[House Report 114-122]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


114th Congress   }                                       {       Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session     }                                       {      114-122

======================================================================



 
                AMERICAN SUPER COMPUTING LEADERSHIP ACT

                                _______
                                

  May 19, 2015.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

     Mr. Smith of Texas, from the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                  Technology, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 874]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, to whom 
was referred the bill (H.R. 874) to amend the Department of 
Energy High-End Computing Revitalization Act of 2004 to improve 
the high-end computing research and development program of the 
Department of Energy, and for other purposes, having considered 
the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommend that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Committee Statement and Views....................................     1
Section-by-Section...............................................     2
Committee Consideration..........................................     3
Application of Law to the Legislative Branch.....................     3
Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the 
  Committee......................................................     3
Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives............     3
Duplication of Federal Programs..................................     3
Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings..............................     3
Federal Advisory Committee Act...................................     3
Unfunded Mandate Statement.......................................     4
Earmark Identification...........................................     4
Committee Estimate...............................................     4
Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate...     4
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill as Reported.............     5

                     Committee Statement and Views


                          PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    High performance computation keeps the United States 
competitive in the global market for scientific research and 
development. This legislation provides the Department of Energy 
with statutory authority to build and operate first-of-a-kind 
exascale computing systems incorporating increased resiliency 
features and optimized power requirements.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The next generation of high performance computing 
facilities, also known as exascale computing systems, will 
require new developments in hardware and software. The 
capabilities provided by exascale systems will be unique above 
current capabilities and serve as a mechanism to greatly 
enhance scientific research and support the United States 
nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship responsibility within the 
Department of Energy.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    In 2013, Rep. Randy Hultgren and Rep. Eric Swalwell 
introduced H.R. 2495, American Super Computing Leadership Act. 
In 2015, Senator Lamar Alexander and Senator Tammy Baldwin 
introduced S. 454, Exascale Computing for Science, 
Competitiveness, Advanced Manufacturing, Leadership, and the 
Economy Act of 2015.
    On May 22, 2013, the Subcommittee on Energy of the House 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing 
titled ``America's Next Generation Supercomputer: The Exascale 
Challenge.'' On January 28, 2015, the Subcommittee on Energy 
held a hearing titled ``Supercomputing and American Technology 
Leadership.'' These hearings explored the ability of high 
performance computing facilities to accelerate scientific 
research and technological advances.

                            COMMITTEE VIEWS

    The Committee recognizes that high performance computing 
modeling supports nearly every area of technological 
advancement and encourages the Department to continue to 
develop next generation computing facilities through its 
Advanced Scientific Computing Research program within the 
Office of Science.

                           Section-by-Section


Section 1. Short title

    The short title of this legislation is ``American Super 
Computing Leadership Act.''

Section 2. Definitions

    Section defines terms associated with high-end computing, 
including ``co-design,'' ``exascale,'' and ``high-end computing 
system.''

Section 3. Department of Energy High-End Computing Research and 
        Development Program

    Section 3 requires the Secretary of Energy to conduct a 
research program to develop exascale computing systems, 
including a strategy and program management plan. The program 
will support research on potential technologies to reduce power 
requirements for the next generation of high performance 
computing.

                        Committee Consideration

    On March 4, 2015, the Committee met in open session and 
ordered reported favorably the bill, H.R. 874, without 
amendment, by voice vote, a quorum being present.

              Application of Law to the Legislative Branch

    Section 102(b)(3) of Public Law 104-1 requires a 
description of the application of this bill to the legislative 
branch where the bill relates to the terms and conditions of 
employment or access to public services and accommodations. 
This bill provides the Department of Energy with statutory 
authority to build and operate first-of-a-kind exascale 
computing systems incorporating increased resiliency features 
and optimized power requirements. As such this bill does not 
relate to employment or access to public services and 
accommodations.

  Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the Committee

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause 
(2)(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee's oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the descriptive portions of 
this report.

         Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives

    In accordance with clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee's performance 
goals and objectives are to recognize that high performance 
computing modeling supports nearly every area of technological 
advancement and to encourage the Department of Energy to 
continue to develop next generation computing facilities 
through its Advanced Scientific Computing Research program 
within the Office of Science.

                    Duplication of Federal Programs

    No provision of H.R. 874 establishes or reauthorizes a 
program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of 
another Federal program, a program that was included in any 
report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 
pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139, or a program 
related to a program identified in the most recent Catalog of 
Federal Domestic Assistance.

                  Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings

    The Committee estimates that enacting H.R. 874 does not 
direct the completion of any specific rule makings within the 
meaning of 5 U.S.C. 551.

                     Federal Advisory Committee Act

    The Committee finds that the legislation does not establish 
or authorize the establishment of an advisory committee within 
the definition of 5 U.S.C. App., Section 5(b).

                       Unfunded Mandate Statement

    Section 423 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act (as amended by Section 101(a)(2) of the Unfunded 
Mandate Reform Act, P.L. 104-4) requires a statement as to 
whether the provisions of the reported include unfunded 
mandates. In compliance with this requirement the Committee has 
received a letter from the Congressional Budget Office included 
herein.

                         Earmark Identification

    H.R. 874 does not include any congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in 
clause 9 of rule XXI.

                           Committee Estimate

    Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the 
Committee of the costs that would be incurred in carrying out 
H.R. 874. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) of that rule provides that 
this requirement does not apply when the Committee has included 
in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill 
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act.

     Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

    With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and with respect 
to requirements of clause (3)(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives and section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received 
the following cost estimate for H.R. 874 from the Director of 
Congressional Budget Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                    Washington, DC, March 26, 2015.
Hon. Lamar Smith,
Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 874, the American 
Super Computing Leadership Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Marin 
Burnett.
            Sincerely,
                                              Douglas W. Elmendorf.
    Enclosure.

H.R. 874--American Super Computing Leadership Act

    H.R. 874 would require the Secretary of Energy to advance 
efforts to develop exascale computing systems. Exascale 
computing refers to systems capable of at least a billion 
billion calculations per second, which is believed to equal the 
processing power of the human brain.
    CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 874 would have no 
significant effect on the budget because the legislation would 
largely codify the Department of Energy's current plans to 
develop advanced computer systems under its existing 
authorities. Enacting H.R. 874 would not affect direct spending 
or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    The legislation would clarify that the department's efforts 
to advance high-end computing initiatives should be focused on 
exascale. H.R. 874 would require that the department conduct 
research programs, engage in partnerships, submit additional 
reports, and develop technologies that will advance exascale 
computing capabilities.
    Under the department's mission to research and develop 
high-end computing systems, the Advanced Scientific Computing 
Research program, an arm of the Department of Energy's Office 
of Science, received an appropriation of $105 million in 2015 
for activities to develop exascale computing. According to 
information from the department, the requirements of the 
legislation would not result in a significant expansion of 
their current exascale research and development activities. 
Once the exascale system has been fully developed, the 
department plans to place it in an existing facility, which 
houses high-end computing systems. The department plans to 
upgrade that facility as necessary to accommodate the exascale 
system's requirements.
    H.R. 874 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. Public 
universities would benefit from research partnerships. Any cost 
incurred by those entities would be incurred voluntarily.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Marin Burnett. 
The estimate was approved by Teresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

   DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH-END COMPUTING REVITALIZATION ACT OF 2004




           *       *       *       *       *       *       *
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

  In this Act:
          [(1) Center.--The term ``Center'' means a High-End 
        Software Development Center established under section 
        3(d).
          [(2) High-end computing system.--The term ``high-end 
        computing system'' means a computing system with 
        performance that substantially exceeds that of systems 
        that are commonly available for advanced scientific and 
        engineering applications.
          [(3) Leadership system.--The term ``Leadership 
        System'' means a high-end computing system that is 
        among the most advanced in the world in terms of 
        performance in solving scientific and engineering 
        problems.
          [(4) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 101(a) of the Higher 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).
          [(5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the 
        Secretary of Energy, acting through the Director of the 
        Office of Science of the Department of Energy.]
          (1) Co-design.--The term ``co-design'' means the 
        joint development of application algorithms, models, 
        and codes with computer technology architectures and 
        operating systems to maximize effective use of high-end 
        computing systems.
          (2) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Energy.
          (3) Exascale.--The term ``exascale'' means computing 
        system performance at or near 10 to the 18th power 
        floating point operations per second.
          (4) High-end computing system.--The term ``high-end 
        computing system'' means a computing system with 
        performance that substantially exceeds that of systems 
        that are commonly available for advanced scientific and 
        engineering applications.
          (5) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 
        2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
          (6) Leadership system.--The term ``leadership 
        system'' means a high-end computing system that is 
        among the most advanced in the world in terms of 
        performance in solving scientific and engineering 
        problems.
          (7) National laboratory.--The term ``National 
        Laboratory'' means any one of the seventeen 
        laboratories owned by the Department.
          (8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the 
        Secretary of Energy.
          (9) Software technology.--The term ``software 
        technology'' includes optimal algorithms, programming 
        environments, tools, languages, and operating systems 
        for high-end computing systems.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH-END COMPUTING RESEARCH AND 
                    DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

  (a) In General.--The Secretary shall--
          (1) carry out a [program] coordinated program across 
        the Department of research and development (including 
        development of software and hardware) to advance high-
        end computing systems; [and]
          (2) develop and deploy high-end computing systems for 
        advanced scientific and engineering applications[.]; 
        and
          (3) partner with universities, National Laboratories, 
        and industry to ensure the broadest possible 
        application of the technology developed in this program 
        to other challenges in science, engineering, medicine, 
        and industry.
  (b) Program.--The program shall--
          (1) support both individual investigators and 
        multidisciplinary teams of investigators;
          (2) conduct research in multiple architectures, which 
        may include [vector, reconfigurable logic, streaming, 
        processor-in-memory, and multithreading architectures] 
        computer technologies that show promise of substantial 
        reductions in power requirements and substantial gains 
        in parallelism of multicore processors, concurrency, 
        memory and storage, bandwidth, and reliability;
          (3) conduct research on software for high-end 
        computing systems, including research on algorithms, 
        programming environments, tools, languages, and 
        operating systems for high-end computing systems, in 
        collaboration with architecture development efforts;
          (4) provide for sustained access by the research 
        community in the United States to high-end computing 
        systems and to Leadership Systems, including provision 
        of technical support for users of such systems;
          (5) support technology transfer to the private sector 
        and others in accordance with applicable law; and
          (6) ensure that the high-end computing activities of 
        the Department of Energy are coordinated with relevant 
        activities in industry and with other Federal agencies, 
        including the National Science Foundation, the Defense 
        Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Nuclear 
        Security Administration, the National Security Agency, 
        the National Institutes of Health, the National 
        Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National 
        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National 
        Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the 
        Environmental Protection Agency.
  (c) Leadership Systems Facilities.--
          (1) In general.--As part of the program carried out 
        under this Act, the Secretary shall establish and 
        operate 1 or more Leadership Systems facilities to--
                  (A) conduct advanced scientific and 
                engineering research and development using 
                Leadership Systems; and
                  (B) develop potential advancements in high-
                end computing system hardware and software.
          (2) Administration.--In carrying out this subsection, 
        the Secretary shall provide to Leadership Systems, on a 
        competitive, merit-reviewed basis, access to 
        researchers in United States industry, institutions of 
        higher education, national laboratories, and other 
        Federal agencies.
  [(d) High-End Software Development Center.--
          [(1) In general.--As part of the program carried out 
        under this Act, the Secretary shall establish at least 
        1 High-End Software Development Center.
          [(2) Duties.--A Center shall concentrate efforts to 
        develop, test, maintain, and support optimal 
        algorithms, programming environments, tools, languages, 
        and operating systems for high-end computing systems.
          [(3) Proposals.--In soliciting proposals for the 
        Center, the Secretary shall encourage staffing 
        arrangements that include both permanent staff and a 
        rotating staff of researchers from other institutions 
        and industry to assist in coordination of research 
        efforts and promote technology transfer to the private 
        sector.
          [(4) Use of expertise.--The Secretary shall use the 
        expertise of a Center to assess research and 
        development in high-end computing system architecture.
          [(5) Selection.--The selection of a Center shall be 
        determined by a competitive proposal process 
        administered by the Secretary.]
  (d) Exascale Computing Program.--
          (1) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct a 
        coordinated research program to develop exascale 
        computing systems to advance the missions of the 
        Department.
          (2) Execution.--The Secretary shall, through 
        competitive merit review, establish two or more 
        National Laboratory-industry-university partnerships to 
        conduct integrated research, development, and 
        engineering of multiple exascale architectures, and--
                  (A) conduct mission-related co-design 
                activities in developing such exascale 
                platforms;
                  (B) develop those advancements in hardware 
                and software technology required to fully 
                realize the potential of an exascale production 
                system in addressing Department target 
                applications and solving scientific problems 
                involving predictive modeling and simulation 
                and large-scale data analytics and management; 
                and
                  (C) explore the use of exascale computing 
                technologies to advance a broad range of 
                science and engineering.
          (3) Administration.--In carrying out this program, 
        the Secretary shall--
                  (A) provide, on a competitive, merit-reviewed 
                basis, access for researchers in United States 
                industry, institutions of higher education, 
                National Laboratories, and other Federal 
                agencies to these exascale systems, as 
                appropriate; and
                  (B) conduct outreach programs to increase the 
                readiness for the use of such platforms by 
                domestic industries, including manufacturers.
          (4) Reports.--
                  (A) Integrated strategy and program 
                management plan.--The Secretary shall submit to 
                Congress, not later than 90 days after the date 
                of enactment of the American Super Computing 
                Leadership Act, a report outlining an 
                integrated strategy and program management 
                plan, including target dates for prototypical 
                and production exascale platforms, interim 
                milestones to reaching these targets, 
                functional requirements, roles and 
                responsibilities of National Laboratories and 
                industry, acquisition strategy, and estimated 
                resources required, to achieve this exascale 
                system capability. The report shall include the 
                Secretary's plan for Departmental organization 
                to manage and execute the Exascale Computing 
                Program, including definition of the roles and 
                responsibilities within the Department to 
                ensure an integrated program across the 
                Department. The report shall also include a 
                plan for ensuring balance and prioritizing 
                across ASCR subprograms in a flat or slow-
                growth budget environment.
                  (B) Status reports.--At the time of the 
                budget submission of the Department for each 
                fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit a 
                report to Congress that describes the status of 
                milestones and costs in achieving the 
                objectives of the exascale computing program.
                  (C) Exascale merit report.--At least 18 
                months prior to the initiation of construction 
                or installation of any exascale-class computing 
                facility, the Secretary shall transmit a plan 
                to the Congress detailing--
                          (i) the proposed facility's cost 
                        projections and capabilities to 
                        significantly accelerate the 
                        development of new energy technologies;
                          (ii) technical risks and challenges 
                        that must be overcome to achieve 
                        successful completion and operation of 
                        the facility; and
                          (iii) an independent assessment of 
                        the scientific and technological 
                        advances expected from such a facility 
                        relative to those expected from a 
                        comparable investment in expanded 
                        research and applications at terascale-
                        class and petascale-class computing 
                        facilities, including an evaluation of 
                        where investments should be made in the 
                        system software and algorithms to 
                        enable these advances.

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