DOE and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Act

IIB 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2988 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 5, 2023 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To provide for Department of Energy and National Aero- nautics and Space Administration research and develop- ment coordination, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988 2 HR 2988 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DOE and NASA Inter- 2 agency Research Coordination Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATIONAL AERO- 4 NAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION RE- 5 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINA- 6 TION. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy (in this 8 section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) and the Adminis- 9 trator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- 10 tion (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) 11 may carry out, as practicable, cross-cutting and collabo- 12 rative research and development activities to support the 13 advancement of Department of Energy and National Aer- 14 onautics and Space Administration mission requirements 15 and priorities. The Secretary and Administrator, in ac- 16 cordance with subsection (e), may make competitive 17 awards to carry out such activities. 18 (b) MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec- 19 retary and the Administrator shall coordinate the activi- 20 ties under subsection (a) through memoranda of under- 21 standing, or other appropriate interagency agreements. 22 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the activities 23 under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator 24 may— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988 3 HR 2988 RFS (1) conduct collaborative research and develop- 1 ment activities in a variety of focus areas that may 2 include— 3 (A) propulsion systems and components, 4 including nuclear thermal and nuclear electric 5 propulsion, radioisotope power systems, thermo- 6 electric generators, advanced nuclear fuels, and 7 heater units; 8 (B) modeling and simulation, machine 9 learning, data assimilation, large scale data 10 analytics, and predictive analysis in order to op- 11 timize algorithms for mission-related purposes; 12 (C) fundamental high energy physics, as- 13 trophysics, and cosmology, including the nature 14 of dark energy and dark matter, in accordance 15 with section 305 of the Department of Energy 16 Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 17 18643); 18 (D) fundamental earth and environmental 19 sciences, in accordance with section 306 of the 20 Department of Energy Research and Innovation 21 Act (42 U.S.C. 18644) and section 60501 of 22 title 51, United States Code; 23 (E) quantum information sciences, includ- 24 ing quantum computing and quantum network 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988 4 HR 2988 RFS infrastructure, in accordance with sections 403 1 and 404 of the National Quantum Initiative Act 2 (15 U.S.C. 8853 and 8854); 3 (F) radiation health effects, in accordance 4 with section 306 of the Department of Energy 5 Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 6 18644); 7 (G) ground- and space-based technology 8 necessary for the transmission to the Earth’s 9 surface of solar energy collected in space; and 10 (H) other areas of potential research and 11 development collaboration the Secretary and the 12 Administrator determine important to achieving 13 agency missions and objectives; 14 (2) develop methods to accommodate large vol- 15 untary data sets on space and aeronautical informa- 16 tion on high-performance computing systems with 17 variable quality and scale; 18 (3) promote collaboration and data and infor- 19 mation sharing between the Department of Energy, 20 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 21 National Laboratories, and other appropriate enti- 22 ties by providing the necessary access and secure 23 data and information transfer capabilities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988 5 HR 2988 RFS (4) support the Administration’s access to the 1 Department’s research infrastructure and capabili- 2 ties, as practicable. 3 (d) AGREEMENTS.—In carrying out the activities 4 under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator 5 are authorized to— 6 (1) carry out reimbursable and non-reimburs- 7 able agreements between the Department of Energy 8 and the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- 9 tion; and 10 (2) collaborate with other Federal agencies, as 11 appropriate. 12 (e) MERIT REVIEW PROCESS.—The Secretary and 13 the Administrator shall ensure any competitive awards 14 made to carry out the activities under section (a) shall 15 follow all appropriate laws and agency policies, including 16 the following: 17 (1) Selection by merit-review-based processes. 18 (2) Consideration of applications from Federal 19 agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of high- 20 er education, non-profit institutions, and other ap- 21 propriate entities. 22 (f) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 23 of the enactment of this section, the Secretary and the 24 Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Science, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988 6 HR 2988 RFS Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives 1 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and 2 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 3 of the Senate, a report detailing the following: 4 (1) Interagency research and development co- 5 ordination activities between the Department of En- 6 ergy and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- 7 ministration carried out under this section. 8 (2) How such coordination activities expand the 9 technical capabilities of the Department and the Ad- 10 ministration. 11 (3) Collaborative research and development 12 achievements. 13 (4) Areas of future mutually beneficial activi- 14 ties, including potential applications of clean energy 15 technologies, such as marine energy. 16 (5) Continuation of coordination activities be- 17 tween the Department of Energy and the National 18 Aeronautics and Space Administration. 19 (g) RESEARCH SECURITY.—The activities authorized 20 under this section shall be applied in a manner consistent 21 with subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Develop- 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988 7 HR 2988 RFS ment, Competition, and Innovation Act (enacted as divi- 1 sion B Public Law 117–167; 42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.). 2 Passed the House of Representatives December 4, 2023. Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 Dec 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2988.RFS H2988