1999, and 2000 for the Federal Aviation Administration
Research, Engineering, and Development account, unless
such sums are specifically authorized to be appropriated
by the amendments made by this Act.
(c) ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARDS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator of the
Federal Aviation Administration shall exclude from
consideration for grant agreements made by that
Administration from the Research, Engineering, and
Development account after fiscal year 1997 any per-
son who received funds, other than those described
in paragraph (2), appropriated for a fiscal year after
fiscal year 1997, under a grant agreement from any
Federal funding source for a project that was not
subjected to a competitive, merit-based award proc-
ess. Any exclusion from consideration pursuant to
this subsection shall be effective for a period of 5
years after the person receives such Federal funds.
(2)
EXCEPTION.—Paragraph
(1)
shall
not
apply to the receipt of Federal funds by a person
due to the membership of that person in a class
specified by law for which assistance is awarded to
members of the class according to a formula pro-
vided by law.
(3) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub-
section, the term ‘‘grant agreement’’ means a legal
instrument whose principal purpose is to transfer a
thing of value to the recipient to carry out a public
purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a
law of the United States, and does not include the
acquisition (by purchase, lease, or barter) of prop-
erty or services for the direct benefit or use of the
United States Government. Such term does not in-
clude a cooperative agreement (as such term is used
in section 6305 of title 31, United States Code) or
a cooperative research and development agreement
(as such term is defined in section 12(d)(1) of the
Stevenson-Wydler
Technology
Innovation
Act
of
1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(d)(1))).
SEC. 7. NOTICE.
(a) NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.—If any funds au-
thorized by the amendments made by this Act are subject
to a reprogramming action that requires notice to be pro-
vided to the Appropriations Committees of the House of
Representatives and the Senate, notice of such action shall
concurrently be provided to the Committees on Science
and Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives
and
the
Committee
on
Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
(b) NOTICE
OF REORGANIZATION.—The Adminis-
trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall provide
notice to the Committees on Science, Transportation and
Infrastructure, and Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and the Committees on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation and Appropriations of the Senate, not
later than 15 days before any major reorganization of any
program, project, or activity of the Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration for which funds are authorized by this Act.
SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM.
With the year 2000 fast approaching, it is the sense
of Congress that the Federal Aviation Administration
should—
(1) give high priority to correcting all 2-digit
date-related problems in its computer systems to en-
sure that those systems continue to operate effec-
tively in the year 2000 and beyond;
(2) assess immediately the extent of the risk to
the operations of the Federal Aviation Administra-
tion posed by the problems referred to in paragraph
(1), and plan and budget for achieving Year 2000
compliance for all of its mission-critical systems; and
(3) develop contingency plans for those systems
that the Federal Aviation Administration is unable
to correct in time.
SEC. 9. BUY AMERICAN.
(a) COMPLIANCE WITH BUY AMERICAN ACT.—No
funds appropriated pursuant to the amendments made by
this Act may be expended by an entity unless the entity
agrees that in expending the assistance the entity will
comply with sections 2 through 4 of the Act of March 3,
1933 (41 U.S.C. 10a-10c, popularly known as the ‘‘Buy
American Act’’).
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—In the case of any equip-
ment or products that may be authorized to be purchased
with financial assistance provided under the amendments
made by this Act, it is the sense of Congress that entities
receiving such assistance should, in expending the assist-
ance, purchase only American-made equipment and prod-
ucts.
(c) NOTICE
TO RECIPIENTS
OF ASSISTANCE.—In
providing financial assistance under the amendments
made by this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Avia-
tion Administration shall provide to each recipient of the
assistance a notice describing the statement made in sub-
section (a) by the Congress.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FAA Research, Engi-
neering, and Development Authorization Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph
(2)(J);
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (3)(J) and inserting in lieu thereof a semi-
colon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4) for fiscal year 1998, $229,673,000, includ-
ing—
‘‘(A) $16,379,000 for system development
and infrastructure projects and activities;
‘‘(B) $27,089,000 for capacity and air traf-
fic management technology projects and activi-
ties;
‘‘(C) $23,362,000 for communications, navi-
gation, and surveillance projects and activities;
‘‘(D) $16,600,000 for weather projects and
activities;
‘‘(E) $7,854,000 for airport technology
projects and activities;
‘‘(F) $49,202,000 for aircraft safety tech-
nology projects and activities;
‘‘(G) $56,045,000 for system security tech-
nology projects and activities;
‘‘(H) $27,137,000 for human factors and
aviation medicine projects and activities;
‘‘(I) $2,891,000 for environment and energy
projects and activities; and
‘‘(J) $3,114,000 for innovative/cooperative
research projects and activities.’’.
SEC. 3. RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAM INVOLVING UNDER-
GRADUATE STUDENTS.
(a) PROGRAM.—Section 48102 of title 49, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following
new subsection:
‘‘(h) RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAM INVOLVING UN-
DERGRADUATE STUDENTS.—
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of
the Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a
program to utilize undergraduate and technical col-
leges in research on subjects of relevance to the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration. Grants may be award-
ed under this subsection for—
‘‘(A) research projects to be carried out at
primarily undergraduate institutions and tech-
nical colleges;
‘‘(B) research projects that combine research
at primarily undergraduate institutions and
technical colleges with other research supported
by the Federal Aviation Administration; or
‘‘(C) research on future training require-
ments on projected changes in regulatory re-
quirements for aircraft maintenance and power
plant licensees.
‘‘(2) NOTICE OF CRITERIA.—Within 6 months
after the date of the enactment of the FAA Research,
Engineering, and Development Authorization Act of
1997, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration shall establish and publish in the Fed-
eral Register criteria for the submittal of proposals
for a grant under this subsection, and for the award-
ing of such grants.
‘‘(3) PRINCIPAL CRITERIA.—The principal cri-
teria for the awarding of grants under this subsection
shall be—
‘‘(A) the relevance of the proposed research
to technical research needs identified by the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration;
‘‘(B) the scientific and technical merit of
the proposed research; and
‘‘(C) the potential for participation by un-
dergraduate students in the proposed research.
‘‘(4) 
COMPETITIVE, 
MERIT-BASED
EVALUA-
TION.—Grants shall be awarded under this subsection
on the basis of evaluation of proposals through a com-
petitive, merit-based process.’’.
(b) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section
48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, as amended by
this Act, is further amended by inserting ‘‘, of which
$750,000 shall be for carrying out the grant program estab-
lished under subsection (h)’’ after ‘‘projects and activities’’
in paragraph (4)(J).
SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON APPROPRIATIONS.
No sums are authorized to be appropriated to the Ad-
ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration for fis-
cal year 1998 for the Federal Aviation Administration Re-
search, Engineering, and Development account, unless such
sums are specifically authorized to be appropriated by the
amendments made by this Act.
SEC. 5. NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING.
If any funds authorized by the amendments made by
this Act are subject to a reprogramming action that requires
notice to be provided to the Appropriations Committees of
the House of Representatives and the Senate, notice of such
action shall concurrently be provided to the Committees on
Science and Transportation and Infrastructure of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM.
With the year 2000 fast approaching, it is the sense
of Congress that the Federal Aviation Administration
should—
(1) give high priority to correcting all 2-digit
date-related problems in its computer systems to en-
sure that those systems continue to operate effectively
in the year 2000 and beyond;
(2) assess immediately the extent of the risk to
the operations of the Federal Aviation Administration
posed by the problems referred to in paragraph (1),
and plan and budget for achieving Year 2000 compli-
ance for all of its mission-critical systems; and
(3) develop contingency plans for those systems
that the Federal Aviation Administration is unable to
correct in time.