113 HR 5548 IH: Consortia-Led Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Networks Act
U.S. House of Representatives
2014-09-18
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the Consortia-Led Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Networks Act
.
2.In this Act:
(1)The term clean technology means a technology, production process, or methodology that—
(A)produces energy from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, tidal, wave, ocean, or another renewable
energy source (as defined in section 609 of the Public Utility Regulatory
Policies Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 918c));
(B)more efficiently transmits, distributes, or stores energy;
(C)enhances energy efficiency for buildings and industry, including combined heat and power;
(D)enables the development of a Smart Grid (as described in section 1301 of the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17381)), including integration of
renewable energy sources and distributed generation, demand response,
demand side management, and systems analysis;
(E)produces an advanced or sustainable material with energy or energy efficiency applications;
(F)improves energy efficiency for transportation, including electric vehicles;
(G)enhances water security through improved water management, conservation, distribution, or end use
applications; or
(H)addresses challenges in advanced manufacturing and supply chain integration related to a
technology, production process, or methodology described in subparagraphs
(A) through (G).
(2)The term advanced manufacturing—
(A)means a family of activities that—
(i)depend on the use and coordination of information, automation, computation, software, sensing, and
networking; or
(ii)make use of cutting edge materials and emerging capabilities enabled by the physical or biological
sciences, including nanotechnology, chemistry, and biology; and
(B)includes both new ways to manufacture existing products and the manufacture of new products
emerging from new advanced technologies.
(3)The term cluster means a network of entities directly involved in the research, development, finance, and
commercial application of clean technologies and advanced manufacturing
whose geographic proximity facilitates the use and sharing of skilled
human resources, infrastructure, research facilities, educational and
training institutions, venture capital, and input suppliers.
(4)The term consortium means a clean technology consortium established in accordance with this Act.
(5)The term project means an activity with respect to which a consortium provides support under this Act.
(6)The term qualifying entity means—
(A)a research university;
(B)a Federal or State institution with a focus on developing clean technologies or clusters; or
(C)a nongovernmental organization with expertise in translational research, clean technology, or
cluster development.
(7)The term Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce.
(8)The term translational research means the coordination of basic or applied research with technical applications to enable
promising discoveries or inventions to achieve commercial application.
3.Establishment of clean technology consortia program
(a)The Secretary shall establish and carry out a program to establish clean technology consortia to
enhance the economic, environmental, and energy security of the United
States by promoting domestic development, manufacture, and deployment of
clean, state-of-the-art technologies.
(b)The Secretary shall carry out the program established under subsection (a) by leveraging the
expertise and resources of private research communities, institutions of
higher education, industry, venture capital, National Laboratories (as
defined in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)),
and other participants in technology innovation—
(1)to support collaborative, cross-disciplinary research and development in clean technologies and
advanced manufacturing; and
(2)to develop and accelerate the commercial application of innovative clean technologies.
(c)The Secretary shall—
(1)carry out and oversee all aspects of the program established under subsection (a);
(2)select recipients of grants for the establishment and operation of consortia through a competitive
selection process; and
(3)coordinate the innovation activities of consortia with activities carried out by the Secretary of
Energy, the Secretary of Defense, other Federal agency heads, industry,
and institutions of higher education, including by annually—
(A)issuing guidance regarding national clean technology development priorities and strategic
objectives; and
(B)convening a conference relating to clean technology, which shall bring together representatives of
Federal agencies, industry, institutions of higher education, and other
entities to share research and commercialization results, program plans,
and opportunities for collaboration.
(d)The consortia shall—
(1)promote new innovative clean technologies that have demonstrated interest and potential for
commercialization;
(2)expand advanced manufacturing capabilities, networks, supply chains, and assets, in the area of
clean technologies, that contribute to regional and national manufacturing
competitiveness and potential for growth;
(3)promote job creation and entrepreneurship through the establishment of new companies, the expansion
of existing companies, and commercialization of clean technologies;
(4)provide technical or financial assistance to companies looking to invest in clean technologies, new
products or services, or enhanced processes that will grow sales and jobs;
(5)determine opportunities and challenges that companies are facing and how to improve their use or
production of clean technologies;
(6)equip individual small- and medium-sized enterprises with the capacity and agility to change
through the adoption and utilization of new clean technologies and related
business practices;
(7)accelerate investment in and deployment of clean technologies through public-private partnerships;
(8)encourage partnering between and among emerging and established clean technology and advanced
manufacturing enterprises; and
(9)demonstrate a comprehensive and successful model for commercialization of clean technologies for
promotion and emulation.
4.
(a)To receive a grant under this Act, a consortium shall submit to the Secretary an application in
such manner, at such time, and containing such information as the
Secretary determines to be necessary.
(b)A consortium shall be eligible to receive a grant under this Act if—
(1)the consortium consists of—
(A)1 or more research universities that can demonstrate a significant annual clean technology research
budget, entrepreneurial support programs, and technology licensing
expertise; and
(B)a total of 5 or more qualifying entities that can demonstrate expertise in translational research,
clean technology, and cluster development;
(2)the members of the consortium have established a binding agreement that documents—
(A)the structure of the partnership agreement;
(B)a governance and management structure that enables cost-effective implementation of the program;
(C)a conflicts-of-interest policy, including procedures, consistent with those of the Department of
Commerce, to ensure that employees and designees for consortium activities
who are in decisionmaking capacities disclose all material conflicts of
interest, including financial, organizational, and personal conflicts of
interest;
(D)an accounting structure that meets the requirements of the Secretary and that may be audited under
this Act; and
(E)the existence of an external advisory committee;
(3)the consortium receives funding from non-Federal sources, such as a State and participants of the
consortium, that may be used to support projects;
(4)the consortium is part of an existing cluster or demonstrates high potential to develop a new
cluster; and
(5)the consortium operates as a nonprofit organization or as a public-private partnership under an
operating agreement led by a nonprofit organization.
(c)The Secretary may disqualify an application from a consortium under this Act if the Secretary
determines that the conflicts-of-interest policy of the consortium is
inadequate.
(d)External advisory committees
(1)To be eligible to receive a grant under this Act, a consortium shall establish an external advisory
committee, the members of which shall have extensive and relevant
scientific, technical, industry, financial, or research management
expertise.
(2)An external advisory committee shall—
(A)review the proposed plans, programs, project selection criteria, and projects of the consortium;
and
(B)ensure that projects selected by the consortium meet the applicable conflicts-of-interest policy of
the consortium.
(3)An external advisory committee shall consist of—
(A)representatives of the members of the consortium; and
(B)such representatives of industry, including entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, as the members
of the consortium determine to be necessary.
(4)The Secretary shall join the external advisory committee of a consortium that receives a grant
under this Act.
5.
(a)The Secretary shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to 6 or more consortia.
(b)
(1)The initial term of a grant awarded under this Act shall not exceed 5 years.
(2)The Secretary may extend the term of a grant awarded under this Act for a period of not more than 5
additional years.
(c)
(1)A grant awarded to a consortium under this Act shall not exceed the lesser of—
(A)$30,000,000 per fiscal year; or
(B)the collective contributions of non-Federal entities to the consortium, as described under section
4(b)(3).
(2)In determining the amount of a grant under this section, the Secretary shall consider—
(A)the translational research capacity of the consortium;
(B)the financial, human, and facility resources of the qualifying entities; and
(C)the cluster of which the consortium is a part.
(3)Subject to paragraph (1), a consortium may request an increase in the amount of a grant awarded
under this Act at the time the consortium requests an extension of an
initial grant.
(d)
(1)Subject to paragraph (3), a consortium awarded a grant under this Act shall use the amounts to
support translational research, technology development, manufacturing
innovation, and commercialization activities relating to clean technology.
(2)As a condition of receiving a grant under this Act, a consortium shall—
(A)develop and make available to the public on the Web site of the Department of Commerce proposed
plans, programs, project selection criteria, and terms for individual
project awards;
(B)establish policies—
(i)to prevent resources provided to the consortium from being used to displace private sector
investment otherwise likely to occur, including investment from private
sector entities that are members of the consortium;
(ii)to facilitate the participation of private entities that invest in clean technologies to perform
due diligence on award proposals, to participate in the award review
process, and to provide guidance to projects supported by the consortium;
and
(iii)to facilitate the participation of parties with a demonstrated history of commercial application of
clean technologies in the development of consortium projects;
(C)oversee project solicitations, review proposed projects, and select projects for awards; and
(D)monitor project implementation.
(3)
(A)A consortium may use not more than 10 percent of the amounts awarded to the consortium for
administrative expenses.
(B)A consortium may not use any amounts awarded to the consortium under this Act to construct a new
building or facility.
(e)
(1)A consortium that receives a grant under this Act shall carry out, in accordance with such
requirements as the Secretary may prescribe, an annual audit to determine
whether the grant has been used in accordance with this Act.
(2)The consortium shall submit a copy of each audit under paragraph (1) to the Secretary and the
Comptroller General of the United States.
(3)As a condition of receiving a grant under this Act, a consortium shall allow the Comptroller
General of the United States, on the request of the Comptroller General,
full access to the books, records, and personnel of consortium.
(4)The Secretary shall submit to Congress annually a report that includes—
(A)a copy of each audit carried out under paragraph (1); and
(B)any recommendations of the Secretary relating to the clean technology consortia program.
(f)The Secretary shall have the authority—
(1)to review grants awarded under this Act; and
(2)to revoke a grant awarded under this Act if the Secretary determines that a consortium has used the
grant in a manner that is not consistent with this Act.
(g)Authorization of appropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $100,000,000.