Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Improvements Act of 2021.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4033 To amend the Small Business Act to improve the Small Business Innovation Research program and Small Business Technology Transfer program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 22, 2021 Mr. BAIRD (for himself and Ms. STEVENS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Small Business Act to improve the Small Business Innovation Research program and Small Busi- ness Technology Transfer program, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business 5 Technology Transfer Improvements Act of 2021.’’ 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4033 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Requiring insertion incentives. Sec. 3. Additional SBIR and STTR technology insertion reporting requirement. Sec. 4. Encouraging innovation in United States manufacturing. Sec. 5. Encouraging innovation in cybersecurity. Sec. 6. Compliance of Phase III awards with competitive procedures. Sec. 7. Increased outreach requirements. Sec. 8. Annual meeting. Sec. 9. Establishing the Civilian Agency Commercialization Readiness Program. Sec. 10. Phase 0 Proof of Concept Partnership Program. Sec. 11. Reporting requirements. Sec. 12. SBIR phase flexibility. Sec. 13. Amendments to administrative fee assistance. Sec. 14. Amendments to technical and business assistance. Sec. 15. Extension of commercialization extension pilot. Sec. 16. Short-form application. SEC. 2. REQUIRING INSERTION INCENTIVES. 3 Section 9(y)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 4 638(y)(5)) is amended by striking ‘‘is authorized to’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘shall’’. 6 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL SBIR AND STTR TECHNOLOGY INSER- 7 TION REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 8 Section 9(y)(6) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 9 638(y)(6)) is amended— 10 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 11 the end; 12 (2) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by striking the pe- 13 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 14 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 15 paragraph: 16 ‘‘(D) not later than 120 days after the 17 date of the enactment of this subparagraph, 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:01 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4033 IH and not later than December 31 of each year 1 thereafter, submit to the Committee on Science, 2 Space, and Technology and the Committee on 3 Small Business of the House of Representa- 4 tives, and to the Committee on Small Business 5 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, a report 6 describing the goals set under subparagraph 7 (A) and the incentives used or created under 8 subparagraph (B).’’. 9 SEC. 4. ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN UNITED STATES 10 MANUFACTURING. 11 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) 12 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 13 section: 14 ‘‘(vv) ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN UNITED 15 STATES MANUFACTURING.—In carrying out this section, 16 the Administrator shall— 17 ‘‘(1) ensure that, in selecting small business 18 concerns to participate in SBIR or STTR programs 19 under this section, Federal agencies give high pri- 20 ority to small manufacturing companies and other 21 small business concerns engaged in or planning to 22 engage in manufacturing research and development 23 for the purpose of developing and producing new 24 products and technologies in the United States; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4033 IH ‘‘(2) include in the annual report to Congress 1 under subsection (b)(7) a determination of whether 2 the priority described in paragraph (1) is being car- 3 ried out.’’. 4 SEC. 5. ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN CYBERSECURITY. 5 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 6 as amended by section 4, is further amended by adding 7 at the end the following new subsection: 8 ‘‘(ww) ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN CYBERSECU- 9 RITY.—In carrying out this section, the Administrator 10 shall— 11 ‘‘(1) ensure that, in selecting small business 12 concerns to participate in SBIR or STTR programs 13 under this section, Federal agencies engaged in cy- 14 bersecurity research give high priority to small busi- 15 ness concerns that are engaged in cybersecurity re- 16 search and development, for the purpose of devel- 17 oping and implementing technology services and 18 products to strengthen the security of United States 19 Government and private computer systems, includ- 20 ing software, hardware, and portable devices; and 21 ‘‘(2) include in the annual report to Congress 22 under subsection (b)(7) a determination of whether 23 the priority described in paragraph (1) is being car- 24 ried out.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4033 IH SEC. 6. COMPLIANCE OF PHASE III AWARDS WITH COM- 1 PETITIVE PROCEDURES. 2 Section 9(r)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 3 638(r)(4)) is amended by inserting as ‘‘direct follow-on 4 awards issued without further competition’’ after ‘‘devel- 5 oped the technology’’. 6 SEC. 7. INCREASED OUTREACH REQUIREMENTS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 8 (1) SBIR AMENDMENT.—Section 9(j) of the 9 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(j)), as amended 10 by section 8, is further amended by adding at the 11 end the following new paragraph: 12 ‘‘(5) INCREASED OUTREACH REQUIREMENTS.— 13 Upon the enactment of this paragraph, the Adminis- 14 trator shall modify the policy directives issued pur- 15 suant to this subsection to require outreach efforts 16 to increase the participation in technological innova- 17 tion under the SBIR programs among individuals 18 conducting research at minority institutions (as de- 19 fined in section 365(3) of the Higher Education Act 20 of 1965) and Hispanic-serving institutions (as de- 21 fined in section 502(a)(5) of such Act).’’. 22 (2) STTR AMENDMENT.—Section 9(p)(2) of 23 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(p)(2)), as 24 amended by section 8, is further amended by adding 25 at the end the following new subparagraph: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4033 IH ‘‘(H) procedures for outreach efforts to in- 1 crease the participation in technological innova- 2 tion under the SBIR programs among individ- 3 uals conducting research at minority institu- 4 tions (as defined in section 365(3) of the High- 5 er Education Act of 1965) and Hispanic-serving 6 institutions (as defined in section 502(a)(5) of 7 such Act).’’. 8 (b) FUNDING FOR OUTREACH.—Section 9(mm)(1) of 9 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(mm)(1)) is 10 amended— 11 (1) in subparagraph (J), by striking the ‘‘and’’ 12 at the end; 13 (2) in subparagraph (K), by striking the period 14 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 15 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 16 paragraph: 17 ‘‘(L) the outreach efforts described under 18 subsections (j)(4) and (p)(2)(G); and’’. 19 SEC. 8. ANNUAL MEETING. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Small Business 21 Act (15 U.S.C. 638), as amended by section 5, is further 22 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 23 section: 24 ‘‘(xx) ANNUAL MEETING.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4033 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each Federal 1 agency required to have a program under this sec- 2 tion (or a designee) and the Administrator (or a des- 3 ignee) shall meet annually to discuss methods— 4 ‘‘(A) to improve the collection of data 5 under this section; 6 ‘‘(B) to improve the reporting of data to 7 the Administrator under this section; 8 ‘‘(C) to make the application processes for 9 programs under this section more efficient; and 10 ‘‘(D) to increase participation in the pro- 11 grams established under this section. 12 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after 13 the date on which an annual meeting required under 14 paragraph (1) is held, the Administrator shall sub- 15 mit to the Committee on Small Business and Entre- 16 preneurship of the Senate and the Committee on 17 Small Business and the Committee on Science, 18 Space, and Technology of the House of Representa- 19 tives, a report on the findings of such meeting and 20 recommendations on how to implement changes to 21 programs under this section.’’. 22 (b) FUNDING FOR ANNUAL MEETING.—Section 23 9(mm)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4033 IH 638(mm)(1)) as amended by section 9, is further amended 1 by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: 2 ‘‘(M) the annual meeting required under 3 subsection (xx).’’. 4 SEC. 9. ESTABLISHING THE CIVILIAN AGENCY COMMER- 5 CIALIZATION READINESS PROGRAM. 6 Section 9(gg) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 7 638(gg)) is amended— 8 (1) by amending the subsection heading to read 9 as follows: ‘‘CIVILIAN AGENCY COMMERCIALIZATION 10 READINESS PROGRAM’’; 11 (2) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘to establish 12 a Civilian Agency Commercialization Readiness Pro- 13 gram for civilian agencies’’ after ‘‘the covered Fed- 14 eral agency’’; 15 (3) in paragraph (2)(A)— 16 (A) by striking ‘‘establish a pilot program’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘establish a Civilian Agency Com- 18 mercialization Readiness Program under this 19 subsection’’; and 20 (B) by striking ‘‘the pilot program’’ and 21 inserting ‘‘such Civilian Agency Commercializa- 22 tion Readiness Program’’; 23 (4) in paragraphs (3) and (4), by striking ‘‘a 24 pilot program’’ each place such term appears and in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4033 IH serting ‘‘a Civilian Agency Commercialization Readi- 1 ness Program’’; 2 (5) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘the pilot pro- 3 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘a Civilian Agency Commer- 4 cialization Readiness Program’’; 5 (6) by striking paragraph (7) and redesignating 6 paragraph (8) as paragraph (7); and 7 (7) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated), by 8 amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows: 9 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Civilian Agency Commer- 10 cialization Readiness Program’ means each pro- 11 gram established under paragraph (1).’’. 12 SEC. 10. PHASE 0 PROOF OF CONCEPT PARTNERSHIP PRO- 13 GRAM. 14 Section 9(jj) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 15 638(jj) is amended— 16 (1) in the subsection heading, strike ‘‘PILOT’’; 17 (2) in paragraph (1)— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘The Director of the Na- 19 tional Institutes of Health’’ and inserting 20 ‘‘Each covered agency head’’; 21 (B) by striking ‘‘pilot’’; and 22 (C) by striking ‘‘the Director’’ and insert- 23 ing ‘‘each covered agency head’’; 24 (3) in paragraph (2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:18 Jul 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 4033 IH (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘in 1 the National Institutes of Health’s STTR pro- 2 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘in the STTR program of 3 any agency described in section (n)’’; and 4 (B) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(D) the term ‘covered agency head’ 6 means the Director of the National Institutes of 7 Health, the Director of the National Science 8 Foundation, the Administrator of the National 9 Aeronautics and Space Administration and the 10 Secretary of Energy; 11 ‘‘(E) the term ‘Phase 0 program’ refers to 12 the Proof of Concept Partnerships program; 13 and 14 ‘‘(F) the terms ‘qualifying institution’ and 15 ‘institution’ means a university or other re- 16 search institution that participates in the STTR 17 program of the National Institutes of Health, 18 National Science Foundation, National Aero- 19 nautics and Atmospheric Administration, De- 20 partment of Energy, or Department of De- 21 fense.’’; 22 (4) in paragraph (3) by adding ‘‘entrepreneurial 23 training’’ after ‘‘market research’’; 24 (5) in paragraph (4)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:18 Jul 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 4033 IH (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘The 1 Director’’ and inserting ‘‘Each covered agency 2 head’’; and 3 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘In 4 determining’’ and all that follows through 5 ‘‘qualifying institutions—’’ and inserting the 6 following: ‘‘In determining which qualifying in- 7 stitutions receive Phase 0 Program grants, each 8 covered agency head shall consider, in addition 9 to any other criteria such covered agency head 10 determines necessary, the extent to which the 11 qualifying institutions—’’; 12 (6) in paragraph (6), in the matter preceding 13 (A), by striking ‘‘The Director’’ and inserting ‘‘Each 14 covered agency head’’ and by striking ‘‘pilot pro- 15 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘Phase 0 program’’; and 16 (7) by striking paragraph (7). 17 SEC. 11. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 18 (a) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Section 19 9(b)(7) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(b)(7)) 20 is amended by striking ‘‘to report not less than annually’’ 21 and inserting ‘‘to submit a report not later than December 22 31 of each year’’. 23 (b) ANNUAL REPORT TO SBA AND THE OFFICE OF 24 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY.—Section 9(g)(9) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:18 Jul 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4033.IH H4033 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 4033 IH the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)(9)) is amend- 1 ed— 2 (1) by striking ‘‘make an annual report’’ and 3 inserting ‘‘not later than March 30 of each year, 4 submit a report’’; and 5 (2) by striking ‘‘and the Office of Science and 6 Technology Policy’’ and insert [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]