I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9194 

To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 

to support nucleic acid screening, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2024 

Ms. CARAVEO (for herself and Mr. MCCORMICK) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and 

Innovation Act to support nucleic acid screening, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Nucleic Acid Standards for 

5 Biosecurity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SUPPORTING NUCLEIC ACID SCREENING. 

7 Section 10221 of the Research and Development, 

8 Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18931; en9 acted as part of title II of division B of Public Law 117– 

10 167) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

2 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

3 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

4 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

5 subparagraph (E); and 

6 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

7 the following new subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(D) best practices, guidelines, and tech9 nical standards for risk management associated 

10 with engineering biology and biomanufacturing, 

11 including risks associated with the use of artifi12 cial intelligence; and’’; 

13 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 

14 subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and 

15 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(b) NUCLEIC ACID SYNTHESIS SCREENING TOOLS

18 AND STANDARDS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consulta20 tion with heads of Federal agencies the Director 

21 considers appropriate, shall carry out measurement 

22 research to support the development and improve23 ment of best practices and technical standards for 

24 biosecurity measures related to nucleic acid syn25 thesis, including the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Testing to improve the accuracy, effi2 cacy, and reliability of screening for nucleic acid 

3 synthesis. 

4 ‘‘(B) Best practices, including security and 

5 access controls, for operational security and 

6 managing sequence-of-concern databases to 

7 support such screening. 

8 ‘‘(C) Technical implementation guidance to 

9 ensure such screening is effective and secure. 

10 ‘‘(D) Conformity-assessment best practices 

11 and technical standards. 

12 ‘‘(E) Methods to evaluate the impact and 

13 effectiveness of the implementation of subpara14 graphs (A) through (D). 

15 ‘‘(2) CONSORTIUM.—In carrying out this sub16 section, the Director shall convene a consortium of 

17 stakeholders, including industry, institutions of high18 er education, nonprofit organizations, and customers 

19 to carry out this following: 

20 ‘‘(A) Develop and periodically update con21 sensus priorities and best practices, as appro22 priate, for synthetic nucleic acid procurement 

23 screening mechanisms. 

24 ‘‘(B) Develop roadmaps to inform the ac25 tivities carried out under paragraph (1). 


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1 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

2 the first meeting of the consortium under paragraph 

3 (2), the Director shall submit to the Committee on 

4 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen5 ate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech6 nology of the House of Representatives a report 

7 summarizing the findings of the consortium. 

8 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Of 

9 the funds authorized to be appropriated for the Na10 tional Institute of Standards and Technology pursu11 ant to this section for scientific and technical re12 search and services laboratory activities, there is au13 thorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of 

14 fiscal years 2025 through 2029 to carry out this 

15 subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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