II 

Calendar No. 169 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1396 

To improve commercialization activities in the SBIR and STTR programs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 2, 2023 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 

Business and Entrepreneurship 

JULY 25, 2023 

Reported by Mr. CARDIN, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To improve commercialization activities in the SBIR and 

STTR programs, 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 ‘‘Research Advancing 

5 to Market Production for Innovators Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO COMMERCIALIZATION SELEC2 TION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Small Business 

4 Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (g)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (4)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘1 

7 year’’ and inserting ‘‘180 days’’; 

8 (B) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

9 at the end; 

10 (C) in paragraph (17), by striking the pe11 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

13 ‘‘(18) with respect to peer review carried out 

14 under the SBIR program, to the extent practicable, 

15 include in the peer review— 

16 ‘‘(A) the likelihood of commercialization in 

17 addition to scientific and technical merit and 

18 feasibility; and 

19 ‘‘(B) not less than 1 reviewer with com20 mercialization expertise who is capable of as21 sessing the likelihood of commercialization.’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (o)— 

23 (A) in paragraph (4)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘1 

24 year’’ and inserting ‘‘180 days’’; 

25 (B) in paragraph (20), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

26 at the end; 


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1 (C) in paragraph (21), by striking the pe2 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

4 ‘‘(22) with respect to peer review carried out 

5 under the STTR program, to the extent practicable, 

6 include in the peer review— 

7 ‘‘(A) the likelhood of commercialization in 

8 addition to scientific and technical merit and 

9 feasibility; and 

10 ‘‘(B) not less than 1 reviewer with com11 mercialization expertise who is capable of as12 sessing the likelihood of commercialization.’’; 

13 (3) in subsection (cc)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘During fiscal years 2012 

15 through 2025, the National Institutes of 

16 Health, the Department of Defense, and the 

17 Department of Education’’ and inserting the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During fiscal years 2024 

20 through 2029, each Federal agency with an SBIR or 

21 STTR program’’; and 

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

23 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The total value of awards 

24 provided by a Federal agency under this subsection 

25 in a fiscal year shall be— 


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1 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

2 (B), not more than 10 percent of the total 

3 funds allocated to the SBIR and STTR pro4 grams of the Federal agency during that fiscal 

5 year; and 

6 ‘‘(B) with respect to the National Insti7 tutes of Health, not more than 15 percent of 

8 the total funds allocated to the SBIR and 

9 STTR programs of the National Institutes of 

10 Health during that fiscal year. 

11 ‘‘(3) EXTENSION.—During fiscal years 2028 

12 and 2029, each Federal agency with an SBIR or 

13 STTR program may continue phase flexibility as de14 scribed in this subsection only if the reports required 

15 under subsection (tt)(1) have been submitted to the 

16 appropriate committees.’’; 

17 (4) in subsection (hh)(2)(A)(i), by inserting 

18 ‘‘application process and requirements’’ after ‘‘sim19 plified and standardized’’; and 

20 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(yy) TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION OFFI22 CIAL.—Each Federal agency participating in the SBIR or 

23 STTR program shall designate a Technology Commer24 cialization Official in the Federal agency, who shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) have sufficient commercialization experi2 ence; 

3 ‘‘(2) provide assistance to SBIR and STTR 

4 program awardees in commercializing and 

5 transitioning technologies; 

6 ‘‘(3) identify SBIR and STTR program tech7 nologies with sufficient technology and commer8 cialization readiness to advance to Phase III awards 

9 or other non-SBIR or STTR program contracts; 

10 ‘‘(4) coordinate with the Technology Commer11 cialization Officials of other Federal agencies to 

12 identify additional markets and commercialization 

13 pathways for promising SBIR and STTR program 

14 technologies; 

15 ‘‘(5) submit to the Administration an annual 

16 report on the number of technologies from the SBIR 

17 or STTR program that have advanced commer18 cialization activities, including information required 

19 in the commercialization impact assessment under 

20 subsection (aaa); 

21 ‘‘(6) submit to the Administration an annual 

22 report on actions taken by the Federal agency, and 

23 the results of those actions, to simplify, standardize, 

24 and expedite the application process and require25 ments, procedures, and contracts as required under 


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1 subsection (hh) and described in subsection 

2 (aaa)(1)(E); and 

3 ‘‘(7) carry out such other duties as the Federal 

4 agency determines necessary.’’. 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small 

7 Business Administration shall submit to the Committee on 

8 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 

9 the Committee on Small Business of the House of Rep10 resentatives summarizing the metrics relating to and an 

11 evaluation of the authority provided under section 9(cc) 

12 of the Small Business Act, as amended by subsection (a), 

13 which shall include the size and location of the small busi14 ness concerns receiving awards under the SBIR or STTR 

15 program. 

16 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS AS17 SISTANCE; COMMERCIALIZATION IMPACT AS18 SESSMENT; PATENT ASSISTANCE. 

19 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

20 as amended by section 2, is amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (q)— 

22 (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre23 ceding subparagraph (A)— 

24 (i) by striking ‘‘may enter into an 

25 agreement with 1 or more vendors selected 


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1 under paragraph (2)(A)’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘shall authorize recipients of awards under 

3 the SBIR or STTR program to select, if 

4 desired, commercialization activities pro5 vided under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) 

6 of paragraph (2)’’; and 

7 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, cybersecurity as8 sistance’’ after ‘‘intellectual property pro9 tections’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(C) STAFF.—A small business concern 

13 may, by contract or otherwise, use funding pro14 vided under this section to hire new staff, aug15 ment staff, or direct staff to conduct or partici16 pate in training activities consistent with the 

17 goals listed in paragraph (1).’’; 

18 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking subpara19 graphs (A) and (B) and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(A) PHASE I.—A Federal agency de21 scribed in paragraph (1) shall authorize a re22 cipient of a Phase I SBIR or STTR award to 

23 utilize not more than $6,500 per project, in24 cluded as part of the award of the recipient or 

25 in addition to the amount of the award of the 


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1 recipient as determined appropriate by the head 

2 of the Federal agency, for the services described 

3 in paragraph (1)— 

4 ‘‘(i) provided through a vendor se5 lected under paragraph (2)(A); 

6 ‘‘(ii) provided through a vendor other 

7 than a vendor selected under paragraph 

8 (2)(A); 

9 ‘‘(iii) achieved through the activities 

10 described in paragraph (2)(C); or 

11 ‘‘(iv) provided or achieved through 

12 any combination of clauses (i), (ii), and 

13 (iii). 

14 ‘‘(B) PHASE II.—A Federal agency de15 scribed in paragraph (1) shall authorize a re16 cipient of a Phase II SBIR or STTR award to 

17 utilize not more than $50,000 per project, in18 cluded as part of the award of the recipient or 

19 in addition to the amount of the award of the 

20 recipient as determined appropriate by the head 

21 of the Federal agency, for the services described 

22 in paragraph (1)— 

23 ‘‘(i) provided through a vendor se24 lected under paragraph (2)(A); 


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1 ‘‘(ii) provided through a vendor other 

2 than a vendor selected under paragraph 

3 (2)(A); 

4 ‘‘(iii) achieved through the activities 

5 described in paragraph (2)(C); or 

6 ‘‘(iv) provided or achieved through 

7 any combination of clauses (i), (ii), and 

8 (iii).’’; and 

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

10 ‘‘(5) TARGETED REVIEW.—A Federal agency 

11 may perform targeted reviews of technical and busi12 ness assistance funding as described in subsection 

13 (mm)(1)(F).’’; and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(zz) I-CORPS PARTICIPATION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agency that 

17 is required to conduct an SBIR or STTR program 

18 with an Innovation Corps (commonly known as ‘I19 Corps’) program shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) provide an option for participation in 

21 an I-Corps teams course by recipients of an 

22 award under the SBIR or STTR program; and 

23 ‘‘(B) authorize the recipients described in 

24 subparagraph (A) to use an award provided 

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1 nical assistance for participation in the I-Corps 

2 teams course. 

3 ‘‘(2) COST OF PARTICIPATION.—The cost of 

4 participation by a recipient described in paragraph 

5 (1)(A) in an I-Corps course may be provided by— 

6 ‘‘(A) an I-Corps team grant; 

7 ‘‘(B) funds awarded to the recipient under 

8 subsection (q); 

9 ‘‘(C) the participating teams or other 

10 sources as appropriate; or 

11 ‘‘(D) any combination of sources described 

12 in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C). 

13 ‘‘(aaa) COMMERCIALIZATION IMPACT ASSESS14 MENT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall co16 ordinate with each Federal agency with an SBIR or 

17 STTR program to develop an annual commercializa18 tion impact assessment report of the Federal agency, 

19 which shall measure, for the 5-year period preceding 

20 the report— 

21 ‘‘(A) for Phase II contracts— 

22 ‘‘(i) the total amount of sales of new 

23 products and services to the Federal Gov24 ernment or other commercial markets; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the total outside investment from 

2 partnerships, joint ventures, or other pri3 vate sector funding sources; 

4 ‘‘(iii) the total number of technologies 

5 licensed to other companies; 

6 ‘‘(iv) the total number of acquisitions 

7 of small business concerns participating in 

8 the SBIR program or the STTR program 

9 that are acquired by other entities; 

10 ‘‘(v) the total number of new spin-out 

11 companies; 

12 ‘‘(vi) the total outside investment 

13 from venture capital or angel investments; 

14 ‘‘(vii) the total number of patent ap15 plications; 

16 ‘‘(viii) the total number of patents ac17 quired; 

18 ‘‘(ix) the year of first Phase I award 

19 and the total number of employees at time 

20 of first Phase I award; 

21 ‘‘(x) the total number of employees 

22 from the preceding completed year; and 

23 ‘‘(xi) the percent of revenue, as of the 

24 date of the report, generated through 

25 SBIR or STTR program funding; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the total number and value of subse2 quent Phase II awards, as described in sub3 section (bb), awarded for each particular 

4 project or technology; 

5 ‘‘(C) the total number and value of Phase 

6 III awards awarded subsequent to a Phase II 

7 award; 

8 ‘‘(D) the total number and value of non9 SBIR and STTR program Federal awards and 

10 contracts; and 

11 ‘‘(E) actions taken by the Federal agency, 

12 and the results of those actions, relating to de13 veloping a simplified and standardized applica14 tion process and requirements, procedures, and 

15 model contracts throughout the Federal agency 

16 for Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III SBIR pro17 gram awards in subsection (hh). 

18 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION.—A commercialization im19 pact assessment report described in paragraph (1) of 

20 a Federal agency shall be— 

21 ‘‘(A) included in the annual report of the 

22 Federal agency required under this section; and 

23 ‘‘(B) published on the website of the Ad24 ministration. 

25 ‘‘(bbb) PATENT ASSISTANCE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

2 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Director’ means the Under 

3 Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property 

4 and Director of the USPTO; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the term ‘USPTO’ means the United 

6 States Patent and Trademark Office. 

7 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

9 shall enter into an interagency agreement with 

10 the Director under which the Director shall as11 sist recipients of an award under the SBIR or 

12 STTR program (in this paragraph referred to 

13 as ‘SBIR and STTR recipients’) relating to in14 tellectual property protection by establishing a 

15 prioritized patent examination program for 

16 SBIR and STTR recipients. 

17 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM DETAILS.—The program 

18 established by the Director under subparagraph 

19 (A) shall have the following characteristics: 

20 ‘‘(i) The program shall incorporate all 

21 existing (as of the date on which the Direc22 tor establishes the program) benefits under 

23 the procedures for prioritized examination 

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1 Smith America Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 41 

2 note). 

3 ‘‘(ii) Under the program, with respect 

4 to prioritized examination, an SBIR or 

5 STTR recipient shall not be required to 

6 pay any prioritized examination fee or 

7 processing fee otherwise required under 

8 section 11(h) of the Leahy-Smith America 

9 Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 41 note). 

10 ‘‘(iii) Under the program, the Director 

11 shall ensure that, of the total number of 

12 requests for prioritized examination accept13 ed by the USPTO in a fiscal year, the 

14 greater of the following shall be reserved 

15 for prioritized examinations for SBIR and 

16 STTR recipients: 

17 ‘‘(I) 5 percent of the total num18 ber of such requests that may be ac19 cepted during that fiscal year. 

20 ‘‘(II) 500 requests for prioritized 

21 examination. 

22 ‘‘(iv) Under the program, the Director 

23 may not grant more than 2 prioritized ex24 amination requests to any individual recipi25 ent. 


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1 ‘‘(v) Under the program, the Director 

2 may increase the number of requests for 

3 prioritized examination that may be ac4 cepted in any fiscal year (as described in 

5 section 1.102(e) of title 37, Code of Fed6 eral Regulations, or any successor regula7 tion) by the number determined under 

8 clause (iii) for that fiscal year. 

9 ‘‘(C) RULES.—The Director shall issue 

10 rules to carry out the prioritized patent exam11 ination program established under this para12 graph. 

13 ‘‘(3) OUTREACH.—The Administrator shall co14 ordinate with the Director to provide outreach re15 garding the Pro Se Assistance Program of, and 

16 scam prevention services provided by, the USPTO.’’. 

17 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

18 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Research Advancing to 

19 Market Production for Innovators Act’’. 

20 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO COMMERCIALIZATION SELEC21 TION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Small Business Act 

23 (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (g)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (4)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘1 

2 year’’ and inserting ‘‘180 days’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

4 at the end; 

5 (C) in paragraph (17), by striking the pe6 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

8 ‘‘(18) with respect to peer review carried out 

9 under the SBIR program, to the extent practicable, 

10 include in the peer review— 

11 ‘‘(A) the likelihood of commercialization in 

12 addition to scientific and technical merit and 

13 feasibility; and 

14 ‘‘(B) not less than 1 reviewer with commer15 cialization expertise who is capable of assessing 

16 the likelihood of commercialization.’’; 

17 (2) in subsection (o)— 

18 (A) in paragraph (4)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘1 

19 year’’ and inserting ‘‘180 days’’; 

20 (B) in paragraph (20), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

21 at the end; 

22 (C) in paragraph (21), by striking the pe23 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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


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1 ‘‘(22) with respect to peer review carried out 

2 under the STTR program, to the extent practicable, 

3 include in the peer review— 

4 ‘‘(A) the likelihood of commercialization in 

5 addition to scientific and technical merit and 

6 feasibility; and 

7 ‘‘(B) not less than 1 reviewer with commer8 cialization expertise who is capable of assessing 

9 the likelihood of commercialization.’’; 

10 (3) in subsection (cc)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘During fiscal years 2012 

12 through 2025, the National Institutes of Health, 

13 the Department of Defense, and the Department 

14 of Education’’ and inserting the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During fiscal years 2024 

16 and 2025, each Federal agency with an SBIR or 

17 STTR program’’; and 

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

19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The total value of awards 

20 provided by a Federal agency under this subsection in 

21 a fiscal year shall be— 

22 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

23 (B), not more than 10 percent of the total funds 

24 allocated to the SBIR and STTR programs of 

25 the Federal agency during that fiscal year; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) with respect to the National Institutes 

2 of Health, not more than 15 percent of the total 

3 funds allocated to the SBIR and STTR pro4 grams of the National Institutes of Health dur5 ing that fiscal year. 

6 ‘‘(3) EXTENSION.—During fiscal year 2025, each 

7 Federal agency with an SBIR or STTR program 

8 may continue phase flexibility as described in this 

9 subsection only if the reports required under sub10 section (tt)(1) have been submitted to the appropriate 

11 committees.’’; 

12 (4) in subsection (hh)(2)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘sim13 plified and standardized procedures and model con14 tracts’’ and inserting ‘‘a simplified and standardized 

15 application process and requirements, procedures, and 

16 model contracts’’; and 

17 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(yy) TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION OFFICIAL.— 

19 Each Federal agency participating in the SBIR or STTR 

20 program shall designate a Technology Commercialization 

21 Official in the Federal agency, who shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) have sufficient commercialization experi23 ence; 


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1 ‘‘(2) provide assistance to SBIR and STTR pro2 gram awardees in commercializing and transitioning 

3 technologies; 

4 ‘‘(3) identify SBIR and STTR program tech5 nologies with sufficient technology and commer6 cialization readiness to advance to Phase III awards 

7 or other non-SBIR or STTR program contracts; 

8 ‘‘(4) coordinate with the Technology Commer9 cialization Officials of other Federal agencies to iden10 tify additional markets and commercialization path11 ways for promising SBIR and STTR program tech12 nologies; 

13 ‘‘(5) submit to the Administration an annual re14 port on the number of technologies from the SBIR or 

15 STTR program that have advanced commercializa16 tion activities, including information required in the 

17 commercialization impact assessment under sub18 section (aaa); 

19 ‘‘(6) submit to the Administration an annual re20 port on actions taken by the Federal agency, and the 

21 results of those actions, to simplify, standardize, and 

22 expedite the application process and requirements, 

23 procedures, and contracts as required under sub24 section (hh) and described in subsection (aaa)(1)(E); 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(7) carry out such other duties as the Federal 

2 agency determines necessary.’’. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

4 enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Busi5 ness Administration shall submit to the Committee on 

6 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 

7 the Committee on Small Business of the House of Represent8 atives a report summarizing the metrics relating to and an 

9 evaluation of the authority provided under section 9(cc) of 

10 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(cc)), as amended 

11 by subsection (a), which shall include the size and location 

12 of the small business concerns (as defined in section 3 of 

13 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)) receiving awards 

14 under the SBIR or STTR program. 

15 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS AS16 SISTANCE; COMMERCIALIZATION IMPACT AS17 SESSMENT; PATENT ASSISTANCE. 

18 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

19 as amended by section 2, is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (q)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre22 ceding subparagraph (A)— 

23 (i) by striking ‘‘may enter into an 

24 agreement with 1 or more vendors selected 

25 under paragraph (2)(A) to provide small 


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1 business concerns engaged in SBIR or 

2 STTR projects with technical and business 

3 assistance services’’ and inserting ‘‘shall au4 thorize recipients of awards under the SBIR 

5 or STTR program to select, if desired, tech6 nical and business assistance provided 

7 under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of 

8 paragraph (2) with respect to SBIR or 

9 STTR projects’’; 

10 (ii) by inserting ‘‘cybersecurity assist11 ance,’’ after ‘‘intellectual property protec12 tions,’’; and 

13 (iii) by striking ‘‘such concerns’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘such recipients’’; 

15 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) STAFF.—A small business concern 

18 may, by contract or otherwise, use funding pro19 vided under this section to hire new staff, aug20 ment staff, or direct staff to conduct or partici21 pate in training activities consistent with the 

22 goals listed in paragraph (1).’’; 

23 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking subpara24 graphs (A) and (B) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) PHASE I.—A Federal agency described 

2 in paragraph (1) shall authorize a recipient of 

3 a Phase I SBIR or STTR award to utilize not 

4 more than $6,500 per project, included as part 

5 of the award of the recipient or in addition to 

6 the amount of the award of the recipient as de7 termined appropriate by the head of the Federal 

8 agency, for the services described in paragraph 

9 (1)— 

10 ‘‘(i) provided through a vendor selected 

11 under paragraph (2)(A); 

12 ‘‘(ii) provided through a vendor other 

13 than a vendor selected under paragraph 

14 (2)(A); 

15 ‘‘(iii) achieved through the activities 

16 described in paragraph (2)(C); or 

17 ‘‘(iv) provided or achieved through any 

18 combination of clauses (i), (ii), and (iii). 

19 ‘‘(B) PHASE II.—A Federal agency de20 scribed in paragraph (1) shall authorize a re21 cipient of a Phase II SBIR or STTR award to 

22 utilize not more than $50,000 per project, in23 cluded as part of the award of the recipient or 

24 in addition to the amount of the award of the re25 cipient as determined appropriate by the head of 


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1 the Federal agency, for the services described in 

2 paragraph (1)— 

3 ‘‘(i) provided through a vendor selected 

4 under paragraph (2)(A); 

5 ‘‘(ii) provided through a vendor other 

6 than a vendor selected under paragraph 

7 (2)(A); 

8 ‘‘(iii) achieved through the activities 

9 described in paragraph (2)(C); or 

10 ‘‘(iv) provided or achieved through any 

11 combination of clauses (i), (ii), and (iii).’’; 

12 and 

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

14 ‘‘(5) TARGETED REVIEW.—A Federal agency 

15 may perform targeted reviews of technical and busi16 ness assistance funding as described in subsection 

17 (mm)(1)(F).’’; and 

18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(zz) I-CORPS PARTICIPATION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agency that is 

21 required to conduct an SBIR or STTR program with 

22 an Innovation Corps (commonly known as ‘I-Corps’) 

23 program shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) provide an option for participation in 

2 an I-Corps teams course by recipients of an 

3 award under the SBIR or STTR program; and 

4 ‘‘(B) authorize the recipients described in 

5 subparagraph (A) to use an award provided 

6 under subsection (q) to provide additional tech7 nical assistance for participation in the I-Corps 

8 teams course. 

9 ‘‘(2) COST OF PARTICIPATION.—The cost of par10 ticipation by a recipient described in paragraph 

11 (1)(A) in an I-Corps course may be provided by— 

12 ‘‘(A) an I-Corps team grant; 

13 ‘‘(B) funds awarded to the recipient under 

14 subsection (q); 

15 ‘‘(C) the participating teams or other 

16 sources as appropriate; or 

17 ‘‘(D) any combination of sources described 

18 in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C). 

19 ‘‘(aaa) COMMERCIALIZATION IMPACT ASSESSMENT.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall co21 ordinate with each Federal agency with an SBIR or 

22 STTR program to develop an annual commercializa23 tion impact assessment report of the Federal agency, 

24 which shall measure, for the 5-year period preceding 


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1 the report (except with respect to subparagraph 

2 (A)(x))— 

3 ‘‘(A) for Phase II contracts— 

4 ‘‘(i) the total amount of sales of new 

5 products and services to the Federal Govern6 ment or other commercial markets; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the total outside investment from 

8 partnerships, joint ventures, or other pri9 vate sector funding sources; 

10 ‘‘(iii) the total number of technologies 

11 licensed to other companies; 

12 ‘‘(iv) the total number of acquisitions 

13 of small business concerns participating in 

14 the SBIR program or the STTR program 

15 that are acquired by other entities; 

16 ‘‘(v) the total number of new spin-out 

17 companies; 

18 ‘‘(vi) the total outside investment from 

19 venture capital or angel investments; 

20 ‘‘(vii) the total number of patent appli21 cations; 

22 ‘‘(viii) the total number of patents ac23 quired; 


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1 ‘‘(ix) the year of first Phase I award 

2 and the total number of employees at time 

3 of first Phase I award; 

4 ‘‘(x) the total number of employees, as 

5 of October 1 of the year preceding the year 

6 in which the report is submitted; and 

7 ‘‘(xi) the percent of revenue, as of the 

8 date of the report, generated through SBIR 

9 or STTR program funding; 

10 ‘‘(B) the total number and value of subse11 quent Phase II awards, as described in sub12 section (bb), awarded for each particular project 

13 or technology; 

14 ‘‘(C) the total number and value of Phase 

15 III awards awarded subsequent to a Phase II 

16 award; 

17 ‘‘(D) the total number and value of non18 SBIR and STTR program Federal awards and 

19 contracts; and 

20 ‘‘(E) actions taken by the Federal agency, 

21 and the results of those actions, relating to devel22 oping a simplified and standardized application 

23 process and requirements, procedures, and model 

24 contracts throughout the Federal agency for 


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1 Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III SBIR program 

2 awards in subsection (hh). 

3 ‘‘(2) REPORTING BY CERTAIN CONCERNS.—For 

4 each fiscal year, each small business concern that has 

5 received more than 50 Phase II awards on or after 

6 October 1 of the ninth fiscal year before that fiscal 

7 year shall report to the Administration— 

8 ‘‘(A) the rate of transition of the small busi9 ness concern to Federal contracts outside of the 

10 SBIR and STTR program; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the gross revenue of the small business 

12 concern and the amount of gross revenue derived 

13 from SBIR and STTR Phase I and Phase II 

14 awards. 

15 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.—A commercialization im16 pact assessment report described in paragraph (1) of 

17 a Federal agency shall be— 

18 ‘‘(A) included in the annual report of the 

19 Federal agency required under this section; and 

20 ‘‘(B) published on the website of the Admin21 istration. 

22 ‘‘(bbb) PATENT ASSISTANCE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Director’ means the Under 

2 Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property 

3 and Director of the USPTO; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘USPTO’ means the United 

5 States Patent and Trademark Office. 

6 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

8 shall enter into an interagency agreement with 

9 the Director under which the Director shall assist 

10 recipients of an award under the SBIR or STTR 

11 program (in this paragraph referred to as ‘SBIR 

12 and STTR recipients’) relating to intellectual 

13 property protection by establishing a prioritized 

14 patent examination program for SBIR and 

15 STTR recipients. 

16 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM DETAILS.—The program es17 tablished by the Director under subparagraph 

18 (A) shall have the following characteristics: 

19 ‘‘(i) The program shall incorporate all 

20 existing (as of the date on which the Direc21 tor establishes the program) benefits under 

22 the procedures for prioritized examination 

23 described in section 11(h) of the Leahy24 Smith America Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 41 

25 note). 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Under the program, with respect 

2 to prioritized examination, an SBIR or 

3 STTR recipient shall not be required to pay 

4 any prioritized examination fee or proc5 essing fee otherwise required under section 

6 11(h) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents 

7 Act (35 U.S.C. 41 note). 

8 ‘‘(iii) Under the program, the Director 

9 shall ensure that, of the total number of re10 quests for prioritized examination accepted 

11 by the USPTO in a fiscal year, the greater 

12 of the following shall be reserved for 

13 prioritized examinations for SBIR and 

14 STTR recipients: 

15 ‘‘(I) 5 percent of the total number 

16 of such requests that may be accepted 

17 during that fiscal year. 

18 ‘‘(II) 500 requests for prioritized 

19 examination. 

20 ‘‘(iv) Under the program, the Director 

21 may not grant more than 2 prioritized ex22 amination requests to any individual re23 cipient. 

24 ‘‘(v) Under the program, the Director 

25 may increase the number of requests for 


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1 prioritized examination that may be accept2 ed in any fiscal year (as described in sec3 tion 1.102(e) of title 37, Code of Federal 

4 Regulations, or any successor regulation) by 

5 the number determined under clause (iii) 

6 for that fiscal year. 

7 ‘‘(C) RULES.—The Director shall issue rules 

8 to carry out the prioritized patent examination 

9 program established under this paragraph. 

10 ‘‘(3) OUTREACH.—The Administrator shall co11 ordinate with the Director to provide outreach regard12 ing the Pro Se Assistance Program of, and scam pre13 vention services provided by, the USPTO.’’. 


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Calendar No. 169 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1396 

A BILL 

To improve commercialization activities in the 

SBIR and STTR programs, and for other purposes. 

JULY 25, 2023 

Reported with an amendment 


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