IIB 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2988 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
DECEMBER 5, 2023 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
AN ACT 
To provide for Department of Energy and National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration research and develop-
ment coordination, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DOE and NASA Inter-
agency Research Coordination Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATIONAL AERO-
NAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION RE-
SEARCH 
AND 
DEVELOPMENT 
COORDINA-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy (in this 
section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) and the Adminis-
trator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) 
may carry out, as practicable, cross-cutting and collabo-
rative research and development activities to support the 
advancement of Department of Energy and National Aer-
onautics and Space Administration mission requirements 
and priorities. The Secretary and Administrator, in ac-
cordance with subsection (e), may make competitive 
awards to carry out such activities. 
(b) MEMORANDA
OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec-
retary and the Administrator shall coordinate the activi-
ties under subsection (a) through memoranda of under-
standing, or other appropriate interagency agreements. 
(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the activities 
under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator 
may— 
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(1) conduct collaborative research and develop-
ment activities in a variety of focus areas that may 
include— 
(A) propulsion systems and components, 
including nuclear thermal and nuclear electric 
propulsion, radioisotope power systems, thermo-
electric generators, advanced nuclear fuels, and 
heater units; 
(B) modeling and simulation, machine 
learning, data assimilation, large scale data 
analytics, and predictive analysis in order to op-
timize algorithms for mission-related purposes; 
(C) fundamental high energy physics, as-
trophysics, and cosmology, including the nature 
of dark energy and dark matter, in accordance 
with section 305 of the Department of Energy 
Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 
18643); 
(D) fundamental earth and environmental 
sciences, in accordance with section 306 of the 
Department of Energy Research and Innovation 
Act (42 U.S.C. 18644) and section 60501 of 
title 51, United States Code; 
(E) quantum information sciences, includ-
ing quantum computing and quantum network 
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infrastructure, in accordance with sections 403 
and 404 of the National Quantum Initiative Act 
(15 U.S.C. 8853 and 8854); 
(F) radiation health effects, in accordance 
with section 306 of the Department of Energy 
Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 
18644); 
(G) ground- and space-based technology 
necessary for the transmission to the Earth’s 
surface of solar energy collected in space; and 
(H) other areas of potential research and 
development collaboration the Secretary and the 
Administrator determine important to achieving 
agency missions and objectives; 
(2) develop methods to accommodate large vol-
untary data sets on space and aeronautical informa-
tion on high-performance computing systems with 
variable quality and scale; 
(3) promote collaboration and data and infor-
mation sharing between the Department of Energy, 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 
National Laboratories, and other appropriate enti-
ties by providing the necessary access and secure 
data and information transfer capabilities; and 
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(4) support the Administration’s access to the 
Department’s research infrastructure and capabili-
ties, as practicable. 
(d) AGREEMENTS.—In carrying out the activities 
under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator 
are authorized to— 
(1) carry out reimbursable and non-reimburs-
able agreements between the Department of Energy 
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion; and 
(2) collaborate with other Federal agencies, as 
appropriate. 
(e) MERIT REVIEW PROCESS.—The Secretary and 
the Administrator shall ensure any competitive awards 
made to carry out the activities under section (a) shall 
follow all appropriate laws and agency policies, including 
the following: 
(1) Selection by merit-review-based processes. 
(2) Consideration of applications from Federal 
agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of high-
er education, non-profit institutions, and other ap-
propriate entities. 
(f) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary and the 
Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Science, 
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Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
of the Senate, a report detailing the following: 
(1) Interagency research and development co-
ordination activities between the Department of En-
ergy and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration carried out under this section. 
(2) How such coordination activities expand the 
technical capabilities of the Department and the Ad-
ministration. 
(3) Collaborative research and development 
achievements. 
(4) Areas of future mutually beneficial activi-
ties, including potential applications of clean energy 
technologies, such as marine energy. 
(5) Continuation of coordination activities be-
tween the Department of Energy and the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration. 
(g) RESEARCH SECURITY.—The activities authorized 
under this section shall be applied in a manner consistent 
with subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Develop-
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