IMAGINE Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 939 To encourage the research and use of innovative materials and associated techniques in the construction and preservation of the domestic transpor- tation and water infrastructure system, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 24, 2021 Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To encourage the research and use of innovative materials and associated techniques in the construction and preser- vation of the domestic transportation and water infra- structure system, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Innovative Materials 4 for America’s Growth and Infrastructure Newly Expanded 5 Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘IMAGINE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 7 The purposes of this Act are— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 939 IS (1) to encourage the research and use of inno- 1 vative materials, in concert with traditional mate- 2 rials, and associated techniques in the construction 3 and preservation of the domestic infrastructure net- 4 work; 5 (2) to accelerate the deployment and extend the 6 service life, improve the performance, and reduce the 7 cost of infrastructure projects; and 8 (3) to improve the economy, resilience, main- 9 tainability, sustainability, and safety of the domestic 10 infrastructure network. 11 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY INNOVATIVE MATERIALS STAND- 12 ARDS TASK FORCE. 13 (a) DEFINITION OF INNOVATIVE MATERIAL.—In this 14 section, the term ‘‘innovative material’’, with respect to 15 an infrastructure project, includes a material, or a com- 16 bination or process for use of materials, that, as deter- 17 mined by the appropriate Secretary or agency head— 18 (1) enhances the overall service life, sustain- 19 ability, and resiliency of the project; or 20 (2) provides ancillary benefits relative to widely 21 adopted state of practice technologies. 22 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 23 (1) to encourage the research, design, and use 24 of innovative materials, in concert with traditional 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 939 IS materials, and associated techniques in the construc- 1 tion and preservation of the domestic infrastructure 2 network; 3 (2) to accelerate the deployment, extend the 4 service life, improve the performance, and reduce the 5 cost of infrastructure projects; and 6 (3) to improve the economy, resilience, main- 7 tainability, sustainability, and safety of the domestic 8 infrastructure network. 9 (c) ESTABLISHMENT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 11 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 12 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech- 13 nology shall establish an Interagency Innovative Ma- 14 terials Standards Task Force (referred to in this 15 section as the ‘‘Task Force’’) composed of the heads 16 of Federal agencies responsible for significant civil 17 infrastructure projects, including the Administrator 18 of the Federal Highway Administration. 19 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—The Director of the Na- 20 tional Institute of Standards and Technology shall 21 serve as Chairperson of the Task Force. 22 (d) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall coordinate and 23 improve, with respect to infrastructure construction, retro- 24 fitting, rehabilitation, and other improvements— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 939 IS (1) Federal testing standards; 1 (2) Federal design and use guidelines; 2 (3) Federal regulations; and 3 (4) other applicable standards and performance 4 and sustainability metrics. 5 (e) REPORT.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Task 8 Force shall conduct, and submit to the appropriate 9 committees of Congress a report that describes the 10 results of, a study— 11 (A) to assess the standards and perform- 12 ance metrics for the use of innovative materials 13 in infrastructure projects; 14 (B) to identify any barriers, regulatory or 15 otherwise, relating to the standards described in 16 subparagraph (A) that preclude the use of cer- 17 tain products or associated techniques; and 18 (C) to identify opportunities for the devel- 19 opment of standardized designs and materials 20 genome approaches that design and use innova- 21 tive materials to reduce costs, improve perform- 22 ance and sustainability, and extend the service 23 life of infrastructure assets. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 939 IS (2) REPORT.—The report under paragraph (1) 1 shall— 2 (A) identify any non-Federal entities or 3 other organizations, including the American As- 4 sociation of State Highway and Transportation 5 Officials, that develop relevant standards; and 6 (B) outline a strategy to improve coordina- 7 tion and information sharing between the enti- 8 ties described in subparagraph (A) and any rel- 9 evant Federal agencies. 10 (f) IMPROVED COORDINATION.—Not later than 2 11 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Task 12 Force shall collaborate with any non-Federal entity identi- 13 fied under subsection (e)(2)(A)— 14 (1) to identify and carry out appropriate re- 15 search, testing methods, and processes relating to 16 the development and use of innovative materials; 17 (2) to develop new methods and processes relat- 18 ing to the development and use of innovative mate- 19 rials, as the applicable agency head determines to be 20 necessary; 21 (3) to contribute to the development of stand- 22 ards, performance metrics, and guidelines for the 23 use of innovative materials and approaches in civil 24 infrastructure projects; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 939 IS (4) to develop a plan for addressing potential 1 barriers, regulatory or otherwise, identified in sub- 2 section (e)(1)(B); and 3 (5) to develop a plan for the development of 4 standardized designs that use innovative materials to 5 reduce costs, improve performance and sustain- 6 ability, and extend the service life of infrastructure 7 assets. 8 SEC. 4. INNOVATIVE MATERIAL INNOVATION HUBS. 9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 (1) HUB.—The term ‘‘Hub’’ means an Innova- 11 tive Material Innovation Hub established under this 12 section. 13 (2) INNOVATIVE MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘inno- 14 vative material’’, with respect to an infrastructure 15 project, includes a material, or a combination or 16 process for use of materials, that, as determined by 17 the Secretary— 18 (A) enhances the overall service life, sus- 19 tainability, and resiliency of the project; or 20 (B) provides ancillary benefits relative to 21 widely adopted state of practice technologies. 22 (3) QUALIFYING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘quali- 23 fying entity’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 939 IS (A) an institution of higher education (as 1 defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Edu- 2 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))); 3 (B) an appropriate Federal or State entity, 4 including a federally-funded research and devel- 5 opment center of the Department of Transpor- 6 tation; 7 (C) a university transportation center 8 under section 5505 of title 49, United States 9 Code; and 10 (D) a research and development entity in 11 existence on the date of enactment of this Act 12 focused on innovative materials that the Sec- 13 retary determines to be similar in scope and in- 14 tent to a Hub. 15 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of Transportation. 17 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 19 out a program to enhance the development of inno- 20 vative materials in the United States by making 21 awards to consortia for establishing and operating 22 Innovative Material Innovation Hubs to conduct and 23 support multidisciplinary, collaborative research, de- 24 velopment, demonstration, standardized design de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 939 IS velopment, and commercial application of innovative 1 materials. 2 (2) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall en- 3 sure the coordination of, and avoid duplication of, 4 the activities of each Hub with the activities of— 5 (A) other research entities of the Depart- 6 ment of Transportation, including the Federal 7 Highway Administration; and 8 (B) research entities of other Federal 9 agencies, as appropriate. 10 (c) COMPETITIVE SELECTION PROCESS.— 11 (1) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive an 12 award for the establishment and operation of a Hub 13 under subsection (b)(1), a consortium shall— 14 (A) be composed of not fewer than 2 quali- 15 fying entities; 16 (B) operate subject to a binding agree- 17 ment, entered into by each member of the con- 18 sortium, that documents— 19 (i) the proposed partnership agree- 20 ment, including the governance and man- 21 agement structure of the Hub; 22 (ii) measures the consortium will un- 23 dertake to enable cost-effective implemen- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 939 IS tation of activities under the program de- 1 scribed in subsection (b)(1); and 2 (iii) a proposed budget, including fi- 3 nancial contributions from non-Federal 4 sources; and 5 (C) operate as a nonprofit organization. 6 (2) APPLICATION.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—A consortium seeking 8 to establish and operate a Hub under sub- 9 section (b)(1) shall submit to the Secretary an 10 application at such time, in such manner, and 11 containing such information as the Secretary 12 may require, including a detailed description 13 of— 14 (i) each element of the consortium 15 agreement required under paragraph 16 (1)(B); and 17 (ii) any existing facilities the consor- 18 tium intends to use for Hub activities. 19 (B) REQUIREMENT.—If the consortium 20 members will not be located at 1 centralized lo- 21 cation, the application under subparagraph (A) 22 shall include a communications plan that en- 23 sures close coordination and integration of Hub 24 activities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 939 IS (3) SELECTION.— 1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall se- 2 lect consortia for awards for the establishment 3 and operation of Hubs through a competitive 4 selection process. 5 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In selecting con- 6 sortia under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 7 shall consider— 8 (i) any existing facilities a consortium 9 has identified to be used for Hub activities; 10 (ii) maintaining geographic diversity 11 in locations of selected Hubs; 12 (iii) the demonstrated ability of the 13 recipient to conduct and support multi- 14 disciplinary, collaborative research, devel- 15 opment, demonstration, standardized de- 16 sign development, and commercial applica- 17 tion of innovative materials; 18 (iv) the demonstrated research, tech- 19 nology transfer, and education resources 20 available to the recipient to carry out this 21 section; 22 (v) the ability of the recipient to pro- 23 vide leadership in solving immediate and 24 long-range national and regional transpor- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 939 IS tation problems related to innovative mate- 1 rials; 2 (vi) the demonstrated ability of the re- 3 cipient to disseminate results and spur the 4 implementation of transportation research 5 and education programs through national 6 or statewide continuing education pro- 7 grams; 8 (vii) the demonstrated commitment of 9 the recipient to the use of peer review prin- 10 ciples and other research best practices in 11 the selection, management, and dissemina- 12 tion of research projects; 13 (viii) the performance metrics to be 14 used in assessing the performance of the 15 recipient in meeting the stated research, 16 technology transfer, education, and out- 17 reach goals; and 18 (ix) the ability of the recipient to im- 19 plement the proposed program in a cost-ef- 20 ficient manner, including through cost 21 sharing and overall reduced overhead, fa- 22 cilities, and administrative costs. 23 (4) TRANSPARENCY.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 939 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 1 provide to each applicant, on request, any mate- 2 rials, including copies of reviews (with any in- 3 formation that would identify a reviewer re- 4 dacted), used in the evaluation process of the 5 proposal of the applicant. 6 (B) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall sub- 7 mit to the Committee on Transportation and 8 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 9 and the Committee on Environment and Public 10 Works of the Senate a report the describes the 11 overall review process under paragraph (2), 12 given the considerations under paragraph 13 (3)(B), that includes— 14 (i) specific criteria of evaluation used 15 in the review; 16 (ii) descriptions of the review process; 17 and 18 (iii) explanations of the selected 19 awards. 20 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 22 appropriated to carry out this section such sums as 23 are necessary. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S939.IS S939 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 939 IS (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available to 1 carry out this section shall remain available for a pe- 2 riod of 3 years after the last day of the fiscal year 3 in which the amounts were made available. 4 (e) HUB OPERATIONS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each Hub shall conduct, or 6 provide for, multidisciplinary, collaborative research, 7 development, demonstra [Text truncated for display. 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