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mit an application to the Director at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as 
the Director may require. 
‘‘(3) STIPEND LEVELS.—Under this section, the 
Director shall provide stipends for postdoctoral re-
search fellowships at a level consistent with the Na-
tional Institute of Standards and Technology 
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, and sen-
ior research fellowships at levels consistent with sup-
port for a faculty member in a sabbatical position.’’. 
SEC. 5. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION. 
(a) MANUFACTURING CENTER EVALUATION.—Sec-
tion 25(c)(5) of the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k(c)(5)) is amended by in-
serting ‘‘A Center that has not received a positive evalua-
tion by the evaluation panel shall be notified by the panel 
of the deficiencies in its performance and may be placed 
on probation for one year, after which time the panel may 
reevaluate the Center. If the Center has not addressed the 
deficiencies identified by the panel, or shown a significant 
improvement in its performance, the Director may conduct 
a new competition to select an operator for the Center or 
may close the Center.’’ after ‘‘sixth year at declining lev-
els.’’.
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(b) MANUFACTURING EXTENSION CENTER COMPETI-
TIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 25 of the National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
sections: 
‘‘(e) COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall es-
tablish, within the Manufacturing Extension Part-
nership program under this section and section 26 
of this Act, a program of competitive awards among 
participants described in paragraph (2) for the pur-
poses described in paragraph (3). 
‘‘(2) 
PARTICIPANTS.—Participants 
receiving 
awards under this subsection shall be the Centers, or 
a consortium of such Centers. 
‘‘(3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program 
under this subsection is to develop projects to solve 
new or emerging manufacturing problems as deter-
mined by the Director, in consultation with the Di-
rector of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 
program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership 
National Advisory Board, and small and medium- 
sized manufacturers. One or more themes for the 
competition may be identified, which may vary from 
year to year, depending on the needs of manufactur-
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ers and the success of previous competitions. These 
themes shall be related to projects associated with 
manufacturing extension activities, including supply 
chain integration and quality management, or extend 
beyond these traditional areas. 
‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for awards 
under this subsection shall be submitted in such 
manner, at such time, and containing such informa-
tion as the Director shall require, in consultation 
with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Na-
tional Advisory Board. 
‘‘(5) SELECTION.—Awards under this sub-
section shall be peer reviewed and competitively 
awarded. The Director shall select proposals to re-
ceive awards— 
‘‘(A) that utilize innovative or collaborative 
approaches to solving the problem described in 
the competition; 
‘‘(B) that will improve the competitiveness 
of industries in the region in which the Center 
or Centers are located; and 
‘‘(C) that will contribute to the long-term 
economic stability of that region.
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‘‘(6) PROGRAM CONTRIBUTION.—Recipients of 
awards under this subsection shall not be required 
to provide a matching contribution. 
‘‘(f) AUDITS.—A center that receives assistance 
under this section shall submit annual audits to the Sec-
retary in accordance with Office of Management and 
Budget Circular A–133 and shall make such audits avail-
able to the public on request.’’. 
SEC. 6. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERV-
ICES. 
(a) LABORATORY ACTIVITIES.—There are authorized 
to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the 
scientific and technical research and services laboratory 
activities of the National Institute of Standards and Tech-
nology— 
(1) $425,688,000 for fiscal year 2005, of 
which— 
(A) $55,777,000 shall be for Electronics 
and Electrical Engineering; 
(B) $29,584,000 shall be for Manufac-
turing Engineering; 
(C) $50,142,000 shall be for Chemical 
Science and Technology; 
(D) $42,240,000 shall be for Physics;
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(E) $62,724,000 shall be for Material 
Science and Engineering; 
(F) $23,594,000 shall be for Building and 
Fire Research; 
(G) $60,660,000 shall be for Computer 
Science and Applied Mathematics, of which 
$2,800,000 shall be for activities in support of 
the Help America Vote Act of 2002; 
(H) $17,445,000 shall be for Technical As-
sistance; and 
(I) $78,102,000 shall be for Research Sup-
port Activities; 
(2) $446,951,000 for fiscal year 2006; 
(3) $469,299,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 
(4) $492,764,000 for fiscal year 2008. 
(b) 
MALCOLM
BALDRIGE
NATIONAL
QUALITY 
AWARD PROGRAM.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Malcolm 
Baldrige National Quality Award program under section 
17 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 
1980 (15 U.S.C. 3711a)— 
(1) $5,400,000 for fiscal year 2005; 
(2) $5,535,000 for fiscal year 2006; 
(3) $5,674,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 
(4) $5,815,000 for fiscal year 2008.
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(c) CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE.—There are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com-
merce for construction and maintenance of facilities of the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology such 
sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2005 
through 2008. 
SEC. 7. STANDARDS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 
(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—(1) As part of the 
Teacher Science and Technology Enhancement Institute 
Program, the Director of the National Institute of Stand-
ards and Technology shall carry out a Standards Edu-
cation program to award grants to institutions of higher 
education to support efforts by such institutions to develop 
curricula on the role of standards in the fields of engineer-
ing, business, science, and economics. The curricula 
should address topics such as— 
(A) development of technical standards; 
(B) demonstrating conformity to standards; 
(C) intellectual property and antitrust issues; 
(D) standardization as a key element of busi-
ness strategy; 
(E) survey of organizations that develop stand-
ards; 
(F) the standards life cycle; 
(G) case studies in effective standardization;