National Institute of Standards and Technology – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is requesting comments on a proposed process to solicit, evaluate, and standardize one or more lightweight cryptographic algorithms. Current NIST cryptographic standards were designed to perform well on general- purpose computing platforms, and may not be suitable for some constrained computing environments. The draft requirements and evaluation criteria are available on the NIST Computer Security Resource Center website: https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/Lightweight- Cryptography.

The Federal government invests approximately $150 billion annually \1\ in research and development (R&D). For the results of this investment to produce economic gain and maintain a strong national security innovation base, the results must be transferred to private companies to create new products and services. In order to advance the President's Management Agenda to modernize government for the 21st century, including the associated Lab-to-Market cross-agency priority (CAP) Goal in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is initiating an effort to refocus Federal technology transfer on sound business principles based on private investment. NIST requests information from the public regarding the current state of Federal technology transfer and the public's ability to engage with Federal laboratories and access federally funded R&D through collaborations, licensing, and other mechanisms. Responses to this RFI will inform NIST's evaluation of Federal technology transfer practices, policies, regulations, and/or laws that promote the transfer of Federal technologies and the practical application of those technologies, including through commercialization by the private sector. NIST will hold public meetings regarding the initiative and the stakeholder engagement process at the times and locations indicated below.

This final rule reduces regulatory burdens by clarifying electronic reporting, updating certain sections to conform with changes in the patent laws, and streamlining the licensing application process for some Federal laboratory collaborators, makes technical corrections, clarifies the role of provisional patent application filing, explains a unique situation that may be appropriate for a Determination of Exceptional Circumstances, clarifies the role of funding agencies in the Bayh-Dole process, and addresses subject inventions as to which a Federal laboratory employee is a co-inventor.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Advisory Committee (SGAC or Committee) will meet in open session on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time and Wednesday, April 25, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. The primary purposes of this meeting are to provide updates on NIST Smart Grid activities and the intersections with Cyber-Physical Systems program activities, and discuss development and stakeholder engagement for the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 4.0. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the Smart Grid website at https://www.nist.gov/smartgrid.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Thursday, March 15, 2018 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, and Friday, March 16, 2018 from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.

The Chief of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) may terminate a specific Laboratory Accreditation Program (LAP) when it is determined that a need no longer exists to accredit laboratories for the services covered under the scope of the LAP. The Chemical Calibration: Certifiers of Spectrophotometric NIST Traceable Reference Materials (NTRMs) Program is comprised of laboratories that design, prepare, characterize, certify and distribute NTRM filter reference materials. Based on a lack of participation, the Chief of NVLAP has preliminarily determined that a need no longer exists to accredit laboratories for the services covered under the scope of this program and is proposing termination of the LAP. NIST is requesting written comment on the proposed termination.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce is establishing the Genome Editing Consortium with the goal of bringing together stakeholders across the genome editing community to identify and address measurement and standards needs to support this technical area. The Consortium intends to evaluate genome editing assay pipelines, develop benchmark materials, generate benchmark data, develop suggested minimal information reporting for public studies, and generate a common lexicon for genome editing studies, with the intent these resources can be used to increase confidence in evaluating genome editing and lower the risk to utilizing these technologies in research and commercial products. Participation fees will be at least $20,000 annually or in- kind contributions of equivalent value. Participants will be required to sign a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA).

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requests comments on the draft Special Publication (SP) 2000-02 Conformity Assessment Considerations for Federal Agencies (Considerations) document. The draft Considerations document is posted on the NIST website at: https://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/special- publications-conformity-assessment.

The Interim Meeting of the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) will be held in St. Pete Beach, Florida, from Sunday, January 21, 2018, through Wednesday, January 24, 2018. This notice contains information about significant items on the NCWM Committee agendas but does not include all agenda items. As a result, the items are not consecutively numbered.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the Mitigating IoT-Based DDoS Building Block. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the Mitigating IoT-Based DDoS Building Block. Participation in the building block is open to all interested organizations.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, is establishing the Accurate Fluorescence Measurements Consortium and invites organizations to participate in this Consortium. The Consortium will develop tools for improving the accuracy of quantitative fluorescence measurements including reference materials, reference data and reference methods for relative spectral correction of spectra, lifetimes and quantum yields and for assessing the associated uncertainties and utilities. Participation in this Consortium is open to all eligible organizations, as described below.

The Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction (ACEHR or Committee), will meet on Monday, March 12, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and Tuesday, March 13, 2018, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to review the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) agency updates on their latest activities and receive the NEHRP agency responses to the Committee's 2017 Report on the Effectiveness of the NEHRP. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda and any meeting materials will be posted on the NEHRP Web site at https://nehrp.gov/.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Judges Panel) will meet in closed session Sunday, November 5, 2017 through Thursday, November 9, 2017 from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time each day. The purpose of this meeting is to review recommendations from site visits, and recommend 2017 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients. The meeting is closed to the public in order to protect the proprietary data to be examined and discussed at the meeting.

The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will meet Monday, October 23, 2017 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time and Tuesday, October 24, 2017 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The VCAT is composed of not fewer than 9 members appointed by the NIST Director, a majority of whom are eminent in such fields as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations.

The National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction (NACWIR or Committee), will hold an open meeting continuing the work of the Committee via video conference on Monday, September 25, 2017, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of the meeting will be to finalize the Committee's report on assessments and recommendations on the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. Interested members of the public will also be able to participate from remote locations. Instructions will be provided when members of the public register.

The National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) will meet in person and via teleconference on Thursday, September 28, 2017 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to update the Committee on the progress of the implementation of the recommendations made as a result of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Joplin tornado investigation, provide the Committee an overview of ongoing work focused on enhancing the readiness and effectiveness of future National Construction Safety Teams in the field, and provide NIST's response to the Committee's 2016 Annual Report and recommendations. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the NIST Web site at https://www.nist.gov/topics/ disaster-failure-studies/national-construction-safety-team-nc st/ advisory-committee.

The NIST Cloud Computing Program (NCCP) announces the reconstitution of its Federated Cloud Public Working Group. The Working Group's activities will resume and initiate work to develop a vocabulary of terms to support federated cloud and federated cloud environments, as well as a conceptual architecture for federated cloud. Participation in the Working Group is open to all interested parties.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Advisory Board will hold an open meeting on September 27, 2017.

Executive Order 13800, ``Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure'' (the ``Executive Order''), directs the Secretary of Commerce, in conjunction with the Secretary of Homeland Security, and in consultation with other Federal Departments and Agencies, to assess the scope and sufficiency of efforts to educate and train the American cybersecurity workforce of the future, including cybersecurity-related education curricula, training, and apprenticeship programs, from primary through higher education; and provide a report to the President with findings and recommendations regarding how to support the growth and sustainment of the Nation's cybersecurity workforce in both the public and private sectors. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking information on the scope and sufficiency of efforts to educate and train the Nation's cybersecurity workforce and recommendations for ways to support and improve that workforce in both the public and private sectors. Responses to this RFIwhich will be posted at https://nist.gov/ nice/cybersecurityworkforcewill inform the assessment and report of the Secretaries of Commerce and Homeland Security to the President.