II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1494

To ensure that small businesses throughout the United States participate

fully in the unfolding electronic commerce revolution through the establishment of an electronic commerce extension program at the National

Institutes of Standards and Technology.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 4, 1999

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Ms. SNOWE, and Ms. MIKULSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To ensure that small businesses throughout the United

States participate fully in the unfolding electronic commerce revolution through the establishment of an electronic commerce extension program at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electronic Commerce

5 Extension Establishment Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) The United States economy is in the early

2 stages of a revolution in electronic commerce—the

3 ability to buy, sell, and even deliver goods and serv4 ices through computer networks. Estimates are that

5 electronic commerce sales in 1998 were around

6 $100,000,000,000 and could rise to

7 $1,300,000,000,000 by 2003.

8 (2) Electronic commerce promises to spur tre9 mendously United States productivity and economic

10 growth—repeating a historical pattern where the

11 greatest impetus toward economic growth lies not in

12 the sale of new technologies but in their widespread

13 adoption and use.

14 (3) Electronic commerce presents an enormous

15 opportunity and challenge for small businesses. Such

16 commerce will give such businesses new markets and

17 new ways of doing businesses. However, many such

18 business will have difficulty in adopting appropriate

19 electronic commerce technologies and practices.

20 Moreover, such businesses in more rural areas will

21 find distant businesses entering their markets and

22 competing with them. Thus, there is considerable

23 risk many small businesses will be left behind in the

24 shift to electronic commerce.
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1 (4) The United States has an interest in ensur2 ing that small businesses in all parts of the United

3 States participate fully in the electronic commerce

4 revolution, both for the sake of such businesses and

5 in order to promote productivity and economic

6 growth throughout the entire United States econ7 omy.

8 (5) The Federal Government has a long history

9 of successfully helping small farmers with new agri10 cultural technologies through the Cooperative Exten11 sion System at the Department of Agriculture,

12 founded in 1914. More recently, the National Insti13 tute of Standards and Technology has successfully

14 helped small manufacturers with manufacturing

15 technologies through its Manufacturing Extension

16 Program, established in 1988.

17 (6) Similarly, now is the time to establish an

18 electronic commerce extension program to help small

19 businesses throughout the United States identify,

20 adapt, and adopt electronic commerce technologies

21 and business practices, thereby ensuring that such

22 businesses fully participate in the electronic com23 merce revolution.
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to establish an electronic

3 commerce extension program focused on small businesses

4 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

5 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE EX6 TENSION PROGRAM AT NATIONAL INSTI7 TUTES OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY.

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The National Bureau of

9 Standards Act (15 U.S.C. 271 et seq.) is amended by in10 serting after section 25 (15 U.S.C. 278k) the following

11 new section:

12 ‘‘REGIONAL CENTERS FOR THE TRANSFER OF

13 ELECTRONIC COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY

14 ‘‘SEC. 25A. (a)(1) The Secretary, through the Under15 secretary of Commerce for Technology and the Director

16 and in consultation with other appropriate officials, shall

17 provide assistance for the creation and support of Re18 gional Centers for the Transfer of Electronic Commerce

19 Technology (in this section referred to as ‘Centers’).

20 ‘‘(2) The Centers shall be affiliated with any United

21 States-based nonprofit institution or organization, or

22 group thereof, that applies for and is awarded financial

23 assistance under this section in accordance with the pro24 gram established by the Secretary under subsection (c).
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1 ‘‘(3) The objective of the Centers is to enhance pro2 ductivity and technological performance in United States

3 electronic commerce through—

4 ‘‘(A) the transfer of electronic commerce tech5 nology and techniques developed at the Institute to

6 Centers and, through them, to companies through7 out the United States;

8 ‘‘(B) the participation of individuals from in9 dustry, institutions of higher education, State gov10 ernments, other Federal agencies, and, when appro11 priate, the Institute in cooperative technology trans12 fer activities;

13 ‘‘(C) efforts to make electronic commerce tech14 nology and techniques usable by a wide range of

15 United States-based small companies;

16 ‘‘(D) the active dissemination of scientific, engi17 neering, technical, and management information

18 about electronic commerce to small companies, with

19 a particular focus on reaching those located in rural

20 or isolated areas; and

21 ‘‘(E) the utilization, when appropriate, of the

22 expertise and capability that exists in State and local

23 governments, institutions of higher education, the

24 private sector, and Federal laboratories other than

25 the Institute.
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1 ‘‘(b) The activities of the Centers shall include—

2 ‘‘(1) the establishment of electronic commerce

3 demonstration systems, based on research by the In4 stitute and other organizations and entities, for the

5 purpose of technology transfer; and

6 ‘‘(2) the active transfer and dissemination of re7 search findings and Center expertise to a wide range

8 of companies and enterprises, particularly small

9 companies.

10 ‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary may provide financial support

11 to any Center created under subsection (a) in accordance

12 with a program established by the Secretary for purposes

13 of this section.

14 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may not provide to a Center more

15 than 50 percent of the capital and annual operating and

16 maintenance funds required to create and maintain the

17 Center.

18 ‘‘(3)(A) Any nonprofit institution, or group thereof,

19 or consortia of nonprofit institutions may, in accordance

20 with the procedures established by the Secretary under the

21 program under paragraph (1), submit to the Secretary an

22 application for financial support for the creation and oper23 ation of a Center under this section.

24 ‘‘(B) In order to receive financial assistance under

25 this section for a Center, an applicant shall provide ade-
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1 quate assurances that it will contribute 50 percent or more

2 of the estimated capital and annual operating and mainte3 nance costs of the Center for the first three years of its

4 operation and an increasing share of such costs over the

5 next three years of its operation.

6 ‘‘(C) An applicant shall also submit a proposal for

7 the allocation of the legal rights associated with any inven8 tion which may result from the activities of the Center

9 proposed by the applicant.

10 ‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall subject each application

11 submitted under this subsection to merit review.

12 ‘‘(B) In making a decision whether to approve an ap13 plication and provide financial support for a Center under

14 this section, the Secretary shall consider at a minimum—

15 ‘‘(i) the merits of the application, particularly

16 the portions of the application regarding technology

17 transfer, training and education, and adaptation of

18 electronic commerce technologies to the needs of

19 particular industrial sectors;

20 ‘‘(ii) the quality of service to be provided;

21 ‘‘(iii) geographical diversity and extent of serv22 ice area; and

23 ‘‘(iv) the percentage of funding and amount of

24 in-kind commitment from other sources.
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1 ‘‘(5)(A) Each Center receiving financial assistance

2 under this section shall be evaluated during the third year

3 of its operation by an evaluation panel appointed by the

4 Secretary.

5 ‘‘(B) Each evaluation panel under this paragraph

6 shall be composed of private experts, none of whom shall

7 be connected with the Center involved, and with appro8 priate Federal officials. An official of the Institute shall

9 chair each evaluation panel.

10 ‘‘(C) Each evaluation panel under this paragraph

11 shall measure the performance of the Center involved

12 against the objectives specified in this section and under

13 the arrangement between the Center and the Institute.

14 ‘‘(6) The Secretary may not provide funding for a

15 Center under this section for the fourth through the sixth

16 years of its operation unless the evaluation regarding the

17 Center under paragraph (5) is positive. If such evaluation

18 for a Center is positive, the Secretary may provide contin19 ued funding for the Center through the sixth year of its

20 operation at declining levels.

21 ‘‘(7)(A) After the sixth year of operation of a Center,

22 the Center may receive additional financial support under

23 this section if the Center has received a positive evaluation

24 of its operation through an independent review conducted

25 under procedures established by the Institute. Such inde-
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1 pendent review shall be undertaken for a Center not less

2 often than every two years commencing after the sixth

3 year of its operation.

4 ‘‘(B) The amount of funding received by a Center

5 under this section for any fiscal year of the Center after

6 the sixth year of its operation may not exceed an amount

7 equal to one-third of the capital and annual operating and

8 maintenance costs of the Center in such fiscal year under

9 the program.

10 ‘‘(8) The provisions of chapter 18 of title 35, United

11 States Code, shall (to the extent not inconsistent with this

12 section) apply to the promotion of technology from re13 search by Centers under this section except for contracts

14 for such specific technology extension or transfer services

15 as may be specified by statute or by the Director.

16 ‘‘(d)(1) In addition to such sums as may be appro17 priated to the Secretary and Director for purposes of the

18 support of Centers under this section, the Secretary and

19 Director may accept funds from other Federal depart20 ments and agencies for such purposes.

21 ‘‘(2) The selection and operation of a Center under

22 this section shall be governed by the provisions of this sec23 tion, regardless of the Federal department or agency pro24 viding funds for the operation of the Center.
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1 ‘‘(e) In this section, the term ‘electronic commerce’

2 means the buying, selling, and delivery of goods and serv3 ices, or the coordination or conduct of economic activities

4 within and among organizations, through computer net5 works.’’.

6 (b) DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM.—(1) Not later than

7 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

8 Secretary of Commerce shall publish in the Federal Reg9 ister a proposal for the program required by section

10 25A(c) of the National Bureau of Standards Act, as added

11 by subsection (a).

12 (2) The proposal for the program under paragraph

13 (1) shall include—

14 (A) a description of the program;

15 (B) procedures to be followed by applicants for

16 support under the program;

17 (C) criteria for determining qualified applicants

18 under the program;

19 (D) criteria, including the criteria specified in

20 paragraph (4) of such section 25A(c), for choosing

21 recipients of financial assistance under the program

22 from among qualified applicants; and

23 (E) maximum support levels expected to be

24 available to Centers for the Transfer of Electronic
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1 Commerce Technology under the program in each

2 year of assistance under the program.

3 (3) The Secretary shall provide a 30-day period of

4 opportunity for public comment on the proposal published

5 under paragraph (1).

6 (4) Upon completion of the period referred to in para7 graph (3), the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Reg8 ister a final version of the program referred to in para9 graph (1). The final version of the program shall take into

10 account public comments received by the Secretary under

11 paragraph (3).

12 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

13 hereby authorized to be appropriated for the Department

14 of Commerce each fiscal year such amounts as may be

15 required during such fiscal year for purposes of activities

16 under section 25A of the National Bureau of Standards

17 Act, as added by subsection (a).

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