II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 315 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other Federal 

officials to compile into a searchable database information relating to 

Federal support for biomedical research and development, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. SANDERS, and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and 

other Federal officials to compile into a searchable database information relating to Federal support for biomedical research and development, 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 as the ‘‘Taxpayer Research 

5 And Contributions Knowledge Act of 2023’’ or the 

6 ‘‘TRACK Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DATABASE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

3 Human Services, the Director of the National Institutes 

4 of Health, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and 

5 Response of the Department of Health and Human Serv6 ices, the Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research 

7 and Development Authority, the Secretary of Defense, the 

8 Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Director of the National 

9 Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and such 

10 other Federal officials as the Secretary of Health and 

11 Human Services determines to be relevant, acting in co12 ordination, shall— 

13 (1) compile into a searchable database informa14 tion relating to Federal support (before or after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act) for biomedical re16 search and development; and 

17 (2) make such database available on the public 

18 website of the Department of Health and Human 

19 Services. 

20 (b) COVERED INFORMATION.—The information relat21 ing to Federal support described in subsection (a)(1) in22 cludes all contracts, funding agreements, licensing ar23 rangements, other transactions, and other arrangements 

24 entered into by, or on behalf of, the Federal Government 

25 and tax benefits provided with respect to research and de26 velopment, and manufacturing, of a drug (including a bioVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Feb 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S315.IS S315

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1 logical product), cell or gene therapy, or medical device 

2 intended to be manufactured, used, designed, developed, 

3 modified, repurposed, licensed, or procured to diagnose, 

4 mitigate, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or condition, 

5 including the following: 

6 (1) Licensing agreements pursuant to section 

7 207 or 209 of title 35, United States Code. 

8 (2) Cooperative research and development 

9 agreements and licensing agreements pursuant to 

10 section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology In11 novation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a). 

12 (3) Funding agreements, as defined in section 

13 201 of title 35, United States Code. 

14 (4) Transactions, contracts, grants, cooperative 

15 agreements, other agreements, and other arrange16 ments entered into pursuant to the following stat17 utes: 

18 (A) The Public Health Service Act (42 

19 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), including sections 301, 

20 319L, 421, and 480 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 241, 247d–7e, 285b–3, 287a). 

22 (B) Section 105 of the National Institutes 

23 of Health Reform Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 

24 284n). 


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1 (C) Chapter 301 of title 10, United States 

2 Code, including sections 4001, 4021, 4022, 

3 4026, and 4023. 

4 (5) Grants, contracts, and other transactions 

5 pursuant to section 4021, 4022, or 4026 of title 10, 

6 United States Code. 

7 (6) Procurement contracts and other agree8 ments pursuant to section 4023 of title 10, United 

9 States Code. 

10 (c) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—Notwithstanding any 

11 other provision of law, the Federal officials described in 

12 subsection (a) shall include in the database under sub13 section (a), with regard to each contract, funding agree14 ment, licensing agreement, other transaction, other ar15 rangement, or tax benefit described in subsection (b), at 

16 least the following information: 

17 (1) The agency, program, institute, or other 

18 Federal Government entity providing the Federal 

19 grant, cooperative agreement, or other support. 

20 (2) The amount and period of Federal financial 

21 support with an itemized breakdown. 

22 (3) Other Federal nonfinancial support, includ23 ing the use of Federal personnel, Federal facilities, 

24 and Federal equipment. 

25 (4) The grant number, if applicable. 


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1 (5) Associated clinical trial data, upon trial 

2 completion. 

3 (6) Associated patents and patent applications, 

4 specifying— 

5 (A) any Federal ownership in such patents 

6 and patent applications; 

7 (B) the expiration date of such patents 

8 and filing dates of such patent applications; and 

9 (C) the numbers of such patents and pat10 ent applications. 

11 (7) Associated periods of marketing exclusivity 

12 under Federal law and the durations of such peri13 ods. 

14 (8) The corporation, nonprofit organization, 

15 academic institution, person, or other entity receiv16 ing the Federal support. 

17 (9) Any products (including repurposed prod18 ucts) approved, authorized, or cleared for marketing, 

19 or for which marketing approval, authorization, or 

20 clearance is being sought, the development of which 

21 was aided by Federal support, including— 

22 (A) the names of such products; 

23 (B) the prices of such products; and 

24 (C) the current and anticipated manufac25 turing capacity to produce such products. 


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1 (10) The full terms of the contract, funding 

2 agreement, licensing agreement, other transaction, 

3 or other arrangement described in subsection (b). 

4 (d) FORMAT OF INFORMATION.—The database under 

5 subsection (a) shall be— 

6 (1) searchable and filterable according to the 

7 categories of information described in subsection (c); 

8 and 

9 (2) presented in a user-friendly format. 

10 (e) TIMING.—The database under subsection (a) 

11 shall be— 

12 (1) made publicly available not later than 1 

13 month after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

14 (2) updated not less than every 2 weeks. 

15 (f) DISCLOSURE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

17 provision of law, to the extent necessary for an offi18 cial described in subsection (a) to carry out this sec19 tion, such official may require entities receiving Fed20 eral support described in subsection (a)(1) to dis21 close to the official any information relating to such 

22 Federal support and required to be included in the 

23 database under subsection (a). 

24 (2) INTERMEDIARY COOPERATION.—Any ar25 rangement entered into by the Federal Government 


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1 with an entity providing for such entity to enter into 

2 contracts, licensing agreements, grants, other trans3 actions, or other arrangements with third parties on 

4 behalf of the Federal Government shall require such 

5 entity to disclose in a timely manner any informa6 tion necessary for the Federal Government to fulfill 

7 its duties under this Act. With respect to any such 

8 arrangement in place as of the date of enactment of 

9 this Act, an official described in subsection (a) may 

10 require the entity to disclose to the official any infor11 mation required to be included in the database 

12 under subsection (a). 

13 (3) PENALTY FOR NONDISCLOSURE.—If an en14 tity that is required to disclose information pursuant 

15 to paragraph (1) or (2) fails to disclose such infor16 mation by the date that is 2 weeks after the date on 

17 which the official requests such information, or by 

18 such reasonable deadline as the official may specify, 

19 whichever is sooner, then such entity shall be liable 

20 to the United States for a civil penalty in an amount 

21 not to exceed $10,000 for each day on which such 

22 failure continues. 

Æ 


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