II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2336

To authorize funding for networking and information technology research

and development at the Department of Energy for fiscal years 2001

through 2005, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 30, 2000

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mrs. MURRAY)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To authorize funding for networking and information technology research and development at the Department of

Energy for fiscal years 2001 through 2005, and for

other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as ‘‘Networking and Informa5 tion Technology Research and Development for Depart6 ment of Energy Missions Act’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) The Department of Energy, especially in its

2 Office of Science research programs, has played a

3 key role in the development of high performance

4 computing, networking and information technology.

5 Important contributions by the Department include

6 pioneering the concept of remote, interactive access

7 to supercomputers; developing the first interactive

8 operating system for supercomputers; establishing

9 the first national supercomputer center; laying the

10 mathematical foundations for high performance com11 puting with numerical linear algebra libraries now

12 used by thousands of researchers worldwide; leading

13 the transition to massively parallel supercomputing

14 by developing software for parallel virtual machines;

15 and contributing to the development of the Internet

16 with software that is now used in the TCP/IP sys17 tem responsible for routing information packages to

18 their correct destinations.

19 (2) The Department of Energy’s contributions

20 to networking and information technology have

21 played a key role in the Department’s ability to ac22 complish its statutory mission in the past, in par23 ticular through the development of remote access to

24 its facilities. Continued accomplishments in these
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1 areas will be needed to continue to carry out these

2 missions in the future.

3 (3) The Department of Energy, through its

4 portfolio of unique facilities for scientific research

5 including high energy and nuclear laboratories, neu6 tron source and synchrotron facilities, and com7 puting and communications facilities such as the

8 National Energy Research Scientific Computing

9 Center and Energy Sciences Network, has a unique

10 and vital role in advancing the scientific research,

11 networking and information technology infrastruc12 ture for the nation.

13 (4) The challenge of remote creation of, access

14 to, visualization of, and simulation with petabyte15 scale (1,000,000 gigabyte) data sets generated by

16 experiments at DOE scientific facilities is common

17 to a number of different scientific disciplines. Effec18 tive treatment of these problems will likely require

19 collaborative efforts between the university, national

20 laboratory and industrial sectors and involve close

21 interactions of the broader scientific community with

22 computational, networking and information sci23 entists.

24 (5) The solution of contemporary challenges

25 facing the Department of Energy in developing and
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1 using high-performance computing, networking,

2 communications, and information technologies will

3 be of immense value to the entire nation. Potential

4 benefits include: effective earth, climate, and energy

5 systems modeling; understanding aging and fatigue

6 effects in materials crucial to energy systems; pro7 moting energy-efficient chemical production through

8 rational catalyst design; predicting the structure and

9 functions of the proteins coded by DNA and their

10 response to chemical and radiation damage; design11 ing more efficient combustion systems; and under12 standing turbulent flow in plasmas in energy and

13 advanced materials applications.

14 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROGRAMS.

15 (a) HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ACT PRO16 GRAM.—Section 203(a) of the High-Performance Com17 puting Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 5523(a)) is amended—

18 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’;

19 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and

20 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

21 (3) by adding after paragraph (4) the following:

22 ‘‘(5) conduct an integrated program of re23 search, development, and provision of facilities to de24 velop and deploy to scientific and technical users the

25 high-performance computing and collaboration tools
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1 needed to fulfill the statutory missions of the De2 partment of Energy.’’.

3 (b) COMPUTATION, NETWORKING AND INFORMATION

4 TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM.—Within the

5 funds authorized under this Act, the Secretary shall pro6 vide up to $25,000,000 in each fiscal year for a program

7 of collaborative projects involving remote access to high8 performance computing assets or remote experimentation

9 over network facilities. The program shall give priority to

10 cross-disciplinary projects that involve more than one of11 fice within the Office of Science of the Department of En12 ergy or that couple the Office of Science with Depart13 mental energy technology offices.

14 (c) PROGRAM LINE AUTHORITY.—To the extent con15 sistent with their national security mission, laboratories

16 administered by the National Nuclear Security Adminis17 tration may compete for funding authorized in this Act

18 to the same extent and on the same terms as other De19 partment of Energy offices and laboratories. Such funding

20 at laboratories administered by the National Nuclear Se21 curity Administration shall be under the direct pro22 grammatic control of the sponsoring program for the

23 funding in the Department of Energy.

24 (d) MERIT REVIEW.—All grants, contracts, coopera25 tive agreements, or other financial assistance awarded
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1 under programs authorized in this Act shall be made only

2 after being subject to independent merit review by the De3 partment of Energy.

4 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec6 retary of Energy for the purposes of carrying out section

7 203 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15

8 U.S.C. 5523) and this Act $190,000,000 for fiscal year

9 2001; $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2002; $285,000,000

10 for fiscal year 2003; $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;

11 and $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.

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