I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3175 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Defense 

to expand the research capability of historically Black colleges and universities and other minority institutions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 10, 2019 

Mr. BROWN of Maryland (for himself, Mr. TURNER, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. 

ADAMS, and Ms. HAALAND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Defense to expand the research capability of 

historically Black colleges and universities and other minority institutions. 

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 ‘‘Harnessing Oppor5 tunity to Maximize Expansion, Capture, and Organization 

6 of Minority Innovation in the Next Generation of Research 

7 Act of 2019’’. 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3175 IH

1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION ON DEFENSE 

2 RESEARCH AT HISTORICALLY BLACK COL3 LEGES AND UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER MI4 NORITY INSTITUTIONS. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

7 executive branch an independent Commission to re8 view the state of defense research at covered institu9 tions. 

10 (2) TREATMENT.—The Commission shall be 

11 considered an independent establishment of the Fed12 eral Government as defined by section 104 of title 

13 5, United States Code, and a temporary organiza14 tion under section 3161 of such title. 

15 (3) DESIGNATION.—The Commission estab16 lished under paragraph (1) shall be known as the 

17 ‘‘National Security Commission on Defense Re18 search At Historically Black Colleges and Univer19 sities and Other Minority Institutions’’. 

20 (4) MEMBERSHIP.— 

21 (A) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall 

22 be composed of 11 members appointed as fol23 lows: 

24 (i) The Secretary of Defense shall ap25 point 2 members. 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3175 IH

1 (ii) The Secretary of Education shall 

2 appoint 1 member. 

3 (iii) The Chairman of the Committee 

4 on Armed Services of the Senate shall ap5 point 1 member. 

6 (iv) The Ranking Member of the 

7 Committee on Armed Services of the Sen8 ate shall appoint 1 member. 

9 (v) The Chairman of the Committee 

10 on Armed Services of the House of Rep11 resentatives shall appoint 1 member. 

12 (vi) The Ranking Member of the 

13 Committee on Armed Services of the 

14 House of Representatives shall appoint 1 

15 member. 

16 (vii) The Chairman of the Committee 

17 on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen18 sions of the Senate shall appoint 1 mem19 ber. 

20 (viii) The Ranking Member of the 

21 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

22 and Pensions of the Senate shall appoint 1 

23 member. 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3175 IH

1 (ix) The Chairman of the Committee 

2 on Education and Labor of the House of 

3 Representatives shall appoint 1 member. 

4 (x) The Ranking Member of the Com5 mittee on Education and Labor of the 

6 House of Representatives shall appoint 1 

7 member. 

8 (B) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Mem9 bers shall be appointed to the Commission 

10 under subparagraph (A) not later than 90 days 

11 after the date on which the commission is es12 tablished. 

13 (C) EFFECT OF LACK OF APPOINTMENT

14 BY APPOINTMENT DATE.—If one or more ap15 pointments under subparagraph (A) is not 

16 made by the appointment date specified in sub17 paragraph (B), or if a position described in sub18 paragraph (A) is vacant for more than 90 days, 

19 the authority to make such appointment shall 

20 transfer to the Chair of the Commission. 

21 (5) CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.—The Commission 

22 shall elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its 

23 members. 

24 (6) TERMS.—Members shall be appointed for 

25 the life of the Commission. A vacancy in the ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175

jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3175 IH

1 mission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled 

2 in the same manner as the original appointment was 

3 made. 

4 (7) STATUS AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—Not5 withstanding the requirements of section 2105 of 

6 title 5, United States Code, including the required 

7 supervision under subsection (a)(3) of such section, 

8 the members of the Commission shall be deemed to 

9 be Federal employees. 

10 (b) DUTIES.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall carry 

12 out the review described in paragraph (2). In car13 rying out such review, the Commission shall consider 

14 the methods and means necessary to advance re15 search capacity at covered institutions to comprehen16 sively address the national security and defense 

17 needs of the United States. 

18 (2) SCOPE OF THE REVIEW.—In conducting the 

19 review under paragraph (1), the Commission shall 

20 consider the following: 

21 (A) The competitiveness of covered institu22 tions in developing, pursuing, capturing, and 

23 executing defense research with the Department 

24 of Defense through contracts and grants. 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3175 IH

1 (B) Means and methods for advancing the 

2 capacity of covered institutions to conduct re3 search related to national security and defense. 

4 (C) The advancements and investments 

5 necessary to elevate 25 covered institutions to 

6 R2 status on the Carnegie Classification of In7 stitutions of Higher Education, 15 covered in8 stitutions to R1 status on the Carnegie Classi9 fication of Institutions of Higher Education, 

10 and one covered institution or a consortium of 

11 multiple covered institutions to the capability of 

12 a University Affiliated Research Center. 

13 (D) The facilities and infrastructure for 

14 defense-related research at covered institutions 

15 as compared to the facilities and infrastructure 

16 at universities classified as R1 status on the 

17 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher 

18 Education. 

19 (E) Incentives to attract, recruit, and re20 tain leading research faculty to covered institu21 tions. 

22 (F) The legal and organizational structure 

23 of the contracting entity of covered institutions 

24 as compared to the legal and organizational 

25 structure of the contracting entity of covered 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3175 IH

1 institutions at universities classified as R1 sta2 tus on the Carnegie Classification of Institu3 tions of Higher Education. 

4 (G) The ability of covered institutions to 

5 develop, protect, and commercialize intellectual 

6 property created through defense-related re7 search. 

8 (H) The amount of defense research fund9 ing awarded to all colleges and universities 

10 through contracts and grants for the fiscal 

11 years of 2010 through 2019, including— 

12 (i) the legal mechanism under which 

13 the organization was formed; 

14 (ii) the total value of contracts and 

15 grants awarded to the organization during 

16 fiscal years 2010 to 2019; 

17 (iii) the overhead rate of the organiza18 tion for fiscal year 2019; 

19 (iv) the Carnegie Classification of In20 stitutions of Higher Education of the asso21 ciated university or college; and 

22 (v) if the associated university or col23 lege qualifies as a historically Black college 

24 or university, a minority institution, or a 

25 minority institution. 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 3175 IH

1 (I) Areas for improvement in the programs 

2 executed under section 2362 of title 10, United 

3 States Code, the existing authorization to en4 hance defense-related research and education at 

5 covered institutions. 

6 (J) Previous executive or legislative actions 

7 by the Federal Government to address the im8 balance in federal research funding, such as the 

9 Established Program to Stimulate Competitive 

10 Research (commonly known as ‘‘EPSCoR’’). 

11 (K) Any other matters the Commission 

12 deems relevant to the advancing the defense re13 search capacity of covered institutions. 

14 (c) REPORTS.— 

15 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

17 Commission shall submit to the President and Con18 gress an initial report on the findings of the Com19 mission and such recommendations that the Com20 mission may have for action by the executive branch 

21 and Congress related to the covered institutions par22 ticipating in Department of Defense research and 

23 actions necessary to expand their research capacity. 

24 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Prior to the date on which 

25 the commission terminates under subsection (e), the 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 3175 IH

1 Commission shall submit to the President and Con2 gress a comprehensive report on the results of the 

3 review required under subsection (b). 

4 (3) FORM OF REPORTS.—Reports submitted 

5 under this subsection shall be made publicly avail6 able. 

7 (d) FUNDING.—Of the amounts authorized to be ap8 propriated by this Act for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 for 

9 the Department of Defense, not more than $5,000,000 

10 each year shall be made available to the Commission to 

11 carry out its duties under this Act. Funds made available 

12 to the Commission under the preceding sentence shall re13 main available until expended. 

14 (e) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 

15 on December 31, 2021. 

16 (f) COVERED INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this sec17 tion, the term ‘‘covered institution’’ means— 

18 (1) a part B institution (as that term is defined 

19 in section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 

20 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)); or 

21 (2) any other institution of higher education (as 

22 that term is defined in section 101 of such Act (20 

23 U.S.C. 1001)) at which not less than 50 percent of 

24 the total student enrollment consists of students 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 3175 IH

1 from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the 

2 fields of science and engineering. 

3 SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF SUBCONTRACTING TO MINOR4 ITY INSTITUTIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 141 of title 10, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 2410t. Consideration of subcontracting to minority 

9 institutions 

10 ‘‘(a) CONSIDERATION OF SUBCONTRACTING TO MI11 NORITY INSTITUTIONS.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

12 revise the Department of Defense Supplement to the Fed13 eral Acquisition Regulation to require that the system 

14 used by the Federal Government to monitor or record con15 tractor past performance for a grant or contract awarded 

16 to an institution of higher education includes incentives 

17 for the award of a subgrant or subcontract to minority 

18 institutions. 

19 ‘‘(b) MINORITY INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this sec20 tion, the term ‘minority institution’ means— 

21 ‘‘(1) a part B institution (as that term is de22 fined in section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act 

23 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)); or 

24 ‘‘(2) any other institution of higher education 

25 (as that term is defined in section 101 of such Act 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 3175 IH

1 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) at which not less than 50 percent 

2 of the total student enrollment consists of students 

3 from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the 

4 fields of science and engineering.’’. 

5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

6 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

7 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘2410t. Consideration of subcontracting to minority institutions.’’. 

Æ 


jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS