2014-29410. Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993; National Shipbuilding Research Program

Notice is hereby given that, on November 5, 2014, pursuant to Section 6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (“the Act”), National Shipbuilding Research Program (“NSRP”) has filed written notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission disclosing changes in its membership. The notifications were filed for the purpose of extending the Act's provisions limiting the recovery of antitrust plaintiffs to actual damages under specified circumstances. Specifically, Huntington Ingalls Incorporated's, Avondale, LA, shipyard has withdrawn as a party to this venture.

In addition, the nature and objective of the venture has been revised to establish collaborative research efforts of limited duration to manage and focus national shipbuilding and ship repair research and development funding on technologies and processes that will reduce the total ownership cost of ships for the U.S. Navy, other national security customers and the commercial sectors and develop and leverage best commercial and naval practices to improve efficiency of the U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair industry. The venture also provides a collaborative framework to improve shipbuilding-related technical and business processes.

No other changes have been made in either the membership or planned activity of the group research project. Membership in this group research project remains open, and NSRP intends to file additional written notifications disclosing all changes in membership.

On March 13, 1998, NSRP filed its original notification pursuant to Section 6(a) of the Act. The Department of Justice published a notice in the Federal Register pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Act on January 29, 1999 (64 FR 4708).

The last notification was filed with the Department on December 20, 2011. A notice was published in the Federal Register pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Act on January 20, 2012 (77 FR 3007).

Patricia A. Brink,

Director of Civil Enforcement, Antitrust Division.