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retary shall require at least 50 percent of the costs related 
to any demonstration or commercial application activities 
under this title to be provided from non-Federal sources. 
The Secretary may reduce the non-Federal requirement 
under this subsection if the Secretary determines that the 
reduction is necessary and appropriate considering the 
technological risks involved in the project and is necessary 
to meet the objectives of this title. 
(c) CALCULATION OF AMOUNT.—In calculating the 
amount of the non-Federal commitment under subsection 
(a) or (b), the Secretary may include personnel, services, 
equipment, and other resources. 
(d) SIZE OF NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The Secretary 
may consider the amount of the non-Federal share in se-
lecting projects under this title. 
SEC. 912. REPROGRAMMING. 
(a) DISTRIBUTION REPORT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date of enactment of an Act appropriating 
amounts authorized under this title, the Secretary shall 
transmit to Congress a report explaining how such 
amounts will be distributed among the activities author-
ized by this title. 
(b) REPROGRAMMING LETTER.—No amount author-
ized by this title shall be obligated or expended for a pur-
pose inconsistent with the appropriations Act appro-
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priating such amount, the report accompanying such ap-
propriations Act, or a distribution report transmitted 
under subsection (a) if such obligation or expenditure 
would change an individual amount, as represented in 
such an Act, report, or distribution report, by more than 
2 percent or $2,000,000, whichever is smaller, unless the 
Secretary has transmitted to Congress a letter of expla-
nation and a period of 30 days has elapsed after Congress 
receives the letter. 
(c) COMPUTATION.—The computation of the 30-day 
period described in subsection (b) shall exclude any day 
on which either House of Congress is not in session be-
cause of an adjournment of more than 3 days to a day 
certain. 
SEC. 913. MERIT-BASED COMPETITION. 
(a) COMPETITIVE MERIT REVIEW.—Awardees of 
funds authorized under this title shall be selected through 
open competitions. Funds shall be competitively awarded 
only after an impartial review of the scientific and tech-
nical merit of the proposals for such awards has been car-
ried out by or for the Department on the basis of criteria 
outlined by the Secretary in the solicitation of proposals. 
(b) COMPETITION.—Competitive awards under this 
title shall involve competitions open to all qualified entities 
within one or more of the following categories:
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(1) Institutions of higher education. 
(2) National Laboratories. 
(3) Nonprofit and for-profit private entities. 
(4) State and local governments. 
(5) Consortia of entities described in para-
graphs (1) through (4). 
(c) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary 
shall notify Congress within 30 days after awarding more 
than $500,000 through a competition described in sub-
section (b) that is limited to 1 of the categories described 
in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (b). 
(d) WAIVERS.—The Secretary may waive the require-
ment under subsection (a) requiring competition if the 
Secretary considers it necessary to more quickly advance 
research, development, demonstration, or commercial ap-
plication activities. The Secretary shall notify Congress 
within 30 days when a waiver is granted under this sub-
section. The Secretary may not delegate the waiver au-
thority under this subsection for awards over $500,000. 
SEC. 914. EXTERNAL TECHNICAL REVIEW OF DEPART-
MENTAL PROGRAMS. 
(a) NATIONAL APPLIED ENERGY RESEARCH
AND 
DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 
one or more advisory committees to review and ad-
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vise the Department’s applied programs in the fol-
lowing areas: 
(A) Energy efficiency. 
(B) Renewable energy. 
(C) Nuclear energy. 
(D) Fossil energy. 
(2) EXISTING
ADVISORY
COMMITTEES.—The 
Secretary may designate an existing advisory com-
mittee within the Department to fulfill the respon-
sibilities of an advisory committee under this sub-
section. 
(b) OFFICE OF SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEES.— 
(1) USE OF EXISTING COMMITTEES.—Except as 
otherwise provided under the Federal Advisory Com-
mittee Act, the Secretary shall continue to use the 
scientific program advisory committees chartered 
under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 
U.S.C. App.) by the Office of Science to oversee re-
search and development programs under that Office. 
(2) REPORT.—Before the Department issues 
any new guidance regarding the membership for Of-
fice of Science scientific program advisory commit-
tees, the Secretary shall transmit a report to the 
Congress outlining the reasons for the proposed 
changes, and 60 days must have elapsed after trans-
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mittal of the report before the Department may im-
plement those changes. 
(3) SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 
(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be a 
Science Advisory Committee for the Office of 
Science that includes the chairs of each of the 
advisory committees described in paragraph (1). 
(B) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Science Ad-
visory Committee shall— 
(i) advise the Director of the Office of 
Science on science issues; 
(ii) advise the Director of the Office 
of Science with respect to the well-being 
and management of the National Labora-
tories and Department research facilities; 
(iii) advise the Director of the Office 
of Science with respect to education and 
workforce training activities required for 
effective short-term and long-term basic 
and applied research activities of the Office 
of Science; and 
(iv) advise the Director of the Office 
of Science with respect to the well-being of 
the university research programs supported 
by the Office of Science.
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(c) MEMBERSHIP.—Each member of an advisory 
committee appointed under this section shall have signifi-
cant scientific, technical, or other appropriate expertise. 
The membership of each committee shall represent a wide 
range of expertise, including, to the extent practicable, 
members with expertise from outside the disciplines cov-
ered by the program, and a diverse set of interests. 
(d) MEETINGS AND PURPOSES.—Each advisory com-
mittee under this section shall meet at least semiannually 
to review and advise on the progress made by the respec-
tive research, development, demonstration, and commer-
cial application program or programs. The advisory com-
mittee shall also review the measurable cost and perform-
ance-based goals for the applied programs, and the 
progress on meeting such goals. 
(e) REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 6 
months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall enter into arrangements with the National 
Academy of Sciences to conduct reviews and assessments 
of the programs authorized by this title, the measurable 
cost and performance-based goals for the applied pro-
grams, and the progress in meeting such goals. Such re-
views and assessments shall be completed and reports con-
taining the results of all such reviews and assessments
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transmitted to the Congress not later than 2 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 915. COMPETITIVE AWARD OF MANAGEMENT CON-
TRACTS. 
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated to 
the Secretary by this title may be used to award a manage-
ment and operating contract for a National Laboratory 
(excluding those named in subparagraphs (G), (H), (N), 
(O) of section 900(b)(6)), unless such contract is competi-
tively awarded, or the Secretary grants, on a case-by-case 
basis, a waiver. The Secretary may not delegate the au-
thority to grant such a waiver and shall submit to the Con-
gress a report notifying it of the waiver, and setting forth 
the reasons for the waiver, at least 60 days prior to the 
date of the award of such contract. 
SEC. 916. NATIONAL LABORATORY DESIGNATION. 
After the date of enactment of this Act the Secretary 
shall not designate a facility that is not referred to in sec-
tion 900(b)(6) as a National Laboratory. 
SEC. 917. REPORT ON EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY 
PRACTICES. 
Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and biennially thereafter, the Secretary shall 
transmit to Congress a report on the equal employment
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opportunity practices at National Laboratories. Such re-
port shall include— 
(1) a thorough review of each laboratory con-
tractor’s equal employment opportunity policies, in-
cluding promotion to management and professional 
positions and pay raises; 
(2) a statistical report on complaints and their 
disposition in the laboratories; 
(3) a description of how equal employment op-
portunity practices at the laboratories are treated in 
the contract and in calculating award fees for each 
contractor; 
(4) a summary of disciplinary actions and their 
disposition by either the Department or the relevant 
contractors for each laboratory; 
(5) a summary of outreach efforts to attract 
women and minorities to the laboratories; 
(6) a summary of efforts to retain women and 
minorities in the laboratories; and 
(7) a summary of collaboration efforts with the 
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to 
improve equal employment opportunity practices at 
the laboratories.
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SEC. 918. USER FACILITY BEST PRACTICES PLAN. 
The Secretary shall not allow any Department facility 
to begin functioning as a user facility after the date of 
enactment of this Act until the Secretary, for that facil-
ity— 
(1) develops a plan to ensure that the facility 
will— 
(A) have a skilled staff to support a wide 
range of users; 
(B) have a fair method for allocating time 
to users that provides for input from facility 
management, user representatives, and outside 
experts; and 
(C) be operated in a safe and fiscally pru-
dent manner; and 
(2) transmits such plan to Congress and 60 
days have elapsed. 
SEC. 919. SUPPORT FOR SCIENCE AND ENERGY INFRA-
STRUCTURE AND FACILITIES. 
(a) STRATEGY.—The Secretary shall develop and im-
plement a strategy for infrastructure and facilities sup-
ported primarily from the Office of Science and the ap-
plied programs at each National Laboratory and Depart-
ment research facility. Such strategy shall provide cost- 
effective means for—
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(1) maintaining existing facilities and infra-
structure, as needed; 
(2) closing unneeded facilities; 
(3) making facility modifications; and 
(4) building new facilities. 
(b) REPORT.— 
(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall pre-
pare and transmit to the Congress not later than 
June 1, 2007, a report summarizing the strategies 
developed under subsection (a). 
(2) CONTENTS.—For each National Laboratory 
and Department research facility, for the facilities 
primarily used for science and energy research, such 
report shall contain— 
(A) the current priority list of proposed fa-
cilities and infrastructure projects, including 
cost and schedule requirements; 
(B) a current 10-year plan that dem-
onstrates the reconfiguration of its facilities and 
infrastructure to meet its missions and to ad-
dress its long-term operational costs and return 
on investment; 
(C) the total current budget for all facili-
ties and infrastructure funding; and
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(D) the current status of each facility and 
infrastructure project compared to the original 
baseline cost, schedule, and scope. 
SEC. 920. COORDINATION PLAN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop a co-
ordination plan to improve coordination and collaboration 
in research, development, demonstration, and commercial 
application activities across Department organizational 
boundaries. 
(b) PLAN CONTENTS.—The plan shall describe— 
(1) how the Secretary will ensure that the ap-
plied programs are coordinating their activities, in-
cluding a description of specific research questions 
that cross organizational boundaries and of how the 
relevant applied programs are coordinating their ef-
forts to answer those questions, and how such cross- 
cutting research questions will be identified in the 
future; 
(2) how the Secretary will ensure that research 
that has been supported by the Office of Science is 
being or will be used by the applied programs, in-
cluding a description of specific Office of Science- 
supported research that is relevant to the applied 
programs and of how the applied programs have 
used or will use that research; and
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(3) a description of how the Secretary will en-
sure that the research agenda of the Office of 
Science includes research questions of concern to the 
applied programs, including a description of specific 
research questions that the Office of Science will ad-
dress to assist the applied programs. 
(c) PLAN TRANSMITTAL.—The Secretary shall trans-
mit the coordination plan to Congress not later than 9 
months after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 
2 years thereafter shall transmit a revised coordination 
plan. 
(d) CONFERENCE.—Not less than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall convene 
a conference of program managers from the Office of 
Science and the applied programs to review ideas and ex-
plore possibilities for effective cross-program collaboration. 
The Secretary also shall invite participation relevant Fed-
eral agencies and other programs in the Federal Govern-
ment conducting relevant research, and other stakeholders 
as appropriate. 
SEC. 921. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 
Funds appropriated to the Secretary for activities au-
thorized under this title shall remain available for three 
years. Funds that are not obligated at the end of three 
years shall be returned to the Treasury.