II Calendar No. 169 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1396 To improve commercialization activities in the SBIR and STTR programs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 2, 2023 Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship JULY 25, 2023 Reported by Mr. CARDIN, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To improve commercialization activities in the SBIR and STTR programs, 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 ‘‘Research Advancing 4 to Market Production for Innovators Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1396 RS SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO COMMERCIALIZATION SELEC- 1 TION. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Small Business 3 Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (g)— 5 (A) in paragraph (4)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘1 6 year’’ and inserting ‘‘180 days’’; 7 (B) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘and’’ 8 at the end; 9 (C) in paragraph (17), by striking the pe- 10 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (D) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(18) with respect to peer review carried out 13 under the SBIR program, to the extent practicable, 14 include in the peer review— 15 ‘‘(A) the likelihood of commercialization in 16 addition to scientific and technical merit and 17 feasibility; and 18 ‘‘(B) not less than 1 reviewer with com- 19 mercialization expertise who is capable of as- 20 sessing the likelihood of commercialization.’’; 21 (2) in subsection (o)— 22 (A) in paragraph (4)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘1 23 year’’ and inserting ‘‘180 days’’; 24 (B) in paragraph (20), by striking ‘‘and’’ 25 at the end; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1396 RS (C) in paragraph (21), by striking the pe- 1 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2 (D) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(22) with respect to peer review carried out 4 under the STTR program, to the extent practicable, 5 include in the peer review— 6 ‘‘(A) the likelhood of commercialization in 7 addition to scientific and technical merit and 8 feasibility; and 9 ‘‘(B) not less than 1 reviewer with com- 10 mercialization expertise who is capable of as- 11 sessing the likelihood of commercialization.’’; 12 (3) in subsection (cc)— 13 (A) by striking ‘‘During fiscal years 2012 14 through 2025, the National Institutes of 15 Health, the Department of Defense, and the 16 Department of Education’’ and inserting the 17 following: 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During fiscal years 2024 19 through 2029, each Federal agency with an SBIR or 20 STTR program’’; and 21 (B) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The total value of awards 23 provided by a Federal agency under this subsection 24 in a fiscal year shall be— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1396 RS ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 1 (B), not more than 10 percent of the total 2 funds allocated to the SBIR and STTR pro- 3 grams of the Federal agency during that fiscal 4 year; and 5 ‘‘(B) with respect to the National Insti- 6 tutes of Health, not more than 15 percent of 7 the total funds allocated to the SBIR and 8 STTR programs of the National Institutes of 9 Health during that fiscal year. 10 ‘‘(3) EXTENSION.—During fiscal years 2028 11 and 2029, each Federal agency with an SBIR or 12 STTR program may continue phase flexibility as de- 13 scribed in this subsection only if the reports required 14 under subsection (tt)(1) have been submitted to the 15 appropriate committees.’’; 16 (4) in subsection (hh)(2)(A)(i), by inserting 17 ‘‘application process and requirements’’ after ‘‘sim- 18 plified and standardized’’; and 19 (5) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(yy) TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION OFFI- 21 CIAL.—Each Federal agency participating in the SBIR or 22 STTR program shall designate a Technology Commer- 23 cialization Official in the Federal agency, who shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1396 RS ‘‘(1) have sufficient commercialization experi- 1 ence; 2 ‘‘(2) provide assistance to SBIR and STTR 3 program awardees in commercializing and 4 transitioning technologies; 5 ‘‘(3) identify SBIR and STTR program tech- 6 nologies with sufficient technology and commer- 7 cialization readiness to advance to Phase III awards 8 or other non-SBIR or STTR program contracts; 9 ‘‘(4) coordinate with the Technology Commer- 10 cialization Officials of other Federal agencies to 11 identify additional markets and commercialization 12 pathways for promising SBIR and STTR program 13 technologies; 14 ‘‘(5) submit to the Administration an annual 15 report on the number of technologies from the SBIR 16 or STTR program that have advanced commer- 17 cialization activities, including information required 18 in the commercialization impact assessment under 19 subsection (aaa); 20 ‘‘(6) submit to the Administration an annual 21 report on actions taken by the Federal agency, and 22 the results of those actions, to simplify, standardize, 23 and expedite the application process and require- 24 ments, procedures, and contracts as required under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1396 RS subsection (hh) and described in subsection 1 (aaa)(1)(E); and 2 ‘‘(7) carry out such other duties as the Federal 3 agency determines necessary.’’. 4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 5 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small 6 Business Administration shall submit to the Committee on 7 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 8 the Committee on Small Business of the House of Rep- 9 resentatives summarizing the metrics relating to and an 10 evaluation of the authority provided under section 9(cc) 11 of the Small Business Act, as amended by subsection (a), 12 which shall include the size and location of the small busi- 13 ness concerns receiving awards under the SBIR or STTR 14 program. 15 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS AS- 16 SISTANCE; COMMERCIALIZATION IMPACT AS- 17 SESSMENT; PATENT ASSISTANCE. 18 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 19 as amended by section 2, is amended— 20 (1) in subsection (q)— 21 (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre- 22 ceding subparagraph (A)— 23 (i) by striking ‘‘may enter into an 24 agreement with 1 or more vendors selected 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1396 RS under paragraph (2)(A)’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘shall authorize recipients of awards under 2 the SBIR or STTR program to select, if 3 desired, commercialization activities pro- 4 vided under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) 5 of paragraph (2)’’; and 6 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, cybersecurity as- 7 sistance’’ after ‘‘intellectual property pro- 8 tections’’; 9 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 10 the following: 11 ‘‘(C) STAFF.—A small business concern 12 may, by contract or otherwise, use funding pro- 13 vided under this section to hire new staff, aug- 14 ment staff, or direct staff to conduct or partici- 15 pate in training activities consistent with the 16 goals listed in paragraph (1).’’; 17 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking subpara- 18 graphs (A) and (B) and inserting the following: 19 ‘‘(A) PHASE I.—A Federal agency de- 20 scribed in paragraph (1) shall authorize a re- 21 cipient of a Phase I SBIR or STTR award to 22 utilize not more than $6,500 per project, in- 23 cluded as part of the award of the recipient or 24 in addition to the amount of the award of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1396 RS recipient as determined appropriate by the head 1 of the Federal agency, for the services described 2 in paragraph (1)— 3 ‘‘(i) provided through a vendor se- 4 lected under paragraph (2)(A); 5 ‘‘(ii) provided through a vendor other 6 than a vendor selected under paragraph 7 (2)(A); 8 ‘‘(iii) achieved through the activities 9 described in paragraph (2)(C); or 10 ‘‘(iv) provided or achieved through 11 any combination of clauses (i), (ii), and 12 (iii). 13 ‘‘(B) PHASE II.—A Federal agency de- 14 scribed in paragraph (1) shall authorize a re- 15 cipient of a Phase II SBIR or STTR award to 16 utilize not more than $50,000 per project, in- 17 cluded as part of the award of the recipient or 18 in addition to the amount of the award of the 19 recipient as determined appropriate by the head 20 of the Federal agency, for the services described 21 in paragraph (1)— 22 ‘‘(i) provided through a vendor se- 23 lected under paragraph (2)(A); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1396 RS ‘‘(ii) provided through a vendor other 1 than a vendor selected under paragraph 2 (2)(A); 3 ‘‘(iii) achieved through the activities 4 described in paragraph (2)(C); or 5 ‘‘(iv) provided or achieved through 6 any combination of clauses (i), (ii), and 7 (iii).’’; and 8 (D) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(5) TARGETED REVIEW.—A Federal agency 10 may perform targeted reviews of technical and busi- 11 ness assistance funding as described in subsection 12 (mm)(1)(F).’’; and 13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(zz) I-CORPS PARTICIPATION.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agency that 16 is required to conduct an SBIR or STTR program 17 with an Innovation Corps (commonly known as ‘I- 18 Corps’) program shall— 19 ‘‘(A) provide an option for participation in 20 an I-Corps teams course by recipients of an 21 award under the SBIR or STTR program; and 22 ‘‘(B) authorize the recipients described in 23 subparagraph (A) to use an award provided 24 under subsection (q) to provide additional tech- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1396 RS nical assistance for participation in the I-Corps 1 teams course. 2 ‘‘(2) COST OF PARTICIPATION.—The cost of 3 participation by a recipient described in paragraph 4 (1)(A) in an I-Corps course may be provided by— 5 ‘‘(A) an I-Corps team grant; 6 ‘‘(B) funds awarded to the recipient under 7 subsection (q); 8 ‘‘(C) the participating teams or other 9 sources as appropriate; or 10 ‘‘(D) any combination of sources described 11 in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C). 12 ‘‘(aaa) COMMERCIALIZATION IMPACT ASSESS- 13 MENT.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall co- 15 ordinate with each Federal agency with an SBIR or 16 STTR program to develop an annual commercializa- 17 tion impact assessment report of the Federal agency, 18 which shall measure, for the 5-year period preceding 19 the report— 20 ‘‘(A) for Phase II contracts— 21 ‘‘(i) the total amount of sales of new 22 products and services to the Federal Gov- 23 ernment or other commercial markets; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1396 RS ‘‘(ii) the total outside investment from 1 partnerships, joint ventures, or other pri- 2 vate sector funding sources; 3 ‘‘(iii) the total number of technologies 4 licensed to other companies; 5 ‘‘(iv) the total number of acquisitions 6 of small business concerns participating in 7 the SBIR program or the STTR program 8 that are acquired by other entities; 9 ‘‘(v) the total number of new spin-out 10 companies; 11 ‘‘(vi) the total outside investment 12 from venture capital or angel investments; 13 ‘‘(vii) the total number of patent ap- 14 plications; 15 ‘‘(viii) the total number of patents ac- 16 quired; 17 ‘‘(ix) the year of first Phase I award 18 and the total number of employees at time 19 of first Phase I award; 20 ‘‘(x) the total number of employees 21 from the preceding completed year; and 22 ‘‘(xi) the percent of revenue, as of the 23 date of the report, generated through 24 SBIR or STTR program funding; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1396 RS ‘‘(B) the total number and value of subse- 1 quent Phase II awards, as described in sub- 2 section (bb), awarded for each particular 3 project or technology; 4 ‘‘(C) the total number and value of Phase 5 III awards awarded subsequent to a Phase II 6 award; 7 ‘‘(D) the total number and value of non- 8 SBIR and STTR program Federal awards and 9 contracts; and 10 ‘‘(E) actions taken by the Federal agency, 11 and the results of those actions, relating to de- 12 veloping a simplified and standardized applica- 13 tion process and requirements, procedures, and 14 model contracts throughout the Federal agency 15 for Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III SBIR pro- 16 gram awards in subsection (hh). 17 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION.—A commercialization im- 18 pact assessment report described in paragraph (1) of 19 a Federal agency shall be— 20 ‘‘(A) included in the annual report of the 21 Federal agency required under this section; and 22 ‘‘(B) published on the website of the Ad- 23 ministration. 24 ‘‘(bbb) PATENT ASSISTANCE.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1396.RS S1396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1396 RS ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Director’ means the Under 2 Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property 3 and Director of the USPTO; and 4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘USPTO’ means the United 5 States Patent and Trademark Office. 6 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 8 shall enter into an interagency agreement with 9 the Director under which the Director shall as- 10 sist recipients of an award under the SBIR or 11 STTR program (in this paragraph referred to 12 as ‘SBIR and STTR [Text truncated for display. 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