H. R. 4516

One Hundred Eighth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four

An Act

To require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program of research and development to advance high-end computing.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy HighEnd Computing Revitalization Act of 2004’’.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) CENTER.—The term ‘‘Center’’ means a High-End Software Development Center established under section 3(d).

(2) HIGH-END COMPUTING SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘high-end

computing system’’ means a computing system with performance that substantially exceeds that of systems that are commonly available for advanced scientific and engineering applications.

(3) LEADERSHIP SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘Leadership System’’

means a high-end computing system that is among the most

advanced in the world in terms of performance in solving scientific and engineering problems.

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

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

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

(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

of Energy, acting through the Director of the Office of Science

of the Department of Energy.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH-END COMPUTING RESEARCH

AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall—

(1) carry out a program of research and development

(including development of software and hardware) to advance

high-end computing systems; and

(2) develop and deploy high-end computing systems for

advanced scientific and engineering applications.

(b) PROGRAM.—The program shall—

(1) support both individual investigators and multidisciplinary teams of investigators;

(2) conduct research in multiple architectures, which may

include vector, reconfigurable logic, streaming, processor-inmemory, and multithreading architectures;
H. R. 4516—2

(3) conduct research on software for high-end computing

systems, including research on algorithms, programming

environments, tools, languages, and operating systems for highend computing systems, in collaboration with architecture

development efforts;

(4) provide for sustained access by the research community

in the United States to high-end computing systems and to

Leadership Systems, including provision of technical support

for users of such systems;

(5) support technology transfer to the private sector and

others in accordance with applicable law; and

(6) ensure that the high-end computing activities of the

Department of Energy are coordinated with relevant activities

in industry and with other Federal agencies, including the

National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration,

the National Security Agency, the National Institutes of Health,

the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the

National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the

Environmental Protection Agency.

(c) LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS FACILITIES.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program carried out under

this Act, the Secretary shall establish and operate 1 or more

Leadership Systems facilities to—

(A) conduct advanced scientific and engineering

research and development using Leadership Systems; and

(B) develop potential advancements in high-end computing system hardware and software.

(2) ADMINISTRATION.—In carrying out this subsection, the

Secretary shall provide to Leadership Systems, on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis, access to researchers in United

States industry, institutions of higher education, national laboratories, and other Federal agencies.

(d) HIGH-END SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CENTER.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program carried out under

this Act, the Secretary shall establish at least 1 High-End

Software Development Center.

(2) DUTIES.—A Center shall concentrate efforts to develop,

test, maintain, and support optimal algorithms, programming

environments, tools, languages, and operating systems for highend computing systems.

(3) PROPOSALS.—In soliciting proposals for the Center, the

Secretary shall encourage staffing arrangements that include

both permanent staff and a rotating staff of researchers from

other institutions and industry to assist in coordination of

research efforts and promote technology transfer to the private

sector.

(4) USE OF EXPERTISE.—The Secretary shall use the expertise of a Center to assess research and development in highend computing system architecture.

(5) SELECTION.—The selection of a Center shall be determined by a competitive proposal process administered by the

Secretary.
H. R. 4516—3

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available for highend computing, there are authorized to be appropriated to the

Secretary to carry out this Act—

(1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2005;

(2) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and

(3) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.

SEC. 5. ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

(a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 23 of the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n–9) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b), by striking ‘‘and the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration’’ and inserting ‘‘, the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration, and the Department of Energy’’;

(2) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘Administration, and’’

and inserting ‘‘Administration, the Secretary of Energy, ’’;

(3) in subsection (c)—

(A) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking ‘‘5’’ and

inserting ‘‘4’’;

(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;

(C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4),

and in that paragraph by striking ‘‘3’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’;

and

(D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:

‘‘(3) 3 members selected by the Secretary of Energy; and

(4) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘the advisory bodies of

other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy,

which may engage in related research activities’’ and inserting

‘‘other Federal advisory committees that advise Federal agencies that engage in related research activities’’.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by subsection

(a) take effect on March 15, 2005.

SEC. 6. REMOVAL OF SUNSET PROVISION FROM SAVINGS IN

CONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1996.

Section 14 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15 U.S.C.

205l) is amended by striking subsection (e).

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.