II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4588 

To establish a public-private partnership technology investment pilot program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2022 

Ms. ROSEN (for herself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To establish a public-private partnership technology 

investment pilot program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Investing in American 

5 Defense Technologies Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TECHNOLOGY IN7 VESTMENT PILOT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 

10 appropriations for this purpose, the Secretary of De11 fense shall carry out a pilot program, for no less 


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1 than five years, to accelerate the development of ad2 vanced technology for national security by creating 

3 incentives for trusted private capital to invest in do4 mestic small businesses or nontraditional businesses 

5 that are developing technology that the Secretary 

6 considers necessary to support the modernization of 

7 the Department of Defense and national security 

8 priorities. 

9 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the program 

10 required by paragraph (1) are as follows: 

11 (A) To promote the global superiority of 

12 the United States in advanced technologies of 

13 importance to national security, which are not 

14 adequately supported by private sector invest15 ment. 

16 (B) To accelerate the transition and de17 ployment of advanced technologies into the 

18 Armed Forces. 

19 (C) To support Department investment 

20 through a loan guarantee to accelerate acquisi21 tion, procurement, and the transition of ad22 vance technology described in paragraph (1), as 

23 appropriate. 

24 (b) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 

2 (a), the Secretary shall enter into a public-private 

3 partnership with one or more persons using criteria 

4 that the Secretary shall establish for purposes of 

5 this subsection. 

6 (2) CRITERIA.—The criteria established under 

7 paragraph (1) for entering into a public-private 

8 partnership with a person shall include the following: 

9 (A) The person shall be independent. 

10 (B) The person shall be free from foreign 

11 oversight, control, influence, or beneficial own12 ership. 

13 (C) The person shall have commercial pri14 vate capital fund experience with technology de15 velopment in the defense and commercial sec16 tors. 

17 (D) The person shall be eligible for access 

18 to classified information (as defined in the pro19 cedures established pursuant to section 801(a) 

20 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 

21 U.S.C. 3161(a))). 

22 (3) OPERATING AGREEMENT.—The Secretary 

23 and a person with whom the Secretary enters a part24 nership under paragraph (1) shall enter into an op25 erating agreement that sets forth the roles, responVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Jul 26, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4588.IS S4588

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1 sibilities, authorities, reporting requirements, and 

2 governance framework for the partnership and its 

3 operations. 

4 (c) INVESTMENT AND RAISING OF CAPITAL.— 

5 (1) INVESTMENT.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to a public7 private partnership entered into under sub8 section (b), a person with whom the Secretary 

9 has entered the partnership shall invest equity 

10 in domestic small businesses or nontraditional 

11 businesses consistent with subsection (a). 

12 (B) SELECTION CRITERIA.—Investments 

13 under subparagraph (A) shall be selected based 

14 on their technical merit, economic consider15 ations, and ability to support modernization 

16 goals of the Department. 

17 (2) USE OF TRUSTED CAPITAL SOURCES.—Pur18 suant to a public-private partnership entered into 

19 under subsection (b), a person described in para20 graph (1)(A) shall, in order to support investment of 

21 equity under paragraph (1), raise private capital 

22 only from trusted capital sources. 

23 (3) SOLE AUTHORITY.—A person described in 

24 paragraph (1)(A) shall have sole authority to raise 


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1 funds for, operate, manage, and invest capital raised 

2 under such subparagraph. 

3 (4) LOAN GUARANTEE.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

5 provide a loan guarantee for up to 80 percent 

6 of the principal capital amount of the funds 

7 raised under paragraph (2), pursuant to the 

8 public-private partnership entered into under 

9 subsection (b), with investment of equity that 

10 qualifies under paragraph (1) and consistent 

11 with the purposes set forth under subsection 

12 (a)(2). 

13 (B) SUBJECT TO OPERATING AGREE14 MENT.—The loan guarantee under subpara15 graph (A) shall be subject to the operating 

16 agreement entered into under subsection (b)(3). 

17 (C) LIMITS.—Obligations incurred by the 

18 Secretary under this paragraph shall be subject 

19 to the availability of appropriations. 

20 (d) BRIEFINGS.— 

21 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than one 

22 year after the date of the enactment of this section, 

23 the Secretary shall provide to the congressional de24 fense committees a briefing on the implementation 

25 of this section. 


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1 (2) ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOMES AND FEASI2 BILITY.—Not later than five years after the date of 

3 the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 

4 provide the congressional defense committees a brief5 ing on the outcomes of the pilot program and the 

6 feasibility and advisability of making it permanent. 

7 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘congressional defense commit9 tees’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code. 

11 (2) The term ‘‘domestic business’’ has the 

12 meaning given the term ‘‘U.S. business’’ in section 

13 800.252 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, or 

14 successor regulation. 

15 (3) The term ‘‘domestic small businesses or 

16 nontraditional businesses’’ means— 

17 (A) a small businesses that is a domestic 

18 business; or 

19 (B) a nontraditional business that is a do20 mestic business. 

21 (4) The term ‘‘free from foreign oversight, con22 trol, influence, or beneficial ownership’’, with respect 

23 to a person, means a person who has not raised and 

24 managed capital from a person or entity that is not 


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1 trusted and is otherwise free from foreign oversight, 

2 control, influence, or beneficial ownership. 

3 (5) The term ‘‘independent’’, with respect to a 

4 person, means a person who lacks a conflict of inter5 est accomplished by not having entity or manager 

6 affiliation or ownership with an existing fund. 

7 (6) The term ‘‘nontraditional business’’ has the 

8 meaning given the term ‘‘nontraditional defense con9 tractors’’ in section 3014 of title 10, United States 

10 Code. 

11 (7) The term ‘‘small business’’ has the meaning 

12 given the term ‘‘small business concern’’ in section 

13 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

Æ 


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