II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1003 

To modify the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program of the 

Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2023 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. CAPITO, 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 

and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To modify the Federal and State Technology Partnership 

Program of the Small Business Administration, 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 ‘‘FAST Fix Act of 

5 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL AND STATE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 Section 34 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

9 657d) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(11) UNDERPERFORMING STATE.—The term 

4 ‘underperforming State’ means a State participating 

5 in the SBIR or STTR program that has been cal6 culated by the Administrator to be one of 18 States 

7 receiving the fewest SBIR and STTR Phase I 

8 awards.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (c)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

11 (i) in subparagraph (E)— 

12 (I) in clause (iii), by striking 

13 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

14 (II) in clause (iv), by striking the 

15 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

16 and’’; and 

17 (III) by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(v) to prioritize applicants located in 

20 an underperforming State.’’; 

21 (B) in paragraph (2)(B)(vi)— 

22 (i) in subclause (II), by striking 

23 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

24 (ii) by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(IV) located in an underper2 forming State; and’’; 

3 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Not 

4 more than one proposal’’ and inserting ‘‘There 

5 is no limit on the number of proposals that’’; 

6 and 

7 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR UNDERPER9 FORMING STATES.—Upon application by a recipient 

10 that is located in an underperforming State, the Ad11 ministrator may— 

12 ‘‘(A) provide additional assistance to the 

13 recipient; and 

14 ‘‘(B) waive the matching requirements 

15 under subsection (e)(2).’’; 

16 (3) in subsection (e)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

19 (I) by inserting ‘‘and STTR’’ be20 fore ‘‘first phase’’ each place that 

21 term appears; 

22 (II) in clause (i), by striking 

23 ‘‘50’’ and inserting ‘‘25’’; and 

24 (III) in clause (iii), by striking 

25 ‘‘75’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

2 ‘‘, beginning with fiscal year 2001’’ and in3 serting ‘‘and make publicly available on the 

4 website of the Administration, beginning 

5 with fiscal year 2023’’; and 

6 (iii) by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(E) PAYMENT.—The non-Federal share 

9 of the cost of an activity carried out by a recipi10 ent may be paid by the recipient over the course 

11 of the period of the award or cooperative agree12 ment.’’; and 

13 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(4) AMOUNT OF AWARD.—In carrying out the 

15 FAST program under this section— 

16 ‘‘(A) the Administrator shall make and 

17 enter into awards or cooperative agreements; 

18 ‘‘(B) each award or cooperative agreement 

19 described in subparagraph (A) shall be for not 

20 more than $500,000, which shall be provided 

21 over 2 fiscal years; and 

22 ‘‘(C) any amounts left unused in the third 

23 quarter of the second fiscal year may be re24 tained by the Administrator for future FAST 

25 program awards. 


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1 ‘‘(5) REPORTING.—Not later than 6 months 

2 after receiving an award or entering into a coopera3 tive agreement under this section, a recipient shall 

4 report to the Administrator— 

5 ‘‘(A) the number of awards made under 

6 the SBIR or STTR program; 

7 ‘‘(B) the number of applications submitted 

8 for the SBIR or STTR program; 

9 ‘‘(C) the number of consulting hours spent; 

10 ‘‘(D) the number of training events con11 ducted; and 

12 ‘‘(E) any issues encountered in the man13 agement and application of the FAST pro14 gram.’’; 

15 (4) in subsection (f)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

17 (i) in the matter preceding subpara18 graph (A)— 

19 (I) by striking ‘‘Small Business 

20 Innovation Research Program Reau21 thorization Act of 2000’’ and insert22 ing ‘‘FAST Fix Act of 2023’’; and 

23 (II) by inserting ‘‘and Entrepre24 neurship’’ before ‘‘of the Senate’’; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

3 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

4 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

5 and’’; and 

6 (iv) by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(D) a description of the process used to 

9 ensure that underperforming States are given 

10 priority application status under the FAST pro11 gram.’’; and 

12 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik14 ing ‘‘ANNUAL’’ and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL’’; 

15 (ii) in the matter preceding subpara16 graph (A), by striking ‘‘an annual’’ and in17 serting ‘‘a biennial’’; 

18 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

19 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

20 (iv) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

21 the period at the end and inserting a semi22 colon; and 

23 (v) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(D) the proportion of awards provided to 

2 and cooperative agreements entered into with 

3 underperforming States; and 

4 ‘‘(E) a list of the States that were deter5 mined by the Administrator to be underper6 forming States, and a description of any 

7 changes in the list compared to previously sub8 mitted reports.’’; 

9 (5) in subsection (g)(2)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘2004’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘2023’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘and Entrepreneurship’’ 

13 before ‘‘of the Senate’’; and 

14 (6) in subsection (h)(1), by striking 

15 ‘‘$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 

16 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,000,000 for every 2 fiscal 

17 years between fiscal years 2023 through 2027, to be 

18 obligated before the end of the second fiscal year’’. 

Æ 


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