II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2150 

To establish a regional high-growth collaborative pilot program in the Small 

Business Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 17, 2019 

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

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To establish a regional high-growth collaborative pilot program in 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 ‘‘Spurring Small Busi5 ness Innovation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REGIONAL HIGH-GROWTH COLLABORATIVE PILOT 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

9 (1) the term ‘‘Administration’’ means the Small 

10 Business Administration; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad2 ministrator of the Administration; 

3 (3) the term ‘‘covered period’’ means the 5-fis4 cal year period beginning in the first fiscal year that 

5 begins after the date of enactment of this Act; 

6 (4) the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ includes— 

7 (A) a nonprofit organization; 

8 (B) a public or nonprofit private institu9 tion of higher education; 

10 (C) a State government or any agency of 

11 a State government; 

12 (D) a regional entity, as described in sec13 tion 21(a)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

14 U.S.C. 648(a)(1)); 

15 (E) a State-chartered development, credit, 

16 or finance corporation; 

17 (F) a small business development center; 

18 (G) a women’s business center; 

19 (H) a veteran business outreach center; 

20 (I) a small business growth accelerator; 

21 (J) a small business incubator; and 

22 (K) a combination of entities described in 

23 subparagraphs (A) through (J); 


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1 (5) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

2 has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the 

3 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); 

4 (6) the term ‘‘Office’’ means the Office of Inno5 vation and Technology of the Administration; 

6 (7) the term ‘‘pilot program’’ means the Re7 gional High-Growth Collaborative Pilot Program es8 tablished under subsection (b); 

9 (8) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

10 meaning given the term in section 3(a) of the Small 

11 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)); 

12 (9) the term ‘‘small business development cen13 ter’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3(t) 

14 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(t)); 

15 (10) the terms ‘‘Small Business Innovation Re16 search Program’’ and ‘‘Small Business Technology 

17 Transfer Program’’ have the meanings given the 

18 terms in section 9(e) of the Small Business Act (15 

19 U.S.C. 638(e)); and 

20 (11) the term ‘‘women’s business center’’ means 

21 a women’s business center operating pursuant to 

22 section 29 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

23 656). 

24 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.—There is 

25 established in the Administration, for the covered period, 


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1 a Regional High-Growth Collaborative Pilot Program, the 

2 purpose of which is to provide the specialized resources 

3 that are necessary in order to start and scale small busi4 ness concerns in high-growth industries. 

5 (c) PHASES OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 

6 (1) PHASE I.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall— 

8 (i) carry out a competition to estab9 lish a total of 10 entities that shall serve 

10 as regional high-growth collaboratives dur11 ing the first 2 fiscal years of the covered 

12 period; and 

13 (ii) in carrying out the competition re14 quired under clause (i), ensure that there 

15 is established 1 regional high-growth col16 laborative in each of the 10 regions of the 

17 Administration, as in existence on the day 

18 before the date of enactment of this Act. 

19 (B) DUTIES.—Each collaborative estab20 lished under subparagraph (A) shall, during the 

21 2-fiscal year period described in subparagraph 

22 (A)(i), establish connections between small busi23 ness concerns in industries relating to tech24 nology and other entities in order to— 


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1 (i) offer to those small business con2 cerns— 

3 (I) access to appropriate tech4 nical and managerial resources; and 

5 (II) connections to the programs 

6 overseen by the Office of Entrepre7 neurial Development of the Adminis8 tration; 

9 (ii) provide to those small business 

10 concerns— 

11 (I) market research relating to 

12 potential customers for the products 

13 and services offered by the small busi14 ness concerns; and 

15 (II) other types of business train16 ing relating to technology and innova17 tion; 

18 (iii) facilitate access to capital for 

19 those small business concerns; 

20 (iv) refer those small business con21 cerns to other assistance programs, as ap22 propriate; and 

23 (v) provide those small business con24 cerns with assistance in preparing applica25 tions with respect to the Small Business 


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1 Innovation Research Program and other 

2 similar programs. 

3 (C) EVALUATIONS.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall 

5 evaluate the success of each collaborative 

6 established under subparagraph (A) by 

7 analyzing, for the 2-fiscal year period de8 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i)— 

9 (I) the number of small business 

10 concerns assisted by the collaborative; 

11 (II) the number of small business 

12 concerns assisted by the collaborative 

13 that submitted proposals under the 

14 Small Business Innovation Research 

15 Program, the Small Business Tech16 nology Transfer Program, and other 

17 similar programs; 

18 (III) the rates of hiring by small 

19 business concerns assisted by the col20 laborative; 

21 (IV) the amount of capital pro22 vided to small business concerns as23 sisted by the collaborative; 


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1 (V) the percentage of small busi2 ness concerns assisted by the collabo3 rative that operate in rural areas; 

4 (VI) the degree to which the 

5 services provided by the collaborative 

6 are geographically dispersed; 

7 (VII) the number of small busi8 ness concerns created as a result of 

9 the activities carried out by the col10 laborative; and 

11 (VIII) any additional metric that 

12 the Office determines to be appro13 priate. 

14 (ii) FACTOR WEIGHTING.—The Office 

15 shall— 

16 (I) in performing evaluations 

17 under clause (i), determine how much 

18 weight should be given to each metric 

19 described in subclauses (I) through 

20 (VIII) of that clause; and 

21 (II) make the determination of 

22 the Office under subclause (I) publicly 

23 available. 

24 (D) AWARD OF FUNDS THROUGH COOPER25 ATIVE AGREEMENT.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

2 shall enter into a cooperative agreement 

3 with each collaborative established under 

4 subparagraph (A), under which the Admin5 istrator shall award to the collaborative 

6 $300,000— 

7 (I) for each fiscal year in which 

8 the collaborative carries out the duties 

9 described in subparagraph (B); and 

10 (II) to carry out the duties de11 scribed in subparagraph (B). 

12 (ii) ADMINISTRATOR DISCRETION.— 

13 With respect to an award under clause (i), 

14 the Administrator may distribute the 

15 award as determined appropriate by the 

16 Administrator, including by distributing 

17 the award in installments. 

18 (E) RELATIONSHIP TO PHASE II.— 

19 (i) HIGHEST SCORING COLLABO20 RATIVE.—The collaborative that scores the 

21 highest with respect to the evaluations per22 formed under subparagraph (C) (referred 

23 to in this subparagraph as the ‘‘highest 

24 scoring collaborative’’) shall— 


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1 (I) subject to clause (ii), serve as 

2 the model with respect to how to 

3 structure the high-growth collabora4 tives established under phase II of the 

5 pilot program under paragraph (2); 

6 and 

7 (II) be guaranteed to receive an 

8 award under paragraph (2) for the 

9 first fiscal year in which phase II of 

10 the pilot program is in effect under 

11 that paragraph. 

12 (ii) OTHER COLLABORATIVES.—The 

13 Administrator— 

14 (I) may incorporate elements 

15 from collaboratives other than the 

16 highest scoring collaborative when de17 termining how to structure the high18 growth collaboratives established 

19 under phase II of the pilot program 

20 under paragraph (2); and 

21 (II) if the Administrator makes 

22 an incorporation described in sub23 clause (I), shall make the methodology 

24 regarding that incorporation publicly 

25 available. 


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1 (2) PHASE II.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall enter 

3 into a total of 10 cooperative agreements, under 

4 which the Office shall make awards to eligible 

5 entities to establish, for the third, fourth, and 

6 fifth fiscal years of the covered period, 1 re7 gional high-growth collaborative in each of the 

8 10 regions of the Administration, as in exist9 ence on the day before the date of enactment of 

10 this Act. 

11 (B) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that 

12 wishes to enter into a cooperative agreement 

13 under subparagraph (A) shall submit to the Of14 fice an application— 

15 (i) in such form and manner as the 

16 Office may require; and 

17 (ii) that contains— 

18 (I) a plan describing— 

19 (aa) how the eligible entity 

20 will provide the services described 

21 in clauses (i) through (v) of para22 graph (1)(B) (referred to in this 

23 subparagraph as ‘‘covered serv24 ices’’); 


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1 (bb) the means by which the 

2 eligible entity will provide covered 

3 services; 

4 (cc) the partnerships into 

5 which the eligible entity will enter 

6 in order to provide covered serv7 ices; 

8 (dd) how the eligible entity 

9 will encourage participation by 

10 small business concerns that op11 erate in rural areas; 

12 (ee) the method used by the 

13 eligible entity to tailor covered 

14 services to account for the var15 ious geographic areas and eco16 nomic conditions in the region in 

17 which the eligible entity will serve 

18 as a collaborative; and 

19 (ff) the geographic area that 

20 the eligible entity will serve; 

21 (II) a budget for the provision of 

22 covered services by the eligible entity; 

23 (III) the name of the individual 

24 who will serve as executive director of 


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1 the collaborative or a plan to appoint 

2 such an individual; and 

3 (IV) any other information that 

4 the Office determines to be necessary. 

5 (C) AMOUNT OF AWARD.— 

6 (i) IN GENERAL.—Each award to an 

7 eligible entity under this paragraph shall 

8 be— 

9 (I) in an amount that is 

10 $500,000; and 

11 (II) obligated during the fiscal 

12 year in which the eligible entity re13 ceives the award. 

14 (ii) MATCHING FUNDS.—An eligible 

15 entity to which the Office makes an award 

16 under clause (i) shall be required to match 

17 50 percent of that award, which may be 

18 satisfied through the use of an in-kind 

19 match. 

20 (D) EVALUATIONS.—The Office shall, with 

21 respect to each award made under this para22 graph, evaluate the eligible entity to which the 

23 award is made using the same metrics used 

24 under paragraph (1)(C). 


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1 (E) RENEWAL.—The Office may, for each 

2 of the fourth and fifth fiscal years of the cov3 ered period, renew an award made to an eligible 

4 entity under this paragraph in the third or 

5 fourth fiscal year of the covered period, as ap6 plicable, if, with respect to that third or fourth 

7 fiscal year, the eligible entity scores highly on 

8 the evaluation conducted under subparagraph 

9 (D) with respect to the eligible entity. 

10 (d) ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Ad11 ministrator shall— 

12 (1) provide oversight of the Office with respect 

13 to the carrying out of the pilot program; and 

14 (2) ensure that— 

15 (A) the pilot program is consistent with 

16 statutory requirements, including the require17 ments of this Act; and 

18 (B) the district and regional offices of the 

19 Administration work closely to ensure the suc20 cess of the pilot program. 

21 (e) REPORTS.— 

22 (1) SBA.—For each fiscal year in which the 

23 pilot program is in effect, the Administrator shall 

24 submit to Congress a report that contains, with re25 spect to the year covered by the report— 


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1 (A) the information collected by the Office 

2 in order to carry out the evaluations required 

3 under paragraphs (1)(C) and (2)(D) of sub4 section (c); 

5 (B) a description of the services provided 

6 by collaboratives under the pilot program; 

7 (C) a list of— 

8 (i) with respect to phase I of the pilot 

9 program under subsection (c)(1), each en10 tity established as a collaborative under 

11 such subsection (c)(1); and 

12 (ii) with respect to phase II of the 

13 pilot program under subsection (c)(2), each 

14 eligible entity with which the Office en15 tered into a cooperative agreement under 

16 such subsection (c)(2); and 

17 (D) with respect to phase II of the pilot 

18 program under subsection (c)(2), an analysis of 

19 how the Office determined whether to renew an 

20 award under subsection (c)(2)(E). 

21 (2) GAO.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

22 on which the pilot program expires, the Comptroller 

23 General of the United States shall submit to Con24 gress a report that analyzes— 

25 (A) the impact of the pilot program; and 


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1 (B) the effectiveness of the oversight re2 quired under subsection (d)(1). 

Æ 


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