[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4906 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4906

To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work 
   with major manufacturing industries on an initiative of standards 
 development and implementation for electronic enterprise integration.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 20, 2000

Mr. Barcia (for himself and Ms. Rivers) introduced the following bill; 
             which was referred to the Committee on Science

Rule___________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work 
   with major manufacturing industries on an initiative of standards 
 development and implementation for electronic enterprise integration.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Enterprise Integration Act of 
2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Over 90 percent of United States companies engaged in 
        manufacturing are small and medium-sized businesses.
            (2) Most of these manufacturers produce goods for 
        assemblage into products of large companies.
            (3) The emergence of the World Wide Web and the 
        promulgation of international standards for product data 
        exchange greatly accelerated the movement toward electronically 
        integrated supply chains during the last half of the 1990's.
            (4) A major Wall Street firm recently estimated that the 
        adoption of electronic commerce-based supply chains in various 
        manufacturing industries can reduce business costs from 10 
        percent to 40 percent.
            (5) European and Asian countries are investing heavily in 
        electronic enterprise standards development, and in preparing 
        their smaller manufacturers to do business in the new 
        environment. European efforts are well advanced in the 
        aerospace, automotive, and shipbuilding industries and are 
        beginning in other industries including home building, 
        furniture manufacturing, textiles, and apparel.
            (6) If United States manufacturers are to remain 
        competitive, they must match their overseas competition by 
        making sure that standards, including application protocols, 
        developed for electronic business in their industry worldwide 
        reflect their needs and the needs of their customers and 
        suppliers.
            (7) Many American small and medium-sized manufacturers run 
        the risk of losing their largest customers during the first 
        half of this decade unless they adopt computer aided design, 
        engineering, and manufacturing systems in their work places and 
        learn how to participate with customers and suppliers in 
        integrated electronic enterprises.
            (8) Application protocols are very complex standards, often 
        running thousands of pages, and require the cooperation of 
        entire industries for their development.
            (9) The National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
        because of the electronic commerce expertise in its 
        laboratories and quality program, its long history of working 
        cooperatively with manufacturers, and the nationwide reach of 
        its manufacturing extension program, is in a unique position to 
        help United States large and smaller manufacturers alike in 
        their responses to this challenge.
            (10) It is, therefore, in the national interest for the 
        National Institute of Standards and Technology to accelerate 
        its efforts--
                    (A) in helping major manufacturing industries 
                develop standards and enterprise integration processes 
                that are necessary to increase efficiency and lower 
                costs; and
                    (B) in making sure that every small or medium-sized 
                manufacturer has the option of upgrading its 
                manufacturing capabilities to the point where it can be 
                part of an electronic supply chain of a major 
                manufacturing industry.

SEC. 3. ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION INITIATIVE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Director shall establish an initiative for 
advancing enterprise integration within the United States. In carrying 
out this section, the Director shall involve, as appropriate, the 
various units of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
including the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
laboratories, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program 
established under sections 25 and 26 of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278k and 278l), and the Malcolm 
Baldrige National Quality Program. This initiative shall begin with 
product data management and build upon ongoing efforts of the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology and of the private sector, shall 
involve consortia that include government and industry, and shall be 
designed to permit enterprise integration in each United States major 
manufacturing industry at the earliest possible date.
    (b) Assessment.--The Director shall work to identify all enterprise 
integration standards and implementation activities for major 
manufacturing industries underway in the United States and abroad. For 
each major manufacturing industry, the Director shall work with 
industry representatives and organizations currently engaged in 
enterprise integration activities and other appropriate representatives 
as necessary. They shall assess the current state of enterprise 
integration within the industry, identify the remaining steps in 
achieving enterprise integration, and work toward agreement on the 
roles of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and of the 
private sector in that process. Within 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall report to the Congress on 
these matters and on anticipated related National Institute of 
Standards and Technology activities for the then current fiscal year.
    (c) Plans and Reports.--Within 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to the Congress a plan 
for enterprise integration for each major manufacturing industry, 
including milestones for the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology portion of the plan, the dates of likely achievement of 
those milestones, and anticipated costs to the Government and industry 
by fiscal year. Updates of the plans and a progress report for the past 
year shall be submitted annually until for a given industry, in the 
opinion of the Director, enterprise integration has been achieved.
    (d) Authorized Activities.--In order to carry out this Act and the 
plans prepared under subsection (c), the Director may--
            (1) work with companies and trade associations within a 
        major manufacturing industry to raise awareness of enterprise 
        integration activities in the United States and abroad, 
        including convening meetings;
            (2) work with an industry on the development of enterprise 
        integration roadmaps;
            (3) support the development, testing, promulgation, and 
        adoption of standards, including application protocols;
            (4) support the development, promulgation, integration, and 
        upgrading of standards related to enterprise integration;
            (5) support pilot projects that include small and medium-
        sized businesses for new standards and enterprise integration;
            (6) ensure the training and regular upgrading of skills of 
        Manufacturing Extension Program employees;
            (7) develop tool kits and employee training materials and 
        take other steps necessary to permit small and medium-sized 
        businesses to participate in an integrated enterprise; and
            (8) set up mechanisms to permit the various Manufacturing 
        Extension Program centers to access expertise and materials 
        from each other.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``automotive'' means land-based engine-powered 
        vehicles including automobiles, trucks, busses, trains, defense 
        vehicles, farm equipment, and motorcycles;
            (2) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the 
        National Institute of Standards and Technology;
            (3) the term ``enterprise integration'' means the 
        electronic linkage of manufacturers, assemblers, and suppliers 
        to enable the electronic exchange of product, manufacturing, 
        and other business data among all businesses in a product 
        supply chain, and such term includes related application 
        protocols and other related standards;
            (4) the term ``major manufacturing industry'' includes the 
        aerospace, automotive, electronics, shipbuilding, construction, 
        home building, furniture, textile, and apparel industries and 
        such other industries as the Director designates; and
            (5) the term ``National Institute of Standards and 
        Technology laboratories'' means those institutes of the 
        National Institute of Standards and Technology with expertise 
        in electronic commerce, including the Manufacturing Engineering 
        Laboratory, the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, and the 
        Information Technology Laboratory.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director to carry 
out functions under this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, 
$15,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may be necessary for 
subsequent fiscal years.
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