Sec. 5112. Interagency innovative materials standards task force
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The purposes of this section shall be— to encourage the research, design, and use of innovative materials, in concert with traditional materials, and associated techniques in the construction and preservation of the domestic infrastructure network; to accelerate the deployment and extend the service life, improve the performance, and reduce the cost of infrastructure projects; and to improve the economy, resilience, maintainability, sustainability, and safety of the domestic infrastructure network.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall establish an Interagency Innovative Materials Standards Task Force (referred to in this section as the Task Force ) composed of the heads of Federal agencies responsible for significant civil infrastructure projects, including the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall serve as Chairperson of the Task Force.
The Task Force shall coordinate and improve, with respect to infrastructure construction, retrofitting, rehabilitation, and other improvements— Federal testing standards; Federal design and use guidelines; Federal regulations; and other applicable standards and performance and sustainability metrics. Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Task Force shall conduct, and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that describes the results of, a study— to assess the standards and performance metrics for the use of innovative materials in infrastructure projects; to identify any barriers, regulatory or otherwise, relating to the standards described in subparagraph
(A)that preclude the use of certain products or associated techniques; and to identify opportunities for the development of standardized designs and materials genome approaches that design and use innovative materials to reduce costs, improve performance and sustainability, and extend the service life of infrastructure assets. The report under paragraph
(1)shall— identify any non-Federal entities or other organizations, including the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, that develop relevant standards; and outline a strategy to improve coordination and information sharing between the entities described in subparagraph
(A)and any relevant Federal agencies. Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Task Force shall collaborate with any non-Federal entity identified under subsection (d)(2)(A)— to identify and carry out appropriate research, testing methods, and processes relating to the development and use of innovative materials; to develop new methods and processes relating to the development and use of innovative materials, as the applicable agency head determines to be necessary; to contribute to the development of standards, performance metrics, and guidelines for the use of innovative materials and approaches in civil infrastructure projects; to develop a plan for addressing potential barriers, regulatory or otherwise, identified in subsection (d)(1)(B); and to develop a plan for the development of standardized designs that use innovative materials to reduce costs, improve performance and sustainability, and extend the service life of infrastructure assets. In this section, the term innovative material , with respect to an infrastructure project, includes those materials or combinations and processes for use of materials that enhance the overall service life, sustainability, and resiliency of the project or provide ancillary benefits relative to widely adopted state of practice technologies, as determined by the appropriate Secretary or agency head.