Federal

FAST Fix Act of 2023

Source: Congress.gov · 1,277 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill modifies a program called the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program, which helps small businesses get research funding. The bill makes changes to how the program works and who it prioritizes. The bill is called the "FAST Fix Act of 2023."

Who It Affects

Small businesses in states that receive the fewest research grants. Recipients who get money from the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program. The Small Business Administration, which runs the program.

Key Provisions

- The bill defines "underperforming State" as a state that receives the fewest Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I awards, with the Administrator calculating which 18 states these are. (Sec. 2) - The program must prioritize applicants located in underperforming states when deciding which proposals to fund. (Sec. 2) - Award amounts cannot exceed $500,000 per award or agreement, given over 2 fiscal years, with unused money in the third quarter able to be kept by the Administrator for future awards. (Sec. 2) - The Administrator can provide additional assistance to recipients in underperforming states and waive matching money requirements for them. (Sec. 2) - Recipients must report within 6 months on the number of awards, applications, consulting hours, training events, and any problems encountered. (Sec. 2)

What Changes

The matching requirement (money recipients must put in themselves) is reduced from 50 percent and 75 percent to 25 percent and 50 percent for SBIR and STTR first phase awards. Recipients can now pay their share of costs over the award period instead of upfront. The program shifts from annual reporting to biennial reporting (every 2 years). The Administrator must make reports publicly available on the Small Business Administration website starting with fiscal year 2023. The bill removes an old limit that allowed only one proposal and allows unlimited proposals.

Important Definitions

"Underperforming State" means a state participating in the SBIR or STTR program that the Administrator determines is one of 18 states receiving the fewest SBIR and STTR Phase I awards.

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1003 To modify the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 28, 2023 Mr. RISCH (for himself, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To modify the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘FAST Fix Act of 4 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL AND STATE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP 6 PROGRAM. 7 Section 34 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 8 657d) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1003 IS (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(11) UNDERPERFORMING STATE.—The term 3 ‘underperforming State’ means a State participating 4 in the SBIR or STTR program that has been cal- 5 culated by the Administrator to be one of 18 States 6 receiving the fewest SBIR and STTR Phase I 7 awards.’’; 8 (2) in subsection (c)— 9 (A) in paragraph (1)— 10 (i) in subparagraph (E)— 11 (I) in clause (iii), by striking 12 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 13 (II) in clause (iv), by striking the 14 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 15 and’’; and 16 (III) by adding at the end the 17 following: 18 ‘‘(v) to prioritize applicants located in 19 an underperforming State.’’; 20 (B) in paragraph (2)(B)(vi)— 21 (i) in subclause (II), by striking 22 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 23 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1003 IS ‘‘(IV) located in an underper- 1 forming State; and’’; 2 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Not 3 more than one proposal’’ and inserting ‘‘There 4 is no limit on the number of proposals that’’; 5 and 6 (D) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR UNDERPER- 8 FORMING STATES.—Upon application by a recipient 9 that is located in an underperforming State, the Ad- 10 ministrator may— 11 ‘‘(A) provide additional assistance to the 12 recipient; and 13 ‘‘(B) waive the matching requirements 14 under subsection (e)(2).’’; 15 (3) in subsection (e)— 16 (A) in paragraph (2)— 17 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 18 (I) by inserting ‘‘and STTR’’ be- 19 fore ‘‘first phase’’ each place that 20 term appears; 21 (II) in clause (i), by striking 22 ‘‘50’’ and inserting ‘‘25’’; and 23 (III) in clause (iii), by striking 24 ‘‘75’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1003 IS (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 1 ‘‘, beginning with fiscal year 2001’’ and in- 2 serting ‘‘and make publicly available on the 3 website of the Administration, beginning 4 with fiscal year 2023’’; and 5 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(E) PAYMENT.—The non-Federal share 8 of the cost of an activity carried out by a recipi- 9 ent may be paid by the recipient over the course 10 of the period of the award or cooperative agree- 11 ment.’’; and 12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(4) AMOUNT OF AWARD.—In carrying out the 14 FAST program under this section— 15 ‘‘(A) the Administrator shall make and 16 enter into awards or cooperative agreements; 17 ‘‘(B) each award or cooperative agreement 18 described in subparagraph (A) shall be for not 19 more than $500,000, which shall be provided 20 over 2 fiscal years; and 21 ‘‘(C) any amounts left unused in the third 22 quarter of the second fiscal year may be re- 23 tained by the Administrator for future FAST 24 program awards. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1003 IS ‘‘(5) REPORTING.—Not later than 6 months 1 after receiving an award or entering into a coopera- 2 tive agreement under this section, a recipient shall 3 report to the Administrator— 4 ‘‘(A) the number of awards made under 5 the SBIR or STTR program; 6 ‘‘(B) the number of applications submitted 7 for the SBIR or STTR program; 8 ‘‘(C) the number of consulting hours spent; 9 ‘‘(D) the number of training events con- 10 ducted; and 11 ‘‘(E) any issues encountered in the man- 12 agement and application of the FAST pro- 13 gram.’’; 14 (4) in subsection (f)— 15 (A) in paragraph (1)— 16 (i) in the matter preceding subpara- 17 graph (A)— 18 (I) by striking ‘‘Small Business 19 Innovation Research Program Reau- 20 thorization Act of 2000’’ and insert- 21 ing ‘‘FAST Fix Act of 2023’’; and 22 (II) by inserting ‘‘and Entrepre- 23 neurship’’ before ‘‘of the Senate’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1003 IS (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 2 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 3 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 4 and’’; and 5 (iv) by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(D) a description of the process used to 8 ensure that underperforming States are given 9 priority application status under the FAST pro- 10 gram.’’; and 11 (B) in paragraph (2)— 12 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 13 ing ‘‘ANNUAL’’ and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL’’; 14 (ii) in the matter preceding subpara- 15 graph (A), by striking ‘‘an annual’’ and in- 16 serting ‘‘a biennial’’; 17 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19 (iv) in subparagraph (C), by striking 20 the period at the end and inserting a semi- 21 colon; and 22 (v) by adding at the end the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1003 IS ‘‘(D) the proportion of awards provided to 1 and cooperative agreements entered into with 2 underperforming States; and 3 ‘‘(E) a list of the States that were deter- 4 mined by the Administrator to be underper- 5 forming States, and a description of any 6 changes in the list compared to previously sub- 7 mitted reports.’’; 8 (5) in subsection (g)(2)— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘2004’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘2023’’; and 11 (B) by inserting ‘‘and Entrepreneurship’’ 12 before ‘‘of the Senate’’; and 13 (6) in subsection (h)(1), by striking 14 ‘‘$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 15 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,000,000 for every 2 fiscal 16 years between fiscal years 2023 through 2027, to be 17 obligated before the end of the second fiscal year’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1003.IS S1003 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

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