108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 196

AN ACT

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Minority Serving Insti5 tution Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity Act

6 of 2003’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.

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

3 National Science Foundation an Office of Minority Serv4 ing Institution Digital and Wireless Technology to carry

5 out the provisions of this Act.

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The Office shall—

7 (1) strengthen the ability of eligible institutions

8 to provide capacity for instruction in digital and

9 wireless network technologies by providing grants to,

10 or executing contracts or cooperative agreements

11 with, those institutions to provide such instruction;

12 and

13 (2) strengthen the national digital and wireless

14 infrastructure by increasing national investment in

15 telecommunications and technology infrastructure at

16 eligible institutions.

17 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.

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

19 cooperative agreement awarded under this Act—

20 (1) to acquire the equipment, instrumentation,

21 networking capability, hardware and software, dig22 ital network technology, wireless technology, and in23 frastructure;

24 (2) to develop and provide educational services,

25 including faculty development, related to science,

26 mathematics, engineering, or technology;
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1 (3) to provide teacher education, library and

2 media specialist training, and preschool and teacher

3 aid certification to individuals who seek to acquire or

4 enhance technology skills in order to use technology

5 in the classroom or instructional process;

6 (4) to implement joint projects and consortia to

7 provide education regarding technology in the class8 room with a State or State education agency, local

9 education agency, community-based organization,

10 national non-profit organization, or business, includ11 ing minority businesses;

12 (5) to provide professional development in

13 science, mathematics, engineering, or technology to

14 administrators and faculty of eligible institutions

15 with institutional responsibility for technology edu16 cation;

17 (6) to provide capacity-building technical assist18 ance to eligible institutions through remote technical

19 support, technical assistance workshops, distance

20 learning, new technologies, and other technological

21 applications;

22 (7) to foster the use of information communica23 tions technology to increase scientific, mathematical,

24 engineering, and technology instruction and re25 search; and
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1 (8) to develop proposals to be submitted under

2 this Act and to develop strategic plans for informa3 tion technology investments.

4 SEC. 4. APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURE.

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

6 contract, or cooperative agreement under this Act, an eli7 gible institution shall submit an application to the Direc8 tor at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by

9 such information as the Director may reasonably require.

10 The Director, in consultation with the advisory council es11 tablished under subsection (b), shall establish a procedure

12 by which to accept and review such applications and pub13 lish an announcement of such procedure, including a state14 ment regarding the availability of funds, in the Federal

15 Register.

16 (b) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The Director shall estab17 lish an advisory council to advise the Director on the best

18 approaches for involving eligible institutions in the activi19 ties described in section 3, and for reviewing and evalu20 ating proposals submitted to the program. In selecting the

21 members of the advisory council, the Director may consult

22 with representatives of appropriate organizations, includ23 ing representatives of eligible institutions, to ensure that

24 the membership of the advisory council reflects participa25 tion by technology and telecommunications institutions,
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1 minority businesses, eligible institution communities, Fed2 eral agency personnel, and other individuals who are

3 knowledgeable about eligible institutions and technology

4 issues. Any panel assembled to review a proposal sub5 mitted to the program shall include members from minor6 ity serving institutions. Program review criteria shall in7 clude consideration of—

8 (1) demonstrated need for assistance under this

9 Act; and

10 (2) diversity among the types of institutions re11 ceiving assistance under this Act.

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

13 receives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under

14 section 2 shall provide the Office with any relevant institu15 tional statistical or demographic data requested by the Of16 fice.

17 (d) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—The Director

18 shall convene an annual meeting of eligible institutions re19 ceiving grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements under

20 section 2 for the purposes of—

21 (1) fostering collaboration and capacity-building

22 activities among eligible institutions; and

23 (2) disseminating information and ideas gen24 erated by such meetings.
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1 SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENT.

2 The Director may not award a grant, contract, or co3 operative agreement to an eligible institution under this

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

5 costs to be incurred by the institution in carrying out the

6 program for which the grant, contract, or cooperative

7 agreement was awarded, such institution will make avail8 able (directly or through donations from public or private

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

1 10 ⁄4 of the amount of the grant, contract, or cooperative

11 agreement awarded by the Director, or $500,000, which12 ever is the lesser amount. The Director shall waive the

13 matching requirement for any institution or consortium

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

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

16 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution that re18 ceives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under

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

20 receive another grant, contract, or cooperative agreement

21 under this Act until every other eligible institution that

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

23 under this Act has received such a grant, contract, or co24 operative.

25 (b) AWARDS ADMINISTERED BY ELIGIBLE INSTITU26 TION.—Each grant, contract, or cooperative agreement
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1 awarded under this Act shall be made to, and adminis2 tered by, an eligible institution, even when it is awarded

3 for the implementation of a consortium or joint project.

4 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT AND EVALUATION.

5 (a) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED FROM RECIPI6 ENTS.—Each institution that receives a grant, contract,

7 or cooperative agreement under this Act shall provide an

8 annual report to the Director on its use of the grant, con9 tract, or cooperative agreement.

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

11 consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall—

12 (1) review the reports provided under sub13 section (a) each year; and

14 (2) evaluate the program authorized by section

15 3 on the basis of those reports every 2 years.

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

17 the evaluation, shall describe the activities undertaken by

18 those institutions and shall assess the short-range and

19 long-range impact of activities carried out under the

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

21 faculty, and staff of the institutions.

22 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director shall sub23 mit a report to the Congress based on the evaluation. In

24 the report, the Director shall include such recommenda25 tions, including recommendations concerning the con-
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1 tinuing need for Federal support of the program, as may

2 be appropriate.

3 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

4 In this Act:

5 (1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi6 ble institution’’ means an institution that is—

7 (A) a historically Black college or univer8 sity that is a part B institution, as defined in

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

10 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)), an institution de11 scribed in section 326(e)(1)(A), (B), or (C) of

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

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

14 in this subparagraph;

15 (B) a Hispanic-serving institution, as de16 fined in section 502(a)(5) of the Higher Edu17 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5));

18 (C) a tribally controlled college or univer19 sity, as defined in section 316(b)(3) of the

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

21 1059c(b)(3));

22 (D) an Alaska Native-serving institution

23 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education

24 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b));
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1 (E) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution

2 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education

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

4 (F) an institution determined by the Direc5 tor, in consultation with the Secretary of Edu6 cation, to have enrolled a substantial number of

7 minority, low-income students during the pre8 vious academic year who received assistance

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

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

11 1070a et seq.) for that year.

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

13 the Director of the National Science Foundation.

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

15 business’’ includes HUBZone small business con16 cerns (as defined in section 3(p) of the Small Busi17 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)).

18 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

19 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Direc20 tor of the National Science Foundation $250,000,000 for
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1 each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2008 to carry out

2 this Act.

Passed the Senate April 30, 2003.

Attest:

Secretary.
108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 196

AN ACT

To establish a digital and wireless network

technology program, and for other purposes.