ARPA–E Act of 2018

Summary: ARPA-E Act of 2018 This bill amends the America COMPETES Act to require the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) in the Department of Energy (DOE) to overcome the long-term and high-risk technological barriers in the development of transformative science and technology solutions to address energy, environmental, economic, and national security challenges. (Currently, ARPA-E must overcome barriers in the development of energy technologies.) The bill expands the goals of ARPA-E to include the development of energy technologies that:   provide transformative solutions to improve management of radioactive waste,  improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of energy production, and address other challenges within the mission of DOE.    The bill expands the responsibility of ARPA-E to accelerate novel early-stage research to include nonenergy research. ARPA-E must:   include a strategic vision roadmap in each annual report on energy technology projects or advanced technology projects, and   ensure that it does not fund an advanced technology project unless the prospective grantee has demonstrated that it has sufficiently attempted to secure private financing or that such project is not independently commercially viable.   Specified categories of proprietary information collected by ARPA-E from award recipients shall be considered privileged and confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``ARPA-E Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY-ENERGY.

    (a) Establishment.--Section 5012(b) of the America COMPETES Act (42 
U.S.C. 16538(b)) is amended by striking ``development of energy 
technologies'' and inserting ``development of transformative science 
and technology solutions to address energy, environmental, economic, 
and national security challenges''.
    (b) Goals.--Section 5012(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (1)(A) and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(A) to enhance the economic and energy security 
                of the United States through the development of energy 
                technologies that--
                            ``(i) reduce imports of energy from foreign 
                        sources;
                            ``(ii) reduce energy-related emissions, 
                        including greenhouse gases;
                            ``(iii) improve the energy efficiency of 
                        all economic sectors;
                            ``(iv) provide transformative solutions to 
                        improve the management, clean-up, and disposal 
                        of--
                                    ``(I) low-level radioactive waste;
                                    ``(II) spent nuclear fuel; and
                                    ``(III) high-level radioactive 
                                waste;
                            ``(v) improve efficiency and reduce the 
                        environmental impact of all forms of energy 
                        production;
                            ``(vi) improve the resiliency, reliability, 
                        and security of the electric grid; and
                            ``(vii) address other challenges within the 
                        mission of the Department as determined by the 
                        Secretary; and''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2) by striking ``energy technology 
        projects'' and inserting ``advanced technology projects''.
    (c) Responsibilities.--Section 5012(e)(3)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
16538(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking ``energy''.
    (d) Strategic Vision Roadmap.--Section 5012(h)(2) of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 16538(h)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(2) Strategic vision roadmap.--In the report required 
        under paragraph (1), the Director shall include a roadmap 
        describing the strategic vision that ARPA-E will use to guide 
        the choices of ARPA-E for future technology investments over 
        the following 2 fiscal years.''.
    (e) Coordination and Nonduplication.--Section 5012(i)(1) of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(i)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--To the maximum extent practicable, the 
        Director shall ensure that--
                    ``(A) the activities of ARPA-E are coordinated 
                with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, programs and 
                laboratories within the Department and other relevant 
                research agencies; and
                    ``(B) ARPA-E does not provide funding for a project 
                unless the prospective grantee demonstrates sufficient 
                attempts to secure private financing or indicates that 
                the project is not independently commercially 
                viable.''.
    (f) Evaluation.--Section 5012(l) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(l)) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
        enactment of the ARPA-E Act of 2018, the Secretary is 
        authorized to enter into a contract with the National Academy 
        of Sciences under which the National Academy shall conduct an 
        evaluation of how well ARPA-E is achieving the goals and 
        mission of ARPA-E.''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by striking ``shall'' and inserting ``is 
                authorized to''; and
                    (B) by striking ``the recommendation of the 
                National Academy of Sciences'' and inserting ``a 
                recommendation''.
    (g) Protection of Proprietary Information.--Section 5012 of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (n) as subsection (o); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (m) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(n) Protection of Proprietary Information.--
            ``(1) In general.--The following categories of information 
        collected by ARPA-E from recipients of awards under this 
        section shall be considered privileged and confidential and not 
        subject to disclosure pursuant to section 552 of title 5, 
        United States Code:
                    ``(A) Plans for commercialization of technologies 
                developed under the award, including business plans, 
                technology-to-market plans, market studies, and cost 
                and performance models.
                    ``(B) Investments provided to an awardee from third 
                parties (such as venture capital firms, hedge funds, 
                and private equity firms), including amounts and the 
                percentage of ownership of the awardee provided in 
                return for the investments.
                    ``(C) Additional financial support that the 
                awardee--
                            ``(i) plans to invest, or has invested, 
                        into the technology developed under the award; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) is seeking from third parties.
                    ``(D) Revenue from the licensing or sale of new 
                products or services resulting from research conducted 
                under the award.
            ``(2) Effect of subsection.--Nothing in this subsection 
        shall be construed to affect--
                    ``(A) the authority of the Secretary to use 
                information without publicly disclosing such 
                information; or
                    ``(B) the responsibility of the Secretary to 
                transmit information to Congress as required by law.''.
    (h) Funding.--Section 5012(o)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
16538(o)(4)), as redesignated by subsection (g)(1), is amended by 
striking ``during the 5-year period beginning on the date of enactment 
of this Act''.
    (i) Technical Amendments.--
            (1) Section 5012(g)(3)(A)(iii) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
        16538(g)(3)(A)(iii)) is amended by striking ``subpart'' each 
        place it appears and inserting ``subparagraph''.
            (2) Section 5012(o)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(o)(2)), 
        as redesignated by subsection (g)(1), is amended by striking 
        ``paragraphs (4) and (5)'' and inserting ``paragraph (4)''.

            Passed the House of Representatives June 27, 2018.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.