Harnessing Opportunity to Maximize Expansion, Capture, and Organization of Minority Innovation in the Next Generation of Research Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3175 To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Defense to expand the research capability of historically Black colleges and univer- sities and other minority institutions. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 10, 2019 Mr. BROWN of Maryland (for himself, Mr. TURNER, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. ADAMS, and Ms. HAALAND) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the Sec- retary of Defense to expand the research capability of historically Black colleges and universities and other mi- nority institutions. 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harnessing Oppor- 4 tunity to Maximize Expansion, Capture, and Organization 5 of Minority Innovation in the Next Generation of Research 6 Act of 2019’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:43 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3175 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION ON DEFENSE 1 RESEARCH AT HISTORICALLY BLACK COL- 2 LEGES AND UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER MI- 3 NORITY INSTITUTIONS. 4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 6 executive branch an independent Commission to re- 7 view the state of defense research at covered institu- 8 tions. 9 (2) TREATMENT.—The Commission shall be 10 considered an independent establishment of the Fed- 11 eral Government as defined by section 104 of title 12 5, United States Code, and a temporary organiza- 13 tion under section 3161 of such title. 14 (3) DESIGNATION.—The Commission estab- 15 lished under paragraph (1) shall be known as the 16 ‘‘National Security Commission on Defense Re- 17 search At Historically Black Colleges and Univer- 18 sities and Other Minority Institutions’’. 19 (4) MEMBERSHIP.— 20 (A) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall 21 be composed of 11 members appointed as fol- 22 lows: 23 (i) The Secretary of Defense shall ap- 24 point 2 members. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3175 IH (ii) The Secretary of Education shall 1 appoint 1 member. 2 (iii) The Chairman of the Committee 3 on Armed Services of the Senate shall ap- 4 point 1 member. 5 (iv) The Ranking Member of the 6 Committee on Armed Services of the Sen- 7 ate shall appoint 1 member. 8 (v) The Chairman of the Committee 9 on Armed Services of the House of Rep- 10 resentatives shall appoint 1 member. 11 (vi) The Ranking Member of the 12 Committee on Armed Services of the 13 House of Representatives shall appoint 1 14 member. 15 (vii) The Chairman of the Committee 16 on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen- 17 sions of the Senate shall appoint 1 mem- 18 ber. 19 (viii) The Ranking Member of the 20 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 21 and Pensions of the Senate shall appoint 1 22 member. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3175 IH (ix) The Chairman of the Committee 1 on Education and Labor of the House of 2 Representatives shall appoint 1 member. 3 (x) The Ranking Member of the Com- 4 mittee on Education and Labor of the 5 House of Representatives shall appoint 1 6 member. 7 (B) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Mem- 8 bers shall be appointed to the Commission 9 under subparagraph (A) not later than 90 days 10 after the date on which the commission is es- 11 tablished. 12 (C) EFFECT OF LACK OF APPOINTMENT 13 BY APPOINTMENT DATE.—If one or more ap- 14 pointments under subparagraph (A) is not 15 made by the appointment date specified in sub- 16 paragraph (B), or if a position described in sub- 17 paragraph (A) is vacant for more than 90 days, 18 the authority to make such appointment shall 19 transfer to the Chair of the Commission. 20 (5) CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.—The Commission 21 shall elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its 22 members. 23 (6) TERMS.—Members shall be appointed for 24 the life of the Commission. A vacancy in the Com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3175 IH mission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled 1 in the same manner as the original appointment was 2 made. 3 (7) STATUS AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—Not- 4 withstanding the requirements of section 2105 of 5 title 5, United States Code, including the required 6 supervision under subsection (a)(3) of such section, 7 the members of the Commission shall be deemed to 8 be Federal employees. 9 (b) DUTIES.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall carry 11 out the review described in paragraph (2). In car- 12 rying out such review, the Commission shall consider 13 the methods and means necessary to advance re- 14 search capacity at covered institutions to comprehen- 15 sively address the national security and defense 16 needs of the United States. 17 (2) SCOPE OF THE REVIEW.—In conducting the 18 review under paragraph (1), the Commission shall 19 consider the following: 20 (A) The competitiveness of covered institu- 21 tions in developing, pursuing, capturing, and 22 executing defense research with the Department 23 of Defense through contracts and grants. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3175 IH (B) Means and methods for advancing the 1 capacity of covered institutions to conduct re- 2 search related to national security and defense. 3 (C) The advancements and investments 4 necessary to elevate 25 covered institutions to 5 R2 status on the Carnegie Classification of In- 6 stitutions of Higher Education, 15 covered in- 7 stitutions to R1 status on the Carnegie Classi- 8 fication of Institutions of Higher Education, 9 and one covered institution or a consortium of 10 multiple covered institutions to the capability of 11 a University Affiliated Research Center. 12 (D) The facilities and infrastructure for 13 defense-related research at covered institutions 14 as compared to the facilities and infrastructure 15 at universities classified as R1 status on the 16 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher 17 Education. 18 (E) Incentives to attract, recruit, and re- 19 tain leading research faculty to covered institu- 20 tions. 21 (F) The legal and organizational structure 22 of the contracting entity of covered institutions 23 as compared to the legal and organizational 24 structure of the contracting entity of covered 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3175 IH institutions at universities classified as R1 sta- 1 tus on the Carnegie Classification of Institu- 2 tions of Higher Education. 3 (G) The ability of covered institutions to 4 develop, protect, and commercialize intellectual 5 property created through defense-related re- 6 search. 7 (H) The amount of defense research fund- 8 ing awarded to all colleges and universities 9 through contracts and grants for the fiscal 10 years of 2010 through 2019, including— 11 (i) the legal mechanism under which 12 the organization was formed; 13 (ii) the total value of contracts and 14 grants awarded to the organization during 15 fiscal years 2010 to 2019; 16 (iii) the overhead rate of the organiza- 17 tion for fiscal year 2019; 18 (iv) the Carnegie Classification of In- 19 stitutions of Higher Education of the asso- 20 ciated university or college; and 21 (v) if the associated university or col- 22 lege qualifies as a historically Black college 23 or university, a minority institution, or a 24 minority institution. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3175 IH (I) Areas for improvement in the programs 1 executed under section 2362 of title 10, United 2 States Code, the existing authorization to en- 3 hance defense-related research and education at 4 covered institutions. 5 (J) Previous executive or legislative actions 6 by the Federal Government to address the im- 7 balance in federal research funding, such as the 8 Established Program to Stimulate Competitive 9 Research (commonly known as ‘‘EPSCoR’’). 10 (K) Any other matters the Commission 11 deems relevant to the advancing the defense re- 12 search capacity of covered institutions. 13 (c) REPORTS.— 14 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 16 Commission shall submit to the President and Con- 17 gress an initial report on the findings of the Com- 18 mission and such recommendations that the Com- 19 mission may have for action by the executive branch 20 and Congress related to the covered institutions par- 21 ticipating in Department of Defense research and 22 actions necessary to expand their research capacity. 23 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Prior to the date on which 24 the commission terminates under subsection (e), the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3175 IH Commission shall submit to the President and Con- 1 gress a comprehensive report on the results of the 2 review required under subsection (b). 3 (3) FORM OF REPORTS.—Reports submitted 4 under this subsection shall be made publicly avail- 5 able. 6 (d) FUNDING.—Of the amounts authorized to be ap- 7 propriated by this Act for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 for 8 the Department of Defense, not more than $5,000,000 9 each year shall be made available to the Commission to 10 carry out its duties under this Act. Funds made available 11 to the Commission under the preceding sentence shall re- 12 main available until expended. 13 (e) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 14 on December 31, 2021. 15 (f) COVERED INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this sec- 16 tion, the term ‘‘covered institution’’ means— 17 (1) a part B institution (as that term is defined 18 in section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 19 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)); or 20 (2) any other institution of higher education (as 21 that term is defined in section 101 of such Act (20 22 U.S.C. 1001)) at which not less than 50 percent of 23 the total student enrollment consists of students 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:43 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3175 IH from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the 1 fields of science and engineering. 2 SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF SUBCONTRACTING TO MINOR- 3 ITY INSTITUTIONS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 141 of title 10, United 5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing new section: 7 ‘‘§ 2410t. Consideration of subcontracting to minority 8 institutions 9 ‘‘(a) CONSIDERATION OF SUBCONTRACTING TO MI- 10 NORITY INSTITUTIONS.—The Secretary of Defense shall 11 revise the Department of Defense Supplement to the Fed- 12 eral Acquisition Regulation to require that the system 13 used by the Federal Government to monitor or record con- 14 tractor past performance for a grant or contract awarded 15 to an institution of higher education includes incentives 16 for the award of a subgrant or subcontract to minority 17 institutions. 18 ‘‘(b) MINORITY INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this sec- 19 tion, the term ‘minority institution’ means— 20 ‘‘(1) a part B institution (as that term is de- 21 fined in section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act 22 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)); or 23 ‘‘(2) any other institution of higher education 24 (as that term is defined in section 101 of such Act 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3175 IH (20 U.S.C. 1001)) at which not less than 50 percent 1 of the total student enrollment consists of students 2 from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the 3 fields of science and engineering.’’. 4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 5 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 6 at the end the following new item: 7 ‘‘2410t. Consideration of subcontracting to minority institutions.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS