II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2045 

To reauthorize the SBIR and STTR programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 

Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To reauthorize 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 ‘‘SBIR and STTR Per5 manency and Improvement Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PERMANENCY OF SBIR AND STTR PROGRAMS. 

7 (a) SBIR.—Section 9(m) of the Small Business Act 

8 (15 U.S.C. 638(m)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the subsection heading, by striking 

2 ‘‘TERMINATION’’ and inserting ‘‘SBIR PROGRAM

3 AUTHORIZATION’’; and 

4 (2) by striking ‘‘terminate on September 30, 

5 2022’’ and inserting ‘‘be in effect for each fiscal 

6 year’’. 

7 (b) STTR.—Section 9(n)(1)(A) of the Small Busi8 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 638(n)(1)(A)) is amended by striking 

9 ‘‘through fiscal year 2022’’. 

10 SEC. 3. ALLOCATION INCREASE. 

11 (a) SBIR.—Section 9(f)(1) of the Small Business Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 638(f)) is amended— 

13 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

14 by striking ‘‘expend’’ and inserting ‘‘obligate for ex15 penditure’’; 

16 (2) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

17 the end; 

18 (3) in subparagraph (I), by striking ‘‘and each 

19 fiscal year thereafter,’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

20 and 

21 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(J) not less than 3.5 percent of such 

24 budget in fiscal year 2020; 


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1 ‘‘(K) not less than 4 percent of such budg2 et in fiscal year 2021; 

3 ‘‘(L) not less than 5 percent of such budg4 et in fiscal year 2022; 

5 ‘‘(M) not less than 6 percent of such budg6 et in fiscal year 2023; and 

7 ‘‘(N) not less than 6.4 percent of such 

8 budget in fiscal year 2024 and each fiscal year 

9 thereafter.’’. 

10 (b) STTR.—Section 9(n)(1) of the Small Business 

11 Act (15 U.S.C. 638(n)(1)) is amended— 

12 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘expend’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘obligate for expenditure’’; and 

14 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 

15 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

16 end; 

17 (B) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 

18 2016 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’ and in19 serting ‘‘fiscal year 2019;’’; and 

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

21 ‘‘(vi) 0.55 percent for fiscal year 

22 2020; 

23 ‘‘(vii) 0.65 percent for fiscal year 

24 2021; 


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1 ‘‘(viii) 0.75 percent for fiscal year 

2 2022; 

3 ‘‘(ix) 0.85 percent for fiscal year 

4 2023; and 

5 ‘‘(x) 1 percent for fiscal year 2024 

6 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. ACCELERATING AWARD TIMELINES ACROSS AGEN8 CIES. 

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

10 is amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (g)(8)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

13 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

14 (B) in subparagraph (C), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

15 at the end; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(D) the average and median amount of 

18 time that each Federal agency with an SBIR 

19 program takes to review and make a final deci20 sion on proposals submitted under the pro21 gram;’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (o)(9)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (C), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

2 at the end; and 

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

4 ‘‘(D) the average and median amount of 

5 time that each Federal agency with an STTR 

6 program takes to review and make a final deci7 sion on proposals submitted under the pro8 gram;’’; 

9 (3) in subsection (hh)— 

10 (A) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT TO ACCELERATE ALL SBIR

12 AND STTR AWARDS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

13 date of enactment of this paragraph, each Federal 

14 agency participating in the SBIR program or STTR 

15 program, other than the Department of Defense, 

16 shall establish a program to reduce the time for 

17 awards under the SBIR and STTR programs of the 

18 Federal agency by— 

19 ‘‘(A) developing simplified and standard20 ized procedures and model contracts throughout 

21 the Federal agency for Phase I, Phase II, and 

22 Phase III SBIR awards; 

23 ‘‘(B) for Phase I SBIR and STTR awards, 

24 reducing the amount of time between solicita25 tion closure and award; 


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1 ‘‘(C) for Phase II SBIR and STTR 

2 awards, reducing the amount of time between 

3 the end of a Phase I award and the start of the 

4 Phase II award; 

5 ‘‘(D) for Phase II SBIR and STTR 

6 awards that skip Phase I, reducing the amount 

7 of time between solicitation closure and award; 

8 ‘‘(E) for sequential Phase II SBIR and 

9 STTR awards, reducing the amount of time be10 tween Phase II awards; and 

11 ‘‘(F) reducing the award times described in 

12 subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), (E), and (F) to be 

13 as close to 90 days as possible.’’; and 

14 (4) in subsection (ii), by adding at the end the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL COMPTROLLER GENERAL RE17 PORTS.—The Comptroller General of the United 

18 States shall submit to the Committee on Small Busi19 ness and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the 

20 Committee on Small Business of the House of Rep21 resentatives— 

22 ‘‘(A) not later than 2 years after the date 

23 of enactment of this paragraph, a report that— 

24 ‘‘(i) provides the average and median 

25 amount of time that each Federal agency 


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1 with an SBIR or STTR program takes to 

2 review and make a final decision on pro3 posals submitted under the program; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) compares that average and me5 dian amount of time with that of the pre6 vious 5 fiscal years; and 

7 ‘‘(B) not later than March 31, 2023, a re8 port that— 

9 ‘‘(i) includes the information described 

10 in subparagraph (A); 

11 ‘‘(ii) assesses where each Federal 

12 agency participating in the SBIR or STTR 

13 program needs improvement with respect 

14 to the proposal review and award times 

15 under the program; 

16 ‘‘(iii) identifies best practices for 

17 shortening the proposal review and award 

18 times under the SBIR and STTR pro19 grams; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) analyzes the efficacy of the pro21 gram established under subsection 

22 (hh)(3).’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. ENCOURAGING VENTURE CAPITAL-OWNED PRO2 GRAM PARTICIPANTS. 

3 Section 9(dd) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

4 638(dd)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—The head of a Federal 

8 agency that participates in the SBIR program— 

9 ‘‘(A) may award not more than 25 percent 

10 of the funds allocated for the SBIR program of 

11 the Federal agency to small business concerns 

12 that are owned in majority part by multiple 

13 venture capital operating companies, hedge 

14 funds, or private equity firms through competi15 tive, merit-based procedures that are open to all 

16 eligible small business concerns; and 

17 ‘‘(B) may not award any funds allocated 

18 for the SBIR program of the Federal agency to 

19 small business concerns owned by venture cap20 ital operating companies, hedge funds, or pri21 vate equity firms whose owners do not have 

22 United States citizenship.’’; 

23 (2) by striking paragraph (2); 

24 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 

25 (7) as paragraphs (2) through (6); and 

26 (4) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

3 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

4 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(C) indicate if any of the venture capital 

7 operating companies, hedge fund, or private eq8 uity firm owners of the small business concern 

9 do not have United States citizenship.’’. 

10 SEC. 6. PHASE III AWARD EDUCATION. 

11 Section 9(r)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 638(r)(4)) is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

14 the end; 

15 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

16 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

18 ‘‘(C) train contracting officers in the exe19 cution of Phase III sole source award con20 tracts.’’. 

Æ 


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