140 
‘‘(3) the active transfer and dissemination of re-
search findings and Center expertise to a wide range 
of companies and enterprises, particularly small- and 
medium-sized manufacturers; and 
‘‘(4) the facilitation of collaborations and part-
nerships between small- and medium-sized manufac-
turing companies and community colleges and area 
career and technical education schools to help such 
colleges and schools better understand the specific 
needs of manufacturers and to help manufacturers 
better understand the skill sets that students learn 
in the programs offered by such colleges and schools. 
‘‘(c) 
FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE
AND
REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(1) FINANCIAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary may 
provide financial support to any Center created 
under subsection (a) for an initial period of 5 years, 
which may be renewed for an additional 5-year pe-
riod. The Secretary may provide to a Center up to 
50 percent of the capital and annual operating and 
maintenance funds required to create and maintain 
such Center. 
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall im-
plement, review, and update the sections of the Code 
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of Federal Regulations related to this section at 
least once every 5 years. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Any public or non-
profit institution, or consortium thereof, may 
submit to the Secretary an application for fi-
nancial support under this section, in accord-
ance with the procedures established by the 
Secretary. 
‘‘(B) COST-SHARING.—In order to receive 
assistance under this section, an applicant for 
financial assistance under subparagraph (A) 
shall provide adequate assurances that non- 
Federal assets obtained from the applicant and 
the applicant’s partnering organizations will be 
used as a funding source to meet not less than 
50 percent of the costs incurred. For purposes 
of the preceding sentence, the costs incurred 
means the costs incurred in connection with the 
activities undertaken to improve the manage-
ment, productivity, competitiveness, and techno-
logical performance of small- and medium-sized 
manufacturing companies. 
‘‘(C) AGREEMENTS
WITH
OTHER
ENTI-
TIES.—In meeting the 50-percent requirement, 
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it is anticipated that a Center will enter into 
agreements with other entities such as private 
industry, institutions of higher education, and 
State governments to accomplish programmatic 
objectives and access new and existing resources 
that will further the impact of the Federal in-
vestment made on behalf of small- and medium- 
sized manufacturing companies. 
‘‘(D) LEGAL
RIGHTS.—Each applicant 
under subparagraph (A) shall submit a proposal 
for the allocation of the legal rights associated 
with any invention that may result from the 
proposed Center’s activities. 
‘‘(4) MERIT REVIEW.—The Secretary shall sub-
ject each such application to merit review. In mak-
ing a decision whether to approve such application 
and provide financial support under this section, the 
Secretary shall consider, at a minimum, the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(A) The merits of the application, par-
ticularly those portions of the application re-
garding technology transfer, training and edu-
cation, and adaptation of manufacturing tech-
nologies to the needs of particular industrial 
sectors. 
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‘‘(B) The quality of service to be provided. 
‘‘(C) Geographical diversity and extent of 
service area. 
‘‘(D) The percentage of funding and 
amount of in-kind commitment from other 
sources. 
‘‘(5) EVALUATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each Center that re-
ceives financial assistance under this section 
shall be evaluated during its third year of oper-
ation by an evaluation panel appointed by the 
Secretary. 
‘‘(B) COMPOSITION.—Each such evalua-
tion panel shall be composed of independent ex-
perts, none of whom shall be connected with the 
involved Center, and Federal officials. 
‘‘(C) CHAIR.—An official of the Institute 
shall chair the panel. 
‘‘(D) 
PERFORMANCE
MEASUREMENT.— 
Each evaluation panel shall measure the in-
volved Center’s performance against the objec-
tives specified in this section. 
‘‘(E) POSITIVE EVALUATION.—If the eval-
uation is positive, the Secretary may provide 
continued funding through the fifth year. 
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