II 

Calendar No. 143

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 432

[Report No. 109–94] 

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

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2005

Mr. ALLEN (for himself, Mr. TALENT, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. LOTT, 

Mr. WARNER, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. THUNE, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. 

SANTORUM, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. BURNS, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mrs. LINCOLN, 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Transportation 

JUNE 27, 2005

Reported by Mr. STEVENS, without amendment 

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 432 RS 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Minority Serving Insti3 tution Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity Act 

4 of 2005’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE. 

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

7 National Science Foundation an Office of Minority Serv8 ing Institution Digital and Wireless Technology to carry 

9 out the provisions of this Act. 

10 (b) PURPOSE.—The Office shall—

11 (1) strengthen the ability of eligible institutions 

12 to provide capacity for instruction in digital and 

13 wireless network technologies by providing grants to, 

14 or executing contracts or cooperative agreements 

15 with, those institutions to provide such instruction; 

16 and 

17 (2) strengthen the national digital and wireless 

18 infrastructure by increasing national investment in 

19 telecommunications and technology infrastructure at 

20 eligible institutions. 

21 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED. 

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

23 cooperative agreement awarded under this Act—

24 (1) to acquire equipment, instrumentation, net25 working capability, hardware and software, digital 
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•S 432 RS 

1 network technology, wireless technology, and infra2 structure; 

3 (2) to develop and provide educational services, 

4 including faculty development, related to science, 

5 mathematics, engineering, or technology; 

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 professional development in 

18 science, mathematics, engineering, or technology 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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1 learning, new technologies, and other technological 

2 applications; 

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

5 engineering, and technology instruction and re6 search; 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 and review such applications and pub19 lish an announcement of such procedure, including a state20 ment regarding the availability of funds, in the Federal 

21 Register. 

22 (b) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—The Director shall estab23 lish an advisory council to advise the Director on the best 

24 approaches for involving eligible institutions in the activi25 ties described in section 3, and for reviewing and evalu-
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1 ating proposals submitted to the program. In selecting the 

2 members of the advisory council, the Director may consult 

3 with representatives of appropriate organizations, includ4 ing representatives of eligible institutions, to ensure that 

5 the membership of the advisory council reflects participa6 tion by technology and telecommunications institutions, 

7 minority businesses, eligible institution communities, Fed8 eral agency personnel, and other individuals who are 

9 knowledgeable about eligible institutions and technology 

10 issues. Any panel assembled to review a proposal sub11 mitted to the program shall include members from minor12 ity serving institutions. Program review criteria shall in13 clude consideration of—

14 (1) demonstrated need for assistance under this 

15 Act; and 

16 (2) diversity among the types of institutions re17 ceiving assistance under this Act. 

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

19 receives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 

20 section 2 shall provide the Office with any relevant institu21 tional statistical or demographic data requested by the Of22 fice. 

23 (d) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—The Director 

24 shall convene an annual meeting of eligible institutions re-
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1 ceiving grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements under 

2 section 2 for the purposes of—

3 (1) fostering collaboration and capacity-building 

4 activities among eligible institutions; and 

5 (2) disseminating information and ideas gen6 erated by such meetings.

7 SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

8 The Director may not award a grant, contract, or co9 operative agreement to an eligible institution under this 

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

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

12 program for which the grant, contract, or cooperative 

13 agreement was awarded, such institution will make avail14 able (directly or through donations from public or private 

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

16 25 percent of the amount of the grant, contract, or cooper17 ative agreement awarded by the Director, or $500,000, 

18 whichever is the lesser amount. The Director shall waive 

19 the matching requirement for any institution or consor20 tium with no endowment, or an endowment that has a cur21 rent dollar value lower than $50,000,000. 

22 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution that re24 ceives a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 

25 this Act that exceeds $2,500,000, shall not be eligible to 
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1 receive another grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

2 under this Act until every other eligible institution that 

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

4 under this Act has received such a grant, contract, or co5 operative. 

6 (b) AWARDS ADMINISTERED BY ELIGIBLE INSTITU7 TION.—Each grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

8 awarded under this Act shall be made to, and adminis9 tered by, an eligible institution, even when it is awarded 

10 for the implementation of a consortium or joint project. 

11 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT AND EVALUATION. 

12 (a) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED FROM RECIPI13 ENTS.—Each institution that receives a grant, contract, 

14 or cooperative agreement under this Act shall provide an 

15 annual report to the Director on its use of the grant, con16 tract, or cooperative agreement. 

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

18 consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall—

19 (1) review the reports provided under sub20 section (a) each year; and 

21 (2) evaluate the program authorized by section 

22 3 on the basis of those reports every 2 years. 

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

24 the evaluation, shall describe the activities undertaken by 

25 those institutions and shall assess the short-range and 
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1 long-range impact of activities carried out under the 

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

3 faculty, and staff of the institutions. 

4 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director shall sub5 mit a report to the Congress based on the evaluation. In 

6 the report, the Director shall include such recommenda7 tions, including recommendations concerning the con8 tinuing need for Federal support of the program, as may 

9 be appropriate. 

10 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi13 ble institution’’ means an institution that is—

14 (A) a historically Black college or univer15 sity that is a part B institution, as defined in 

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

17 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)); 

18 (B) a Hispanic-serving institution, as de19 fined in section 502(a)(5) of the Higher Edu20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5)); 

21 (C) a tribally controlled college or univer22 sity, as defined in section 316(b)(3) of the 

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

24 1059c(b)(3)); 
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1 (D) an Alaska Native-serving institution 

2 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education 

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

4 (E) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution 

5 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education 

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

7 (F) an institution determined by the Direc8 tor, in consultation with the Secretary of Edu9 cation, to have enrolled a substantial number of 

10 minority, low-income students during the pre11 vious academic year who received assistance 

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

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

14 1070a et seq.) for that year. 

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

16 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

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

18 business’’ includes HUBZone small business con19 cerns (as defined in section 3(p) of the Small Busi20 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)). 

21 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Direc23 tor of the National Science Foundation $250,000,000 for 

24 each of the fiscal years 2006 through 2010 to carry out 

25 this Act. 
Calendar No. 143

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 432

[Report No. 109–94] 

A BILL

To establish a digital and wireless network 

technology program, and for other purposes. 

JUNE 27, 2005

Reported without amendment