[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3604]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 624. Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. Tillis, and Mr. Coons) 
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 
1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military 
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and 
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe 
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other 
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle C of title II, add the following:

     SEC. ___. ADMINISTRATION OF CENTERS FOR MANUFACTURING 
                   INNOVATION FUNDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall make such 
     changes to the administration of covered centers so as--
       (1) to encourage covered centers to leverage existing 
     workforce development programs across the Federal Government 
     and State governments in order to build successful workforce 
     development programs;
       (2) to develop metrics to evaluate the workforce 
     development performed by the covered centers, including 
     metrics on job quality, career pathways, wages and benefits, 
     and efforts to support veterans, and progress in aligning 
     workforce skillsets with the current and long-term needs of 
     the Department of Defense and the defense industrial base;
       (3) to allow metrics to vary between covered centers and be 
     updated and evaluated continuously in order to more 
     accurately evaluate covered centers with different goals and 
     missions;
       (4) to encourage covered centers to consider developing 
     technologies that were previously funded by Federal 
     Government investment for early-stage research and 
     development and expand cross-government coordination and 
     collaboration to achieve this goal;
       (5) to provide an opportunity for increased Department of 
     Defense input and oversight from senior-level military and 
     civilian personnel on future technology roadmaps produced by 
     covered centers;
       (6) to reduce the barriers to collaboration between and 
     among multiple covered centers;
       (7) to use contracting vehicles that can increase 
     flexibility, reduce barriers for contracting with subject-
     matter experts and small and medium enterprises, enhance 
     partnerships between covered centers, and reduce the time to 
     award contracts at covered centers; and
       (8) to overcome barriers to the adoption of manufacturing 
     processes and technologies developed by the covered centers 
     by the defense and commercial industrial base, particularly 
     small and medium enterprises, by engaging with public and 
     private sector partnerships and appropriate government 
     programs and activities, including the Hollings Manufacturing 
     Extension Partnership.
       (b) Coordination With Other Activities.--The Secretary 
     shall carry out this section in coordination with activities 
     undertaken under--
       (1) the Manufacturing Technology Program established under 
     section 2521 of title 10, United States Code;
       (2) the Manufacturing Engineering Education Program 
     established under section 2196 of such title;
       (3) the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program 
     established under section 846 of the John S. McCain National 
     Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 
     115-232);
       (4) manufacturing initiatives of the Secretary of Commerce, 
     the head of the National Office of the Network for 
     Manufacturing Innovation Program, the Secretary of Energy, 
     and such other government and private sector organizations as 
     the Secretary of Defense considers appropriate; and
       (5) such other activities as the Secretary considers 
     appropriate.
       (c) Definition of Covered Center.--In this section, the 
     term ``covered center'' means a manufacturing innovation 
     institute that is funded by the Department of Defense.
                                 ______