(a) Award amount
The minimum amount of an award under the Major Research Instrumentation program shall be $100,000. The maximum amount of an award under the program shall be $4,000,000 except if the total amount appropriated for the program for a fiscal year exceeds $125,000,000, in which case the maximum amount of an award shall be $6,000,000.

(b) Use of funds
In addition to the acquisition of instrumentation and equipment, funds made available by awards under the Major Research Instrumentation program may be used to support the operations and maintenance of such instrumentation and equipment.

(c) Cost sharing

(1) In general
An institution of higher education receiving an award under the Major Research Instrumentation program shall provide at least 30 percent of the cost from private or non-Federal sources.

(2) Exceptions
Institutions of higher education that are not Ph.D.-granting institutions are exempt from the cost sharing requirement in paragraph (1), and the Director may reduce or waive the cost sharing requirement for—

(A) institutions—

(i) that are not ranked among the top 100 institutions receiving Federal research and development funding, as documented by the statistical data published by the Foundation; and

(ii) for which the proposed project will make a substantial improvement in the institution's capabilities to conduct leading edge research, to provide research experiences for undergraduate students using leading edge facilities, and to broaden the participation in science and engineering research by individuals identified in section 1885a or 1885b of this title; and

(B) consortia of institutions of higher education that include at least one institution that is not a Ph.D.-granting institution.