations on— 

(1) measures to address such impediments; 

(2) opportunities for augmenting the impact of space science 

and engineering workforce development activities and for 

expanding proven, effective programs; and 

(3) best practices and lessons learned, as identified through 

the assessment, to help maximize the effectiveness of existing 

and future programs to increase the participation of minority 

and underrepresented groups in the space science and 

engineering workforce at NASA. 

(b) REPORT.—A report on the assessment carried out under 

subsection (a) shall be transmitted to the House of Representatives 

Committee on Science and Technology and the Senate Committee 

on Commerce, Science, and Transportation not later than 15 months 

after the date of enactment of this Act. 

(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—To the extent practicable, the Administrator shall take all necessary steps to address any impediments 

identified in the assessment. 

SEC. 204. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION’S CONTRIBUTION TO 

NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS ENHANCEMENT. 

(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Congress that 

the International Space Station represents a valuable and unique 

national asset which can be utilized to increase educational 

opportunities and scientific and technological innovation which will 

enhance the Nation’s economic security and competitiveness in the 

global technology fields of endeavor. If the period for active utilization of the International Space Station is extended to at least 

the year 2020, the potential for such opportunities and innovation 

would be increased. Efforts should be made to fully realize that 

potential. 

(b) EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT OF NASA’S INTERAGENCY

CONTRIBUTION.—Pursuant to the authority provided in title II of 

the America COMPETES Act (Public Law 110–69), the Administrator shall evaluate and, where possible, expand efforts to maximize NASA’s contribution to interagency efforts to enhance science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics education capabilities, 

and to enhance the Nation’s technological excellence and global 
H. R. 5116—14 

competitiveness. The Administrator shall identify these enhancements in the annual reports required by section 2001(e) of that 

Act (42 U.S.C. 16611a(e)). 

(c) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 120 days after the date 

of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall provide to the 

House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology 

and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation a report on the assessment made pursuant to subsection 

(a). The report shall include— 

(1) a description of current and potential activities associated with utilization of the International Space Station which 

are supportive of the goals of educational excellence and innovation and competitive enhancement established or reaffirmed 

by this Act, including a summary of the goals supported, the 

number of individuals or organizations participating in or benefiting from such activities, and a summary of how such activities 

might be expanded or improved upon; 

(2) a description of government and private partnerships 

which are, or may be, established to effectively utilize the 

capabilities represented by the International Space Station to 

enhance United States competitiveness, innovation and science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics education; and 

(3) a summary of proposed actions or activities to be undertaken to ensure the maximum utilization of the International 

Space Station to contribute to fulfillment of the goals and 

objectives of this Act, and the identification of any additional 

authority, assets, or funding that would be required to support 

such activities. 

SEC. 205. STUDY OF POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL ORBITAL PLATFORM 

PROGRAM IMPACT ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, 

ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1003 of the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

18421) is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘SEC. 1003. STUDY OF POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL ORBITAL PLATFORM 

PROGRAM IMPACT ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, 

ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS. 

‘‘A fundamental and unique capability of NASA is in stimulating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education 

in the United States. In ensuring maximum use of that capability, 

the Administrator shall carry out a study to— 

‘‘(1) identify the benefits of and lessons learned from 

ongoing and previous NASA orbital student programs including, 

at a minimum, the Get Away Special (GAS) and Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) programs, on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

education; 

‘‘(2) assess the potential impacts on science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics education of a program that 

would facilitate the development of scientific and educational 

payloads involving United States students and educators and 

the flights of those payloads on commercially available orbital 

platforms, when available and operational, with the goal of 

providing frequent and regular payload launches; 

‘‘(3) identify NASA expertise, such as NASA science, 

engineering, payload development, and payload operations, that 
H. R. 5116—15 

could be made available to facilitate a science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics program using commercial 

orbital platforms; and 

‘‘(4) identify the issues that would need to be addressed 

before NASA could properly assess the merits and feasibility 

of the program described in paragraph (2).’’. 

(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a) 

shall take effect on October 12, 2010. 

SEC. 206. DEFINITIONS. 

In this title: 

(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the 

Administrator of NASA. 

(2) NASA.—The term ‘‘NASA’’ means the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

TITLE III—NATIONAL OCEANIC AND 

ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 

SEC. 301. OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

Section 4001 of the America COMPETES Act (33 U.S.C. 893) 

is amended— 

(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before ‘‘The Administrator’’; and 

(2) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(b) OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM.—The Administrator shall implement programs and 

activities— 

‘‘(1) to identify emerging and innovative research and 

development priorities to enhance United States competitiveness, support development of new economic opportunities based 

on NOAA research, observations, monitoring modeling, and 

predictions that sustain ecosystem services; 

‘‘(2) to promote United States leadership in oceanic and 

atmospheric science and competitiveness in the applied uses 

of such knowledge, including for the development and expansion 

of economic opportunities; and 

‘‘(3) to advance ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and 

atmospheric research and development, including potentially 

transformational research, in collaboration with other relevant 

Federal agencies, academic institutions, the private sector, and 

nongovernmental programs, consistent with NOAA’s mission 

to understand, observe, and model the Earth’s atmosphere and 

biosphere, including the oceans, in an integrated manner. 

‘‘(c) REPORT.—No later than 12 months after the date of enactment of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, 

the Administrator, in consultation with the National Science 

Foundation or other such agencies with mature transformational 

research portfolios, shall develop and submit a report to the Senate 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology 

that describes NOAA’s strategy for enhancing transformational 

research in its research and development portfolio to increase 

United States competitiveness in oceanic and atmospheric science 

and technology. The report shall— 
H. R. 5116—16 

‘‘(1) define ‘transformational research’; 

‘‘(2) identify emerging and innovative areas of research 

and development where transformational research has the 

potential to make significant and revolutionary –advancements 

in both understanding and U.S. science leadership; 

‘‘(3) describe how transformational research priorities are 

identified and appropriately –balanced in the context of NOAA’s 

broader research portfolio; 

‘‘(4) describe NOAA’s plan for developing a competitive 

peer review and priority-setting –process, funding mechanisms, 

performance and evaluation measures, and transition-to-operation guidelines for transformational research; and 

‘‘(5) describe partnerships with other agencies involved in 

transformational research.’’. 

SEC. 302. OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

Section 4002 of the America COMPETES Act (33 U.S.C. 893a) 

is amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘the agency.’’ in subsection (a) and inserting 

‘‘agency, with consideration given to the goal of promoting 

the participation of individuals from underrepresented groups 

in STEM fields and in promoting the acquisition and retention 

of highly qualified and motivated young scientists to complement and supplement workforce needs.’’; 

(2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections 

(c) and (d), respectively; 

(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following: 

‘‘(b) EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM GOALS.—The education programs 

developed by NOAA shall, to the extent applicable— 

‘‘(1) carry out and support research based programs and 

activities designed to increase student interest and participation in STEM; 

‘‘(2) improve public literacy in STEM; 

‘‘(3) employ proven strategies and methods for improving 

student learning and teaching in STEM; 

‘‘(4) provide curriculum support materials and other 

resources that— 

‘‘(A) are designed to be integrated with comprehensive 

STEM education; 

‘‘(B) are aligned with national science education standards; and 

‘‘(C) promote the adoption and implementation of highquality education practices that build toward college and 

career-readiness; and 

‘‘(5) create and support opportunities for enhanced and 

ongoing professional development for teachers using best practices that improves the STEM content and knowledge of the 

teachers, including through programs linking STEM teachers 

with STEM educators at the higher education level.’’; 

(4) by striking ‘‘develop’’ in subsection (c), as redesignated, 

and inserting ‘‘maintain’’; and 

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

‘‘(e) STEM DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘STEM’ means 

the academic and professional disciplines of science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics.’’. 
H. R. 5116—17 

SEC. 303. WORKFORCE STUDY. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation 

with the Secretary of Education, shall request the National 

Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the scientific workforce 

in the areas of oceanic and atmospheric research and development. 

The study shall investigate— 

(1) whether there is a shortage in the number of individuals 

with advanced degrees in oceanic and atmospheric sciences 

who have the ability to conduct high quality scientific research 

in physical and chemical oceanography, meteorology, and 

atmospheric modeling, and related fields, for government, nonprofit, and private sector entities; 

(2) what Federal programs are available to help facilitate 

the education of students hoping to pursue these degrees; 

(3) barriers to transitioning highly qualified oceanic and 

atmospheric scientists into Federal civil service scientist career 

tracks; 

(4) what institutions of higher education, the private sector, 

and the Congress could do to increase the number of individuals 

with such post baccalaureate degrees; 

(5) the impact of an aging Federal scientist workforce on 

the ability of Federal agencies to conduct high quality scientific 

research; and 

(6) what actions the Federal government can take to assist 

the transition of highly qualified scientists into Federal career 

scientist positions and ensure that the experiences of retiring 

Federal scientists are adequately documented and transferred 

prior to retirement from Federal service. 

(b) COORDINATION.—The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Education shall consult with the heads of other Federal 

agencies and departments with oceanic and atmospheric expertise 

or authority in preparing the specifications for the study. 

(c) REPORT.—No later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary 

of Education shall transmit a joint report to each committee of 

Congress with jurisdiction over the programs described in 4002(b) 

of the America COMPETES Act (33 U.S.C. 893a(b)), as amended 

by section 302 of this Act, detailing the findings and recommendations of the study and setting forth a prioritized plan to implement 

the recommendations. 

(d) PROGRAM AND PLAN.—The Administrator of the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall evaluate the 

National Academy of Sciences study and develop a workforce program and plan to institutionalize the Administration’s Federal 

science career pathways and address aging workforce issues. The 

program and plan shall be developed in consultation with the 

Administration’s cooperative institutes and other academic partners 

to identify and implement programs and mechanisms to ensure 

that— 

(1) sufficient highly qualified scientists are able to transition into Federal career scientist positions in the Administration’s laboratories and programs; and 

(2) the technical and management experiences of senior 

employees are documented and transferred before leaving Federal service. 
H. R. 5116—18 

TITLE IV—NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 

STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY 

SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 

This title may be cited as the ‘‘National Institute of Standards 

and Technology Authorization Act of 2010’’. 

SEC. 402. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

(a) FISCAL YEAR 2011.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce $918,900,000 for the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology for fiscal year 2011. 

(2) SPECIFIC ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amount authorized by 

paragraph (1)— (A) $584,500,000 shall be authorized for scientific and 

technical research and services laboratory activities; (B) $124,800,000 shall be authorized for the construction and maintenance of facilities; and (C) $209,600,000 shall be authorized for industrial 

technology services activities, of which— (i) $141,100,000 shall be authorized for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program under sections 25 and 26 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 

278l), of which not more than $5,000,000 shall be for 

the competitive grant program under section 25(f) of 

such Act; and (ii) $10,000,000 shall be authorized for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program under 

section 17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a). 

(b) FISCAL YEAR 2012.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce $970,800,000 for the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology for fiscal year 2012. 

(2) SPECIFIC ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amount authorized by 

paragraph (1)— (A) $661,100,000 shall be authorized for scientific and 

technical research and services laboratory activities; (B) $84,900,000 shall be authorized for the construction 

and maintenance of facilities; and 

(C) $224,800,000 shall be authorized for industrial 

technology services activities, of which— (i) $155,100,000 shall be authorized for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program under sections 25 and 26 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 

278l), of which not more than $5,000,000 shall be for 

the competitive grant program under section 25(f) of 

such Act; and 

(ii) $10,300,000 shall be authorized for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program under 

section 17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a). 

(c) FISCAL YEAR 2013.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce $1,039,709,000 for the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology for fiscal year 2013. 
H. R. 5116—19 

(2) SPECIFIC ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amount authorized by 

paragraph (1)— 

(A) $676,700,000 shall be authorized for scientific and 

technical research and services laboratory activities; 

(B) $121,300,000 shall be authorized for the construction and maintenance of facilities; and 

(C) $241,709,000 shall be authorized for industrial 

technology services activities, of which— 

(i) $165,100,000 shall be authorized for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program under sections 25 and 26 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 

278l), of which not more than $5,000,000 shall be for 

the competitive grant program under section 25(f) of 

such Act; and 

(ii) $10,609,000 shall be authorized for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program under 

section 17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a). 

SEC. 403. UNDER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR STANDARDS AND 

TECHNOLOGY. 

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The National Institute of Standards and 

Technology Act is amended by inserting after section 3 the following: 

‘‘SEC. 4. UNDER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR STANDARDS AND 

TECHNOLOGY. 

‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be in the Department of 

Commerce an Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and 

Technology (in this section referred to as the ‘Under Secretary’). 

‘‘(b) APPOINTMENT.—The Under Secretary shall be appointed 

by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

‘‘(c) COMPENSATION.—The Under Secretary shall be compensated at the rate in effect for level III of the Executive Schedule 

under section 5314 of title 5, United States Code. 

‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The Under Secretary shall serve as the Director 

of the Institute and shall perform such duties as required of the 

Director by the Secretary under this Act or by law. 

‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY.—The individual serving as the Director of 

the Institute on the date of enactment of the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology Authorization Act of 2010 shall also 

serve as the Under Secretary until such time as a successor is 

appointed under subsection (b).’’. 

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

(1) TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE.— 

(A) LEVEL III.—Section 5314 of title 5, United States 

Code, is amended by inserting before the item ‘‘Associate 

Attorney General’’ the following: 

‘‘Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, who also serves as Director of the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology.’’. 

(B) LEVEL IV.—Section 5315 of title 5, United States 

Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Director, National Institute 

of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce.’’. 

(2) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

ACT.—Section 5 of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 274) is amended by striking the 

first, fifth, and sixth sentences. 
H. R. 5116—20 

SEC. 404. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP. 

(a) COMMUNITY COLLEGE SUPPORT.—Section 25(a) of the 

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

278k(a)) is amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in paragraph 

(4); 

(2) by striking ‘‘Institute.’’ in paragraph (5) and inserting 

‘‘Institute; and’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(6) providing to community colleges information about the 

job skills needed in small- and medium-sized manufacturing 

businesses in the regions they serve.’’. 

(b) INNOVATIVE SERVICES INITIATIVE.—Section 25 of such Act 

(15 U.S.C. 278k) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(g) INNOVATIVE SERVICES INITIATIVE.— ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall establish, within 

the Centers program under this section, an innovative services 

initiative to assist small- and medium-sized manufacturers in— 

‘‘(A) reducing their energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental waste to improve profitability; 

‘‘(B) accelerating the domestic commercialization of 

new product technologies, including components for renewable energy and energy efficiency systems; and 

‘‘(C) identification of and diversification to new markets, including support for transitioning to the production 

of components for renewable energy and energy efficiency 

systems. 

‘‘(2) MARKET DEMAND.—The Director may not undertake 

any activity to accelerate the domestic commercialization of 

a new product technology under this subsection unless an analysis of market demand for the new product technology has 

been conducted.’’. 

(c) REPORTS.—Section 25 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k), as 

amended by subsection (b), is further amended by adding at the 

end the following: 

‘‘(h) REPORTS.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In submitting the 3-year programmatic 

planning document and annual updates under section 23, the 

Director shall include an assessment of the Director’s governance of the program established under this section. 

‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—In conducting the assessment, the Director 

shall use the criteria established pursuant to the Malcolm 

Baldrige National Quality Award under section 17(d)(1)(C) of 

the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 

U.S.C. 3711a(d)(1)(C)).’’. 

(d) HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP PRO- GRAM COST-SHARING.—Section 25(c) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)) 

is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(7) Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Authorization Act of 2010, the Comptroller General shall 

submit to Congress a report on the cost share requirements 

under the program. The report shall— 

‘‘(A) discuss various cost share structures, including 

the cost share structure in place prior to such date of 

enactment, and the effect of such cost share structures 

on individual Centers and the overall program; and 
H. R. 5116—21 

‘‘(B) include recommendations for how best to structure 

the cost share requirement to provide for the long-term 

sustainability of the program.’’. 

‘‘(8) If consistent with the recommendations in the report 

transmitted to Congress under paragraph (7), the Secretary 

shall alter the cost structure requirements specified under paragraph (3)(B) and (5) provided that the modification does not 

increase the cost share structure in place before the date of 

enactment of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act 

of 2010, or allow the Secretary to provide a Center more than 

50 percent of the costs incurred by that Center.’’. 

(e) ADVISORY BOARD.—Section 25(e)(4) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 

278k(e)(4)) is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘(4) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT APPLICABILITY.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In discharging its duties under this 

subsection, the MEP Advisory Board shall function solely 

in an advisory capacity, in accordance with the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act. 

‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act shall not apply to the MEP Advisory Board.’. 

(f) DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 25 of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k), as amended 

by subsection (c), is further amended by adding at the end 

the following: 

‘‘(i) DESIGNATION.— 

‘‘(1) HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP.— 

The program under this section shall be known as the ‘Hollings 

Manufacturing Extension Partnership’. 

‘‘(2) HOLLINGS MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTERS.—The 

Regional Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology 

created and supported under subsection (a) shall be known 

as the ‘Hollings Manufacturing Extension Centers’ (in this Act 

referred to as the ‘Centers’).’’. 

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005.—Division B of title II of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law 108–447; 118 Stat. 2879; 

15 U.S.C. 278k note) is amended under the heading ‘‘INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES’’ by striking ‘‘2007: Provided further, That’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Extension Centers.’’ 

and inserting ‘‘2007.’’. 

(3) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

(A) Section 25(a) of the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(a)) is amended in 

the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘Regional 

Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology’’ 

and inserting ‘‘regional centers for the transfer of manufacturing technology’’. 

(B) Section 25 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k), as amended 

by subsection (f), is further amended by adding at the 

end the following: 

‘‘(j) COMMUNITY COLLEGE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

‘community college’ means an institution of higher education (as 

defined under section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

(20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) at which the highest degree that is predominately awarded to students is an associate’s degree.’’. 
H. R. 5116—22 

(h) EVALUATION OF OBSTACLES UNIQUE TO SMALL MANUFACTURERS.—Section 25 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 278k), as amended by 

subsection (g), is further amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(k) EVALUATION OF OBSTACLES UNIQUE TO SMALL MANUFACTURERS.—The Director shall— 

‘‘(1) evaluate obstacles that are unique to small manufacturers that prevent such manufacturers from effectively competing in the global market; 

‘‘(2) implement a comprehensive plan to train the Centers 

to address such obstacles; and 

‘‘(3) facilitate improved communication between the Centers 

to assist such manufacturers in implementing appropriate, targeted solutions to such obstacles.’’. 

(i) NIST ACT AMENDMENT.—Section 25(f)(3) of the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(f)(3)) 

is amended by striking ‘‘Director of the Centers program,’’ and 

inserting ‘‘Director of the Hollings MEP program,’’. 

SEC. 405. EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION AND TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH INITIATIVE. 

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall establish a research 

initiative to support the development of emergency communication 

and tracking technologies for use in locating trapped individuals 

in confined spaces, such as underground mines, and other shielded 

environments, such as high-rise buildings or collapsed structures, 

where conventional radio communication is limited. 

(b) ACTIVITIES.—In order to carry out this section, the Director 

shall work with the private sector and appropriate Federal agencies 

to— 

(1) perform a needs assessment to identify and evaluate 

the measurement, technical standards, and conformity assessment needs required to improve the operation and reliability 

of such emergency communication and tracking technologies; 

(2) support the development of technical standards and 

conformance architecture to improve the operation and reliability of such emergency communication and tracking technologies; and 

(3) incorporate and build upon existing reports and studies 

on improving emergency communications. 

(c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to Congress and make 

publicly available a report describing the assessment performed 

under subsection (b)(1) and making recommendations about 

research priorities to address gaps in the measurement, technical 

standards, and conformity assessment needs identified by the 

assessment. 

SEC. 406. BROADENING PARTICIPATION. 

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

Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–1) is 

amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(c) UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES.—In evaluating applications for fellowships under this section, the Director shall give 

consideration to the goal of promoting the participation of underrepresented minorities in research areas supported by the Institute.’’. 
H. R. 5116—23 

(b) POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—Section 19 of such 

Act (15 U.S.C. 278g–2) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In evaluating applications for fellowships under this section, the Director shall give consideration to the goal of promoting 

the participation of underrepresented minorities in research areas 

supported by the Institute.’’. 

(c) TEACHER DEVELOPMENT.—Section 19A(c) of such Act (15 

U.S.C. 278g–2a(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘The Director shall give special consideration to an application 

from a teacher from a high-need school, as defined in section 200 

of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021).’’. 

SEC. 407. NIST FELLOWSHIPS. 

(a) POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—Section 19 of the 

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

278g–2) is amended by striking ‘‘, in conjunction with the National 

Academy of Sciences,’’. 

(b) RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS.—Section 18(a) of that Act (15 USC 

278g–1(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘up to 1.5 percent of the’’. 

(c) COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—Section 5163(d) of the Omnibus Trade and Competition 

Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 1533) is repealed. 

SEC. 408. GREEN MANUFACTURING AND CONSTRUCTION. 

The Director shall carry out a green manufacturing and 

construction initiative— 

(1) to develop accurate sustainability metrics and practices 

for use in manufacturing; 

(2) to advance the development of standards, including 

high performance green building standards, and the creation 

of an information infrastructure to communicate sustainability 

information about suppliers; and 

(3) to move buildings toward becoming high performance 

green buildings, including improving energy performance, 

service life, and indoor air quality of new and retrofitted 

buildings through validated measurement data. 

SEC. 409. DEFINITIONS. 

In this title: 

(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director 

of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

(2) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal agency’’ has the 

meaning given such term in section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler 

Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703). 

(3) HIGH PERFORMANCE GREEN BUILDING.—The term ‘‘high 

performance green building’’ has the meaning given that term 

by section 401(13) of the Energy Independence and Security 

Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 17061(13)). 
H. R. 5116—24 

TITLE V—SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS SUPPORT PROGRAMS 

SUBTITLE A—NATIONAL SCIENCE 

FOUNDATION 

SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE. 

This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘National Science Foundation 

Authorization Act of 2010’’. 

SEC. 502. DEFINITIONS. 

In this subtitle: 

(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director 

of the National Science Foundation. 

(2) EPSCOR.—The term ‘‘EPSCoR’’ means the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. 

(3) FOUNDATION.—The term ‘‘Foundation’’ means the 

National Science Foundation established under section 2 of 

the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1861). 

(4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the meaning given such term 

in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means one of the several 

States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or any other territory 

or possession of the United States. 

(6) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United States’’ means the 

several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 

the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any 

other territory or possession of the United States. 

SEC. 503. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

(a) FISCAL YEAR 2011.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated 

to the Foundation $7,424,400,000 for fiscal year 2011. 

(2) SPECIFIC ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amount authorized by 

paragraph (1)— (A) $5,974,782,000 shall be made available to carry 

research and related activities; 

(B) $937,850,000 shall be made available for education 

and human resources; 

(C) $164,744,000 shall be made available for major 

research equipment and facilities construction; (D) $327,503,000 shall be made available for agency 

operations and award management; (E) $4,803,000 shall be made available for the Office 

of the National Science Board; and 

(F) $14,718,000 shall be made available for the Office 

of Inspector General. 

(b) FISCAL YEAR 2012.— 
H. R. 5116—25 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated 

to the Foundation $7,800,000,000 for fiscal year 2012. 

(2) SPECIFIC ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amount authorized by 

paragraph (1)— 

(A) $6,234,281,000 shall be made available to carry 

research and related activities; 

(B) $978,959,000 shall be made available for education 

and human resources; 

(C) $225,544,000 shall be made available for major 

research equipment and facilities construction; 

(D) $341,676,000 shall be made available for agency 

operations and award management; 

(E) $4,808,000 shall be made available for the Office 

of the National Science Board; and 

(F) $14,732,000 shall be made available for the Office 

of Inspector General. 

(c) FISCAL YEAR 2013.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated 

to the Foundation $8,300,000,000 for fiscal year 2013. 

(2) SPECIFIC ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amount authorized by 

paragraph (1)— 

(A) $6,637,849,000 shall be made available to carry 

research and related activities; 

(B) $1,041,762,000 shall be made available for education and human resources; 

(C) $236,764,000 shall be made available for major 

research equipment and facilities construction; 

(D) $363,670,000 shall be made available for agency 

operations and award management; 

(E) $4,906,000 shall be made available for the Office 

of the National Science Board; and 

(F) $15,049,000 shall be made available for the Office 

of Inspector General. 

SEC. 504. NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD ADMINISTRATIVE AMENDMENTS. 

(a) STAFFING AT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD.—Section 4(g) 

of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1863(g)) 

is amended by striking ‘‘not more than 5’’. 

(b) NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD REPORTS.—Section 4(j)(2) of the 

National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1863(j)(2)) 

is amended by inserting ‘‘within the authority of the Foundation 

(or otherwise as requested by the Congress or the President)’’ after 

‘‘individual policy matters’’. 

(c) BOARD ADHERENCE TO SUNSHINE ACT.—Section 15(a)(2) of 

the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 

U.S.C. 1862n–5(a)(2)) is amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘The Board’’ and inserting ‘‘To ensure transparency of the Board’s entire decision-making process, including 

deliberations on Board business occurring within its various 

subdivisions, the Board’’; and 

(2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The preceding 

requirement will apply to meetings of the full Board, whenever 

a quorum is present; and to meetings of its subdivisions, whenever a quorum of the subdivision is present.’’. 
H. R. 5116—26 

SEC. 505. NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STATISTICS. 

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within the Foundation a National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics that 

shall serve as a central Federal clearinghouse for the collection, 

interpretation, analysis, and dissemination of objective data on 

science, engineering, technology, and research and development. 

(b) DUTIES.—In carrying out subsection (a) of this section, the 

Director, acting through the Center shall— 

(1) collect, acquire, analyze, report, and disseminate statistical data related to the science and engineering enterprise 

in the United States and other nations that is relevant and 

useful to practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the 

public, including statistical data on— 

(A) research and development trends; 

(B) the science and engineering workforce; 

(C) United States competitiveness in science, 

engineering, technology, and research and development; 

and 

(D) the condition and progress of United States STEM 

education; 

(2) support research using the data it collects, and on 

methodologies in areas related to the work of the Center; and 

(3) support the education and training of researchers in 

the use of large-scale, nationally representative data sets. 

(c) STATISTICAL REPORTS.—The Director or the National Science 

Board, acting through the Center, shall issue regular, and as necessary, special statistical reports on topics related to the national 

and international science and engineering enterprise such as the 

biennial report required by section 4(j)(1) of the National Science 

Foundation Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1863(j)(1)) on indicators of the 

state of science and engineering in the United States. 

SEC. 506. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION MANUFACTURING 

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. 

(a) MANUFACTURING RESEARCH.—The Director shall carry out 

a program to award merit-reviewed, competitive grants to institutions of higher education to support fundamental research leading 

to transformative advances in manufacturing technologies, processes, and enterprises that will support United States manufacturing through improved performance, productivity, sustainability, 

and competitiveness. Research areas may include— 

(1) nanomanufacturing; 

(2) manufacturing and construction machines and equipment, including robotics, automation, and other intelligent systems; 

(3) manufacturing enterprise systems; 

(4) advanced sensing and control techniques; 

(5) materials processing; and 

(6) information technologies for manufacturing, including 

predictive and real-time models and simulations, and virtual 

manufacturing. 

(b) MANUFACTURING EDUCATION.—In order to help ensure a 

well-trained manufacturing workforce, the Director shall award 

grants to strengthen and expand scientific and technical education 

and training in advanced manufacturing, including through the 

Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program. 
H. R. 5116—27 

SEC. 507. NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD REPORT ON MID-SCALE 

INSTRUMENTATION. 

(a) MID-SCALE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION NEEDS.—The 

National Science Board shall evaluate the needs, across all disciplines supported by the Foundation, for mid-scale research 

instrumentation that falls between the instruments funded by the 

Major Research Instrumentation program and the very large 

projects funded by the Major Research Equipment and Facilities 

Construction program. 

(b) REPORT ON MID-SCALE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

Act, the National Science Board shall submit to Congress a report 

on mid-scale research instrumentation at the Foundation. At a 

minimum, this report shall include— 

(1) the findings from the Board’s evaluation of instrumentation needs required under subsection (a), including a description 

of differences across disciplines and Foundation research directorates; 

(2) a recommendation or recommendations regarding how 

the Foundation should set priorities for mid-scale instrumentation across disciplines and Foundation research directorates; 

(3) a recommendation or recommendations regarding the 

appropriateness of expanding existing programs, including the 

Major Research Instrumentation program or the Major 

Research Equipment and Facilities Construction program, to 

support more instrumentation at the mid-scale; 

(4) a recommendation or recommendations regarding the 

need for and appropriateness of a new, Foundation-wide program or initiative in support of mid-scale instrumentation, 

including any recommendations regarding the administration 

of and budget for such a program or initiative and the appropriate scope of instruments to be funded under such a program 

or initiative; and 

(5) any recommendation or recommendations regarding 

other options for supporting mid-scale research instrumentation 

at the Foundation. 

SEC. 508. PARTNERSHIPS FOR INNOVATION. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall carry out a program to 

award merit-reviewed, competitive grants to institutions of higher 

education to establish and to expand partnerships that promote 

innovation and increase the impact of research by developing tools 

and resources to connect new scientific discoveries to practical uses. 

(b) PARTNERSHIPS.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for funding under this 

section, an institution of higher education must propose 

establishment of a partnership that— 

(A) includes at least one private sector entity; and 

(B) may include other institutions of higher education, 

public sector institutions, private sector entities, and nonprofit organizations. 

(2) PRIORITY.—In selecting grant recipients under this section, the Director shall give priority to partnerships that include 

one or more institutions of higher education and at least one 

of the following: 

(A) A minority serving institution. 

(B) A primarily undergraduate institution. 
H. R. 5116—28 

(C) A 2-year institution of higher education. 

(c) PROGRAM.—Proposals funded under this section shall seek— 

(1) to increase the impact of the most promising research 

at the institution or institutions of higher education that are 

members of the partnership through knowledge transfer or 

commercialization; 

(2) to increase the engagement of faculty and students 

across multiple disciplines and departments, including faculty 

and students in schools of business and other appropriate nonSTEM fields and disciplines in knowledge transfer activities; 

(3) to enhance education and mentoring of students and 

faculty in innovation and entrepreneurship through networks, 

courses, and development of best practices and curricula; 

(4) to strengthen the culture of the institution or institutions of higher education to undertake and participate in activities related to innovation and leading to economic or social 

impact; 

(5) to broaden the participation of all types of institutions 

of higher education in activities to meet STEM workforce needs 

and promote innovation and knowledge transfer; and 

(6) to build lasting partnerships with local and regional 

businesses, local and State governments, and other relevant 

entities. 

(d) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—In selecting grant recipients under 

this section, the Director shall also consider the extent to which 

the applicants are able to demonstrate evidence of institutional 

support for, and commitment to— 

(1) achieving the goals of the program as described in 

subsection (c); 

(2) expansion to an institution-wide program if the initial 

proposal is not for an institution-wide program; and 

(3) sustaining any new innovation tools and resources generated from funding under this program. 

(e) LIMITATION.—No funds provided under this section may 

be used to construct or renovate a building or structure. 

SEC. 509. SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY BASIC RESEARCH. 

The Director shall establish a Green Chemistry Basic Research 

program to award competitive, merit-based grants to support 

research into green and sustainable chemistry which will lead to 

clean, safe, and economical alternatives to traditional chemical products and practices. The research program shall provide sustained 

support for green chemistry research, education, and technology 

transfer through— 

(1) merit-reviewed competitive grants to individual investigators and teams of investigators, including, to the extent 

practicable, young investigators, for research; 

(2) grants to fund collaborative research partnerships 

among universities, industry, and nonprofit organizations; 

(3) symposia, forums, and conferences to increase outreach, 

collaboration, and dissemination of green chemistry advances 

and practices; and 

(4) education, training, and retraining of undergraduate 

and graduate students and professional chemists and chemical 

engineers, including through partnerships with industry, in 

green chemistry science and engineering. 
H. R. 5116—29 

SEC. 510. GRADUATE STUDENT SUPPORT. 

(a) FINDING.—The Congress finds that— 

(1) the Integrative Graduate Education and Research 

Traineeship program is an important program for training the 

next generation of scientists and engineers in team-based interdisciplinary research and problem solving, and for providing 

them with the many additional skills, such as communication 

skills, needed to thrive in diverse STEM careers; and 

(2) the Integrative Graduate Education and Research 

Traineeship program is no less valuable to the preparation 

and support of graduate students than the Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship program. 

(b) EQUAL TREATMENT OF IGERT AND GRF.—Beginning in 

fiscal year 2011, the Director shall increase or, if necessary, decrease 

funding for the Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and 

Research Traineeship program (or any program by which it is 

replaced) at least at the same rate as it increases or decreases 

funding for the Graduate Research Fellowship program. 

(c) SUPPORT FOR GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH FROM THE

RESEARCH ACCOUNT.—For each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

2013, at least 50 percent of the total Foundation funds allocated 

to the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship 

program and the Graduate Research Fellowship program shall come 

from funds appropriated for Research and Related Activities. 

(d) COST OF EDUCATION ALLOWANCE FOR GRF PROGRAM.— 

Section 10 of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 

U.S.C. 1869) is amended— 

(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before ‘‘The Foundation 

is authorized’’; and 

(2) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(b) AMOUNT.—The Director shall establish for each year the 

amount to be awarded for scholarships and fellowships under this 

section for that year. Each such scholarship and fellowship shall 

include a cost of education allowance of $12,000, subject to any 

restrictions on the use of cost of education allowance as determined 

by the Director.’’. 

SEC. 511. ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 

(a) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Section 10A(h)(1) of the National 

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

1a(h)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a grant under 

this section shall provide, from non-Federal sources, to carry 

out the activities supported by the grant— 

‘‘(A) in the case of grants in an amount of less than 

$1,500,000, an amount equal to at least 30 percent of 

the amount of the grant, at least one half of which shall 

be in cash; and 

‘‘(B) in the case of grants in an amount of $1,500,000 

or more, an amount equal to at least 50 percent of the 

amount of the grant, at least one half of which shall be 

in cash.’’. 

(b) RETIRING STEM PROFESSIONALS.—Section 10A(a)(2)(A) of 

the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 

U.S.C. 1862n–1a(a)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘including 

retiring professionals in those fields,’’ after ‘‘mathematics professionals,’’. 
H. R. 5116—30 

SEC. 512 UNDERGRADUATE BROADENING PARTICIPATION PROGRAM. 

The Foundation shall continue to support the Historically Black 

Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program, the Louis Stokes 

Alliances for Minority Participation program, the Tribal Colleges 

and Universities Program, and Hispanic-serving institutions as 

separate programs. 

SEC. 513. RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. 

The Director shall permit specialized STEM high schools conducting research to participate in major data collection initiatives 

from universities, corporations, or government labs under a research 

grant from the Foundation, as part of the research proposal. 

SEC. 514. RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES. 

(a) RESEARCH SITES.—The Director shall award grants, on a 

merit-reviewed, competitive basis, to institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, or consortia of such institutions 

and organizations, for sites designated by the Director to provide 

research experiences for 6 or more undergraduate STEM students 

for sites designated at primarily undergraduate institutions of 

higher education and 10 or more undergraduate STEM students 

for all other sites, with consideration given to the goal of promoting 

the participation of individuals identified in section 33 or 34 of 

the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 

1885a or 1885b). The Director shall ensure that— 

(1) at least half of the students participating in a program 

funded by a grant under this subsection at each site shall 

be recruited from institutions of higher education where 

research opportunities in STEM are limited, including 2-year 

institutions; 

(2) the awards provide undergraduate research experiences 

in a wide range of STEM disciplines; 

(3) the awards support a variety of projects, including 

independent investigator-led projects, interdisciplinary projects, 

and multi-institutional projects (including virtual projects); 

(4) students participating in each program funded have 

mentors, including during the academic year to the extent 

practicable, to help connect the students’ research experiences 

to the overall academic course of study and to help students 

achieve success in courses of study leading to a baccalaureate 

degree in a STEM field; 

(5) mentors and students are supported with appropriate 

salary or stipends; and 

(6) student participants are tracked, for employment and 

continued matriculation in STEM fields, through receipt of 

the undergraduate degree and for at least 3 years thereafter. 

(b) INCLUSION OF UNDERGRADUATES IN STANDARD RESEARCH

GRANTS.—The Director shall require that every recipient of a 

research grant from the Foundation proposing to include 1 or more 

students enrolled in certificate, associate, or baccalaureate degree 

programs in carrying out the research under the grant shall request 

support, including stipend support, for such undergraduate students 

as part of the research proposal itself rather than as a supplement 

to the research proposal, unless such undergraduate participation 

was not foreseeable at the time of the original proposal. 
H. R. 5116—31 

SEC. 515. STEM INDUSTRY INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director may award grants, on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis, to institutions of higher education, or 

consortia thereof, to establish or expand partnerships with local 

or regional private sector entities, for the purpose of providing 

undergraduate students with integrated internship experiences that 

connect private sector internship experiences with the students’ 

STEM coursework. The partnerships may also include industry 

or professional associations. 

(b) INTERNSHIP PROGRAM.—The grants awarded under subsection (a) may include internship programs in the manufacturing 

sector. 

(c) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—Grants under this section may 

be used— 

(1) to develop and implement hands-on learning opportunities; 

(2) to develop curricula and instructional materials related 

to industry, including the manufacturing sector; 

(3) to perform outreach to secondary schools; 

(4) to develop mentorship programs for students with 

partner organizations; and 

(5) to conduct activities to support awareness of career 

opportunities and skill requirements. 

(d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this section, the 

Director shall give priority to institutions of higher education or 

consortia thereof that demonstrate significant outreach to and 

coordination with local or regional private sector entities and 

Regional Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology 

established by section 25(a) of the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(a)) in developing academic 

courses designed to provide students with the skills or certifications 

necessary for employment in local or regional companies. 

(c) OUTREACH TO RURAL COMMUNITIES.—The Foundation shall 

conduct outreach to institutions of higher education and private 

sector entities in rural areas to encourage those entities to participate in partnerships under this section. 

(d) COST-SHARE.—The Director shall require a 50 percent nonFederal cost-share from partnerships established or expanded under 

this section. 

(e) RESTRICTION.—No Federal funds provided under this section 

may be used— 

(1) for the purpose of providing stipends or compensation 

to students for private sector internships unless private sector 

entities match 75 percent of such funding; or 

(2) as payment or reimbursement to private sector entities, 

except for institutions of higher education. 

(f) REPORT.—Not less than 3 years after the date of enactment 

of this Act, the Director shall submit a report to Congress on 

the number and total value of awards made under this section, 

the number of students affected by those awards, any evidence 

of the effect of those awards on workforce preparation and jobs 

placement for participating students, and an economic and ethnic 

breakdown of the participating students. 

SEC. 516. CYBER-ENABLED LEARNING FOR NATIONAL CHALLENGES. 

The Director shall, in consultation with appropriate Federal 

agencies, identify ways to use cyber-enabled learning to create 
H. R. 5116—32 

an innovative STEM workforce and to help retrain and retain 

our existing STEM workforce to address national challenges, 

including national security and competitiveness, and use technology 

to enhance or supplement laboratory based learning. 

SEC. 517. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE 

RESEARCH. 

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 

(1) The National Science Foundation Act of 1950 stated, 

‘‘it shall be an objective of the Foundation to strengthen 

research and education in the sciences and engineering, 

including independent research by individuals, throughout the 

United States, and to avoid undue concentration of such 

research and education,’’; 

(2) National Science Foundation funding remains highly 

concentrated, with 27 States and 2 jurisdictions, taken together, 

receiving only about 10 percent of all NSF research funding; 

each of these States received only a fraction of one percent 

of Foundation’s research dollars each year; 

(3) the Nation requires the talent, expertise, and research 

capabilities of all States in order to prepare sufficient numbers 

of scientists and engineers, remain globally competitive and 

support economic development. 

(b) CONTINUATION OF PROGRAM.—The Director shall continue 

to carry out EPSCoR, with the objective of helping the eligible 

States to develop the research infrastructure that will make them 

more competitive for Foundation and other Federal research 

funding. The program shall continue to increase as the National 

Science Foundation funding increases. 

(c) CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS.—The Director shall report to the 

appropriate committees of Congress on an annual basis, using the 

most recent available data— 

(1) the total amount made available, by State, under 

EPSCoR; 

(2) the amount of co-funding made available to EPSCoR 

States; 

(3) the total amount of National Science Foundation 

funding made available to all institutions and entities within 

EPSCoR States; and 

(4) efforts and accomplishments to more fully integrate 

the 29 EPSCoR jurisdictions in major activities and initiatives 

of the Foundation. 

(d) COORDINATION OF EPSCOR AND SIMILAR FEDERAL PROGRAMS.— 

(1) ANOTHER FINDING.—The Congress finds that a number 

of Federal agencies have programs, such as Experimental Programs to Stimulate Competitive Research and the National 

Institutes of Health Institutional Development Award program, 

designed to increase the capacity for and quality of science 

and technology research and training at academic institutions 

in States that historically have received relatively little Federal 

research and development funding. 

(2) COORDINATION REQUIRED.—The EPSCoR Interagency 

Coordinating Committee, chaired by the National Science 

Foundation, shall— 

(A) coordinate EPSCoR and Federal EPSCoR-like programs to maximize the impact of Federal support for 
H. R. 5116—33 

building competitive research infrastructure, and in order 

to achieve an integrated Federal effort; 

(B) coordinate agency objectives with State and institutional goals, to obtain continued non-Federal support of 

science and technology research and training; 

(C) develop metrics to assess gains in academic 

research quality and competitiveness, and in science and 

technology human resource development; 

(D) conduct a cross-agency evaluation of EPSCoR and 

other Federal EPSCoR-like programs and accomplishments, 

including management, investment, and metric-measuring 

strategies implemented by the different agencies aimed 

to increase the number of new investigators receiving peerreviewed funding, broaden participation, and empower 

knowledge generation, dissemination, application, and 

national research and development competitiveness; 

(E) coordinate the development and implementation 

of new, novel workshops, outreach activities, and followup mentoring activities among EPSCoR or EPSCoR-like 

programs for colleges and universities in EPSCoR States 

and territories in order to increase the number of proposals 

submitted and successfully funded and to enhance statewide coordination of EPSCoR and Federal EPSCoR-like 

programs; 

(F) coordinate the development of new, innovative 

solicitations and programs to facilitate collaborations, partnerships, and mentoring activities among faculty at all 

levels in non-EPSCoR and EPSCoR States and jurisdictions; 

(G) conduct an evaluation of the roles, responsibilities 

and degree of autonomy that program officers or managers 

(or the equivalent position) have in executing EPSCoR 

programs at the different Federal agencies and the impacts 

these differences have on the number of EPSCoR State 

and jurisdiction faculty participating in the peer review 

process and the percentage of successful awards by individual EPSCoR State jurisdiction and individual 

researcher; and 

(H) conduct a survey of colleges and university faculty 

at all levels regarding their knowledge and understanding 

of EPSCoR, and their level of interaction with and knowledge about their respective State or Jurisdictional EPSCoR 

Committee. 

(3) MEETINGS AND REPORTS.—The Committee shall meet 

at least twice each fiscal year and shall submit an annual 

report to the appropriate committees of Congress describing 

progress made in carrying out paragraph (2). 

(e) FEDERAL AGENCY REPORTS.—Each Federal agency that 

administers an EPSCoR or Federal EPSCoR-like program shall 

submit to the OSTP as part of its Federal budget submission— 

(1) a description of the program strategy and objectives; 

(2) a description of the awards made in the previous year, 

including— 

(A) the percentage of reviewers and number of new 

reviewers from EPSCoR States; 

(B) the percentage of new investigators from EPSCoR 

States; 
H. R. 5116—34 

(C) the number of programs or large collaborator 

awards involving a partnership of organizations and 

institutions from EPSCoR and non-EPSCoR States; and 

(3) an analysis of the gains in academic research quality 

and competitiveness, and in science and technology human 

resource development, achieved by the program in the last 

year. 

(f) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STUDY.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall contract with the 

National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on all Federal 

agencies that administer an Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research or a program similar to the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. 

(2) MATTERS TO BE ADDRESSED.—The study conducted 

under paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

(A) A delineation of the policies of each Federal agency 

with respect to the awarding of grants to EPSCoR States. 

(B) The effectiveness of each program. 

(C) Recommendations for improvements for each 

agency to achieve EPSCoR goals. 

(D) An assessment of the effectiveness of EPSCoR 

States in using awards to develop science and engineering 

research and education, and science and engineering infrastructure within their States. 

(E) Such other issues that address the effectiveness 

of EPSCoR as the National Academy of Sciences considers 

appropriate. 

SEC. 518. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS TALENT 

EXPANSION PROGRAM. 

It is the sense of the Congress that— 

(1) the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 

Talent Expansion Program established by the National Science 

Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 continues to be an effective program to increase the number of students, who are 

citizens or permanent residents of the United States, receiving 

associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging 

fields within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, 

and its authorization continues; 

(2) the strategies employed continue to strengthen mentoring and tutoring between faculty and students and provide 

students with information and exposure to potential career 

pathways in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

areas; 

(3) this highly competitive program awarded 145 Program 

implementation awards and 12 research projects in the first 

6 years of operations; and 

(4) the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 

Talent Expansion Program should continue to be supported 

by the National Science Foundation. 

SEC. 519. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING THE NATIONAL 

SCIENCE FOUNDATION’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO BASIC 

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. 

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 

(1) the National Science Foundation is an independent 

Federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to, among other 
H. R. 5116—35 

things, promote the progress of science, to advance the national 

health, prosperity, and welfare, and to secure the national 

defense; 

(2) the Foundation is the funding source for approximately 

20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted 

by America’s colleges and universities, and is the major source 

of Federal backing for mathematics, computer science and other 

sciences; 

(3) the America COMPETES Act of 2007 helped rejuvenate 

our focus on increasing basic research investment in the physical sciences, strengthening educational opportunities in the 

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and 

developing a robust innovation infrastructure; and 

(4) reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act should 

continue a robust investment in basic research and education 

and preserve the essence of the original Act by increasing 

the investment focus on science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics basic research and education as a national priority. 

(b) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Congress 

that— 

(1) the National Science Foundation is the finest scientific 

foundation in the world, and is a vital agency that must support 

basic research needed to advance the United States into the 

21st century; 

(2) the National Science Foundation should focus Federal 

research and development resources primarily in the areas 

of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics basic 

research and education; and 

(3) the National Science Foundation should strive to ensure 

that federally-supported research is of the finest quality, is 

ground breaking, and answers questions or solves problems 

that are of utmost importance to society at large. 

SEC. 520. ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Any institution of higher education (as such 

term is defined in section 101(A) of the Higher Education Act 

of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) that receives National Science Foundation research support and has received at least $25,000,000 in 

total Federal research grants in the most recent fiscal year shall 

keep, maintain, and report annually to the National Science 

Foundation the universal record locator for a public website that 

contains information concerning its general approach to and mechanisms for transfer of technology and the commercialization of 

research results, including— 

(1) contact information for individuals and university offices 

responsible for technology transfer and commercialization; 

(2) information for both university researchers and industry 

on the institution’s technology licensing and commercialization 

strategies; 

(3) success stories, statistics, and examples of how the 

university supports commercialization of research results; 

(4) technologies available for licensing by the university 

where appropriate; and 
H. R. 5116—36 

(5) any other information deemed by the institution to 

be helpful to companies with the potential to commercialize 

university inventions. 

(b) NSF WEBSITE.—The National Science Foundation shall 

create and maintain a website accessible to the public that links 

to each website mentioned under (a). 

(c) TRADE SECRET INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding subsection 

(a), an institution shall not be required to reveal confidential, trade 

secret, or proprietary information on its website. 

SEC. 521. STUDY TO DEVELOP IMPROVED IMPACT-ON-SOCIETY 

METRICS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the date of enactment 

of this Act, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall 

contract with the National Academy of Sciences to initiate a study 

to evaluate, develop, or improve metrics for measuring the potential 

impact-on-society, including— 

(1) the potential for commercial applications of research 

studies funded in whole or in part by grants of financial assistance from the Foundation or other Federal agencies; 

(2) the manner in which research conducted at, and individuals graduating from, an institution of higher education contribute to the development of new intellectual property and 

the success of commercial activities; 

(3) the quality of relevant scientific and international 

publications; and 

(4) the ability of such institutions to attract external 

research funding. 

(b) REPORT.—Within 1 year after initiating the study required 

by subsection (a), the Director shall submit a report to the Senate 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology 

setting forth the Director’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations. 

SEC. 522. NSF GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF SPONSORED POST-DOCTORAL 

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS. 

The Director of the National Science Foundation may utilize 

funds appropriated to carry out grants to institutions of higher 

education (as such term is defined in section 101(a) of the Higher 

Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) to provide financial 

support for post-graduate research in fields with potential commercial applications to match, in whole or in part, any private sector 

grant of financial assistance to any post-doctoral program in such 

a field of study. 

SEC. 523. COLLABORATION IN PLANNING FOR STEWARDSHIP OF 

LARGE-SCALE FACILITIES. 

It is the sense of Congress that— 

(1) the Foundation should, in its planning for construction 

and stewardship of large facilities, coordinate and collaborate 

with other Federal agencies, including the Department of 

Energy’s Office of Science, to ensure that joint investments 

may be made when practicable; 

(2) in particular, the Foundation should ensure that it 

responds to recommendations by the National Academy of 

Sciences and working groups convened by the National Science 
H. R. 5116—37 

and Technology Council regarding such facilities and opportunities for partnership with other agencies in the design and 

construction of such facilities; and 

(3) for facilities in which research in multiple disciplines 

will be possible, the Director should include multiple units 

within the Foundation during the planning process. 

SEC. 524. CLOUD COMPUTING RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT. 

(a) RESEARCH FOCUS AREA.—The Director may support a 

national research agenda in key areas affected by the increased 

use of public and private cloud computing, including— 

(1) new approaches, techniques, technologies, and tools 

for— 

(A) optimizing the effectiveness and efficiency of cloud 

computing environments; and 

(B) mitigating security, identity, privacy, reliability, 

and manageability risks in cloud-based environments, 

including as they differ from traditional data centers; 

(2) new algorithms and technologies to define, assess, and 

establish large-scale, trustworthy, cloud-based infrastructures; 

(3) models and advanced technologies to measure, assess, 

report, and understand the performance, reliability, energy 

consumption, and other characteristics of complex cloud 

environments; and 

(4) advanced security technologies to protect sensitive or 

proprietary information in global-scale cloud environments. 

(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

of enactment of this Act, the Director shall initiate a review 

and assessment of cloud computing research opportunities and 

challenges, including research areas listed in subsection (a), 

as well as related issues such as— 

(A) the management and assurance of data that are 

the subject of Federal laws and regulations in cloud computing environments, which laws and regulations exist on 

the date of enactment of this Act; 

(B) misappropriation of cloud services, piracy through 

cloud technologies, and other threats to the integrity of 

cloud services; 

(C) areas of advanced technology needed to enable 

trusted communications, processing, and storage; and 

(D) other areas of focus determined appropriate by 

the Director. 

(2) UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS.—The Director may accept 

unsolicited proposals that review and assess the issues 

described in paragraph (1). The proposals may be judged 

according to existing criteria of the National Science Foundation. 

(c) REPORT.—The Director shall provide an annual report for 

not less than 5 consecutive years to Congress on the outcomes 

of National Science Foundation investments in cloud computing 

research, recommendations for research focus and program improvements, or other related recommendations. The reports, including 

any interim findings or recommendations, shall be made publicly 

available on the website of the National Science Foundation. 

(d) NIST SUPPORT.—The Director of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology shall— 
H. R. 5116—38 

(1) collaborate with industry in the development of standards supporting trusted cloud computing infrastructures, 

metrics, interoperability, and assurance; and 

(2) support standards development with the intent of supporting common goals. 

SEC. 525. TRIBAL COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES PROGRAM. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall continue to support a 

program to award grants on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis 

to tribal colleges and universities (as defined in section 316 of 

the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c), including 

institutions described in section 317 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d), 

to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education at such 

institutions and to increase the retention and graduation rates 

of Native American students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate 

degrees in STEM. 

(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—Grants awarded under this section 

shall support— 

(1) activities to improve courses and curriculum in STEM; 

(2) faculty development; 

(3) stipends for undergraduate students participating in 

research; and 

(4) other activities consistent with subsection (a), as determined by the Director. 

(c) INSTRUMENTATION.—Funding provided under this section 

may be used for laboratory equipment and materials. 

SEC. 526. BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERION. 

(a) GOALS.—The Foundation shall apply a Broader Impacts 

Review Criterion to achieve the following goals: 

(1) Increased economic competitiveness of the United 

States. 

(2) Development of a globally competitive STEM workforce. 

(3) Increased participation of women and underrepresented 

minorities in STEM. 

(4) Increased partnerships between academia and industry. 

(5) Improved pre-K–12 STEM education and teacher 

development. 

(6) Improved undergraduate STEM education. 

(7) Increased public scientific literacy. 

(8) Increased national security. 

(b) POLICY.—Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall develop and implement a policy 

for the Broader Impacts Review Criterion that— 

(1) provides for educating professional staff at the Foundation, merit review panels, and applicants for Foundation 

research grants on the policy developed under this subsection; 

(2) clarifies that the activities of grant recipients undertaken to satisfy the Broader Impacts Review Criterion shall— 

(A) to the extent practicable employ proven strategies 

and models and draw on existing programs and activities; 

and 

(B) when novel approaches are justified, build on the 

most current research results; 

(3) allows for some portion of funds allocated to broader 

impacts under a research grant to be used for assessment 

and evaluation of the broader impacts activity; 
H. R. 5116—39 

(4) encourages institutions of higher education and other 

nonprofit education or research organizations to develop and 

provide, either as individual institutions or in partnerships 

thereof, appropriate training and programs to assist Foundation-funded principal investigators at their institutions in 

achieving the goals of the Broader Impacts Review Criterion 

as described in subsection (a); and 

(5) requires principal investigators applying for Foundation 

research grants to provide evidence of institutional support 

for the portion of the investigator’s proposal designed to satisfy 

the Broader Impacts Review Criterion, including evidence of 

relevant training, programs, and other institutional resources 

available to the investigator from either their home institution 

or organization or another institution or organization with relevant expertise. 

SEC. 527. TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY GRADUATE EDUCATION. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall award grants, on a 

competitive, merit-reviewed basis, to institutions of higher education to implement or expand research-based reforms in master’s 

and doctoral level STEM education that emphasize preparation 

for diverse careers utilizing STEM degrees, including at diverse 

types of institutions of higher education, in industry, and at government agencies and research laboratories. 

(b) USES OF FUNDS.—Activities supported by grants under this 

section may include— 

(1) creation of multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary courses 

or programs for the purpose of improved student instruction 

and research in STEM; 

(2) expansion of graduate STEM research opportunities 

to include interdisciplinary research opportunities and research 

opportunities in industry, at Federal laboratories, and at international research institutions or research sites; 

(3) development and implementation of future faculty 

training programs focused on improved instruction, mentoring, 

assessment of student learning, and support of undergraduate 

STEM students; 

(4) support and training for graduate students to participate in instructional activities beyond the traditional teaching 

assistantship, and especially as part of ongoing educational 

reform efforts, including at pre-K–12 schools, and primarily 

undergraduate institutions; 

(5) creation, improvement, or expansion of innovative graduate programs such as science master’s degree programs; 

(6) development and implementation of seminars, workshops, and other professional development activities that 

increase the ability of graduate students to engage in innovation, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship; 

(7) development and implementation of seminars, workshops, and other professional development activities that 

increase the ability of graduate students to effectively communicate their research findings to technical audiences outside 

of their own discipline and to nontechnical audiences; 

(8) expansion of successful STEM reform efforts beyond 

a single academic unit to other STEM academic units within 

an institution or to comparable academic units at other institutions; and 
H. R. 5116—40 

(9) research on teaching and learning of STEM at the 

graduate level related to the proposed reform effort, including 

assessment and evaluation of the proposed reform activities 

and research on scalability and sustainability of approaches 

to reform. 

(c) PARTNERSHIP.—An institution of higher education may 

partner with one or more other nonprofit education or research 

organizations, including scientific and engineering societies, for the 

purposes of carrying out the activities authorized under this section. 

(d) SELECTION PROCESS.— (1) APPLICATIONS.—An institution of higher education 

seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application 

to the Director at such time, in such manner, and containing 

such information as the Director may require. The application 

shall include, at a minimum— 

(A) a description of the proposed reform effort; 

(B) in the case of applications that propose an expansion of a previously implemented reform effort at the 

applicant’s institution or at other institutions, a description 

of the previously implemented reform effort; 

(C) evidence of institutional support for, and commitment to, the proposed reform effort, including long-term 

commitment to implement successful strategies from the 

current reform effort beyond the academic unit or units 

included in the grant proposal or to disseminate successful 

strategies to other institutions; and 

(D) a description of the plans for assessment and 

evaluation of the grant proposed reform activities. 

(2) REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS.—In selecting grant recipients 

under this section, the Director shall consider at a minimum— 

(A) the likelihood of success in undertaking the proposed effort at the institution submitting the application, 

including the extent to which the faculty, staff, and 

administrators of the institution are committed to making 

the proposed institutional reform a priority of the participating academic unit or units; 

(B) the degree to which the proposed reform will contribute to change in institutional culture and policy such 

that a greater value is placed on preparing graduate students for diverse careers utilizing STEM degrees; 

(C) the likelihood that the institution will sustain or 

expand the reform beyond the period of the grant; and 

(D) the degree to which scholarly assessment and 

evaluation plans are included in the design of the reform 

effort. 

SUBTITLE B—STEM-TRAINING GRANT 

PROGRAM 

SEC. 551. PURPOSE. 

The purpose of this subtitle is to replicate and implement 

programs at institutions of higher education that provide integrated 

courses of study in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, 

and teacher education, that lead to a baccalaureate degree in 

science, technology, engineering, or mathematics with concurrent 

teacher certification. 
H. R. 5116—41 

SEC. 552. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. 

The Director shall replicate and implement undergraduate 

degree programs under this subtitle that— 

(1) are designed to recruit and prepare students who pursue 

a baccalaureate degree in science, technology, engineering, or 

mathematics to become certified as elementary and secondary 

teachers; 

(2) require the education department (or its equivalent) 

and the departments or division responsible for preparation 

of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors 

at an institution of higher education to collaborate in establishing and implementing the program at that institution; 

(3) require students participating in the program to enter 

the program through a field-based course and to continue to 

complete field-based courses supervised by master teachers 

throughout the program; 

(4) hire sufficient teachers so that the ratio of students 

to master teachers in the program does not exceed 100 to 

1; 

(5) include instruction in the use of scientifically-based 

instructional materials and methods, assessments, pedagogical 

content knowledge (including the interaction between mathematics and science), the use of instructional technology, and 

how to incorporate State and local standards into the classroom 

curriculum; 

(6) restrict to students participating in the program those 

courses that are specifically designed for the needs of teachers 

of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; and 

(7) require students participating in the program to successfully complete a final evaluation of their teaching proficiency, 

based on their classroom teaching performance, conducted by 

multiple trained observers, and a portfolio of their accomplishments. 

SEC. 553. GRANT PROGRAM. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish a grant program 

to support programs at institutions of higher education to carry 

out the purpose of this subtitle. 

(b) GEOGRAPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In the administration of 

this subtitle, the Director shall take such steps as may be necessary 

to ensure that grants are equitably distributed across all regions 

of the United States, taking into account population density and 

other geographic and demographic considerations. 

(c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—Subject to the requirements of subsection (d), the Director may award grants annually on a competitive basis to institutions of higher education in the amount of 

$2,000,000, per institution of which— 

(1) $1,500,000 shall be used— 

(A) to design, implement, and evaluate a program that 

meets the requirements of section 552; 

(B) to employ master teachers at the institution to 

oversee field experiences; 

(C) to provide a stipend to mentor teachers participating in the program; and 

(D) to support curriculum development and 

implementation strategies for science, technology, 
H. R. 5116—42 

engineering, and mathematics content courses taught 

through the program; and 

(2) up to $500,000 shall be set aside by the grantee for 

technical support and evaluation services from the institution 

whose programs will be replicated. 

(d) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to apply for a grant under 

this section, an institution of higher education shall— 

(1) include former secondary school science, technology, 

engineering, or mathematics master teachers as faculty in its 

science department for this program; 

(2) grant terminal degrees in science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics; and 

(3) have a process to be used in establishing partnerships 

with local educational agencies for placement of participating 

students in their field experiences, including a process for 

identifying mentor teachers working in local schools to supervise classroom field experiences in cooperation with universitybased master teachers; 

(4) maintain policies allowing flexible entry to the program 

throughout the undergraduate coursework; 

(5) require that master teachers employed by the institution 

will supervise field experiences of students in the program; 

(6) require that the program complies with State certification or licensing requirements and the requirements under 

section 9101(23) of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(23)) for highly qualified teachers; 

(7) develop during the course of the grant a plan for longterm support and assessment of its graduates, which shall 

include— 

(A) induction support for graduates in their first one 

to two years of teaching; 

(B) systems to determine the teaching status of graduates and thereby determine retention rates; and 

(C) methods to analyze the achievement of students 

taught by graduates, and methods to analyze classroom 

practices of graduates; and 

(8) be able upon completion of the grant at the end of 

5 years to fund essential program costs, including salaries 

of master teachers and other necessary personnel, from recurring university budgets. 

(e) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—An institution of higher education seeking a grant under the program shall submit an application to the Director in such form, at such time, and containing 

such information and assurances as the Director may require, 

including— 

(1) a description of the current rate at which individuals 

majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

become certified as elementary and secondary teachers; 

(2) a description for the institution’s plan for increasing 

the numbers of students enrolled in and graduating from the 

program supported under this subtitle; 

(3) a description of the institution’s capacity to develop 

a program in which individuals majoring in science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics can become certified as 

elementary and secondary teachers; 

(4) identification of the organizational unit within the 

department or division of arts and sciences or the science 
H. R. 5116—43 

department at the institution that will adopt teacher certification for elementary and secondary teachers as its primary 

mission; 

(5) identification of core faculty within the department 

or division of arts and sciences or the science department 

at the institution to champion teacher preparation in their 

departments by teaching courses dedicated to preparing future 

elementary and secondary school teachers, helping create new 

degree plans, advising prospective students within their major, 

and assisting as needed with program administration; 

(6) identification of core faculty in the education department or its equivalent at the institution to champion teacher 

preparation by creating and teaching courses specific to the 

preparation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and working closely with colleagues in the department 

or division of arts and sciences or the science department; 

and 

(7) a description of involving practical, field-based experience in teaching and degree plans enabling students to graduate 

in 4 years with a major in science, technology, engineering, 

or mathematics and elementary or secondary school teacher 

certification. 

(f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An institution of higher education may not receive a grant under this section unless it provides, 

from non-federal sources, to carry out the activities supported by 

the grant, an amount that is not less than— 

(1) 35 percent of the amount of the grant for the first 

fiscal year of the grant; 

(2) 55 percent of the amount of the grant for the second 

and third fiscal years of the grant; and 

(3) 75 percent of the amount of the grant for the fourth 

and fifth fiscal years of the grant. 

(g) GUIDANCE.—Within 90 days after the date of enactment 

of this Act, the Director shall initiate a proceeding to promulgate 

guidance for the administration of the grant program established 

under subsection (a). 

SEC. 554. GRANT OVERSIGHT AND ADMINISTRATION. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director may execute a contract for program oversight and fiscal management with an organization at 

an institution of higher education, a non-profit organization, or 

other entity that demonstrates capacity for and experience in— 

(1) replicating 1 or more similar programs at regional or 

national levels; 

(2) providing programmatic and technical implementation 

assistance for the program; 

(3) performing data collection and analysis to ensure proper 

implementation and continuous program improvement; and 

(4) providing accountability for results by measuring and 

monitoring achievement of programmatic milestones. 

(b) OVERSIGHT RESPONSIBILITIES.— (1) MANDATORY DUTIES.—If the Director executes a contract 

under subsection (a) with an organization for program oversight 

and fiscal management, the organization shall— 

(A) ensure that a grant recipient faithfully replicates 

and implements the program or programs for which the 

grant is awarded; 
H. R. 5116—44 

(B) ensure that grant funds are used for the purposes 

authorized and that a grant recipient has a system in 

place to track and account for all Federal grant funds 

provided; 

(C) provide technical assistance to grant recipients; 

(D) collect and analyze data and report to the Director 

annually on the effects of the program on— 

(i) the progress of participating students in 

achieving teaching competence and teaching certification; 

(ii) the participation of students in the program 

by major, compared with local and State needs on 

secondary teachers by discipline; and 

(iii) the participation of students in the program 

by demographic subgroup; 

(E) collect and analyze data and report to the Director 

annually on the effects of the program on the academic 

achievement of elementary and secondary school students 

taught by graduates of programs funded by grants under 

this subtitle; and 

(F) submit an annual report to the Director demonstrating compliance with the requirements of subparagraphs (A) through (E). 

(2) DISCRETIONARY DUTIES.—At the request of the Director, 

the organization under contract under subsection (a) may assist 

the Director in evaluating grant applications. 

(c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Director shall submit a copy 

of the annual report required by subsection (b)(1)(F) to the Senate 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Senate 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the House 

of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, and the 

House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. 

SEC. 555. DEFINITIONS. 

In this subtitle: 

(1) FIELD-BASED COURSE.—The term ‘‘field-based course’’ 

means a course of instruction offered by an institution of higher 

education that includes a requirement that students teach a 

minimum of 3 lessons or sequences of lessons to elementary 

or secondary students. 

(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the meaning given that term 

by section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

1001). 

(3) MASTER TEACHER.—The term ‘‘master teacher’’ means 

an individual— 

(A) who has been awarded a master’s or doctoral degree 

by an institution of higher education; 

(B) whose graduate coursework included courses in 

mathematics, science, computer science, or engineering; 

(C) who has at least 3 years teaching experience in 

K–12 settings; and 

(D) whose teaching has been recognized for exceptional 

accomplishments in educating students, or is demonstrated 

to have resulted in improved student achievement. 

(4) MENTOR TEACHER.—The term ‘‘mentor teacher’’ means 

an elementary or secondary school classroom teacher who 
H. R. 5116—45 

assists with the training of students participating in a fieldbased course. 

(5) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director 

of the National Science Foundation. 

SEC. 556. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director to carry out this subtitle $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

through 2013. 

TITLE VI—INNOVATION 

SEC. 601. OFFICE OF INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. 

The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 

U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), as amended by section 106 of this Act, is 

amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SEC. 25. OFFICE OF INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. 

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an Office of 

Innovation and Entrepreneurship to foster innovation and the 

commercialization of new technologies, products, processes, and 

services with the goal of promoting productivity and economic 

growth in the United States. 

‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 

shall be responsible for— 

‘‘(1) developing policies to accelerate innovation and 

advance the commercialization of research and development, 

including federally funded research and development; 

‘‘(2) identifying existing barriers to innovation and commercialization, including access to capital and other resources, and 

ways to overcome those barriers, particularly in States participating in the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive 

Research; 

‘‘(3) providing access to relevant data, research, and technical assistance on innovation and commercialization; 

‘‘(4) strengthening collaboration on and coordination of policies relating to innovation and commercialization, including 

those focused on the needs of small businesses and rural 

communities, within the Department of Commerce, between 

the Department of Commerce and other Federal agencies, and 

between the Department of Commerce and appropriate State 

government agencies and institutions, as appropriate; and 

‘‘(5) any other duties as determined by the Secretary. 

‘‘(c) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The Secretary shall establish an 

Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to provide 

advice to the Secretary on carrying out subsection (b).’’. 

SEC. 602. FEDERAL LOAN GUARANTEES FOR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN MANUFACTURING. 

The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 

U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), as amended by section 601, is further amended 

by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SEC. 26. FEDERAL LOAN GUARANTEES FOR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN MANUFACTURING. 

‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish a program 

to provide loan guarantees for obligations to small- or medium- 
H. R. 5116—46 

sized manufacturers for the use or production of innovative technologies. 

‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—A loan guarantee may be made under 

the program only for a project that re-equips, expands, or establishes a manufacturing facility in the United States— 

‘‘(1) to use an innovative technology or an innovative 

process in manufacturing; 

‘‘(2) to manufacture an innovative technology product or 

an integral component of such a product; or 

‘‘(3) to commercialize an innovative product, process, or 

idea that was developed by research funded in whole or in 

part by a grant from the Federal government. 

‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE BORROWER.—A loan guarantee may be made 

under the program only for a borrower who is a small- or mediumsized manufacturer, as determined by the Secretary under the 

criteria established pursuant to subsection (l). 

‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—A loan guarantee shall not 

exceed an amount equal to 80 percent of the obligation, as estimated 

at the time at which the loan guarantee is issued. 

‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS ON LOAN GUARANTEE.—No loan guarantee 

shall be made unless the Secretary determines that— 

‘‘(1) there is a reasonable prospect of repayment of the 

principal and interest on the obligation by the borrower; 

‘‘(2) the amount of the obligation (when combined with 

amounts available to the borrower from other sources) is sufficient to carry out the project; 

‘‘(3) the obligation is not subordinate to other financing; 

‘‘(4) the obligation bears interest at a rate that does not 

exceed a level that the Secretary determines appropriate, taking 

into account the prevailing rate of interest in the private sector 

for similar loans and risks; and 

‘‘(5) the term of an obligation requires full repayment over 

a period not to exceed the lesser of— 

‘‘(A) 30 years; or 

‘‘(B) 90 percent of the projected useful life, as determined by the Secretary, of the physical asset to be financed 

by the obligation. 

‘‘(f) DEFAULTS.— ‘‘(1) PAYMENT BY SECRETARY.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a borrower defaults (as defined 

in regulations promulgated by the Secretary and specified 

in the loan guarantee) on the obligation, the holder of 

the loan guarantee shall have the right to demand payment 

of the unpaid amount from the Secretary. 

‘‘(B) PAYMENT REQUIRED.—Within such period as may 

be specified in the loan guarantee or related agreements, 

the Secretary shall pay to the holder of the loan guarantee 

the unpaid interest on and unpaid principal of the obligation as to which the borrower has defaulted, unless the 

Secretary finds that there was no default by the borrower 

in the payment of interest or principal or that the default 

has been remedied. 

‘‘(C) FORBEARANCE.—Nothing in this subsection precludes any forbearance by the holder of the obligation for 

the benefit of the borrower which may be agreed upon 

by the parties to the obligation and approved by the Secretary. 
H. R. 5116—47 

‘‘(2) SUBROGATION.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary makes a payment 

under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall be subrogated 

to the rights, as specified in the loan guarantee, of the 

recipient of the payment or related agreements including, 

if appropriate, the authority (notwithstanding any other 

provision of law)— 

‘‘(i) to complete, maintain, operate, lease, or otherwise dispose of any property acquired pursuant to such 

loan guarantee or related agreement; or 

‘‘(ii) to permit the borrower, pursuant to an agreement with the Secretary, to continue to pursue the 

purposes of the project if the Secretary determines 

that such an agreement is in the public interest. 

‘‘(B) SUPERIORITY OF RIGHTS.—The rights of the Secretary, with respect to any property acquired pursuant 

to a loan guarantee or related agreements, shall be superior 

to the rights of any other person with respect to the property. 

‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION.—If the borrower defaults on an obligation, the Secretary shall notify the Attorney General of the 

default. 

‘‘(g) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—A loan guarantee under this 

section shall include such detailed terms and conditions as the 

Secretary determines appropriate— 

‘‘(1) to protect the interests of the United States in the 

case of default; and 

‘‘(2) to have available all the patents and technology necessary for any person selected, including the Secretary, to complete and operate the project. 

‘‘(h) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the terms and conditions 

of a loan guarantee under this section, the Secretary shall consult 

with the Secretary of the Treasury. 

‘‘(i) FEES.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall charge and collect 

fees for loan guarantees in amounts the Secretary determines 

are sufficient to cover applicable administrative expenses. 

‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Fees collected under this subsection 

shall— 

‘‘(A) be deposited by the Secretary into the Treasury 

of the United States; and 

‘‘(B) remain available until expended, subject to such 

other conditions as are contained in annual appropriations 

Acts. 

‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—In charging and collecting fees under 

paragraph (1), the Secretary shall take into consideration the 

amount of the obligation. 

‘‘(j) RECORDS.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a loan guarantee under 

this section, the borrower, the lender, and any other appropriate 

party shall keep such records and other pertinent documents 

as the Secretary shall prescribe by regulation, including such 

records as the Secretary may require to facilitate an effective 

audit. 

‘‘(2) ACCESS.—The Secretary and the Comptroller General 

of the United States, or their duly authorized representatives, 
H. R. 5116—48 

shall have access to records and other pertinent documents 

for the purpose of conducting an audit. 

‘‘(k) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—The full faith and credit of 

the United States is pledged to the payment of all loan guarantees 

issued under this section with respect to principal and interest. 

‘‘(l) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue final regulations 

before making any loan guarantees under the program. The regulations shall include— 

‘‘(1) criteria that the Secretary shall use to determine eligibility for loan guarantees under this section, including— 

‘‘(A) whether a borrower is a small- or medium-sized 

manufacturer; and 

‘‘(B) whether a borrower demonstrates that a market 

exists for the innovative technology product, or the integral 

component of such a product, to be manufactured, as evidenced by written statements of interest from potential 

purchasers; 

‘‘(2) criteria that the Secretary shall use to determine the 

amount of any fees charged under subsection (i), including 

criteria related to the amount of the obligation; 

‘‘(3) policies and procedures for selecting and monitoring 

lenders and loan performance; and 

‘‘(4) any other policies, procedures, or information necessary 

to implement this section. 

‘‘(m) AUDIT.— ‘‘(1) ANNUAL INDEPENDENT AUDITS.—The Secretary shall 

enter into an arrangement with an independent auditor for 

annual evaluations of the program under this section. 

‘‘(2) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW.—The Comptroller 

General of the United States shall conduct a biennial review 

of the Secretary’s execution of the program under this section. 

‘‘(3) REPORT.—The results of the independent audit under 

paragraph (1) and the Comptroller General’s review under paragraph (2) shall be provided directly to the Committee on Science 

and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 

‘‘(n) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Concurrent with the submission 

to Congress of the President’s annual budget request in each year 

after the date of enactment of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, the Secretary shall transmit to the Committee 

on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and 

the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

Senate a report containing a summary of all activities carried 

out under this section. 

‘‘(o) COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.—To the maximum 

extent practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that the activities 

carried out under this section are coordinated with, and do not 

duplicate the efforts of, other loan guarantee programs within the 

Federal Government. 

‘‘(p) MEP CENTERS.—The Secretary may use centers established 

under section 25 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) to provide information about the program established under this section and to conduct outreach to 

potential borrowers, as appropriate. 

‘‘(q) MINIMIZING RISK.—The Secretary shall promulgate regulations and policies to carry out this section in accordance with 

Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A–129, entitled 
H. R. 5116—49 

‘Policies for Federal Credit Programs and Non-Tax Receivables’, 

as in effect on the date of enactment of the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act of 2010. 

‘‘(r) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that 

no loan guarantee shall be made under this section unless the 

borrower agrees to use a federally-approved electronic employment 

eligibility verification system to verify the employment eligibility 

of— 

‘‘(1) all persons hired during the contract term by the 

borrower to perform employment duties within the United 

States; and 

‘‘(2) all persons assigned by the borrower to perform work 

within the United States on the project. 

‘‘(s) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

‘‘(1) COST.—The term ‘cost’ has the meaning given such 

term under section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 

1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). 

‘‘(2) INNOVATIVE PROCESS.—The term ‘innovative process’ 

means a process that is significantly improved as compared 

to the process in general use in the commercial marketplace 

in the United States at the time the loan guarantee is issued. 

‘‘(3) INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘innovative technology’ means a technology that is significantly improved as 

compared to the technology in general use in the commercial 

marketplace in the United States at the time the loan guarantee 

is issued. 

‘‘(4) LOAN GUARANTEE.—The term ‘loan guarantee’ has the 

meaning given such term in section 502 of the Federal Credit 

Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). The term includes a loan 

guarantee commitment (as defined in section 502 of such Act 

(2 U.S.C. 661a)). 

‘‘(5) OBLIGATION.—The term ‘obligation’ means the loan 

or other debt obligation that is guaranteed under this section. 

‘‘(6) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means the loan guarantee program established in subsection (a). 

‘‘(t) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 

to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

2013 to provide the cost of loan guarantees under this section.’’. 

SEC. 603. REGIONAL INNOVATION PROGRAM. 

The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 

U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), as amended by section 602, is further amended 

by adding at the end thereof the following: 

‘‘SEC. 27. REGIONAL INNOVATION PROGRAM. 

‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish a regional 

innovation program to encourage and support the development of 

regional innovation strategies, including regional innovation clusters and science and research parks. 

‘(b) CLUSTER GRANTS.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program established under 

subsection (a), the Secretary may award grants on a competitive 

basis to eligible recipients for activities relating to the formation 

and development of regional innovation clusters. 

‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Grants awarded under this 

subsection may be used for activities determined appropriate 

by the Secretary, including the following: 

‘‘(A) Feasibility studies. 
H. R. 5116—50 

‘‘(B) Planning activities. 

‘‘(C) Technical assistance. 

‘‘(D) Developing or strengthening communication and 

collaboration between and among participants of a regional 

innovation cluster. 

‘‘(E) Attracting additional participants to a regional 

innovation cluster. 

‘‘(F) Facilitating market development of products and 

services developed by a regional innovation cluster, 

including through demonstration, deployment, technology 

transfer, and commercialization activities. 

‘‘(G) Developing relationships between a regional 

innovation cluster and entities or clusters in other regions. 

‘‘(H) Interacting with the public and State and local 

governments to meet the goals of the cluster. 

‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 

term ‘eligible recipient’ means— 

‘‘(A) a State; 

‘‘(B) an Indian tribe; 

‘‘(C) a city or other political subdivision of a State; 

‘‘(D) an entity that— 

‘‘(i) is a nonprofit organization, an institution of 

higher education, a public-private partnership, a 

science or research park, a Federal laboratory, or an 

economic development organization or similar entity; 

and 

‘‘(ii) has an application that is supported by a 

State or a political subdivision of a State; or 

‘‘(E) a consortium of any of the entities described in 

subparagraphs (A) through (D). 

‘‘(4) APPLICATION.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible recipient shall submit 

an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 

manner, and containing such information and assurances 

as the Secretary may require. 

‘‘(B) COMPONENTS.—The application shall include, at 

a minimum, a description of the regional innovation cluster 

supported by the proposed activity, including a description 

of— 

‘‘(i) whether the regional innovation cluster is supported by the private sector, State and local governments, and other relevant stakeholders; 

‘‘(ii) how the existing participants in the regional 

innovation cluster will encourage and solicit participation by all types of entities that might benefit from 

participation, including newly formed entities and 

those rival existing participants; 

‘‘(iii) the extent to which the regional innovation 

cluster is likely to stimulate innovation and have a 

positive impact on regional economic growth and 

development; 

‘‘(iv) whether the participants in the regional 

innovation cluster have access to, or contribute to, 

a well-trained workforce; 

‘‘(v) whether the participants in the regional 

innovation cluster are capable of attracting additional 

funds from non-Federal sources; and 
H. R. 5116—51 

‘‘(vi) the likelihood that the participants in the 

regional innovation cluster will be able to sustain 

activities once grant funds under this subsection have 

been expended. 

‘‘(C) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—The Secretary shall give 

special consideration to applications from regions that contain communities negatively impacted by trade. 

‘‘(5) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—The Secretary shall give special consideration to an eligible recipient who agrees to collaborate with local workforce investment area boards. 

‘‘(6) COST SHARE.—The Secretary may not provide more 

than 50 percent of the total cost of any activity funded under 

this subsection. 

‘‘(7) USE AND APPLICATION OF RESEARCH AND INFORMATION

PROGRAM.—To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 

shall ensure that activities funded under this subsection use 

and apply any relevant research, best practices, and metrics 

developed under the program established in subsection (c). 

‘‘(c) SCIENCE AND RESEARCH PARK DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program established under 

subsection (a), the Secretary may award grants for the development of feasibility studies and plans for the construction of 

new science parks or the renovation or expansion of existing 

science parks. 

‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The amount of 

a grant awarded under this subsection may not exceed 

$750,000. 

‘‘(3) AWARD.— 

‘‘(A) COMPETITION REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 

award grants under this subsection pursuant to a full 

and open competition. 

‘‘(B) GEOGRAPHIC DISPERSION.—In conducting a 

competitive process, the Secretary shall consider the need 

to avoid undue geographic concentration among any one 

category of States based on their predominant rural or 

urban character as indicated by population density. 

‘‘(C) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall publish 

the criteria to be utilized in any competition for the selection of recipients of grants under this subsection, which 

shall include requirements relating to the— 

‘‘(i) effect the science park will have on regional 

economic growth and development; 

‘‘(ii) number of jobs to be created at the science 

park and the surrounding regional community each 

year during its first 3 years; 

‘‘(iii) funding to be required to construct, renovate 

or expand the science park during its first 3 years; 

‘‘(iv) amount and type of financing and access to 

capital available to the applicant; 

‘‘(v) types of businesses and research entities 

expected in the science park and surrounding regional 

community; 

‘‘(vi) letters of intent by businesses and research 

entities to locate in the science park; 

‘‘(vii) capability to attract a well trained workforce 

to the science park; 
H. R. 5116—52 

‘‘(viii) the management of the science park during 

its first 5 years; 

‘‘(ix) expected financial risks in the construction 

and operation of the science park and the risk mitigation strategy; 

‘‘(x) physical infrastructure available to the science 

park, including roads, utilities, and telecommunications; 

‘‘(xi) utilization of energy-efficient building technology including nationally recognized green building 

design practices, renewable energy, cogeneration, and 

other methods that increase energy efficiency and conservation; 

‘‘(xii) consideration to the transformation of military bases affected by the base realignment and closure 

process or the redevelopment of existing buildings, 

structures, or brownfield sites that are abandoned, 

idled, or underused into single or multiple building 

facilities for science and technology companies and 

institutions; 

‘‘(xiii) ability to collaborate with other science 

parks throughout the world; 

‘‘(xiv) consideration of sustainable development 

practices and the quality of life at the science park; 

and 

‘‘(xv) other such criteria as the Secretary shall 

prescribe. 

‘‘(4) ALLOCATION CONSTRAINTS.—The Secretary may not 

allocate less than one-third of the total grant funding allocated 

under this section for any fiscal year to grants under subsection 

(b) or this subsection without written notification to the Senate 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

House of Representatives Committees on Science and Technology and on Energy and Commerce. 

‘‘(d) LOAN GUARANTEES FOR SCIENCE PARK INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary 

may guarantee up to 80 percent of the loan amount for projects 

for the construction or expansion, including renovation and 

modernization, of science park infrastructure. 

‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON GUARANTEE AMOUNTS.—The maximum 

amount of loan principal guaranteed under this subsection may 

not exceed— 

‘‘(A) $50,000,000 with respect to any single project; 

and 

‘‘(B) $300,000,000 with respect to all projects. 

‘‘(3) SELECTION OF GUARANTEE RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary 

shall select recipients of loan guarantees under this subsection 

based upon the ability of the recipient to collateralize the 

loan amount through bonds, equity, property, and such other 

things of values as the Secretary shall deem necessary. Recipients of grants under subsection (c) are not eligible for a loan 

guarantee during the period of the grant. To the extent that 

the Secretary determines it to be feasible, the Secretary may 

select recipients of guarantee assistance in accord with a 

competitive process that takes into account the factors set 

out in subsection (c)(3)(C) of this section. 
H. R. 5116—53 

‘‘(4) TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR LOAN GUARANTEES.—The 

loans guaranteed under this subsection shall be subject to 

such terms and conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, 

except that— 

‘‘(A) the final maturity of such loans made or guaranteed may not exceed the lesser of— 

‘‘(i) 30 years; or 

‘‘(ii) 90 percent of the useful life of any physical 

asset to be financed by the loan; 

‘‘(B) a loan guaranteed under this subsection may not 

be subordinated to another debt contracted by the borrower 

or to any other claims against the borrowers in the case 

of default; 

‘‘(C) a loan may not be guaranteed under this subsection unless the Secretary determines that the lender 

is responsible and that provision is made for servicing 

the loan on reasonable terms and in a manner that adequately protects the financial interest of the United States; 

‘‘(D) a loan may not be guaranteed under this subsection if— 

‘‘(i) the income from the loan is excluded from 

gross income for purposes of chapter 1 of the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986; or 

‘‘(ii) the guarantee provides significant collateral 

or security, as determined by the Secretary in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, for other 

obligations the income from which is so excluded; 

‘‘(E) any guarantee provided under this subsection shall 

be conclusive evidence that— 

‘‘(i) the guarantee has been properly obtained; 

‘‘(ii) the underlying loan qualified for the guarantee; and 

‘‘(iii) absent fraud or material misrepresentation 

by the holder, the guarantee is presumed to be valid, 

legal, and enforceable; 

‘‘(F) the Secretary may not extend credit assistance 

unless the Secretary has determined that there is a reasonable assurance of repayment; and 

‘‘(G) new loan guarantees may not be committed except 

to the extent that appropriations of budget authority to 

cover their costs are made in advance, as required under 

section 504 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 

U.S.C. 661c). 

‘‘(5) PAYMENT OF LOSSES.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, as a result of a default by a 

borrower under a loan guaranteed under this subsection, 

after the holder has made such further collection efforts 

and instituted such enforcement proceedings as the Secretary may require, the Secretary determines that the 

holder has suffered a loss, the Secretary shall pay to the 

holder the percentage of the loss specified in the guarantee 

contract. Upon making any such payment, the Secretary 

shall be subrogated to all the rights of the recipient of 

the payment. The Secretary shall be entitled to recover 

from the borrower the amount of any payments made 

pursuant to any guarantee entered into under this section. 
H. R. 5116—54 

‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS.—The Attorney General 

shall take such action as may be appropriate to enforce 

any right accruing to the United States as a result of 

the issuance of any guarantee under this section. 

‘‘(C) FORBEARANCE.—Nothing in this section may be 

construed to preclude any forbearance for the benefit of 

the borrower which may be agreed upon by the parties 

to the guaranteed loan and approved by the Secretary, 

if budget authority for any resulting subsidy costs (as 

defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform 

Act of 1990) is available. 

‘‘(6) EVALUATION OF CREDIT RISK.— 

‘‘(A) The Secretary shall periodically assess the credit 

risk of new and existing direct loans or guaranteed loans. 

‘‘(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 

2010, the Comptroller General of the United States shall— 

‘‘(i) conduct a review of the subsidy estimates for 

the loan guarantees under this section; and 

‘‘(ii) submit to Congress a report on the review 

conducted under this paragraph. 

‘‘(7) TERMINATION.—A loan may not be guaranteed under 

this section after September 30, 2013. 

‘‘(8) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 

authorized to be appropriated $7,000,000 for each of fiscal 

years 2011 through 2013 for the cost (as defined in section 

502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990) of guaranteeing 

$300,000,000 in loans under this section, such sums to remain 

available until expended. 

‘‘(e) REGIONAL INNOVATION RESEARCH AND INFORMATION PROGRAM.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program established under 

subsection (a), the Secretary shall establish a regional innovation research and information program— 

‘‘(A) to gather, analyze, and disseminate information 

on best practices for regional innovation strategies 

(including regional innovation clusters), including information relating to how innovation, productivity, and economic 

development can be maximized through such strategies; 

‘‘(B) to provide technical assistance, including through 

the development of technical assistance guides, for the 

development and implementation of regional innovation 

strategies (including regional innovation clusters); 

‘‘(C) to support the development of relevant metrics 

and measurement standards to evaluate regional innovation strategies (including regional innovation clusters), 

including the extent to which such strategies stimulate 

innovation, productivity, and economic development; and 

‘‘(D) to collect and make available data on regional 

innovation cluster activity in the United States, including 

data on— 

‘‘(i) the size, specialization, and competitiveness 

of regional innovation clusters; 

‘‘(ii) the regional domestic product contribution, 

total jobs and earnings by key occupations, establishment size, nature of specialization, patents, Federal 
H. R. 5116—55 

research and development spending, and other relevant 

information for regional innovation clusters; and 

‘‘(iii) supply chain product and service flows within 

and between regional innovation clusters. 

‘‘(2) RESEARCH GRANTS.—The Secretary may award 

research grants on a competitive basis to support and further 

the goals of the program established under this subsection. 

‘‘(3) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—Data and analysis 

compiled by the Secretary under the program established in 

this subsection shall be made available to other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and nonprofit and for-profit 

entities. 

‘‘(4) REGIONAL INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall incorporate data and analysis relating to any grant 

under subsection (b) or (c) and any loan guarantee under subsection (d) into the program established under this subsection. 

‘‘(f) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum extent practicable, the 

Secretary shall ensure that the activities carried out under 

this section are coordinated with, and do not duplicate the 

efforts of, other programs at the Department of Commerce 

or other Federal agencies. 

‘‘(2) COLLABORATION.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall explore and 

pursue collaboration with other Federal agencies, including 

through multiagency funding opportunities, on regional 

innovation strategies. 

‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESSES.—The Secretary shall ensure 

that such collaboration with Federal agencies prioritizes 

the needs and challenges of small businesses. 

‘‘(g) EVALUATION.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

of enactment of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act 

of 2010, the Secretary shall enter into a contract with an 

independent entity, such as the National Academy of Sciences, 

to conduct an evaluation of the program established under 

subsection (a). 

‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall include— 

‘‘(A) whether the program is achieving its goals; 

‘‘(B) any recommendations for how the program may 

be improved; and 

‘‘(C) a recommendation as to whether the program 

should be continued or terminated. 

‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

‘‘(1) REGIONAL INNOVATION CLUSTER.—The term ‘regional 

innovation cluster’ means a geographically bounded network 

of similar, synergistic, or complementary entities that— 

‘‘(A) are engaged in or with a particular industry sector; 

‘‘(B) have active channels for business transactions 

and communication; 

‘‘(C) share specialized infrastructure, labor markets, 

and services; and 

‘‘(D) leverage the region’s unique competitive strengths 

to stimulate innovation and create jobs. 

‘‘(2) SCIENCE PARK.—The term ‘Science park’ means a property-based venture, which has— 
H. R. 5116—56 

‘‘(A) master-planned property and buildings designed 

primarily for private-public research and development 

activities, high technology and science-based companies, 

and research and development support services; 

‘‘(B) a contractual or operational relationship with one 

or more science- or research-related institution of higher 

education or governmental or non-profit research laboratories; 

‘‘(C) a primary mission to promote research and 

development through industry partnerships, assisting in 

the growth of new ventures and promoting innovationdriven economic development; 

‘‘(D) a role in facilitating the transfer of technology 

and business skills between researchers and industry 

teams; and 

‘‘(E) a role in promoting technology-led economic 

development for the community or region in which the 

science park is located.A science park may be owned by 

a governmental or not-for-profit entity, but it may enter 

into partnerships or joint ventures with for-profit entities 

for development or management of specific components 

of the park. 

‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means one of the several 

States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or any other territory 

or possession of the United States. 

‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Except as provided 

in subsection (d)(8), there are authorized to be appropriated 

$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2013 to carry 

out this section (other than for loan guarantees under subsection 

(d)).’’. 

SEC. 604. STUDY ON ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS AND INNOVATIVE 

CAPACITY OF UNITED STATES AND DEVELOPMENT OF 

NATIONAL ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS STRATEGY. 

(a) STUDY.— 

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

of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall 

complete a comprehensive study of the economic competitiveness and innovative capacity of the United States. 

(2) MATTERS COVERED.—The study required by paragraph 

(1) shall include the following: 

(A) An analysis of the United States economy and 

innovation infrastructure. 

(B) An assessment of the following: 

(i) The current competitive and innovation 

performance of the United States economy relative to 

other countries that compete economically with the 

United States. 

(ii) Economic competitiveness and domestic innovation in the current business climate, including tax and 

Federal regulatory policy. 

(iii) The business climate of the United States 

and those of other countries that compete economically 

with the United States. 
H. R. 5116—57 

(iv) Regional issues that influence the economic 

competitiveness and innovation capacity of the United 

States, including— 

(I) the roles of State and local governments 

and institutions of higher education; and 

(II) regional factors that contribute positively 

to innovation. 

(v) The effectiveness of the Federal Government 

in supporting and promoting economic competitiveness 

and innovation, including any duplicative efforts of, 

or gaps in coverage between, Federal agencies and 

departments. 

(vi) Barriers to competitiveness in newly emerging 

business or technology sectors, factors influencing 

underperforming economic sectors, unique issues facing 

small and medium enterprises, and barriers to the 

development and evolution of start-ups, firms, and 

industries. 

(vii) The effects of domestic and international trade 

policy on the competitiveness of the United States and 

the United States economy. 

(viii) United States export promotion and export 

finance programs relative to export promotion and 

export finance programs of other countries that compete economically with the United States, including 

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and 

the United Kingdom, with noting of export promotion 

and export finance programs carried out by such countries that are not analogous to any programs carried 

out by the United States. 

(ix) The effectiveness of current policies and programs affecting exports, including an assessment of 

Federal trade restrictions and State and Federal export 

promotion activities. 

(x) The effectiveness of the Federal Government 

and Federally funded research and development centers in supporting and promoting technology commercialization and technology transfer. 

(xi) Domestic and international intellectual property policies and practices. 

(xii) Manufacturing capacity, logistics, and supply 

chain dynamics of major export sectors, including 

access to a skilled workforce, physical infrastructure, 

and broadband network infrastructure. 

(xiii) Federal and State policies relating to science, 

technology, and education and other relevant Federal 

and State policies designed to promote commercial 

innovation, including immigration policies. 

(C) Development of recommendations on the following: 

(i) How the United States should invest in human 

capital. 

(ii) How the United States should facilitate 

entrepreneurship and innovation. 

(iii) How best to develop opportunities for locally 

and regionally driven innovation by providing Federal 

support. 
H. R. 5116—58 

(iv) How best to strengthen the economic infrastructure and industrial base of the United States. 

(v) How to improve the international competitiveness of the United States. 

(3) CONSULTATION.— 

(A) IN GENERAL.—The study required by paragraph 

(1) shall be conducted in consultation with the National 

Economic Council of the Office of Policy Development, such 

Federal agencies as the Secretary considers appropriate, 

and the Innovation Advisory Board established under 

subparagraph (B). The Secretary shall also establish a 

process for obtaining comments from the public. 

(B) INNOVATION ADVISORY BOARD.— 

(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 

Innovation Advisory Board for purposes of obtaining 

advice with respect to the conduct of the study required 

by paragraph (1). 

(ii) COMPOSITION.—The Advisory Board established 

under clause (i) shall be comprised of 15 members, 

appointed by the Secretary— 

(I) who shall represent all major industry sectors; 

(II) a majority of whom should be from private 

industry, including large and small firms, representing advanced technology sectors and more 

traditional sectors that use technology; and 

(III) who may include economic or innovation 

policy experts, State and local government officials 

active in technology-based economic development, 

and representatives from higher education. 

(iii) EXEMPTION FROM FACA.—The Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the 

advisory board established under clause (i). 

(b) STRATEGY.— 

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

of the study required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

develop, based on the study required by subsection (a)(1), a 

national 10-year strategy to strengthen the innovative and 

competitive capacity of the Federal Government, State and 

local governments, United States institutions of higher education, and the private sector of the United States. 

(2) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by paragraph (1) 

shall include the following: 

(A) Actions to be taken by individual Federal agencies 

and departments to improve competitiveness. 

(B) Proposed legislative actions for consideration by 

Congress. 

(C) Annual goals and milestones for the 10-year period 

of the strategy. 

(D) A plan for monitoring the progress of the Federal 

Government with respect to improving conditions for 

innovation and the competitiveness of the United States. 

(c) REPORT.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the completion of the strategy 

required by subsection (b), the Secretary of Commerce shall 

submit to Congress and the President a report on the study 
H. R. 5116—59 

conducted under subsection (a) and the strategy developed 

under subsection (b). 

(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by paragraph (1) shall 

include the following: 

(A) The findings of the Secretary with respect to the 

study conducted under subsection (a). 

(B) The strategy required by subsection (b). 

SEC. 605. PROMOTING USE OF HIGH-END COMPUTING SIMULATION 

AND MODELING BY SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED MANUFACTURERS. 

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

(1) the utilization of high-end computing simulation and 

modeling by large-scale government contractors and Federal 

research entities has resulted in substantial improvements in 

the development of advanced manufacturing technologies; and 

(2) such simulation and modeling would also benefit smalland medium-sized manufacturers in the United States if such 

manufacturers were to deploy such simulation and modeling 

throughout their manufacturing chains. 

(b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States to take all 

effective measures practicable to ensure that Federal programs 

and policies encourage and contribute to the use of high-end computing simulation and modeling in the United States manufacturing 

sector. 

(c) STUDY.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the date 

of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, in 

consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the Director 

of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall carry 

out, through an interagency consulting process, a study of the 

barriers to the use of high-end computing simulation and modeling by small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the United 

States. 

(2) FACTORS.—In carrying out the study required by paragraph (1), the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 

the Secretary of Energy and the Director of the Office of Science 

and Technology Policy, shall consider the following: 

(A) The access of small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the United States to high-performance computing 

facilities and resources. 

(B) The availability of software and other applications 

tailored to meet the needs of such manufacturers. 

(C) Whether such manufacturers employ or have access 

to individuals with appropriate expertise for the use of 

such facilities and resources. 

(D) Whether such manufacturers have access to 

training to develop such expertise. 

(E) The availability of tools and other methods to such 

manufacturers to understand and manage the costs and 

risks associated with transitioning to the use of such facilities and resources. 

(3) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after the commencement of the study required by paragraph (1), the Secretary 

of Commerce shall, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy 

and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 

submit to Congress a report on such study. Such report shall 
H. R. 5116—60 

include such recommendations for such legislative or administrative action as the Secretary of Commerce considers appropriate in light of the study to increase the utilization of highend computing simulation and modeling by small- and mediumsized manufacturers in the United States. 

(d) AUTHORIZATION OF DEMONSTRATION AND PILOT PROGRAMS.— 

As part of the study required by subsection (c)(1), the Secretary 

of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and the Director of the 

Office of Science and Technology Policy may carry out such demonstration or pilot programs as either Secretary or the Director 

considers appropriate to gather experiential data to evaluate the 

feasibility and advisability of a specific program or policy initiative 

to reduce barriers to the utilization of high-end computer modeling 

and simulation by small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the 

United States. 

TITLE VII—NIST GREEN JOBS 

SEC. 701. SHORT TITLE. 

This title may be cited as the ‘‘NIST Grants for Energy Efficiency, New Job Opportunities, and Business Solutions Act of 2010’’ 

or the ‘‘NIST GREEN JOBS Act of 2010’’. 

SEC. 702. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) Over its 20-year existence, the Hollings Manufacturing 

Extension Partnership has proven its value to manufacturers 

as demonstrated by the resulting impact on jobs and the economies of all 50 States and the Nation as a whole. 

(2) The Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership has 

helped thousands of companies reinvest in themselves through 

process improvement and business growth initiatives leading 

to more sales, new markets, and the adoption of technology 

to deliver new products and services. 

(3) Manufacturing is an increasingly important part of 

the construction sector as the industry moves to the use of 

more components and factory built sub-assemblies. 

(4) Construction practices must become more efficient and 

precise if the United States is to construct and renovate its 

building stock to reduce related carbon emissions to levels 

that are consistent with combating global warming. 

(5) Many companies involved in construction are small, 

without access to innovative manufacturing techniques, and 

could benefit from the type of training and business analysis 

activities that the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership routinely provides to the Nation’s manufacturers and their 

supply chains. 

(6) Broadening the competitiveness grant program under 

section 25(f) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(f)) could help develop and diffuse 

knowledge necessary to capture a large portion of the estimated 

$100 billion or more in energy savings if buildings in the 

United States met the level and quality of energy efficiency 

now found in buildings in certain other countries. 
H. R. 5116—61 

(7) It is therefore in the national interest to expand the 

capabilities of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership to be supportive of the construction and green energy 

industries. 

SEC. 703. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY 

COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 25(f)(3) of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(f)(3)) is amended— 

(1) by striking ‘‘to develop’’ in the first sentence and 

inserting ‘‘to add capabilities to the MEP program, including 

the development of’’; and 

(2) by striking the last sentence and inserting ‘‘Centers 

may be reimbursed for costs incurred under the program. These 

themes— 

‘‘(A) shall be related to projects designed to increase 

the viability both of traditional manufacturing sectors and 

other sectors, such as construction, that increasingly rely 

on manufacturing through the use of manufactured components and manufacturing techniques, including supply 

chain integration and quality management; 

‘‘(B) shall be related to projects related to the transfer 

of technology based on the technological needs of manufacturers and available technologies from institutions of higher 

education, laboratories, and other technology producing 

entities; and 

‘‘(C) may extend beyond these traditional areas to 

include projects related to construction industry modernization.’’. 

(b) SELECTION.—Section 25(f)(5) of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(f)(5)) is amended 

to read as follows: 

‘‘(5) SELECTION.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Awards under this section shall be 

peer reviewed and competitively awarded. The Director 

shall endeavor to select at least one proposal in each of 

the 9 statistical divisions of the United States (as designated by the Bureau of the Census). The Director shall 

select proposals to receive awards that will— 

‘‘(i) create jobs or train newly hired employees; 

‘‘(ii) promote technology transfer and commercialization of environmentally focused materials, products, and processes; 

‘‘(iii) increase energy efficiency; and 

‘‘(iv) improve the competitiveness of industries in 

the region in which the Center or Centers are located. 

‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Director 

may select proposals to receive awards that will— 

‘‘(i) encourage greater cooperation and foster partnerships in the region with similar Federal, State, 

and locally funded programs to encourage energy efficiency and building technology; and 

‘‘(ii) collect data and analyze the increasing connection 

between manufactured products and manufacturing techniques, the future of construction practices, and the 

emerging application of products from the green energy 

industries.’’. 
H. R. 5116—62 

(c) OTHER MODIFICATIONS.—Section 25(f) of the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(f)) is 

amended— 

(1) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(7) DURATION.—Awards under this section shall last no 

longer than 3 years. 

‘‘(8) ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS.—In addition to manufacturing 

firms eligible to participate in the Centers program, awards 

under this subsection may be used by the Centers to assist 

small- or medium-sized construction firms. Centers may be 

reimbursed under the program for working with such eligible 

participants. 

‘‘(9) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addition to 

any amounts otherwise authorized or appropriated to carry 

out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to 

the Secretary of Commerce $7,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

years 2011 through 2013 to carry out this subsection.’’. 

TITLE VIII—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

SEC. 801. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REVIEW. 

Not later than May 31, 2013, the Comptroller General of the 

United States shall submit a report to the Senate Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology that evaluates 

the status of the programs authorized in this Act, including the 

extent to which such programs have been funded, implemented, 

and are contributing to achieving the goals of the Act. 

SEC. 802. SALARY RESTRICTIONS. 

(a) OBSCENE MATTER ON FEDERAL PROPERTY.—None of the 

funds authorized under this Act may be used to pay the salary 

of any individual who is convicted of violating section 1460 of 

title 18, United States Code. 

(b) USE OF FEDERAL COMPUTERS FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OR

EXPLOITATION OF MINORS.—None of the funds authorized under 

this Act may be used to pay the salary of any individual who 

is convicted of a violation of section 2252 of title 18, United States 

Code. 

SEC. 803. ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AUTHORITIES OF THE FCC. 

Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 

et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SEC. 12. ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AUTHORITIES OF THE FCC. 

‘‘In order to carry out the purposes of this Act, the Commission 

may— 

‘‘(1) undertake research and development work in connection with any matter in relation to which the Commission 

has jurisdiction; and 

‘‘(2) promote the carrying out of such research and development by others, or otherwise to arrange for such research 

and development to be carried out by others.’’. 
H. R. 5116—63 

TITLE IX—DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

SEC. 901. SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION 

PROGRAMS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Sections 3171, 3175, and 3191 of the Department of Energy Science Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 

7381h, 7381j, 7381p) are repealed. 

(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR SUMMER

INSTITUTES.—Section 3185(f) of the Department of Energy Science 

Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 7381n(f)) is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end 

and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(4) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

2013.’’. 

(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

(1) Subpart B of the Department of Energy Science Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 7381g et seq.) is amended 

by striking chapters 1, 2, and 5 (42 U.S.C. 7381h, 7381j, 7381p). 

(2) Section 3195 of the Department of Energy Science Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 7381r) is amended by 

striking ‘‘chapters 1, 3, and 4’’ each place it appears and 

inserting ‘‘chapters 3 and 4’’. 

SEC. 902. ENERGY RESEARCH PROGRAMS. 

(a) NUCLEAR SCIENCE TALENT PROGRAM.—Section 5004(f) of 

the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16532(f)) is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (1)— 

(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at 

the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

(C) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(D) $9,800,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(E) $10,100,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(F) $10,400,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’; and 

(2) in paragraph (2)— 

(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at 

the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

(C) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(D) $8,240,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(E) $8,500,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(F) $8,750,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’. 

(b) HYDROCARBON SYSTEMS SCIENCE TALENT PROGRAM.—Section 5005 of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16533) is 

amended— 

(1) in subsection (b)(2)— 

(A) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(B) in subparagraph (I), by striking the period at the 

end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

(C) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(J) hydrocarbon spill response and remediation.’’; and 

(2) in subsection (f)(1)— 

(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’; 
H. R. 5116—64 

(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at 

the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

(C) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(D) $9,800,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(E) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(F) $10,400,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’. 

(c) EARLY CAREER AWARDS.—Section 5006(h) of the America 

COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16534(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘2010’’ 

and inserting ‘‘2013’’. 

(d) PROTECTING AMERICA’S COMPETITIVE EDGE (PACE) GRAD- UATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—Section 5009(f) of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16536(f)) is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end 

and inserting a semicolon; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(4) $20,600,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(5) $21,200,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(6) $21,900,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’. 

(e) DISTINGUISHED SCIENTIST PROGRAM.—Section 5011(j) of the 

America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16537(j)) is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end 

and inserting a semicolon; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(4) $31,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(5) $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(6) $33,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’. 

SEC. 903. BASIC RESEARCH. 

Section 971(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 

16311(b)) is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end 

and inserting a semicolon; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(5) $5,247,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(6) $5,614,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(7) $6,007,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’. 

SEC. 904. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY-ENERGY. 

Section 5012 of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16538) 

is amended— 

(1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘subsection (m)(1)’’ and 

inserting ‘‘subsection (n)(1)’’; 

(2) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by inserting ‘‘and applied’’ after 

‘‘advances in fundamental’’; 

(3) in subsection (e)— 

(A) in paragraph (3)— 

(i) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the 

following: 

‘‘(C) research and development of advanced manufacturing process and technologies for the domestic manufacturing of novel energy technologies; and’’; and 

(ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

the semicolon at the end; 

(B) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the 

end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
H. R. 5116—65 

(C) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(5) pursuant to subsection (c)(2)(C)— 

‘‘(A) ensuring that applications for funding disclose 

the extent of current and prior efforts, including monetary 

investments as appropriate, in pursuit of the technology 

area for which funding is being requested; 

‘‘(B) adopting measures to ensure that, in making 

awards, program managers adhere to the purposes of subsection (c)(2)(C); and 

‘‘(C) providing as part of the annual report required 

by subsection (h)(1) a summary of the instances of and 

reasons for ARPA–E funding projects in technology areas 

already being undertaken by industry.’’; 

(4) by redesignating subsections (f) through (m) as subsections (g) through (n), respectively; 

(5) by inserting after subsection (e) the following: 

‘‘(f) AWARDS.—In carrying out this section, the Director may 

provide awards in the form of grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, cash prizes, and other transactions.’’; 

(6) in subsection (g) (as redesignated by paragraph (4))— 

(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; 

(B) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as redesignated 

by subparagraph (A)) the following: 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish and maintain within ARPA–E a staff with sufficient qualifications and 

expertise to enable ARPA–E to carry out the responsibilities 

of ARPA–E under this section in conjunction with other operations of the Department.’’; 

(C) in paragraph (2) (as redesignated by subparagraph 

(A))— 

(i) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘PROGRAM

MANAGERS’’ and inserting ‘‘PROGRAM DIRECTORS’’; 

(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘program managers for each of’’ and inserting ‘‘program directors 

for’’; 

(iii) in subparagraph (B)— 

(I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 

striking ‘‘program manager’’ and inserting ‘‘program director’’; 

(II) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘, with advice 

under subsection (j) as appropriate,’’; 

(III) by redesignating clauses (v) and (vi) as 

clauses (vi) and (viii), respectively; 

(IV) by inserting after clause (iv) the following: 

‘‘(v) identifying innovative cost-sharing arrangements for ARPA–E projects, including through use of 

the authority provided under section 988(b)(3) of the 

Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352(b)(3));’’; 

(V) in clause (vi) (as redesignated by subclause 

(III)), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

and 

(VI) by inserting after clause (vi) (as redesignated by subclause (III)) the following: 
H. R. 5116—66 

‘‘(vii) identifying mechanisms for commercial 

application of successful energy technology development projects, including through establishment of partnerships between awardees and commercial entities; 

and’’; 

(iv) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘not more 

than’’ after ‘‘shall be’’; and 

(D) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by subparagraph 

(A))— 

(i) in subparagraph (A)— 

(I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

semicolon at the end; and 

(II) by striking clause (ii) and inserting the 

following: 

‘‘(ii) fix the basic pay of such personnel at a rate 

to be determined by the Director at rates not in excess 

of Level II of the Executive Schedule (EX–II) without 

regard to the civil service laws; and 

‘‘(iii) pay any employee appointed under this subpart payments in addition to basic pay, except that 

the total amount of additional payments paid to an 

employee under this subpart for any 12-month period 

shall not exceed the least of the following amounts: 

‘‘(I) $25,000. 

‘‘(II) The amount equal to 25 percent of the 

annual rate of basic pay of the employee. 

‘‘(III) The amount of the limitation that is 

applicable for a calendar year under section 

5307(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code.’’; 

(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘not less than 

70, and not more than 120,’’ and inserting ‘‘not more 

than 120’’; 

(7) in subsection (h)(2) (as redesignated by paragraph (4))— 

(A) by striking ‘‘2008’’ and inserting ‘‘2010’’; and 

(B) by striking ‘‘2011’’ and inserting’’2013’’; 

(8) by striking subsection (j) (as redesignated by paragraph 

(4)) and inserting the following: 

‘‘(j) FEDERAL DEMONSTRATION OF TECHNOLOGIES.—The Director 

shall seek opportunities to partner with purchasing and procurement programs of Federal agencies to demonstrate energy technologies resulting from activities funded through ARPA–E.’’; 

(9) in subsection (l) (as redesignated by paragraph (4))— 

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘4 years’’ and 

inserting’’ 6 years’’; and 

(B) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ‘‘, and the manner 

in which those lessons may apply to the operation of other 

programs of the Department’’ after ‘‘ARPA–E’’; and 

(10) in subsection (n) (as redesignated by paragraph (4))— 

(A) in paragraph (2)— 

(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

the semicolon at the end; 

(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

(iii) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(C) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

‘‘(D) $306,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

‘‘(E) $312,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’; 
H. R. 5116—67 

(B) by striking paragraph (4); 

(C) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (4); 

and 

(D) in paragraph (4)(B) (as redesignated by subparagraph (C))— 

(i) by striking ‘‘2.5 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘5 percent’’; and 

(ii) by inserting ‘‘, consistent with the goal 

described in subsection (c)(2)(D) and within the responsibilities of program directors described in subsection 

(g)(2)(B)(vii)’’ after ‘‘outreach activities’’. 

TITLE X—EDUCATION 

SEC. 1001. REFERENCES. 

Except as otherwise expressly provided, wherever in this title 

an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 

to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall 

be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the 

America COMPETES Act (Public Law 110–69). 

SEC. 1002. REPEALS AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

(a) REPEALS.—The following provisions of the Act are repealed: 

(1) Section 6001 (20 U.S.C. 9801). 

(2) Part III of subtitle A of title VI (20 U.S.C. 9841). 

(3) Subtitle B of title VI (20 U.S.C. 9851 et seq.) 

(4) Subtitle C of title VI (20 U.S.C. 9861 et seq.). 

(5) Subtitle E of title VI (20 U.S.C. 9881 et seq.). 

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Act is amended— 

(1) by redesignating section 6002 (20 U.S.C. 9802) as section 6001; 

(2) by redesignating subtitle D of title VI (20 U.S.C. 9871) 

as subtitle B of title VI; and 

(3) by redesignating section 6401 (20 U.S.C. 9871) as section 6201. 

SEC. 1003. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS AND MATCHING 

REQUIREMENT. 

(a) TEACHERS FOR A COMPETITIVE TOMORROW.—Section 6116 

(20 U.S.C. 9816) is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘SEC. 6116. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 

part $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2013, of 

which— 

‘‘(1) $2,000,000 shall be available to carry out section 6113 

for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2013; and 

‘‘(2) $2,000,000 shall be available to carry out section 6114 

for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2013.’’. 

(b) ADVANCED PLACEMENT AND INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

PROGRAMS AND MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Section 6123 (20 U.S.C. 

9833) is amended— 

(1) in subsection (h)(1)— 

(A) by striking ‘‘100’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; and 

(B) by striking ‘‘200’’ and inserting ‘‘100’’; and 

(2) by striking subsection (l) and inserting the following: 
H. R. 5116—68 

‘‘(l) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 

to be appropriated to carry out this section $75,000,000 for each 

of fiscal years 2011 through 2013.’’. 

(c) ALIGNMENT OF EDUCATION PROGRAMS.—Section 6201(j), as 

redesignated by section 1002(b)(3), is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 

to be appropriated to carry out this section $120,000,000 for each 

of fiscal years 2011 and 2012.’’. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.