S. HRG. 107–1111 TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION AND THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, UNITED STATES SENATE, ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 16, 2002 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 90–577 PDF WASHINGTON : 2005 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 07:48 Feb 24, 2005 Jkt 090577 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\90577.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CONRAD BURNS, Montana JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana TRENT LOTT, Mississippi BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas RON WYDEN, Oregon OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine MAX CLELAND, Georgia SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas BARBARA BOXER, California GORDON SMITH, Oregon JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada BILL NELSON, Florida GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia KEVIN D. KAYES, Democratic Staff Director MOSES BOYD, Democratic Chief Counsel JEANNE BUMPUS, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 07:48 Feb 24, 2005 Jkt 090577 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\90577.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on April 16, 2002 .............................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Allen ..................................................................................... 16 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 Letter from Jeffery Payne, President and CEO, Cigital, Inc. ....................... 17 Statement of Senator Hollings ............................................................................... 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 2 Statement of Senator McCain ................................................................................. 3 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 4 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 23 Statement of Senator Wyden .................................................................................. 21 WITNESSES Armstrong, Anne A., President, Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology ... 25 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 27 Bodman, Hon. Samuel, Ph.D., Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce .... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Branscomb, Lewis M., Ph.D., Professor, Harvard University .............................. 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 Donnelly, Scott, Senior Vice President for Global Research, General Electric Company ............................................................................................................... 34 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. John B. Breaux to Hon. Samuel Bodman .......................................................................................... 57 Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Ernest F. Hollings to Hon. Samuel Bodman .......................................................................................... 56 Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. John McCain to: Anne A. Armstrong ........................................................................................... 57 Hon. Samuel Bodman ....................................................................................... 43 Dr. Lewis Branscomb ....................................................................................... 58 Scott Donnelly ................................................................................................... 61 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 07:48 Feb 24, 2005 Jkt 090577 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\90577.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF VerDate 0ct 09 2002 07:48 Feb 24, 2005 Jkt 090577 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\90577.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION AND THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2002 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:31 a.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Ernest F. Hollings, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH CAROLINA The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. The Committee will come to order. We are pleased this morning to conduct our hearing relative to the programs of the Technology Administration and NIST, par- ticularly the ATP program. I want to put my full statement in the record and let me shorten it by observing that this ATP program has been tried and true. We have actually got great results—ATP has been studied to death in a sense. It’s projects have improved automobile manufacturing processes, reduced the cost of blood and immune cell production, and developed new material for prosthetic devices, all of which have more than paid for all of the projects the ATP program has funded. The reason I emphasize this is that it is always a struggle seem- ingly with the Office of Management and Budget on the cost of the program. Every attempt has been made over the years to eliminate the program, bluntly. I have had the pleasure of working with Secretary Bodman—and we welcome you here today, Secretary Bodman—on the premise and promise of Secretary Evans relative to trying to fine-tune the ATP program to the satisfaction of the Administration. With regard to those changes, we go along with the participation of the univer- sities and various other suggestions, save and excepting that recoupment. We did away with recoupment in 1992, some ten years ago. We found it counterproductive in the sense it discouraged companies from participating on the one hand. On the other hand, we noted the Administration has suggested, essentially, a five times taxation for success of the technology itself. So we welcome you. Let me yield to my distinguished ranking member here. [The prepared statement of Senator Hollings follows:] (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 07:48 Feb 24, 2005 Jkt 090577 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\90577.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF 2 PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH CAROLINA Today’s hearing will examine the programs of the Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with particular emphasis on the Advanced Technology Program. We are pleased to have Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dr. Sam Bodman, as well as our other distin- guished witnesses, here with us today. NIST is really a hidden treasure. Twice in the past five years, NIST Scientists have shared in the Physics Nobel Prize. Whether they are investigating the collapse of the world trade center, making small manufacturers better, sponsoring innovative research, or improving timekeeping, the people of this little-noticed agency continue to do amazing work, and I commend them. Nonetheless, we continue to be embroiled in an annual tug-of-war on funding for the Advanced Technology Program, known as ATP. I am encouraged that Secretary Evans and Deputy Secretary Bodman want to stabilize this program. After all, the benefits of the program are well-documented. The program has been studied thoroughly from individual case studies, to comprehensive examinations like the 2001 study for the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council. What the analysis shows time and time again is that the ATP is stimulating collabo- ration, accelerating the development of high-risk technologies, and paying off for the nation. The Commerce Department has proposed several changes to the ATP. I look for- ward to examining each of these changes and hope to include many of them in a NIST authorization bill this year. However, the proposal for recoupment of up to 5 times the original amount of funding is not acceptable. First, the program has tried recoupment and failed. The Department cites the Clean Coal Technology Program of the Department of Energy as a poster child for recoupment. That program—established in 1986—has recovered approximately one-tenth of one percent of the $1.1 billion invested in completed projects. More importantly, recoupment discourages companies from participating in the program. When they do participate, a cost recovery provision encourages the compa- nies to say that the enabling ATP research had no impact on successful products. In another ten years, supporters of