A bill to improve the administration of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and for other purposes.

(a) Requirement for cooperative agreements.— Subsection (e)(1) of section 25 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278K) is amended by striking “may” and inserting “shall”.

(b) Expansion of evaluation of centers To include assessment of financial management.— Subsection (g)(3) of such section is amended—

(1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respectively, and indenting such clauses 2 ems to the right;

(2) in the matter before clause (i), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by striking “performance of the Center against—” and inserting the following:

“(A) against”;

(3) in subparagraph (A)(iii), as designated by paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and

(4) by adding at the end the following:

“(B) with respect to financial management, including monitoring for potential fraud and misuse of funds.”.

(c) Improvements to administration of probation.— Subsection (g)(5) of such section is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (B), by amending clause (iii) to read as follows:

“(iii) not later than 180 days after the date of the notice under clause (i), reevaluate the Center and determine whether the Center has remedied a deficiency or shown significant improvement in performance.”; and

(2) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking “may” and inserting “shall”.

(d) Remedies.— Subsection (g)(6) of such section is amended—

(1) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:

“(A) In general.— If the Secretary determines that a Center has failed to remedy a deficiency or to show significant improvement in performance before the end of the probation period under paragraph (5), the Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after making that determination, commence conducting a competition to select an operator for the Center under subsection (h).”; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

“(C) Not renewed or canceled financial assistance.— In any case in which the financial assistance for a Center is not renewed or canceled, subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after the date on which such financial assistance is not renewed or canceled—

(i) commence conducting a competition to select an operator for the Center under subsection (h); and

(ii) make available to the eligible entity selected to operate the Center pursuant to clause (i) any remaining financial assistance that had been allocated to the previous operator of the Center under subsection (e).

(D) Period for competition and selection.— For any competition commenced pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (C) to select an operator for the Center under subsection (h)—

(i) the duration of the period for submittal of an application to operate the Center shall not be exceed 90 days; and

(ii) not later than 30 days after the date on which the period described in clause (i) ends, the Secretary shall select an eligible entity to operate the Center in accordance with subsections (h) and (i).”.

(e) Exclusivity of remedies.— Subsection (g) of such section is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(7) Exclusivity of remedies.— The Secretary may not take any adverse action against a Center, including suspending, canceling, or not renewing financial assistance or a cooperative agreement, except pursuant to an evaluation under this subsection that is other than positive.”.