[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3177 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3177

   To authorize appropriations for the programs of the Department of 
Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, to amend the 
   National Institute of Standards and Technology Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 19, 2002

 Mr. Hollings introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize appropriations for the programs of the Department of 
Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, to amend the 
   National Institute of Standards and Technology Act, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``National Institute of Standards and 
Technology Authorization Act of 2002''.

    TITLE I--FISCAL YEARS 2003-2005 AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
              STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY.

    (a) Scientific and Technical Research Services.--There are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the 
Scientific and Technical Research Services activities of National 
Institute of Standards and Technology:
            (1) for the Measurement Standards Laboratories $336,443,000 
        for fiscal year 2003 and such sums as may be necessary for 
        fiscal years 2004 and 2005.
            (2) for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program 
        $5,282,000 for fiscal year 2003 and such sums as may be 
        necessary for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.
    (b) Industrial Technology Services.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Industrial Technology 
Services activities of National Institute of Standards and Technology:
            (1) for the Advanced Technology Program $185,353,000 for 
        fiscal year 2003 and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 
        years 2004 and 2005, of which, for each fiscal year, no less 
        than $60,700,000 shall be obligated for new awards.
            (2) for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program 
        $106,623,000 for fiscal year 2003 and such sums as may be 
        necessary for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.
    (c) Construction of Research Facilities.--There are authorized to 
be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for the Construction of 
Research Facilities activities of $63,750,000 for fiscal year 2003 and 
such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

 TITLE II--TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS 
           AND TECHNOLOGY ACT AND OTHER TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS

SEC. 201. RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS.

    Section 18 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
Act (15 U.S.C. 278g-1) is amended by striking ``up to 1 per centum of 
the'' in the first sentence.

SEC. 202. BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--The National Institute of Standards 
and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 271 et seq.) is amended by--
            (1) redesignating sections 23 through 32 as sections 24 
        through 33, respectively; and
            (2) inserting after section 22 the following:

``SEC. 23. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY PROGRAM.

            ``The Baldrige National Quality Program is established 
        within the Institute. The purpose is to administer the Malcolm 
        Baldrige National Quality Award and to perform research and 
        outreach activities to assist other quality and performance 
        improvement efforts. The Baldrige National Quality Program 
        shall serve as a mechanism by which companies in the United 
        States, universities, other interested parties, and the 
        Institute can work together to advance quality and performance 
        management programs and to share and develop, as appropriate, 
        best practices and strategies for enhancing organizational 
        performance.''.
    (b) Award Limit.--Section 17(c)(3) of the Stevenson-Wydler 
Technology Innovation Act of 1980, (15 U.S.C. 3711a(c)(3)) is amended 
to read as follows:
            ``(3) Not more than five awards may be made within any 
        subcategory in any year. No award shall be made within any 
        category or subcategory if there are no qualifying enterprises 
        in that category or subcategory.''.
    (c) Category.--Section 17(c)(1)(C) of the Stevenson-Wydler 
Technology Innovation Act of 1980, (15 U.S.C. 3711a(c)(1)) is amended 
to read as follows:
                    ``(C) Companies and not-for-profit organizations 
                that primarily provide service.''.

SEC. 203. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM.

    (a) University Leadership of Joint Ventures.--So much of paragraph 
(1) of subsection (b) of section 29 of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology Act, as redesignated by section 202 of this 
Act (formerly 15 U.S.C. 278n(b)(1)) as precedes subparagraph (A) is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) aid United States joint research and development 
        ventures led by industry, or by institutions of higher 
        education or other non-profit independent research 
        organizations, but which shall, in any event, include at least 
        two separately-owned, for-profit companies each of which 
        participates substantially in the joint ventures (hereafter in 
        this section referred to as `joint ventures'), including those 
        involving collaborative technology demonstration projects which 
        develop and test prototype equipment and processes, through--
        ''.
    (b) Intellectual Property.--
            (1) In general.--So much of paragraph (11) of subsection 
        (d) of section 29 of such Act, as so redesignated, as precedes 
        subparagraph (B) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(11)(A) Title to any intellectual property arising from 
        assistance provided under this section may vest in any company, 
        non-profit independent research organization or institution of 
        higher education, incorporated or organized in the United 
        States, as agreed by the members of a joint venture, or for 
        awards made to a single company, by the individual awardee, 
        receiving funding under any particular award made under this 
        section, notwithstanding sections 202(a) and (b) of title 35, 
        United States Code. The United States may reserve a 
        nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable paid- up license, to 
        have practiced for or on behalf of the United States, any such 
        intellectual property, but shall not, in the exercise of such 
        license, publicly disclose proprietary information related to 
        the license. Title to any such intellectual property shall not 
        be transferred or passed, except to a company, non-profit 
        independent research organization, or institution of higher 
        education, incorporated or organized in the United States, 
        until the expiration of the first patent obtained in connection 
        with such intellectual property.''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendments made by paragraph (1) 
        shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act and 
        shall apply to any Advanced Technology Program award made on or 
        after that date.
    (c) Ensuring Scientific Basis of Projects.--Subsection (d) of 
section 29 of such Act, as so redesignated, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (11) as 
        paragraphs (2) through (12); and
            (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so redesignated, 
        the following:
            ``(1) No contract or award may be made for any project 
        unless such project may remove a scientific or technological 
        barrier to product development.''.
    (d) Industry and Peer Review.--Subsection (g) of section 29 of such 
Act, as so redesignated, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(g) Industry and Peer Review of Proposals; Standard of Review.--
            ``(1) In order to analyze the need for or the value of 
        joint ventures and other research projects in specific 
        technical fields, to evaluate any proposal made by a joint 
        venture or company requesting the Secretary's assistance, or to 
        monitor the progress of any joint venture or any company 
        research project which receives Federal funds under the 
        Program, the Secretary, the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
        Technology, and the Director may, notwithstanding any other 
        provision of law, meet with, or enter into contracts with, such 
        industry or other expert sources as they consider useful and 
        appropriate.
            ``(2) The Director shall conduct a study of, and thereafter 
        monitor, whether the industry and other expert sources being 
        utilized under paragraph (1) could benefit from advice and 
        information from additional non-governmental sources without a 
        proprietary or financial interest in proposals being evaluated 
        in order to better assess whether specific innovations to be 
        pursued are being adequately supported by the private 
        sector.''.
    (e) Institution of Higher Education Defined.--Subsection (j) of 
section 29 of such Act, as so redesignated, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as paragraphs 
        (2) and (3), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so redesignated, 
        the following:
            ``(1) the term `institution of higher education' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 101 of the Higher Education 
        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a));''.
    (f) Miscellaneous.--Section 29 of such Act, as so redesignated, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(l) Vesting Title to Equipment.--The Secretary, acting through 
the Director, may vest title to tangible personal property in any 
eligible recipient under this section if--
            ``(1) the property is purchased with funds provided under 
        this section; and
            ``(2) the Secretary, acting through the Director, 
        determines that the vesting of such property furthers the 
        objectives of the Institute; and then the recipient shall have 
        no further obligation to the United States Government with 
regard to equipment disposition.
    ``(m) No Cost Time Extension.--Notwithstanding subsections 
(b)(1)(B)(ii) and (d)(4), the Director may grant extensions beyond the 
deadlines established under those subsections for joint venture and 
single company awardees to expend Federal funds to complete their 
projects, if such extension may be granted with no additional cost to 
the Federal Government and it is in the interest of the Federal 
Government to do so.
    ``(n) Selecting Official.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Selecting Official designated under 
        part 295 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be an 
        employee of the Institute who is not a political appointee. The 
        decision of the Selecting Official shall be final and shall not 
        be influenced by any political appointee of the Institute or of 
        the Department of Commerce.
            ``(2) Definition of political appointee.-- For purposes of 
        this subsection, the term `political appointee' means any 
        individual who--
                    ``(A) is employed in a position listed in sections 
                5312 through 5316 of title 5 (relating to the Executive 
                Schedule);
                    ``(B) is a limited term appointee, limited 
                emergency appointee, or noncareer appointee in the 
                Senior Executive Service, as defined under paragraphs 
                (5), (6), and (7), respectively, of section 3132(a) of 
                title 5; or
                    ``(C) is employed in a position in the executive 
                branch of the Government of a confidential or policy-
                determining character under schedule C of subpart C of 
                part 213 of title 5 of the Code of Federal 
                Regulations.''.

SEC. 204. MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP.

    Section 26 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
Act, as redesignated by section 202 of this Act (formerly 15 U.S.C. 
278k), is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Nongovernmental Organizations.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, when entering into procurement contracts or financial 
assistance agreements for the purpose of carrying out collective 
research and development initiatives pertaining to paragraph (a) of 
this section, the Secretary may limit eligibility to non-profit 
organizations. The Secretary may seek and accept contributions from 
public and private sources to support these efforts as necessary.''.

SEC. 205. FINANCIAL AGREEMENTS.

    (a) Clarification.--Section 2(b)(4) of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(b)(4)) is amended by 
inserting ``and grants and cooperative agreements,'' after 
``arrangements,''.
    (b) Memberships.--Section 2(c) of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(c)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' after the semicolon in paragraph 
        (21);
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (22) as paragraph (23); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (21) the following:
            ``(22) notwithstanding subsection (b)(4) of this section, 
        the Grants and Cooperative Agreements Act (31 U.S.C. 6301-
        6308), the Competition in Contracting Act (31 U.S.C. 3551-
        3556), and the Federal Acquisition Regulations set forth in 
        title 48, Code of Federal Regulations, to expend appropriated 
        funds for National Institute of Standards and Technology 
        memberships in scientific organizations, registration fees for 
        attendance at conferences, and sponsorship of conferences in 
        furtherance of technology transfer; and''.

SEC. 206. WORKING CAPITAL FUND.

    Section 12 of the National Institute of Standards and Development 
Act (15 U.S.C. 278b) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Amount and Source of Transfers.--Not to exceed one-quarter 
per centum of the amounts appropriated to the Institute for any fiscal 
year may be transferred to the fund, in addition to any other transfer 
authority. In addition, funds provided to the Institute from other 
Federal agencies for the purpose of production of Standard Reference 
Materials may be transferred to the fund.''.

SEC. 207. OUTDATED SPECIFICATIONS.

    (a) Redefinition of Metric System.--The Metric System Act of 1866 
(15 U.S.C. 205; 14 Stat. 339, 340) is amended by striking the text of 
section 2 and inserting the following:
    ``The metric system of measurement shall be defined as the 
International System of Units as established in 1960, and subsequently 
maintained, by the General Conference of Weights and Measures, and as 
interpreted or modified for the United States by the Secretary of 
Commerce.''.
    (b) Repeal of Redundant and Obsolete Authority.--The Act of July 
21, 1950, entitled, ``An Act To redefine the units and establish the 
standards of electrical and photometric measurements of 1950'' (15 
U.S.C. 223, 224) is hereby repealed.
    (c) Standard Time.--The first section of the Act of March 19, 1918, 
(15 U.S.C 261; commonly known as the Calder Act) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``For the 
        purpose'';
            (2) by striking the second sentence and the extra period 
        after it and inserting ``Except as provided in section 3(a) of 
        the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the standard time of the first 
        zone shall be Coordinated Universal Time retarded by 4 hours; 
        that of the second zone retarded by 5 hours; that of the third 
        zone retarded by 6 hours; that of the fourth zone retarded by 7 
        hours; that of the fifth zone retarded 8 hours; that of the 
        sixth zone retarded by 9 hours; that of the seventh zone 
        retarded by 10 hours; that of the eighth zone retarded by 11 
        hours; and that of the ninth zone shall be Coordinated 
        Universal Time advanced by 10 hours.''; and
            (3) adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Coordinated Universal Time Defined.--In this section, the 
term `Coordinated Universal Time' means the time scale maintained 
through the General Conference of Weights and Measures and interpreted 
or modified for the United States by the Secretary of Commerce.''.

SEC. 208. RETENTION OF DEPRECIATION SURCHARGE.

    Section 14 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
Act (15 U.S.C. 278d) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``Within''; 
        and
            (2) adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Retention of Fees.--The Director is authorized to retain all 
building use and depreciation surcharge fees collected pursuant to OMB 
Circular A-25. Such fees shall be collected and credited to the 
Construction of Research Facilities Appropriation Account for use in 
maintenance and repair of National Institute of Standards and 
Technology's existing facilities.''.

SEC. 209. NON-ENERGY INVENTIONS PROGRAM.

    Section 28 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
Act, as redesignated by section 202 of this Act (formerly 15 U.S.C. 
278m), is repealed.
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