; and (2) not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Academies shall provide a briefing to relevant Committees of the House of Representatives and Senate on the progress and activities of the Standing Committee. 5. Department of Energy emerging infectious disease research program (a) In general The Secretary, in coordination with the Director of the National Science Foundation and the Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, shall carry out a research program to leverage the Federal Government’s innovative analytical tools and advanced computational and networking capabilities in order to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emerging infectious diseases, including COVID–19. The Secretary shall carry out this program through a competitive, merit-reviewed process, and consider applications from National Laboratories, institutions of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, industry partners and other appropriate entities. (b) Program components In carrying out the program established under subsection (a), Secretary shall coordinate with relevant Federal agencies to determine a comprehensive set of technical milestones for these research activities and prioritize the following objectives— (1) supporting fundamental research and development in advanced analytics and high-performance computing technologies needed to characterize, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena related to emerging infectious diseases, including COVID–19 mitigation challenges, including a focus on bioinformatics, epidemiology, and molecular modeling; (2) using expertise from the private sector and institutions of higher education, and the National Laboratories to develop computational software and capabilities that prospective users may accelerate emerging infectious diseases research and development