SEC. 208. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION AND FACILITIES.
The Foundation shall incorporate the guidelines set
forth in Important Notice No. 91, dated March 11, 1983
(48 Fed. Reg. 15754, April 12, 1983) relating to the use
and operation of Foundation-supported research instru-
mentation and facilities, in its notice of Grant General
Conditions, and shall examine more closely the adherence
of grantee organizations to such guidelines.
SEC. 209. ENVIRONMENTALLY ADVANCED EDUCATION.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) Improving the general understanding of the
relationships between economic and technical activi-
ties and the environment, and the opportunities for
improvements in such relations, is essential for the ef-
fective realization of sustainable economic develop-
ment.
(2) In post-secondary education, with the excep-
tion of environmental specialists, environmental con-
siderations are typically not integrated into the re-
quired coursework for technical, engineering, science,
and related professions.
(3) The integration of environmental consider-
ations into all technical, engineering, science, and re-
lated professions in a timely fashion is essential to
better achieving sustainable economic development.
(b) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish a pro-
gram to promote the development and distribution of cur-
riculum and materials—
(1) at the primary and secondary levels that will
improve the understanding of the relationships be-
tween economic and technical activities and the envi-
ronment and the opportunities for improving those
relationships; and
(2) at the post-secondary level that will incor-
porate the principles and practices of environmental
soundness and total cost accounting into all technical,
engineering, design, scientific, and related disciplines.
(c) TECHNICAL PROGRAMS.—(1) The Director shall
ensure that the special needs of technical programs of insti-
tutions described in paragraph (2) are addressed in execut-
ing this section, including disseminating information about
practices that exemplify environmentally sound practices.
(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), insti-
tutions referred to in paragraph (1) are institutions of
higher education (as determined under section 1201(a) of
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1141(a))) that
offer a 2-year associate-degree program, 2-year certificate
program, or other shorter program described in such section
1201(a).
(B) Notwithstanding section 1201(a)(4) of the Higher
Education Act of 1965, institutions referred to in para-
graph (1) may include proprietary institutions.
(d) COORDINATION.—The Director shall consult with
the heads of other agencies of the Federal Government, State
and local governments, educational institutions, and appro-
priate private sector organizations, including accreditation
boards for engineering, technology, and design educational
institutions in executing this section.
SEC. 210. LIMITATION ON APPROPRIATIONS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no
funds are authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year
after fiscal year 1996 for carrying out the programs and
activities for which funds are authorized by this Act, or the
amendments made by this Act.
SEC. 211. INDIRECT COST REIMBURSEMENT.
(a) LIMITATION.—None of the funds authorized under
section 101(b) may be awarded to any grantee who reported
Federal research grant outlays in excess of $10,000,000 in
fiscal year 1994, unless such grantee—
(1) agrees to notify the Foundation of the
amount of any increased indirect expense; and
(2) agrees to the permanent cancellation, in an
amount that equals the increased indirect expense, of
its claims for the portion of unliquidated obligations
from prior year research grants that comprise the in-
direct expense allocated to the Foundation.
(b) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘‘increased indirect expense’’ means the amount by
which the grantee’s claim for indirect expense allocated to
the Foundation for research grants for fiscal year 1995 ex-
ceeds the amount of such claim for fiscal year 1994.
SEC. 212. AWARD OF GRANTS AND CONTRACTS: REQUIRE-
MENT OF COMPETITION.
(a) The Director may not make a grant or award a
contract to any institutions or consortia for the perform-
ance of research and development, or for the construction
of any research or other facility, unless such grant or award
is made using a competitive, merit-based evaluation proc-
ess.
(b)(1) A provision of law may not be construed as
modifying or superseding the provisions of subsection (a),
or as requiring funds to be made available by the Director
to a particular institution or consortium by grant or con-
tract, unless that provision of law—
(A) specifically refers to this section;
(B) specifically states that such provision of law
modifies or supersedes the provisions of this section;
and
(C) specifically identifies the particular institu-
tion or consortium involved and states that the grant
to be made or the contract to be awarded, as the case
may be, pursuant to such provision of law, is being
made or awarded in contravention to subsection (a).
(2) A grant may not be made, or a contract awarded,
pursuant to a provision of law that authorizes or requires
the making of the grant, or the awarding of the contract,
in a manner that is inconsistent with subsection (a) until—
(A) the Director submits to Congress a notice in
writing of the intent to make the grant or award the
contract; and
(B) a period of 180 days has elapsed after the
date on which the notice is received by Congress.
TITLE III—ACADEMIC RESEARCH
FACILITIES MODERNIZATION
SEC. 301. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) the deficiencies in the condition of buildings
and equipment used for the conduct of fundamental
research and related education programs at many
universities and colleges which are cited in section
202 of the Academic Research Facilities Moderniza-
tion Act of 1988 are substantially unchanged;
(2) a national effort, involving the participation
of Federal and State governments and the private sec-
tor, is required to make progress in improving the
state of academic research facilities; and
(3) because of the scale of the problem, the Fed-
eral effort to upgrade academic research facilities
must involve a coordinated program among all Fed-
eral agencies which sponsor research at academic in-
stitutions.
SEC. 302. FACILITIES MODERNIZATION PLAN.
The Director of the Office of Science and Technology
Policy, through the Federal Coordinating Council for
Science, Engineering, and Technology, or any successor en-
tity which assumes its responsibilities, shall develop a plan
for a multiagency Federal program to provide financial
support to institutions of higher education for the repair,
renovation, or replacement of obsolete science and engineer-
ing facilities primarily devoted to research. The plan
shall—
(1) include participation by all Federal depart-
ments and agencies which provide substantial Federal
support for research and development activities at in-
stitutions of higher education;
(2) provide estimates of the level of funding re-
quired, by department and agency, and period for
which funding should be provided to relieve substan-
tially the backlog of research facilities needs and to
ensure that, at the conclusion of the period proposed,
the facilities available will be satisfactory to support
national research needs;
(3) take into consideration, for determining the
requirements of paragraph (2), ongoing efforts by
Federal departments and agencies, State governments,
and the private sector to upgrade research facilities;
(4) be designed to address the needs of the cat-
egories of institutions eligible for awards under the
Academic Research Facilities Modernization Act of
1988;
(5) detail administrative procedures and guide-
lines for the implementation of the modernization
program; and
(6) state procedures and data collection steps
which have been implemented to assess the state of
academic research facilities and to measure the rate
of progress in improving the condition of the facili-
ties.
Within 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
shall transmit to the Congress the plan developed under this
section.
SEC. 303. LIMITATION ON OBLIGATION OF UNAUTHORIZED
APPROPRIATIONS.
No funds appropriated to the Foundation for construc-
tion of new facilities or construction necessary for upgrad-
ing the capabilities of existing facilities at institutions eli-
gible for awards under the Academic Research Facilities
Modernization Act of 1988 shall be obligated unless the
funds are awarded in accordance with the requirements of
the Academic Research Facilities Modernization Act of 1988
or are specifically authorized for such purpose by this Act
or any other Act which is not an appropriations Act.
TITLE IV—INTERNATIONAL
SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION
SEC. 401. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Debt-for-science exchanges can provide an in-
novative means to enhance scientific cooperation with
countries whose external debt burden prevents them
from allocating sufficient resources to their scientific
and technological infrastructures.
(2) Debt-for-science exchanges have been dem-
onstrated to improve the state of scientific research
and education in several countries, including Bolivia,
Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, and Mexico.
SEC. 402. DEBT-FOR-SCIENCE EXCHANGES.
(a) DEBT-FOR-SCIENCE EXCHANGE GRANTS.—The
Director is authorized to make grants to organizations
within the United States, including colleges and univer-
sities, for the purpose of debt-for-science exchanges. Before
making any grant under this section, the Director shall as-
certain that—
(1) funds resulting from the debt-for-science ex-
change will be expended only for purposes of inter-
national cooperative scientific research and develop-
ment projects;
(2) the debt-for-science exchange will make funds
available for such projects which otherwise would not
be available;
(3) the amount of local currency provided as a
result of the debt-for-science exchange will be substan-
tially greater than the United States dollar purchase
price of the debt;
(4) the grantee certifies that the debtor govern-
ment has accepted the terms of the exchange and that
an agreement has been reached to cancel the commer-
cial debt; and
(5) Federal grants made under this section will
be equally matched by non-Federal contributions to
purchase debt.
(b) INVESTMENT
OF GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE.—
Grantees or subgrantees of funds provided under this section
may retain, without deposit in the Treasury of the United
States and without further appropriation by Congress, in-
terest earned on the proceeds of any resulting debt-for-
science exchange pending disbursements of such proceeds
and interest for approved program purposes, which may in-
clude the establishment of an endowment, the income of
which is used for such purposes.
(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out subsection (a)
the Director shall coordinate with Federal agencies, such
as the Agency for International Development, that have ex-
pertise in debt exchanges.
SEC. 403. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PARTICIPA-
TION IN BINATIONAL AND MULTINATIONAL
ENDOWED SCIENCE FOUNDATIONS.
The Director, in consultation with appropriate offi-
cials of the United States and foreign countries, may en-
courage and facilitate the establishment of binational and
multinational endowed science foundations, and may par-
ticipate in the operation and governance of such founda-
tions, including serving as a member of or designating
members to the Boards of Governors, if such foundations—
(1) have Boards of Governors whose members are
chosen to represent participating countries and pos-
sess expertise in international scientific cooperation;
(2) have a structure and operational characteris-
tics determined exclusively by their Boards of Gov-
ernors, consistent with paragraph (3); and
(3) are established and governed in accordance
with charters which include provisions—
(A) to ensure that the funding of the endow-
ment is shared equitably among the participat-
ing nations, appropriate to their economic re-
sources;
(B) to protect the endowment’s principal
from loss of value due to inflation;
(C) to define the range of scientific and edu-
cational activities to be funded;
(D) to define criteria for application, merit
review, and awarding of funds which encompass,
at a minimum, consideration of scientific merit,
strength of collaborative arrangements, and po-
tential benefit to participants;
(E) to limit administrative costs to those
that are prudent and necessary; and
(F) to engage an independent auditor to
perform an annual organization-wide audit of
such foundations, in accordance with generally
accepted auditing standards, and to make the re-
sults of the audit immediately available to the
Director and the Board of Governors.
SEC. 404. REPORT.
Within one year after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Director shall submit to the Congress a strategic
plan for international scientific cooperation activities un-
dertaken by the Foundation which—
(1) describes and evaluates all activities involv-
ing international scientific cooperation currently car-
ried out by the Foundation;
(2) describes how these activities relate to ongo-
ing and prospective Foundation research and edu-
cational activities;
(3) details research activities and geographic
areas where international scientific cooperation has
been most effective and where it has been least effec-
tive;
(4) describes plans for future cooperative inter-
national scientific projects; and
(5) assesses the research activities and geographic
areas where future international scientific cooperation
would be most effective.
TITLE V—UNDERGRADUATE
EDUCATION
SEC. 501. REQUIREMENT FOR FUNDING.
Each educational institution that receives a research
grant from the Foundation in fiscal year 1995 shall, as a
condition of receiving such grant, provide to the Foundation
the following information on its undergraduate mathe-
matics, science, and engineering activities:
(1) A description of teacher training programs
mandated by the institution for teaching assistants,
including the number of training hours required.
(2) The institution’s policy regarding the relative
importance of teaching and research duties in deci-
sions on promotion, tenure, and salary for faculty,
including any written policy with specific criteria.
(3) Any policy allowing faculty to replace uni-
versity salary with funds from outside sources, along
with any policy allowing faculty to replace all or
part of the teaching load with increased research.
(4) The number of faculty released from some or
all of their teaching responsibilities pursuant to a
policy described in paragraph (3), with the number
replacing all or some of their salary with Federal
funds reported separately.
(5) The number and percentage of faculty, not
including those on regular sabbatical leave, teaching
no undergraduate courses.
(6) The number and percentage of faculty sup-
ported by active Federal research grants teaching
freshman or sophomore lecture courses.
(7) The number and percentage of lecture sources
taught by individuals other than faculty.
(8) The number of students per course in each
introductory course.
Information shall be provided for the most recent academic
year for which it is available. For purposes of this section,
the term ‘‘educational institution’’ means an institution of
higher education that is ranked among the top 100 of the
institutions receiving Federal research and development
funding, as documented in the latest annual report of the
Foundation entitled ‘‘Federal Support to Universities, Col-
leges, and Selected Non-Profit Institutions’’. The term ‘‘fac-
ulty’’ means tenured or tenure-track employees not serving
in full-time administrative positions. The Foundation shall
compile this information and submit it to the Congress no
later than December 31, 1995.
SEC. 502. RECOMMENDATIONS.
The Director shall transmit to the Congress, at the
time of the President’s budget request for fiscal year 1997,
recommendations as to how Foundation research funds
could be used to increase the focus on undergraduate edu-
cation at institutions of higher education.
HR 3254 RH——2
HR 3254 RH——3