‘‘(3) 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) OPERATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) FINANCIAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary may 
provide financial support to any Center created 
under subsection (a). The Secretary may not provide 
to a Center more than 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 
of Federal Regulations related to this section at 
least once every 3 years. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any nonprofit institu-
tion, or consortium thereof, or State or local 
government, may submit to the Secretary an 
application for financial support under this sec-
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tion, in accordance with the procedures estab-
lished 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 competi-
tiveness, management, productivity, 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 
State governments to accomplish programmatic 
objectives and access new and existing resources 
that will further the impact of the Federal in-
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vestment made on behalf of small and medium- 
sized manufacturing companies. 
‘‘(D) LEGAL
RIGHTS.—Each applicant 
under subparagraph (A) shall also submit a 
proposal for the allocation of the legal rights as-
sociated with any invention which 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. 
‘‘(D) The percentage of funding and 
amount of in-kind commitment from other 
sources. 
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‘‘(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 private experts, 
none of whom shall be connected with the in-
volved 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 sixth year. 
‘‘(F) PROBATION.—The Secretary shall 
not provide funding unless the Center has re-
ceived a positive evaluation. A Center that has 
not received a positive evaluation by the evalua-
tion panel shall be notified by the panel of the 
deficiencies in its performance and shall be 
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placed on probation for one year, after which 
time the panel shall 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 
shall conduct a new competition to select an op-
erator for the Center or may close the Center. 
‘‘(G) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT.— 
After the sixth 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) EIGHT-YEAR
REVIEW.—A Center 
shall undergo an independent review in the 8th 
year of operation. Each evaluation panel shall 
measure the Center’s performance against the 
objectives specified in this section. A Center 
that has not received a positive evaluation as a 
result of an independent review shall be notified 
by the Program of the deficiencies in its per-
formance and shall be placed on probation for 
one year, after which time the Program shall 
reevaluate the Center. If the Center has not ad-
dressed the deficiencies identified by the review, 
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or shown a significant improvement in its per-
formance, the Director shall conduct a new 
competition to select an operator for the Center 
or may close the Center. 
‘‘(I) RECOMPETITION.—If a recipient of a 
Center award has received financial assistance 
for 10 consecutive years, the Director shall con-
duct a new competition to select an operator for 
the Center consistent with the plan required in 
this Act. Incumbent Center operators in good 
standing shall be eligible to compete for the new 
award. 
‘‘(J) REPORTS.— 
‘‘(i) PLAN.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of the NIST 
Reauthorization Act of 2014, the Director 
shall transmit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the 
House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-
portation of the Senate a plan as to how 
the Institute will conduct reviews, assess-
ments, 
and 
reapplication 
competitions 
under this paragraph. 
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‘‘(ii) INDEPENDENT
ASSESSMENT.— 
The Director shall contract with an inde-
pendent organization to perform an assess-
ment of the implementation of the re-
application competition process under this 
paragraph within 3 years after the trans-
mittal of the report under clause (i). The 
organization conducting the assessment 
under this clause may consult with the 
MEP Advisory Board. 
‘‘(iii) COMPARISON
OF
CENTERS.— 
Not later than 2 years after the date of en-
actment of the NIST Reauthorization Act 
of 2014, the Director shall transmit to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
nology of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate a report 
providing information on the first and sec-
ond years of operations for centers oper-
ating from new competitions or recompeti-
tion as compared to longstanding centers. 
The report shall provide detail on the en-
gagement in services provided by Centers 
and the characteristics of services pro-
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vided, including volume and type of serv-
ices, so that the Committees can evaluate 
whether the cost-sharing ratio has an ef-
fect on the services provided at Centers. 
‘‘(6) PATENT RIGHTS.—The provisions of chap-
ter 18 of title 35, United States Code, shall apply, 
to the extent not inconsistent with this section, to 
the promotion of technology from research by Cen-
ters under this section except for contracts for such 
specific technology extension or transfer services as 
may be specified by statute or by the Director. 
‘‘(7) PROTECTION
OF
CENTER
CLIENT
CON-
FIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Section 552 of title 5, 
United States Code, shall apply to the following in-
formation obtained by the Federal Government on a 
confidential basis in connection with the activities of 
any participant involved in the Hollings Manufac-
turing Extension Partnership: 
‘‘(A) Information on the business operation 
of any participant in a Hollings Manufacturing 
Extension Partnership program or of a client of 
a Center. 
‘‘(B) Trade secrets possessed by any client 
of a Center. 
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‘‘(8) ADVISORY BOARDS.—Each Center’s advi-
sory boards shall institute a conflict of interest pol-
icy, approved by the Director, that ensures the 
Board represents local small and medium-sized man-
ufacturers in the Center’s region. Board Members 
may not serve as a vendor or provide services to the 
Center, nor may they serve on more than one Cen-
ter’s oversight board simultaneously. 
‘‘(d) ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to such sums 
as may be appropriated to the Secretary and Direc-
tor to operate the Hollings Manufacturing Extension 
Partnership, the Secretary and Director also may 
accept funds from other Federal departments and 
agencies and, under section 2(c)(7), from the private 
sector for the purpose of strengthening United 
States manufacturing. 
‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(A) FUNDS ACCEPTED FROM OTHER FED-
ERAL DEPARTMENTS OR AGENCIES.—The Di-
rector shall determine whether funds accepted 
from other Federal departments or agencies 
shall be counted in the calculation of the Fed-
eral share of capital and annual operating and 
maintenance costs under subsection (c). 
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‘‘(B) FUNDS ACCEPTED FROM THE PRI-
VATE SECTOR.—Funds accepted from the pri-
vate sector under section 2(c)(7), if allocated to 
a Center, may not be considered in the calcula-
tion of the Federal share under subsection (c) 
of this section. 
‘‘(e) MEP ADVISORY BOARD.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 
within the Institute a Manufacturing Extension 
Partnership Advisory Board (in this subsection re-
ferred to as the ‘MEP Advisory Board’). 
‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The MEP Advisory 
Board shall consist of not fewer than 10 mem-
bers broadly representative of stakeholders, to 
be appointed by the Director. At least 2 mem-
bers shall be employed by or on an advisory 
board for the Centers, at least 1 member shall 
represent a community college, and at least 5 
other members shall be from United States 
small businesses in the manufacturing sector. 
No member shall be an employee of the Federal 
Government. 
‘‘(B) TERM.—Except as provided in sub-
paragraph (C) or (D), the term of office of each 
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member of the MEP Advisory Board shall be 3 
years. 
‘‘(C) VACANCIES.—Any member appointed 
to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expira-
tion of the term for which his predecessor was 
appointed shall be appointed for the remainder 
of such term. 
‘‘(D) SERVING
CONSECUTIVE
TERMS.— 
Any person who has completed two consecutive 
full terms of service on the MEP Advisory 
Board shall thereafter be ineligible for appoint-
ment during the one-year period following the 
expiration of the second such term. 
‘‘(3) MEETINGS.—The MEP Advisory Board 
shall meet not less than 2 times annually and shall 
provide to the Director— 
‘‘(A) advice on Hollings Manufacturing 
Extension Partnership programs, plans, and 
policies; 
‘‘(B) assessments of the soundness of Hol-
lings Manufacturing Extension Partnership 
plans and strategies; and 
‘‘(C) assessments of current performance 
against 
Hollings 
Manufacturing 
Extension 
Partnership program plans. 
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