Manufacturing Extension Partnership Improvement Act of 2016

Manufacturing Extension Partnership Improvement Act of 2016

This bill amends the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act to direct the Department of Commerce, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to convert the current program for creation and support of regional centers for the transfer of manufacturing technology into one for creation and support of manufacturing extension centers for the transfer of manufacturing technology and best business practices, to be known as the Hollings Manufacturing Extension (HME) Partnership, and reauthorized for FY2017-FY2020.

Each Hollings Manufacturing Extension Center may be affiliated with an institution of higher education or a state or local government, as well as with a U.S.-based nonprofit institution (or consortium of such institutions) as under current law.

Authorized Center activities that currently include selective, short-term loans of advanced manufacturing equipment to small manufacturing firms shall be replaced by facilitation of collaborations and partnerships between small and medium-sized manufacturing companies and community colleges and area career and technical education schools.

The bill repeals the current six-year limit on federal financial assistance to a Center, allowing open-ended assistance through a cooperative agreement.

Commerce shall appoint a panel to review and evaluate each Center receiving financial assistance during its third and eighth years of operation, but the Department shall review a Center directly during its fifth year of operation.

Each Center shall establish a board to oversee its operations.

The bill establishes a Manufacturing Extension Partnership Advisory Board.

The NIST shall establish within the HME Partnership:

• a program of competitive awards for a participating Center, or a consortium of Centers, to develop projects to solve new or emerging manufacturing problems; and
• an innovation services initiative to assist small and medium-sized manufacturers in improving profitability through the reduction of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental waste.