under which the joint research and development ac-
tivities could be planned, managed, and conducted 
effectively, including mechanisms for the allocation 
of resources among the participants in such entity 
for support of such activities; 
‘‘(2) propose a process for developing a re-
search and development agenda for such entity, in-
cluding guidelines to ensure an appropriate scope of 
work focused on nationally significant challenges and 
requiring collaboration and to ensure the develop-
ment of related scientific and technological mile-
stones; 
‘‘(3) define the roles and responsibilities for the 
participants from institutions of higher education, 
Federal laboratories, and industry in such entity; 
‘‘(4) propose guidelines for assigning intellec-
tual property rights and for the transfer of research 
results to the private sector; and 
‘‘(5) make recommendations for how such enti-
ty could be funded from Federal, State, and non- 
governmental sources. 
‘‘(c) COMPOSITION.—In establishing the task force 
under subsection (a), the Director of the National Coordi-
nation Office—
‘‘(1) shall appoint an equal number of individ-
uals with knowledge and expertise in cyber-physical 
systems from— 
‘‘(A) institutions of higher education, in-
cluding minority-serving institutions and com-
munity colleges; and 
‘‘(B) industry; and 
‘‘(2) may appoint not more than 2 individuals 
from Federal laboratories. 
‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of the Advancing America’s Networking and 
Information Technology Research and Development Act of 
2012, the Director of the National Coordination Office 
shall transmit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep-
resentatives a report describing the findings and rec-
ommendations of the task force. 
‘‘(e) TERMINATION.—The task force shall terminate 
upon transmittal of the report required under subsection 
(d). 
‘‘(f) COMPENSATION.—Members of the task force 
shall serve without compensation.’’.
SEC. 5. CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICES FOR RESEARCH. 
Title I of such Act (15 U.S.C. 5511) is amended fur-
ther by adding after section 105, as added by section 4(b) 
of this Act, the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 106. CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICES FOR RESEARCH. 
‘‘(a) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.—Not later 
than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Advanc-
ing America’s Networking and Information Technology 
Research and Development Act of 2012, the Director of 
the National Coordination Office, working through the 
National Science and Technology Council, shall convene 
an interagency working group to examine— 
‘‘(1) the research and development needed— 
‘‘(A) to enhance the effectiveness and effi-
ciency of cloud computing environments; 
‘‘(B) to increase the trustworthiness of 
cloud applications and infrastructure; and 
‘‘(C) to enhance the foundations of cloud 
architectures, programming models, and inter-
operability; and 
‘‘(2) the potential use of cloud computing for 
federally-funded science and engineering research, 
including issues around funding mechanisms and 
policies for the use of cloud computing services for 
such research.
‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the tasks in 
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), the working 
group shall consult with academia, industry, Federal lab-
oratories, and other relevant organizations and institu-
tions, as appropriate. 
‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of the Advancing America’s Networking and 
Information Technology Research and Development Act of 
2012, the Director of the National Coordination Office 
shall transmit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
Senate a report describing the findings and any rec-
ommendations of the working group. 
‘‘(d) TERMINATION.—The interagency working group 
shall terminate upon transmittal of the report required 
under subsection (c).’’. 
SEC. 6. NATIONAL COORDINATION OFFICE. 
Section 102 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 5512) is amended 
to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 102. NATIONAL COORDINATION OFFICE. 
‘‘(a) OFFICE.—The Director shall continue a Na-
tional Coordination Office with a Director and full-time 
staff.
‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The National Coordination Office 
shall— 
‘‘(1) provide technical and administrative sup-
port to— 
‘‘(A) the agencies participating in planning 
and implementing the Program, including such 
support as needed in the development of the 
strategic plan under section 101(e); and 
‘‘(B) the advisory committee established 
under section 101(b); 
‘‘(2) serve as the primary point of contact on 
Federal networking and information technology ac-
tivities for government organizations, academia, in-
dustry, professional societies, State computing and 
networking technology programs, interested citizen 
groups, and others to exchange technical and pro-
grammatic information; 
‘‘(3) solicit input and recommendations from a 
wide range of stakeholders during the development 
of each strategic plan required under section 101(e) 
through the convening of at least 1 workshop with 
invitees from academia, industry, Federal labora-
tories, and other relevant organizations and institu-
tions;
‘‘(4) conduct public outreach, including the dis-
semination of findings and recommendations of the 
advisory committee, as appropriate; and 
‘‘(5) promote access to and early application of 
the technologies, innovations, and expertise derived 
from Program activities to agency missions and sys-
tems across the Federal Government and to United 
States industry. 
‘‘(c) SOURCE OF FUNDING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The operation of the Na-
tional Coordination Office shall be supported by 
funds from each agency participating in the Pro-
gram. 
‘‘(2) SPECIFICATIONS.—The portion of the total 
budget of such Office that is provided by each agen-
cy for each fiscal year shall be in the same propor-
tion as each such agency’s share of the total budget 
for the Program for the previous fiscal year, as spec-
ified 
in 
the 
report 
required 
under 
section 
101(a)(3).’’. 
SEC. 7. IMPROVING NETWORKING AND INFORMATION 
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION. 
Section 201(a) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 5521(a)) is 
amended—
place it appears and inserting ‘‘networking and 
information technology’’; and 
(C) in subparagraph (H), by striking 
‘‘high-performance’’ and inserting ‘‘high-end’’; 
and 
(3) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘high-performance com-
puting and’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and in-
formation technology and’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘high-performance com-
puting network’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and 
information technology’’. 
(b) TITLE I.—The heading of title I of such Act (15 
U.S.C. 5511) is amended by striking ‘‘HIGH-PER-
FORMANCE COMPUTING’’ and inserting ‘‘NET-
WORKING 
AND 
INFORMATION 
TECH-
NOLOGY’’. 
(c) SECTION 101.—Section 101 of such Act (15 
U.S.C. 5511) is amended— 
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘HIGH- 
PERFORMANCE
COMPUTING’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘NETWORKING
AND
INFORMATION
TECH-
NOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT’’; 
(2) in subsection (a)—
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 
‘‘NATIONAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING’’ 
and inserting ‘‘NETWORKING
AND INFORMA-
TION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOP-
MENT’’; 
(B) in paragraph (1) of such subsection— 
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-
graph (A), by striking ‘‘National High-Per-
formance Computing Program’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘networking and information tech-
nology research and development pro-
gram’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘high-performance computing, including 
networking’’ and inserting ‘‘networking 
and information technology’’; 
(iii) in subparagraphs (B) and (G), by 
striking ‘‘high-performance’’ each place it 
appears and inserting ‘‘high-end’’; and 
(iv) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
‘‘high-performance computing and net-
working’’ and inserting ‘‘high-end com-
puting, distributed, and networking’’; and 
(C) in paragraph (2) of such subsection— 
(i) in subparagraphs (A) and (C)—
(I) by striking ‘‘high-performance 
computing’’ each place it appears and 
inserting ‘‘networking and information 
technology’’; and 
(II) by striking ‘‘development, 
networking,’’ each place it appears 
and inserting ‘‘development,’’; and 
(ii) in subparagraphs (F) and (G), as 
redesignated by section 2(c)(1) of this Act, 
by striking ‘‘high-performance’’ each place 
it appears and inserting ‘‘high-end’’; 
(3) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre-
ceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘high-per-
formance computing’’ both places it appears 
and inserting ‘‘networking and information 
technology’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), in the second sen-
tence, by striking ‘‘2’’ and inserting ‘‘3’’; and 
(4) in subsection (c)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘high- 
performance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘networking 
and information technology’’. 
(d) SECTION 201.—Section 201(a)(1) of such Act 
(15 U.S.C. 5521(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘high-per-
formance computing’’ and all that follows through ‘‘net-
working;’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and information re-
search and development;’’. 
(e) SECTION 202.—Section 202(a) of such Act (15 
U.S.C. 5522(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘high-perform-
ance computing’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and informa-
tion technology’’. 
(f) SECTION 203.—Section 203(a) of such Act (15 
U.S.C. 5523(a)(1)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘high-per-
formance computing and networking’’ and inserting 
‘‘networking and information technology’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘high-per-
formance’’ and inserting ‘‘high-end’’. 
(g) SECTION 204.—Section 204 of such Act (15 
U.S.C. 5524) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘high-performance computing systems and net-
works’’ and inserting ‘‘networking and informa-
tion technology systems and capabilities’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
‘‘interoperability 
of 
high-performance 
com-
puting systems in networks and for common 
user interfaces to systems’’ and inserting