Sec. 8. Research infrastructure
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The Director shall continue the Facility Operation Transition pilot program for a total of five years. The Facility Operation Transition program shall provide funding for 10–50 percent of the operations and maintenance costs for major research facilities that are within the first five years of operation, where the share is determined based on— the operations and maintenance costs of the major research facility; and the capacity of the managing directorate or division to absorb such costs.
After the fifth year of the pilot program, the Director shall transmit a report to Congress that includes— an assessment, that includes feedback from the research community, of the effectiveness of the pilot program for— supporting research directorates and divisions in balancing investments in research grants and funding for the initial operation and maintenance of major facilities; incentivizing the development of new world-class facilities; facilitating interagency and international partnerships; funding core elements of multi-disciplinary facilities; and supporting facility divestment costs; and if deemed effective, a plan for permanent implementation of the pilot program.
The Director shall periodically carry out reviews within each of the directorates and divisions to assess the cost and benefits of extending the operations of research facilities that have exceeded their planned operational lifespan. The Director shall support, through the Major Research Instrumentation program, proposal requests that include the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of equipment and instrumentation to reduce consumption of helium. The Director may waive the cost-sharing requirement for helium conservation measures for non-Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education and Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education that are not ranked among the top 100 institutions receiving Federal research and development funding, as documented by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
No later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and annually for the subsequent two years, the Director shall submit an annual report to Congress on the use of funding awarded by the Foundation for the purchase and conservation of helium. The report should include— the volume and price of helium purchased; changes in pricing and availability of helium; and any supply disruptions impacting a substantial number of institutions. To gather information about the computational needs of Foundation-funded projects, the Director shall require grant proposals submitted to the Foundation, as appropriate, to include estimates of computational resource needs for projects that require use of advanced computing.
The Director shall encourage and provide access to tools that facilitate the inclusion of these measures, including those identified in the 2016 Academies report entitled Future Directions for NSF Advanced Computing Infrastructure to Support U.S. Science and Engineering in 2017–2020 . The Director shall document and publish every two years a summary of the amount and types of advanced computing capabilities that are needed to fully meet the Foundation’s project needs as identified under paragraph (1).
To set priorities and guide strategic decisions regarding investments in advanced computing capabilities, the Director shall develop, publish, and regularly update a 5-year advanced computing roadmap that— describes the advanced computing resources and capabilities that would fully meet anticipated project needs, including through investments in the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure program and the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account; draws on community input, information contained in research proposals, allocation requests, insights from Foundation-funded cyber-infrastructure operators, and Foundation-wide information gathering regarding community needs; considers computational needs of planned major facilities; reflects anticipated technology trends; informs users and potential partners about future facilities and services; addresses the needs of groups historically underrepresented in STEM and geographic regions with low availability and high demand for advanced computing resources; considers how Foundation-supported advanced computing capabilities can be leveraged for activities through the Directorate for Science and Engineering Solutions; and provides an update to Congress about the level of funding necessary to fully meet computational resource needs for the research community.
Section 101(a)(1) of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 ( 15 U.S.C. 5511 ) is amended— by moving the margins of subparagraphs
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(O)two ems to the left; by redesignating subparagraphs
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(O)as subparagraphs
(K)through (P), respectively; and by inserting after subparagraph
(I)the following: provide for improving the security, reliability, and resiliency of computing and networking systems used by institutions of higher education and other nonprofit research institutions for the processing, storage and transmission of sensitive federally funded research and associated data; . The Director of the National Science Foundation, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Secretary of Energy, shall establish a pilot program to award grants to ensure the security of federally-supported research data and to assist regional institutions of higher education and their researchers in compliance with regulations regarding the safeguarding of sensitive information and other relevant regulations and Federal guidelines. In carrying out the pilot program established pursuant to clause (i), the Director shall select three institutions of higher education from among institutions classified under the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research Carnegie Classification as a doctorate-granting university with a very high level of research activity, and with a history of working with secure information for the development, installation, maintenance, or sustainment of secure computing enclaves. In selecting universities pursuant to clause (ii), the Director shall give preference to institutions of higher education with the capability of serving other regional universities. The enclaves should be geographically dispersed to better meet the needs of regional interests. The Director shall work with institutions of higher education selected pursuant to clause
(ii)to— develop an approved design blueprint for compliance with Federal data protection protocols; develop a comprehensive and confidential list, or a bill of materials, of each binary component of the software, firmware, or product that is required to deploy additional secure computing enclaves; develop templates for all policies and procedures required to operate the secure computing enclave in a research setting; develop a system security plan template; and develop a process for managing a plan of action and milestones for the secure computing enclave. Subject to other availability of appropriations, the pilot program established pursuant to clause
(i)shall operate for not less than 3 years. The Director of the National Science Foundation shall report to Congress not later than 6 months after the completion of the pilot program under clause (i). The report required under subclause
(I)shall include— an assessment of the pilot program under clause (i), including an assessment of the security benefits provided by such secure computing enclaves; recommendations related to the value of expanding the network of secure computing enclaves; and recommendations on the efficacy of the use of secure computing enclaves by other Federal agencies in a broader effort to expand security of Federal research. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Director, $38,000,000 for fiscal years 2022 through 2024, to carry out the activities outlined in this section. The Director, in consultation with the Chief Statistician of the United States, shall establish a demonstration project to develop, refine and test models to inform the full implementation of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking recommendation for a government-wide data linkage and access infrastructure for statistical activities conducted for statistical purposes, as defined in chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code. Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish a National Secure Data Service demonstration project. The National Secure Data Service demonstration project shall be— aligned with the principles, best practices, and priority actions recommended by the Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building, to the extent feasible; and operated directly by or via a contract that is managed by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. In carrying out this subsection, the Director shall engage with Federal and State agencies to collect, acquire, analyze, report, and disseminate statistical data in the United States and other nations to support governmentwide evidence-building activities consistent with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. If the Director issues a management contract under paragraph (2), the awardee shall be designated as an agent under chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, subchapter III, section 3561 et seq., with all requirements and obligations for protecting confidential information delineated in the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018 and the Privacy Act of 1974. In carrying out this subsection, the Director shall consider application and use of systems and technologies that incorporate protection measures to reasonably ensure confidential data and statistical products are protected in accordance with obligations under chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, subchapter III, section 3561 et seq., including systems and technologies that ensure raw data and other sensitive inputs are not accessible to recipients of statistical outputs from the National Secure Data Service demonstration project. The National Secure Data Service established under paragraph
(2)shall maintain a public website with up-to-date information on supported projects. Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Secure Data Service demonstration project established under paragraph
(2)shall submit a report to Congress that includes— a description of policies for protecting data, consistent with applicable federal law; a comprehensive description of all completed or active data linkage activities and projects; an assessment of the effectiveness of the demonstration project for mitigating risks and removing barriers to a sustained implementation of the National Secure Data Service as recommended by the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking; and if deemed effective by the Director, a plan for scaling up the demonstration project to facilitate data access for evidence building while ensuring transparency and privacy. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director to carry out this subsection $9,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
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Sec. 8
Research infrastructure
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