S.Amdt. 624

SA 624. Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. Tillis, and Mr. Coons)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S.
1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for military
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle C of title II, add the following:

SEC. ___. ADMINISTRATION OF CENTERS FOR MANUFACTURING
INNOVATION FUNDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall make such
changes to the administration of covered centers so as--
(1) to encourage covered centers to leverage existing
workforce development programs across the Federal Government
and State governments in order to build successful workforce
development programs;
(2) to develop metrics to evaluate the workforce
development performed by the covered centers, including
metrics on job quality, career pathways, wages and benefits,
and efforts to support veterans, and progress in aligning
workforce skillsets with the current and long-term needs of
the Department of Defense and the defense industrial base;
(3) to allow metrics to vary between covered centers and be
updated and evaluated continuously in order to more
accurately evaluate covered centers with different goals and
missions;
(4) to encourage covered centers to consider developing
technologies that were previously funded by Federal
Government investment for early-stage research and
development and expand cross-government coordination and
collaboration to achieve this goal;
(5) to provide an opportunity for increased Department of
Defense input and oversight from senior-level military and
civilian personnel on future technology roadmaps produced by
covered centers;
(6) to reduce the barriers to collaboration between and
among multiple covered centers;
(7) to use contracting vehicles that can increase
flexibility, reduce barriers for contracting with subject-
matter experts and small and medium enterprises, enhance
partnerships between covered centers, and reduce the time to
award contracts at covered centers; and
(8) to overcome barriers to the adoption of manufacturing
processes and technologies developed by the covered centers
by the defense and commercial industrial base, particularly
small and medium enterprises, by engaging with public and
private sector partnerships and appropriate government
programs and activities, including the Hollings Manufacturing
Extension Partnership.
(b) Coordination With Other Activities.--The Secretary
shall carry out this section in coordination with activities
undertaken under--
(1) the Manufacturing Technology Program established under
section 2521 of title 10, United States Code;
(2) the Manufacturing Engineering Education Program
established under section 2196 of such title;
(3) the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program
established under section 846 of the John S. McCain National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law
115-232);
(4) manufacturing initiatives of the Secretary of Commerce,
the head of the National Office of the Network for
Manufacturing Innovation Program, the Secretary of Energy,
and such other government and private sector organizations as
the Secretary of Defense considers appropriate; and
(5) such other activities as the Secretary considers
appropriate.
(c) Definition of Covered Center.--In this section, the
term ``covered center'' means a manufacturing innovation
institute that is funded by the Department of Defense.
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