157 
‘‘(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, 
it is anticipated that a Center will enter into 
agreements with other entities such as private 
industry, institutions of higher education, and 
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158 
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. 
‘‘(B) The quality of service to be provided. 
‘‘(C) Geographical diversity and extent of 
service area. 
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159 
‘‘(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. 
‘‘(F) CORRECTIVE
ACTION
PLAN.—The 
Secretary may not provide funding for the re-
maining years of a Center’s operation unless 
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the evaluation is positive. A Center that has not 
received a positive evaluation by the evaluation 
panel shall be notified by the panel of the defi-
ciencies in its performance and shall be placed 
on a corrective action plan and provided the op-
portunity to address deficiencies unless imme-
diate action is necessary to protect the public 
interest. The program shall re-evaluate the Cen-
ter within one year and if the Center has not 
addressed the deficiencies identified by the 
panel, or shown a significant improvement in its 
performance, the Director shall conduct a new 
competition or may close the Center. 
‘‘(G) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT.— 
After the fifth year, a Center may receive addi-
tional financial support under this section if it 
has received a positive evaluation through an 
independent review, under procedures estab-
lished by the Institute. 
‘‘(H) RECOMPETITION.—If a Center has 
received financial support for 10 consecutive 
years, the Director shall conduct a new com-
petition. An existing Center may submit an ap-
plication as part of the new competition. 
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161 
‘‘(I) RECOMPETITION
PLAN.—Not later 
than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
the America Competes Reauthorization Act of 
2014, the Director shall submit a plan to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor-
tation of the Senate detailing how the program 
will implement the new competitions required 
under subparagraph (H). The Director shall 
consult with the MEP Advisory Board estab-
lished under subsection (f) in the development 
and implementation of the plan. 
‘‘(6) OVERSIGHT BOARD.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each Center that re-
ceives financial assistance under this section 
shall establish an oversight board that is broad-
ly representative of regional stakeholders with a 
majority of board members drawn from local 
small and medium-sized manufacturing firms. 
‘‘(B) BYLAWS AND CONFLICT OF INTER-
EST.—Each board under subparagraph (A) 
shall adopt and submit to the Director bylaws 
to govern the operation of the board, including 
a conflict of interest policy to ensure relevant 
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