Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§18952 Standards Development Organization Grants

Title 42 › CHAPTER 163 — RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, COMPETITION, AND INNOVATION › SUBCHAPTER II — NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE › Part B — General Activities › § 18952

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a competitive grant program run by the Secretary of Commerce through the Director to fund certain nongovernmental standards groups. Grants must be used to create, approve, share, keep up, and review voluntary forensic science standards and best practices, and those documents must be free to the public. A qualifying group is one defined in OMB Circular A‑119 §2(e) that follows ANSI due‑process rules. The Director may issue rules to run the program. Congress authorized $2,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §18952

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Nongovernmental standards development organization defined

In this section, the term “nongovernmental standards development organization” means a nongovernmental standards development organization (as defined in section 2(e) of the Office of Management and Budget Circular A–119 (relating to Federal participation in the development and use of voluntary consensus standards in conformity assessment activities), or any successor document) that adheres to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Essential Requirements for Due Process for American National Standards.

(b)Grant authority

The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director, shall establish a competitive program of grants for nongovernmental standards development organizations for the purposes described in subsection (c).

(c)Purposes

A grant awarded under subsection (b) shall be used to develop, approve, disseminate, maintain, and review forensic science voluntary consensus standards and best practices that shall be available to the public free of charge.

(d)Additional requirements

The Director may promulgate such requirements, guidelines, and procedures as may be necessary to carry out this section.

(e)Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 18952

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110