The Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership is a federal program that helps small and mid-sized manufacturers improve their operations and competitiveness. This bill tightens oversight and administration of the program by requiring the National Institute of Standards and Technology to use cooperative agreements with manufacturing centers, expanding evaluations to include financial management and fraud monitoring, and setting clearer timelines for addressing performance problems. If a manufacturing center fails to improve during a probation period, the bill requires the Secretary to start searching for a new operator within 30 days and complete the selection process within 120 days, while ensuring remaining federal funds transfer to the new operator. The legislation also prevents the government from taking adverse actions against centers except through formal evaluations showing poor performance. The bill was introduced in July 2026 and referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.