II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2023 

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 

JUNE 27, 2019 

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

and Mr. KENNEDY) 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 2019’’. 

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)— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (B)(vi), by 

23 amending subclause (III) to read as fol24 lows: 


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

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

4 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

5 and’’; and 

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

8 ‘‘(D) shall give first priority and special 

9 consideration to an applicant that is located in 

10 an underperforming State.’’; 

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

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

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

14 and 

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

16 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR UNDERPER17 FORMING STATES.—Upon application by a recipient 

18 that is located in an underperforming State, the Ad19 ministrator may— 

20 ‘‘(A) provide additional assistance to the 

21 recipient; and 

22 ‘‘(B) waive the matching requirements 

23 under subsection (e)(2).’’; 

24 (3) in subsection (e)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

2 (I) by inserting ‘‘and STTR’’ be3 fore ‘‘first phase’’ each place that 

4 term appears; 

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

6 ‘‘50’’ and inserting ‘‘25’’; and 

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

8 ‘‘75’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; and 

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

10 ‘‘, beginning with fiscal year 2001’’ and in11 serting ‘‘and make publicly available on the 

12 website of the Administration, beginning 

13 with fiscal year 2020’’; and 

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

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

16 FAST program under this section, the Adminis17 trator shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) make and enter into not less than 12 

19 awards or cooperative agreements; 

20 ‘‘(B) each award or cooperative agreement 

21 shall be for not more than $500,000, which 

22 shall be provided over 2 fiscal years; and 

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

24 quarter of the second fiscal year may be reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2023.IS S2023

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1 tained by the Administrator for future FAST 

2 program awards. 

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

4 after receiving an award or entering into a coopera5 tive agreement under this section, a recipient shall 

6 report to the Administrator— 

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

8 the SBIR or STTR program; 

9 ‘‘(B) the number of applications submitted 

10 for the SBIR or STTR program; 

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

12 ‘‘(D) the number of training events con13 ducted; and 

14 ‘‘(E) any issues encountered in the man15 agement and application of the FAST pro16 gram.’’; 

17 (4) in subsection (f)— 

18 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (i) in the matter preceding subpara20 graph (A)— 

21 (I) by striking ‘‘Not later than 

22 120 days after the date of the enact23 ment of the Small Business Innova24 tion Research Program ReauthorizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2023.IS S2023

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1 tion Act of 2000’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘April 30, 2020’’; and 

3 (II) by inserting ‘‘and Entrepre4 neurship’’ before ‘‘of the Senate’’; 

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

6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

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

8 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

9 and’’; and 

10 (iv) by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

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

13 ensure that underperforming States are given 

14 priority application status under the FAST pro15 gram.’’; and 

16 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

17 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik18 ing ‘‘ANNUAL’’ and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL’’; 

19 (ii) in the matter preceding subpara20 graph (A), by striking ‘‘annual’’ and in21 serting ‘‘biennial’’; 

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

23 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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

2 the period at the end and inserting a semi3 colon; and 

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

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

6 and cooperative agreements entered into with 

7 underperforming States; and 

8 ‘‘(E) a list of the States that were deter9 mined by the Administrator to be underper10 forming States, and a description of any 

11 changes in the list compared to previously sub12 mitted reports.’’; 

13 (5) in subsection (g)(2)— 

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

15 ‘‘2020’’; and 

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

17 before ‘‘of the Senate’’; and 

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

19 ‘‘$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 

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

21 years between fiscal years 2020 through 2024, to be 

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

Æ 


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