II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3310 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to establish the Minority 

Institute for Defense Research, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 2, 2021 

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

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to 

establish the Minority Institute for Defense Research, 

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 ‘‘Building Equitable Ac5 cess to Contribute to Our National Security Act of 2021’’ 

6 or the ‘‘BEACON Act of 2021’’. 

7 SEC. 2. MINORITY INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE RESEARCH. 

8 (a) PLAN TO ESTABLISH MINORITY INSTITUTE FOR

9 DEFENSE RESEARCH.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec3 retary shall submit to the congressional defense com4 mittees a plan (in this section referred to as the 

5 ‘‘Plan’’) for the establishment of the Minority Insti6 tute for Defense Research (in this section referred to 

7 as the ‘‘Consortium’’). 

8 (2) ELEMENTS.—The Plan shall include the fol9 lowing: 

10 (A) Information relating to the projected 

11 needs of the Department for the next twenty 

12 years with respect to essential engineering, re13 search, or development capability. 

14 (B) An assessment relating to the engi15 neering, research, and development capability of 

16 each minority institution to identify each lead17 ing minority institution. 

18 (C) Information relating to the advance19 ments and investments necessary to elevate a 

20 minority institution or a consortium of minority 

21 institutions to the research capacity of a Uni22 versity Affiliated Research Center. 

23 (D) Recommendations relating to actions 

24 that may be taken by the Department, ConVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Dec 08, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3310.IS S3310

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1 gress, and minority institutions to establish the 

2 Consortium within 10 years. 

3 (3) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—The Plan shall be 

4 posted on a publicly available website of the Depart5 ment. 

6 (b) NAMING OF THE CONSORTIUM.—With respect to 

7 the naming of the Consortium, the Secretary shall— 

8 (1) establish a process to solicit and review pro9 posals of names from— 

10 (A) minority institutions; 

11 (B) nonprofit institutions that advocate on 

12 behalf of minority institutions; and 

13 (C) members of the public; 

14 (2) develop a list of all names received pursuant 

15 to paragraph (1); 

16 (3) provide opportunity for public comment on 

17 the names included on such list; and 

18 (4) choose a name from such list to name the 

19 Consortium. 

20 (c) GRANT PROGRAM FOR LEADING MINORITY INSTI21 TUTIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may establish 

23 a program to award grants, on a competitive basis, 

24 to leading minority institutions for the purposes de25 scribed in paragraph (2). 


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1 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes described in this 

2 paragraph are the following: 

3 (A) Establishing a legal entity for the pur4 pose of entering into research contracts or 

5 agreements with the Federal Government or the 

6 Consortium. 

7 (B) Developing the capability to bid on 

8 Federal Government or Consortium contracts. 

9 (C) Requesting technical assistance from 

10 the Federal Government or a private entity with 

11 respect to contracting with the Federal Govern12 ment or the Consortium. 

13 (D) Recruiting and retaining research fac14 ulty. 

15 (E) Advancing research capabilities relat16 ing to the national security of the United 

17 States. 

18 (F) Any other matter determined appro19 priate by the Secretary. 

20 (3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

21 grant under this section, a leading minority institu22 tion shall submit to the Secretary an application 

23 therefor in such form, and containing such informa24 tion, as the Secretary may require. 


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1 (4) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants pursu2 ant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give pref3 erence to a leading minority institution with a R1 or 

4 R2 status on the Carnegie Classification of Institu5 tions of Higher Education. 

6 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) The term ‘‘congressional defense commit8 tees’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Armed Services and 

10 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 

11 and 

12 (B) the Committee on Armed Services and 

13 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

14 of Representatives. 

15 (2) The term ‘‘Department’’ means the Depart16 ment of Defense. 

17 (3) The term ‘‘leading minority institution’’ 

18 means a minority institution identified (pursuant to 

19 the assessment required under subsection (a)(2)(B)) 

20 as being in the top 20 percent of all such institu21 tions with respect to providing essential engineering, 

22 research, or development capability. 

23 (4) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

24 has the meaning given such term in section 101 of 


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1 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 1001). 

3 (5) The term ‘‘minority institution’’ means— 

4 (A) a part B institution (as such term is 

5 defined in section 322(2) of the Higher Edu6 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2))); or 

7 (B) any institution of higher education at 

8 which not less than 50 percent of the total stu9 dent enrollment consists of students from ethnic 

10 groups that are underrepresented in the fields 

11 of science and engineering. 

12 (6) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

13 of Defense. 

14 (7) The term ‘‘University Affiliated Research 

15 Center’’ means a research organization within an in16 stitution of higher education that— 

17 (A) provides or maintains Department es18 sential engineering, research, or development 

19 capabilities; and 

20 (B) receives sole source contract funding 

21 from the Department pursuant to section 

22 2304(c)(3)(B) of title 10, United States Code. 


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1 SEC. 3. SUBCONTRACT REQUIREMENTS FOR MINORITY IN2 STITUTIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2304 of title 10, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(m)(1) The head of an agency shall require that a 

7 contract awarded to an educational institution pursuant 

8 to subsection (c)(3)(B) includes a requirement to sub9 contract with one or more minority institutions for a total 

10 amount of not less than 5 percent of the amount awarded 

11 in the contract. 

12 ‘‘(2) For the purposes of this subsection, a minority 

13 institution means— 

14 ‘‘(A) a part B institution (as that term is de15 fined in section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act 

16 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2))); or 

17 ‘‘(B) any other institution of higher education 

18 (as that term is defined in section 101 of such Act 

19 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) at which not less than 50 percent 

20 of the total student enrollment consists of students 

21 from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the 

22 fields of science and engineering.’’. 

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

24 subsection (a) shall— 

25 (1) take effect on October 1, 2026; and 


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1 (2) apply with respect to funds that are award2 ed by the Department of Defense on or after such 

3 date. 

Æ 


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