II 

Calendar No. 60

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 196

[Report No. 108–34] 

To establish a digital and wireless network technology program, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 17, 2003

Mr. ALLEN (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. STEVENS, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. 

MILLER, Mr. WARNER, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. 

SESSIONS, Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. 

SANTORUM, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. LOTT, Mr. FITZGERALD, Mr. TALENT, 

Mr. DOMENICI, and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

APRIL 7, 2003

Reported by Mr. MCCAIN, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL

To establish a digital and wireless network technology 

program, 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, 
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•S 196 RS 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital and Wireless 

3 Network Technology Program Act of 2003’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

6 National Science Foundation an Office of Digital and 

7 Wireless Network Technology to carry out the provisions 

8 of this Act. 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The Office shall—

10 (1) strengthen the ability of eligible institutions 

11 to provide capacity for instruction in digital and 

12 wireless network technologies by providing grants to, 

13 or executing contracts or cooperative agreements 

14 with, those institutions to provide such instruction; 

15 and 

16 (2) strengthen the national digital and wireless 

17 infrastructure by increasing national investment in 

18 telecommunications and technology infrastructure at 

19 eligible institutions. 

20 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED. 

21 An eligible institution shall use a grant, contract, or 

22 cooperative agreement awarded under this Act—

23 (1) to acquire the equipment, instrumentation, 

24 networking capability, hardware and software, dig25 ital network technology, wireless technology, and in26 frastructure; 
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•S 196 RS 

1 (2) to develop and provide educational services, 

2 including faculty development, to prepare students 

3 or faculty seeking a degree or certificate that is ap4 proved by the State, or a regional accrediting body 

5 recognized by the Secretary of Education; 

6 (3) to provide teacher education, library and 

7 media specialist training, and preschool and teacher 

8 aid certification to individuals who seek to acquire or 

9 enhance technology skills in order to use technology 

10 in the classroom or instructional process; 

11 (4) to implement joint projects and consortia to 

12 provide education regarding technology in the class13 room with a State or State education agency, local 

14 education agency, community-based organization, 

15 national non-profit organization, or business, includ16 ing minority businesses; 

17 (5) to provide leadership development to admin18 istrators, board members, professional development to 

19 administrators and faculty of eligible institutions 

20 with institutional responsibility for technology edu21 cation; 

22 (6) to provide capacity-building technical assist23 ance to eligible institutions through remote technical 

24 support, technical assistance workshops, distance 
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•S 196 RS 

1 learning, new technologies, and other technological 

2 applications; and 

3 (7) to foster the use of information communica4 tions technology to increase scientific, mathematical, 

5 engineering, and technology instruction and re6 search. research; and

7 (8) to develop proposals to be submitted under 

8 this Act and to develop strategic plans for informa9 tion technology investments.

10 SEC. 4. APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant, 

12 contract, or cooperative agreement under this Act, an eli13 gible institution shall submit an application to the Direc14 tor at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 

15 such information as the Director may reasonably require. 

16 The Director, in consultation with the advisory council es17 tablished under subsection (b), shall establish a procedure 

18 by which to accept such applications and publish an an19 nouncement of such procedure, including a statement re20 garding the availability of funds, in the Federal Register. 

21 (b) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The Director shall estab22 lish an advisory council to advise the Director on the best 

23 approaches for involving eligible institutions in the activi24 ties described in section 3. In selecting the members of 

25 the advisory council, the Director may consult with rep-
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•S 196 RS 

1 resentatives of appropriate organizations, including rep2 resentatives of eligible institutions, to ensure that the 

3 membership of the advisory council reflects participation 

4 by technology and telecommunications institutions, minor5 ity businesses, eligible institution communities, Federal 

6 agency personnel, and other individuals who are knowl7 edgeable about eligible institutions and technology issues. 

8 (c) DATA COLLECTION.—An eligible institution that 

9 receives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 

10 section 2 shall provide the Office with any relevant institu11 tional statistical or demographic data requested by the Of12 fice. 

13 (d) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—The Director 

14 shall convene an annual meeting of eligible institutions re15 ceiving grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements under 

16 section 2 for the purposes of—

17 (1) fostering collaboration and capacity-building 

18 activities among eligible institutions; and 

19 (2) disseminating information and ideas gen20 erated by such meetings.

21 SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

22 The Director may not award a grant, contract, or co23 operative agreement to an eligible institution under this 

24 Act unless such institution agrees that, with respect to the 

25 costs to be incurred by the institution in carrying out the 
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1 program for which the grant, contract, or cooperative 

2 agreement was awarded, such institution will make avail3 able (directly or through donations from public or private 

4 entities) non-Federal contributions in an amount equal to

1 5 ⁄4 of the amount of the grant, contract, or cooperative 

6 agreement awarded by the Director, or $500,000, which7 ever is the lesser amount. The Director shall waive the 

8 matching requirement for any institution or consortium 

9 with no endowment, or an endowment that has a current 

10 dollar value lower than $50,000,000. 

11 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution that re13 ceives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 

14 this Act that exceeds $2,500,000, shall not be eligible to 

15 receive another grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

16 under this Act until every other eligible institution that 

17 has applied for a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

18 under this Act has received such a grant, contract, or co19 operative. 

20 (b) AWARDS ADMINISTERED BY ELIGIBLE INSTITU21 TION.—Each grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

22 awarded under this Act shall be made to, and adminis23 tered by, an eligible institution, even when it is awarded 

24 for the implementation of a consortium or joint project. 
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1 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT AND EVALUATION. 

2 (a) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED FROM RECIPI3 ENTS.—Each institution that receives a grant, contract, 

4 or cooperative agreement under this Act shall provide an 

5 annual report to the Director on its use of the grant, con6 tract, or cooperative agreement. 

7 (b) EVALUATION BY DIRECTOR.—The Director, in 

8 consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall—

9 (1) review the reports provided under sub10 section (a) each year; and 

11 (2) evaluate the program authorized by section 

12 3 on the basis of those reports every 2 years. 

13 (c) CONTENTS OF EVALUATION.—The Director, in 

14 the evaluation, shall describe the activities undertaken by 

15 those institutions and shall assess the short-range and 

16 long-range impact of activities carried out under the 

17 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement on the students, 

18 faculty, and staff of the institutions. 

19 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director shall sub20 mit a report to the Congress based on the evaluation. In 

21 the report, the Director shall include such recommenda22 tions, including recommendations concerning the con23 tinuing need for Federal support of the program, as may 

24 be appropriate. 

25 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

26 In this Act: 
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•S 196 RS 

1 (1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi2 ble institution’’ means an institution that is— 

3 (A) a historically Black college or univer4 sity that is a part B institution, as defined in 

5 section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 

6 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)), an institution de7 scribed in section 326(e)(1)(A), (B), or (C) of 

8 that Act (20 U.S.C. 1063b(e)(1)(A), (B), or 

9 (C)), or a consortium of institutions described 

10 in this subparagraph; 

11 (B) a Hispanic-serving institution, as de12 fined in section 502(a)(5) of the Higher Edu13 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5)); 

14 (C) a tribally controlled college or univer15 sity, as defined in section 316(b)(3) of the 

16 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

17 1059c(b)(3)); 

18 (D) an Alaska Native-serving institution 

19 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education 

20 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b)); 

21 (E) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution 

22 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education 

23 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b)); or 

24 (F) an institution determined by the Direc25 tor, in consultation with the Secretary of Edu-
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1 cation, to have enrolled a substantial number of 

2 minority, low-income students during the pre3 vious academic year who received assistance 

4 under subpart I of part A of title IV of the 

5 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 1070a et seq.) for that year. 

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

8 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

9 (3) MINORITY BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘minority 

10 business’’ includes HUBZone small business con11 cerns (as defined in section 3(p) of the Small Busi12 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)). 

13 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Direc15 tor of the National Science Foundation $250,000,000 for 

16 each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2008 to carry out 

17 this Act.
Calendar No. 60

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 196

[Report No. 108–34] 

A BILL

To establish a digital and wireless network 

technology program, and for other purposes. 

APRIL 7, 2003

Reported with amendments