II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3569 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a report 

on the disclosure process for intellectual property created under a Federal 

grant, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 10, 2024 

Mr. TILLIS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States 

to submit a report on the disclosure process for intellectual property created under a Federal grant, 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 ‘‘Improving Efficiency 

5 to Increase Competition Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. GAO STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF BAYH-DOLE ACT 

2 REGULATIONS ON CONTRACTORS IN THE 

3 UNITED STATES. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) ABILITY.—The term ‘‘ability’’ means time, 

6 resources, staff, and any other metric determined 

7 necessary for compliance under the contract require8 ments described in chapter 18 of title 35, United 

9 States Code, including any regulation issued under 

10 that chapter. 

11 (2) CONTRACTOR; FEDERAL AGENCY; FUNDING

12 AGREEMENT.—The terms ‘‘contractor’’, ‘‘Federal 

13 agency’’, and ‘‘funding agreement’’ have the mean14 ings given those terms in section 201 of title 35, 

15 United States Code. 

16 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

17 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

18 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

19 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

20 (4) RELEVANT COMMITTEES.—The term ‘‘rel21 evant committees’’ means the following: 

22 (A) The Committee on the Judiciary of the 

23 Senate. 

24 (B) The Committee on Commerce, Science, 

25 and Transportation of the Senate. 

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1 (C) The Committee on Health, Education, 

2 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 

3 (D) The Committee on the Judiciary of the 

4 House of Representatives. 

5 (E) The Committee on Science, Space, and 

6 Technology of the House of Representatives. 

7 (F) The Committee on Education and the 

8 Workforce of the House of Representatives. 

9 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comp12 troller General of the United States shall brief the 

13 relevant committees, with a report to follow on a 

14 mutually agreed upon date that is not later than 1 

15 year after the date of enactment of this Act, regard16 ing the implementation of chapter 18 of title 35, 

17 United States Code (commonly referred to as the 

18 ‘‘Bayh-Dole Act’’), specifically with respect to the 

19 requirements under that chapter, and the regula20 tions implementing that chapter, that a contractor 

21 under a funding agreement with a Federal agency 

22 must follow with respect to patent disclosure. 

23 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required under 

24 paragraph (1) shall include, to the extent prac25 ticable, information on the following: 

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1 (A) The percentage of inventions, as de2 fined in section 201 of title 35, United States 

3 Code, that are not elected by contractors to re4 tain within the time period provided following 

5 the disclosure of an invention under part 401 of 

6 title 37, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 

7 successor regulations. 

8 (B) After any automatic extension of time 

9 has been granted under section 401.14 of title 

10 37, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc11 cessor regulation, and in a case in which a con12 tractor requests an additional extension— 

13 (i) the number of such extensions that 

14 are granted by Federal agencies for disclo15 sure, election, and filing under that sec16 tion; and 

17 (ii) the average response time by each 

18 Federal agency for such an extension. 

19 (C) How the reporting requirements under 

20 chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code, im21 pact the ability of a contractor to compete with 

22 foreign competitors. 

23 (D) How the Federal Government uses 

24 Federal reporting under chapter 18 of title 35, 

25 United States Code, by contractors and sugVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Jan 11, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3569.IS S3569
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1 gested improvements to ensure there is an im2 proved public-private partnership. 

3 (E) Barriers that Federal reporting re4 quirements under chapter 18 of title 35, United 

5 States Code, create for contractors to develop 

6 inventions, as defined in section 201 of title 35, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (F) The time and effort institutions of 

9 higher education must use for the management 

10 and reporting required under chapter 18 of title 

11 35, United States Code, including— 

12 (i) input from contractors with var13 ious sizes, budgets, geographical positions, 

14 and specialties; 

15 (ii) with respect to any institution of 

16 higher education included in the report, a 

17 consideration of the specific research des18 ignations for that institution, including 

19 whether the institution is classified as an 

20 R1 or R2 doctoral university, according to 

21 the Carnegie Classification of Institutions 

22 of Higher Education framework; and 

23 (iii) how such contractors vary on 

24 their ability to efficiently comply with the 

25 requirements under that chapter. 

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1 (G) Difficulties contractors encounter in 

2 using the patent reporting system deployed by 

3 the National Institute of Standards and Tech4 nology (commonly known as, and referred to in 

5 this paragraph as, ‘‘iEdison’’) and rec6 ommendations to address those difficulties. 

7 (H) If any other Federal agency does not 

8 use iEdison, whether that Federal agency— 

9 (i) would benefit from using a sin10 gular standard Federal reporting system; 

11 and 

12 (ii) can effectively standardize report13 ing requirements in order to streamline 

14 processes required by contractors. 

15 (I) The number of disclosure systems used 

16 throughout the Federal Government, listed by 

17 which system is used by each Federal agency, 

18 and the various disclosure requirements made 

19 by each such Federal agency. 

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