SEC. 311. LAUNCH VOUCHER DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM
AMENDMENTS.
Section 504 of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1993 (15
U.S.C. 5803) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘the Office of Commercial
Programs within’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘Such program shall not
be effective after September 30, 1995.’’;
(2) by striking subsection (c); and
(3) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as
subsections (c) and (d), respectively.
SEC. 312. USE OF ABANDONED AND UNDERUTILIZED
BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND FACILITIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—In meeting the needs of the Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration for addi-
tional facilities, the Administrator, whenever feasible, shall
select abandoned and underutilized buildings, grounds,
and facilities in depressed communities that can be con-
verted to National Aeronautics and Space Administration
facilities at a reasonable cost, as determined by the Ad-
ministrator.
(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘‘depressed communities’’ means rural and urban
communities that are relatively depressed, in terms of age
of housing, extent of poverty, growth of per capita income,
extent of unemployment, job lag, or surplus labor.
SEC. 313. COST EFFECTIVENESS CALCULATIONS.
In calculating the cost effectiveness of the cost of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration engaging
in an activity as compared to the private sector, the com-
parison shall be made based only on the price the private
sector provider will charge for such activity.
SEC. 314. FOREIGN CONTRACT LIMITATION.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
shall not enter into any agreement or contract with a for-
eign government that grants the foreign government the
right to recover profit in the event that the agreement or
contract is terminated.
SEC. 315. AUTHORITY TO REDUCE OR SUSPEND CONTRACT
PAYMENTS BASED ON SUBSTANTIAL EVI-
DENCE OF FRAUD.
Section 2307(h)(8) of title 10, United States Code,
is amended by striking ‘‘and (4)’’ and inserting in lieu
thereof ‘‘(4), and (6)’’.
SEC. 316. NEXT GENERATION INTERNET.
None of the funds authorized by this Act, or any
other Act enacted before the date of the enactment of this
Act, may be used for the Next Generation Internet.
SEC. 317. LIMITATIONS.
(a) PROHIBITION OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES.—None
of the funds authorized by this Act and the amendments
made by this Act shall be available for any activity whose
purpose is to influence legislation pending before the Con-
gress, except that this subsection shall not prevent officers
or employees of the United States or of its departments
or agencies from communicating to Members of Congress
on the request of any Member or to Congress, through
the proper channels, requests for legislation or appropria-
tions which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct
of the public business.
(b) LIMITATION
ON
APPROPRIATIONS.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of law, no sums are author-
ized to be appropriated for fiscal years 1998 and 1999
for the activities for which sums are authorized by this
Act and the amendments made by this Act, unless such
sums are specifically authorized to be appropriated by this
Act or the amendments made by this Act.
(c) ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall ex-
clude from consideration for grant agreements made
by the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion after fiscal year 1997 any person who received
funds, other than those described in paragraph (2),
appropriated for a fiscal year after fiscal year 1997,
under a grant agreement from any Federal funding
source for a project that was not subjected to a com-
petitive, merit-based award process. Any exclusion
from consideration pursuant to this subsection shall
be effective for a period of 5 years after the person
receives such Federal funds.
(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not
apply to the receipt of Federal funds by a person
due to the membership of that person in a class
specified by law for which assistance is awarded to
members of the class according to a formula pro-
vided by law.
(3) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub-
section, the term ‘‘grant agreement’’ means a legal
instrument whose principal purpose is to transfer a
thing of value to the recipient to carry out a public
purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a
law of the United States, and does not include the
acquisition (by purchase, lease, or barter) of prop-
erty or services for the direct benefit or use of the
United States Government.
SEC. 318. NOTICE.
(a) NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.—If any funds au-
thorized by this Act or the amendments made by this Act
are subject to a reprogramming action that requires notice
to be provided to the Appropriations Committees of the
House of Representatives and the Senate, notice of such
action shall concurrently be provided to the Committee on
Science of the House of Representatives and the Commit-
tee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-
ate.
(b) NOTICE
OF REORGANIZATION.—The Adminis-
trator shall provide notice to the Committees on Science
and Appropriations of the House of Representatives, and
the Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transpor-
tation and Appropriations of the Senate, not later than
15 days before any major reorganization of any program,
project, or activity of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
SEC. 319. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE YEAR 2000 PROB-
LEM.
With the year 2000 fast approaching, it is the sense
of Congress that the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration should—
(1) give high priority to correcting all 2-digit
date-related problems in its computer systems to en-
sure that those systems continue to operate effec-
tively in the year 2000 and beyond;
(2) assess immediately the extent of the risk to
the operations of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration posed by the problems re-
ferred to in paragraph (1), and plan and budget for
achieving Year 2000 compliance for all of its mis-
sion-critical systems; and
(3) develop contingency plans for those systems
that the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
tration is unable to correct in time.
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