"No provision.

"Specifies that the Director may contract periodically with the Academies to receive advice and studies on the nation's significant national needs and opportunities in manufacturing and emerging technologies. The bill specified the responsibilities of the review panel of the Academies.

"The Conferees agree to accept the Senate proposal authorizing the Secretary of Commerce to contract with the Academies, including the Institute of Medicine, for a review of the various types of arrangements under which the private sector in the United States and the Federal Government cooperate in civilian research and technology and technology transfer. Panelists are to be drawn from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and the Academies should also draw on the expertise of its Board of Assessments for NIST. The purpose of the review is to provide the Secretary of Commerce and the Congress with objective information regarding the uses of the various types of cooperative technology arrangements currently being applied in the United States, as well as a candid assessment of which of these arrangements work well and what conditions are necessary for them to work. The Conferees note that there have been a sizable number of programs set up legislatively and administratively over the past decade and feel that there should be enough experience from the initial experiments under these programs for the Academies to reach some conclusions regarding effectiveness and to make recommendations for improvement. The Conferees feel that this study will help guide the government properly to invest in the most promising of these alternatives. The proposal supersedes studies by the Academies under the Semiconductor and Superconductor Research section of the Technology Reviews in Title XLIII of the Senate bill. The Secretary of Commerce is to seek funding for this review from other federal agencies and private industry. A report is to be submitted to the Secretary of Commerce, the President, and the Congress within eighteen months after the contracts are signed with the Academies."