THE HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ACT OF 1991 (H.R. 656 - as reported by House Science Committee May 7, 1991) Section 1. Short Title. This act may be cited as the "High Performance Computing Act of 1991." Section 2. Findings and Purpose. (a) Findings. The Congress finds the following: (1) Advances in computer science and technology are vital to the nation's prosperity, national and economic security, and scientific advancement. (2) The United States currently leads the world in the development and use of high-performance computing for national security, industrial productivity, and science and engineering, but that lead is being challenged by foreign competitors. (3) Further research and development, expanded educational programs, improved computer research networks, and more effective technology transfer from government to industry are necessary for the United States to fully reap the benefits of high-performance computing. (4) Several Federal agencies have ongoing high-performance computing programs, but long-term interagency coordination, cooperation, and planning could enhance the effectiveness of these programs. (5) A 1989 report entitled "The Federal High-Performance Computing Program" and a 1991 report entitled "Grand Challenges: High- Performance Computing and Communications" by the Office of Science and Technology Policy outlining a research and development strategy for high-performance computing provides a framework for a multiagency high-performance computing program. (6) Such a program would provide American researchers and educators with the computer and information resources they need, while demonstrating how advanced computers, high-speed networks, and electronic data bases can improve the national information infrastructure for use by all Americans. (b) Purpose. It is the purpose of Congress in this Act to help ensure the continued leadership of the United States in high-performance computing and its applications through - - (1) the expansion of Federal support for research, development, and application of high-performance computing in order to (A) establish a high-capacity national research and education computer network; (B) expand the number of researchers, educators, and students with training in high-performance computing and access to high-performance computing resources; (C) promote the further development of an information infrastructure of data bases, services, access mechanisms, and research facilities which is available for use through such a national network; (D) stimulate research on software technology; (E) promote the more rapid development and wider distribution of computer software tools and applications software; (F) accelerate the development of high-performance computing systems and subsystems; (G) ensure that emerging high-performance computing systems and software technologies are available to researchers for the application to Grand Challenges; (H) promote the inclusion of high performance computing into educational institutions at all levels; (I) ensure that appropriate security controls are implemented; and (J) encourage cooperative programs between industry and high-performance computing centers to enhance industrial competitiveness; and (2) the improvement of planning and coordination of Federal research and development of high-performance computing. Section 3 - Definitions. As used in this Act, the term -- (1) "Director" means the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. (2) "Grand Challenge" means a fundamental problem in science or engineering, with broad economic and scientific impact, whose solution will require the application of high-performance computing resources; (3) "high performance computing systems" means -- (A) current and new generations of scientific workstations; (B) vector supercomputer systems; (C) special purpose and experimental computing systems; and (D) large scale parallel systems, developed in the private or public sector; and (4) "Network" means the National Research and Education Network established under section 6. Section 4 - Miscellaneous Provisions. (a) Nonapplicability. Except to the extent the appropriate Federal agency or department head determines, the provisions of this Act shall not apply to -- (1) programs or activities regarding computer systems that process classified information; or (2) computer systems the function, operation, or use of which are those delineated in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 2315(a) of Title 10, United States Code. (b) Acquisition of Prototype and Early Production Models. As part of the Program described in section 5, and in accordance with Federal contracting law, Federal agencies and departments participating in the Program may purchase or lease prototype or early production models of new high-performance computing systems and subsystems to stimulate hardware and software development. Items of computing equipment acquired under this subsection shall be considered research computers for purposes of applicable acquisition regulations. Section 5 - National High-Performance Computing Program. (a) National High-Performance Computing Program. -- (1) The President shall implement a National High-Performance Computing Program (hereafter in this Act referred to as the "Program"). (2) The Director shall -- (A) submit to the Congress an annual report, describing the implementation of the Program; (B) provide for interagency coordination of the implementation of the Program; (C) review, prior to the President's submission to the Congress of the annual budget estimate, each agency and departmental budget estimate in the context of the Program and make the results of that review available to the appropriate elements of the Executive Office of the President, particularly the Office of Management and Budget; and (D) consult with academic, State, industry, and other appropriate groups conducting research on and using high-performance computing. (3) The annual report submitted under paragraph (2)(A) shall -- (A) describe the goals and priorities for the program; (B) set forth the relevant programs and activities, for the fiscal year with respect to which the budget submission applies, of each Federal agency and department, including -- (i) the National Science Foundation; (ii) the Department of Commerce, particularly the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; (iii) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; (iv) the Department of Defense, particularly the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency; (v) the Department of Energy; (vi) the Department of Health and Human Services, particularly the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine; (vii) the Environmental Protection Agency; and (viii) such other agencies and departments as the President or Director considers appropriate; (C) describe the levels of Federal funding for the fiscal year during which such report is submitted, and the levels proposed for the fiscal year with respect to which the budget submission applies, for specific activities, including education, research activities, hardware and software development, and support for the establishment of the Network; (D) describe the levels of Federal funding for each agency and department participating in the Program for the fiscal year during which such report is submitted, and the levels proposed for the fiscal year with respect to which the budget submission applies; and (E) include an analysis of the progress made toward achieving the goals and priorities established for the Program. (4) The Program shall address the security requirements, policies and standards issued by the Secretary of Commerce necessary to protect national research computer networks and information resources accessible through national research computer networks, including research required to establish security standards for high- performance computing systems and networks. Agencies and departments identified in the annual report submitted under paragraph (2)(A) shall define and implement a security plan consistent with the Program and with applicable law. (5) The Program shall -- (A) provide for the establishment of policies for management and access to the Network; (B) provide for oversight of the operation and evolution of the Network; and (C) ensure the connectivity among computer networks of Federal agencies and departments. (b) High-Performance Computing Advisory Panel. The Director shall establish a High-Performance Computing Advisory Panel consisting of non-Federal members, including representatives of the research, education, and library communities, network providers, and industry, who are specially qualified to provide the Director with advice and information on high-performance computing. The Director shall consider the recommendations of the Panel in reviewing and revising the Program. The Panel shall provide the Director with an independent assessment of -- (1) progress made in implementing the Program; (2) the need to revise the Program; (3) the balance between the components of the Program; (4) whether the research and development funded under the Program is helping to maintain United States leadership in computing technology; and (5) other issues identified by the Director. (d) Office of Management and Budget. -- (1) Each appropriate Federal agency and department involved in high-performance computing shall, as part of its annual request for appropriations to the Office of Management and Budget, submit a report to the Office identifying each element of its high-performance computing activities, which -- (A) specifies whether each such element (i) contributes primarily to the implementation of the Program, or (ii) contributes primarily to the achievement of other objectives but aids Program implementation in important ways; and (B) states the portion of its request for appropriations that is allocated to each such element. (2) The Office of Management and Budget shall review each such report in light of the goals, priorities, and agency and departmental responsibilities set forth in the annual report submitted under section (a)(2)(A), and shall include, in the President's annual budget estimate, a statement of the portion of each appropriate agency or department's annual budget estimate that is allocated to each element of such agency or department's high-performance computing activities. Section 6 - National Research and Education Network (a) Establishment. As part of the Program described in section 5, the Director [of OSTP] shall coordinate implementation of agency and department activities supporting the broad deployment and use of a national multi-gigabit-per-second research and education network, to be known as the National Research and Education Network, which shall link research institutions and educational institutions, government and industry in every State. For purposes of this section, agency activities may include research and development, development of network applications important for research and education, and contracting for services, but shall not include purchasing switches, optical fiber, or any other networking hardware for purposes other than research and development. (b) Access. Federal agencies shall work with State and local agencies, libraries, educational institutions and organizations, and private network service providers as appropriate in order to ensure that the researchers, educators, and students have access to the Network. The Network shall provide users with appropriate access to high-performance computing systems, computer data bases, other research facilities, and libraries. The Network shall provide access, to the extent practicable, to electronic information resources maintained by libraries, research facilities, publishers, and affiliated organizations. (c) Network Characteristics. The Network shall - (1) be developed jointly with the computer, telecommunications, and information industries; (2) be designed, developed, and operated in collaboration with potential users in government, industry, and research institutions and educational institutions; (3) be designed, developed and operated in a manner which fosters and maintains competition and private sector investment in high speed data networking within the telecommunications industry; (4) be designed, developed and operated in a manner which promotes research and development leading to deployment of commercial data communications and telecommunications standards, for such purposes as encouraging the establishment of privately operated high-speed commercial networks; (5) be designed to ensure the continued application of laws that provide network and information resources security measures that protect copyright and intellectual property rights, or that control access to data bases; (6) have accounting mechanisms which allow users or groups of users to be charged for their usage of copyrighted materials available over the Network and, where appropriate and technically feasible, for their usage of the Network; (7) ensure the interoperability of agency and department networks and regional private networks; (8) be developed by purchasing standard commercial transmission and network services from vendors whenever feasible; (9) be developed by obtaining customized network services from vendors when it is not feasible to obtain standard services or no such standard services are available; and (10) support research and development of networking software and hardware. (d) National Science Foundation Responsibility. Within the Federal Government, the National Science Foundation shall be responsible for managing the Network according to policies established for the [High Performance Computing] Program under section 5(a)(5)(A). (e) Information Services. The Director shall coordinate implementation of the activities of appropriate agencies and departments to promote the development of information services that could be provided over the Network. These services may include the provision of directories of users and services on computer networks, data bases of unclassified Federal scientific data, training of users of data bases and networks, access to commercial information services for users of the Network, and technology to support computer-based collaboration that allows researchers around the Nation to share information and instrumentation. (f) Use of Grant Funds. The National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency may allow recipients of Federal research grants to use grant funds to pay for computer networking expenses associated with the Program. Section 7 - Role of the National Science Foundation (a) General Responsibilities. As part of the Program described in section 5, the National Science foundation shall provide computing and networking infrastructure support for all science and engineering disciplines, and support basic research and human resource development in all aspects of high-performance computing and advanced high-speed computer networking. (b) Authorization of Appropriations. From sums otherwise authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science Foundation for the purposes of this act $213,000,000 for fiscal year 1992; $262,000,000 for fiscal year 1993; $305,000,000 for fiscal year 1994; $354,000,000 for fiscal year 1995; and $413,000,000 for fiscal year 1996. Section 8 - Role of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (a) General Responsibilities. As part of the Program described in section 5, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall conduct basic and applied research in high-performance computing, particularly in the fields of computational aerosciences, earth and space sciences, and remote exploration and experimentation. (b) Authorization of Appropriations. From sums otherwise authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the purposes of this Act $72,000,000 for fiscal year 1992; $107,000,000 for fiscal year 1993; $134,000,000 for fiscal year 1994; $151,000,000 for fiscal year 1995; and $145,000,000 for fiscal year 1996. Section 9 - Role of the Department of Energy (a) General Responsibilities. As part of the Program described in section 5, the Department of Energy shall - (1) perform technology development and systems evaluation of high-performance computing systems; (2) conduct computational research with emphasis on energy applications; (3) conduct gigabit network applications research and develop related software tools; and (4) support basic research and human resource development in computational science. (b) Authorization of Appropriations. From sums otherwise authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated to the department o Energy for the purposes of this Act $93,000,000 for fiscal year 1992; $110,000,000 for fiscal year 1993; $138,000,000 for fiscal year 1994; $157,000,000 for fiscal year 1995; and $168,000,000 for fiscal year 1996. Section 10 - Role of the Department of Commerce. (a) General Responsibilities. As part of the Program described in section 5 - (1) the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall conduct basic and applied measurement research needed to support various high-performance computing systems and networks, and, in consultation with other relevant agencies and private industry, may adopt standards and guidelines, and develop measurement techniques and test methods, for the interoperability of high-performance computing systems in networks and for common user interfaces to systems, and shall be responsible for developing benchmark tests and standards for high-performance computing systems and software; and (2) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall conduct basic and applied research in weather prediction and ocean sciences, particularly in development of new forecast models, in computational fluid dynamics, and in the incorporation of evolving computer architectures and networks into the systems that carry out agency missions. (b) High-Performance Computing and Network Security. The National Institute of Standards and Technology shall conduct research needed to support the adoption of security standards for high- performance computing systems and networks. In accomplishing this objective, the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall utilize whenever possible recognized centers of expertise that may exist in the academic and national laboratory communities. (c) Study of Impact of Regulations. (1) The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, shall conduct a study to evaluate the impact of Federal procurement regulations which require that contractors providing software to the Federal Government share the rights to proprietary software development tools that that contractors use to develop the software, including a determination of whether such regulations discourage development of improved software development tools and techniques. (2) The Secretary of Commerce shall, within 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, report to the Congress regarding the results of the study conducted under paragraph (1). (d) Authorization of Appropriations. From sums otherwise authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated - (1) to the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the purposes of this Act $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1992; $3,500,000 for fiscal year 1993; $4,000,000 for fiscal year 1994; $4,500,000 for fiscal year 1995; and $5,000,00 for fiscal year 1996. (2) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the purposes of this Act $2,500,00 for fiscal year 1992; $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1993; $3,500,000 for fiscal year 1994; $4,000,000 for fiscal year 1995; and $4,500,000 for fiscal year 1996. Section 11 - Role of the Environmental Protection Agency (a) General Responsibilities. As part of the Program described in section 5, the Environmental Protection Agency shall conduct basic and applied research directed toward the advancement and dissemination of computational techniques and software tools which form the core of ecosystem, atmospheric chemistry, and atmospheric dynamics models. (b) Authorization of Appropriations. From sums otherwise authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Environmental Protection Agency for the purposes of this Act $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1992; $5,500,000 for fiscal year 1993; $6,000,000 for fiscal year 1994; $6,500,000 for fiscal year 1995; and 47,000,000 for fiscal year 1996.