HR 6599 IH1S 
(2) not later than one year after the date of en-
actment of this Act, the Academies shall provide a 
briefing to relevant Committees of the House of 
Representatives and Senate on the progress and ac-
tivities of the Standing Committee. 
SEC. 5. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY EMERGING INFECTIOUS 
DISEASE RESEARCH PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 
with the Director of the National Science Foundation and 
the Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration, shall carry out a research program to lever-
age the Federal Government’s innovative analytical tools 
and advanced computational and networking capabilities 
in order to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emerging 
infectious diseases, including COVID–19. The Secretary 
shall carry out this program through a competitive, merit- 
reviewed process, and consider applications from National 
Laboratories, institutions of higher education, multi-insti-
tutional collaborations, industry partners and other appro-
priate entities. 
(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 
program established under subsection (a), Secretary shall 
coordinate with relevant Federal agencies to determine a 
comprehensive set of technical milestones for these re-
search activities and prioritize the following objectives— 
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(1) supporting fundamental research and devel-
opment in advanced analytics and high-performance 
computing technologies needed to characterize, 
model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena re-
lated to emerging infectious diseases, including 
COVID–19 mitigation challenges, including a focus 
on bioinformatics, epidemiology, and molecular mod-
eling; 
(2) using expertise from the private sector and 
institutions of higher education, and the National 
Laboratories to develop computational software and 
capabilities that prospective users may accelerate 
emerging infectious diseases research and develop-
ment; 
(3) increasing the utility of the research infra-
structure of the Department, including scientific 
computing user facilities and light source user facili-
ties, by coordinating with the Advanced Scientific 
Computing Research and Basic Energy Sciences 
programs within the Office of Science; 
(4) leveraging experience from existing mod-
eling and simulation research and work sponsored by 
the Department and promoting collaboration and 
data sharing between National Laboratories, re-
search entities, and user facilities of the Department 
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by providing the necessary access and secure data 
transfer capabilities; and 
(5) ensuring that new experimental and com-
putational tools are accessible to relevant research 
communities, including private sector entities en-
gaged in technology development to address emerg-
ing infectious diseases, including COVID–19 chal-
lenges. 
(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out these programs, 
the Secretary shall ensure coordination and consultation 
with member of the working group established in section 
3. The Secretary shall ensure, to the maximum extent 
practicable, coordination of these activities with the De-
partment of Energy National Laboratories, institutes of 
higher education, and the private sector. 
(d) EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES HIGH PER-
FORMANCE COMPUTING RESEARCH CONSORTIUM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary in coordina-
tion with the Director of the National Science Foun-
dation and the Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy shall establish and operate an 
Emerging Infectious Diseases High Performance 
Computing Research Consortium (referred to in this 
section as the ‘‘Consortium’’), in order to support 
the program under subsection (a) by providing, to 
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the extent practicable, a centralized location for mul-
tidisciplinary, collaborative, emerging infectious dis-
ease research and development through high per-
formance computing and advanced data analytics 
technologies and processes. 
(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of such con-
sortium shall be representatives from relevant Fed-
eral agencies, the private sector, institutes of higher 
education, which can each contribute relevant com-
pute time, capabilities, or other resources. 
(3) ACTIVITIES.—The Consortium shall— 
(A) match applicants with available Fed-
eral and private sector computing resources; 
(B) consider supplemental awards for com-
puting partnerships with Consortium members 
to qualifying entities on a competitive merit-re-
view basis; 
(C) encourage collaboration and commu-
nication among member representatives of the 
consortium and awardees; 
(D) make available the high-performance 
computing capabilities, expertise, and user fa-
cilities of the Department and the National 
Laboratories; and 
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(E) submit an annual report to the Sec-
retary summarizing the activities of the Consor-
tium, including— 
(i) describing each project undertaken 
by the Consortium; 
(ii) detailing organizational expendi-
tures; and 
(iii) evaluating contribution to the 
achievement of technical milestones as de-
termined in subsection (a). 
(4) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall en-
sure the coordination of, and avoid unnecessary du-
plication of, the activities of the Consortium with the 
activities of other research entities of the Depart-
ment, institutions of higher education and the pri-
vate sector. 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to 
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
House, and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-
sources of the Senate, and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report detail-
ing the effectiveness of— 
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