PUBLIC LAW 109–155—DEC. 30, 2005
119 STAT. 2939
SEC. 722. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES.
(a) ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES SENIOR REVIEW.— (1) REVIEW.—The Director of the National Science Foundation shall charge the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee with conducting a review of the astronomical facilities supported by the Foundation to determine the appropriate balance between supporting the operation of existing facilities and supporting the design, development, and eventual operation of new facilities. The review shall recommend actions that would enable the Foundation to support priorities recommended in the National Academy of Sciences reports ‘‘Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium’’ and ‘‘Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos’’. (2) TRANSMITTAL.—The Director shall transmit the review, along with a schedule for implementing any recommendations the Director accepts and an explanation for rejecting any recommendations, to the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate no later than June 30, 2006. (b) PLAN FOR FUNDING DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT FOR MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National Science Foundation shall develop a plan to facilitate more thorough design and development of facilities that can be considered for funding through the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account. (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the plan, the Director shall consider— (A) steps to encourage and ease cross-directorate collaboration; (B) ways to ensure that a Directorate that will eventually support the operation of a facility is fully committed to that facility from the outset; (C) providing funding for the design and development of facilities from new sources within the Foundation; and (D) ways to enable and encourage entities proposing facilities projects to receive design and development funding from nongovernmental sources. (3) TRANSMITTAL.—No later than June 30, 2006, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall transmit to the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate the plan, along with a statement from the Director describing how the plan addresses the considerations described in paragraph (2).
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