II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2009 

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the establishment of 

a small business voucher program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. GARDNER, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the 

establishment of a small business voucher program, 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 ‘‘Small Businesses 

5 Partnering with National Labs Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCACY AND ASSISTANCE. 

7 Section 1003 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

8 U.S.C. 16393) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

2 by striking ‘‘, and may require the Director of 

3 a single-purpose research facility,’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘(as defined in section 2) and the Director 

5 of each single-purpose research facility’’; 

6 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

7 (i) by striking ‘‘increase’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘encourage’’; and 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘collaborative re10 search,’’ and inserting ‘‘research, develop11 ment, demonstration, and commercial ap12 plication activities, including product devel13 opment,’’; 

14 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘procure15 ment and collaborative research’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘the activities described in paragraph (1)’’; 

17 (D) in paragraph (3)— 

18 (i) by inserting ‘‘facilities,’’ before 

19 ‘‘training’’; and 

20 (ii) by striking ‘‘procurement and col21 laborative research activities’’ and insert22 ing ‘‘the activities described in paragraph 

23 (1)’’; and 

24 (E) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘for the 

25 program under subsection (b)’’ and inserting 


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1 ‘‘and metrics for the programs under sub2 sections (b) and (c)’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

4 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; 

5 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESS VOUCHER PROGRAM.— 

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

9 ‘‘(A) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ 

10 means— 

11 ‘‘(i) the Director of each National 

12 Laboratory; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) the Director of each single-pur14 pose research facility. 

15 ‘‘(B) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term 

16 ‘National Laboratory’ has the meaning given 

17 the term in section 2. 

18 ‘‘(C) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 

19 means the program established under para20 graph (2). 

21 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, work22 ing with the Office of Technology Transitions and 

23 the Technology Transfer Coordinator appointed 

24 under section 1001(a), and in consultation with the 

25 Directors, shall establish a program to provide small 


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1 business concerns with vouchers under paragraph 

2 (3)— 

3 ‘‘(A) to achieve the goal described in sub4 section (a)(1); and 

5 ‘‘(B) to improve the products, services, and 

6 capabilities of small business concerns in the 

7 mission space of the Department. 

8 ‘‘(3) VOUCHERS.—Under the program, the Di9 rectors are authorized to provide to small business 

10 concerns vouchers to be used at National Labora11 tories and single-purpose research facilities for— 

12 ‘‘(A) research, development, demonstra13 tion, technology transfer, or commercial appli14 cation activities; or 

15 ‘‘(B) any other activities that the applica16 ble Director determines appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(4) EXPEDITED CONTRACTING.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, work19 ing with the Directors, shall establish a stream20 lined approval process for expedited contracting 

21 between— 

22 ‘‘(i) small business concerns selected 

23 to receive a voucher under the program; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the National Laboratories and 

2 single-purpose research facilities. 

3 ‘‘(B) DECISIONMAKING AUTHORITY.—The 

4 Secretary shall determine the appropriate deci5 sionmaking authority at the National Labora6 tories and single-purpose research facilities with 

7 respect to the expedited contracting described 

8 in subparagraph (A). 

9 ‘‘(5) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENT.—In car10 rying out the program, the Secretary shall require 

11 cost-sharing in accordance with section 988.’’; and 

12 (4) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated), by 

13 striking ‘‘$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 

14 through 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘$25,000,000 for fiscal 

15 year 2019 and each fiscal year thereafter’’. 

16 SEC. 3. INCREASE AND STREAMLINE RECOVERY OF UN17 CLAIMED ASSETS OWED TO THE UNITED 

18 STATES. 

19 Section 3711 of title 31, United States Code, is 

20 amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(j)(1) The Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in 

22 this subsection as the ‘Secretary’) may locate and recover 

23 unclaimed assets of the United States Government on be24 half of any executive, judicial, or legislative agency in acVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:06 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2009.IS S2009

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1 cordance with such procedures as the Secretary considers 

2 appropriate. 

3 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law con4 cerning the depositing or collection of Federal payments, 

5 including section 3302(b), the Secretary may retain a por6 tion of the amounts recovered under this subsection to 

7 cover the administrative and operational costs of the Sec8 retary associated with locating and recovering assets of 

9 the United States Government.’’. 

Æ 


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