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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2551 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2551

To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Innovative Approaches 
                 to Technology Transfer Grant Program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 26, 2014

 Mrs. Gillibrand (for herself and Mr. Coats) introduced the following 
   bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 
                     Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Innovative Approaches 
                 to Technology Transfer Grant Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Technology and Research Accelerating 
National Security and Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2014'' or the 
``TRANSFER Act''.

SEC. 2. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER GRANT PROGRAM.

    Section 9(jj) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(jj)) is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(jj) Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer.--
            ``(1) Grant program.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                            ``(i) the term `covered agency' means a 
                        Federal agency that is required to establish an 
                        STTR program under subsection (n);
                            ``(ii) the term `eligible institution' 
                        means--
                                    ``(I) an institution of higher 
                                education;
                                    ``(II) a technology transfer 
                                organization that facilitates the 
                                commercialization of technologies 
                                developed by 1 or more institutions of 
                                higher education;
                                    ``(III) a Federal laboratory;
                                    ``(IV) a public or private 
                                nonprofit entity; or
                                    ``(V) a consortium of any of the 
                                entities described under subclause (I), 
                                (II), (III), or (IV);
                            ``(iii) the term `Federal laboratory' has 
                        the meaning given that term under section 4(6) 
                        of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 
                        Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703(6));
                            ``(iv) the term `institution of higher 
                        education' has the meaning given that term 
                        under section 101(a) of the Higher Education 
                        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)); and
                            ``(v) the term `program' means an 
                        Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer 
                        Grant Program established by a covered agency 
                        under subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Establishment of program.--The head of each 
                covered agency shall establish a grant program, to be 
                known as the Innovative Approaches to Technology 
                Transfer Grant Program of the covered agency, to make 
                grants to eligible institutions to improve or 
                accelerate the commercialization of high quality and 
                commercially viable federally funded research and 
                technology by small business concerns.
                    ``(C) Use of funds.--Grants awarded under a program 
                may be used to--
                            ``(i) provide early-stage proof of concept 
                        funding for translational research;
                            ``(ii) identify research and technology 
                        that have the potential for accelerated 
                        commercialization;
                            ``(iii) support technology maturation 
                        activities, including prototype construction, 
                        experiment analysis, product comparison, and 
                        the collection of performance data;
                            ``(iv) provide funding for technical 
                        validations, market research, clarifying 
                        intellectual property rights position and 
                        strategy, and investigating commercial and 
                        business opportunities;
                            ``(v) provide advice, mentoring, 
                        entrepreneurial education, project management, 
                        and technology and business development 
                        expertise to innovators and recipients of 
                        technology transfer licenses to maximize 
                        commercialization potential; and
                            ``(vi) conduct outreach to small business 
                        concerns as potential licensees of federally 
                        funded research and technology to provide 
                        technology transfer services to those small 
                        business concerns.
                    ``(D) Application.--
                            ``(i) In general.--An eligible institution 
                        desiring a grant under the program shall submit 
                        an application to a covered agency at such 
                        time, in such manner, and containing such 
                        information as the covered agency may require.
                            ``(ii) Required information.--An 
                        application submitted for a grant under the 
                        program shall include--
                                    ``(I)(aa) a description of 
                                innovative approaches to technology 
                                transfer, technology development, and 
                                commercial readiness that have the 
                                potential to increase or accelerate 
                                technology transfer outcomes and can be 
                                adopted by other eligible institutions; 
                                or
                                    ``(bb) a demonstration of, or a 
                                plan to implement, proven technology 
                                transfer and commercialization 
                                strategies that can achieve greater 
                                commercialization of federally funded 
                                research and technology with a grant 
                                under the program;
                                    ``(II) a description of how the 
                                eligible institution will contribute to 
                                local and regional economic development 
                                efforts;
                                    ``(III) a plan for sustainability 
                                after grant amounts have been expended; 
                                and
                                    ``(IV) a plan to assemble an 
                                oversight board in accordance with 
                                subparagraph (F).
                    ``(E) Competitive basis.--A covered agency shall 
                award grants to eligible institutions under the program 
                of the covered agency on a competitive basis.
                    ``(F) Oversight board.--
                            ``(i) In general.--An eligible institution 
                        that receives a grant under the program shall 
                        assemble an oversight board to--
                                    ``(I) establish award programs for 
                                individual projects, including an 
                                application process;
                                    ``(II) provide rigorous evaluation 
                                of project applications;
                                    ``(III) determine which projects 
                                should receive awards from the eligible 
                                institution;
                                    ``(IV) establish milestones and 
                                associated award amounts for projects 
                                that reach certain milestones;
                                    ``(V) determine whether a project 
                                is reaching the established milestones; 
                                and
                                    ``(VI) develop a process to 
                                reallocate outstanding award amounts 
                                from projects that are not reaching 
                                milestones to other projects with more 
                                potential to reach those milestones.
                            ``(ii) Membership and qualifications.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--An oversight 
                                board assembled under clause (i) shall 
                                be composed of members who shall have 
                                demonstrated relevant technical, 
                                scientific, or business expertise, of 
                                whom three-fifths shall be drawn from 
                                relevant industries, start-up 
                                companies, venture capital or other 
                                equity investment mechanisms, technical 
                                enterprises, financial institutions, 
                                and business development organizations 
                                with a track record of success in 
                                commercializing innovations.
                                    ``(II) Conflicts of interest.--An 
                                oversight board assembled under clause 
                                (i) shall adopt policies that--
                                            ``(aa) prohibit conflicts 
                                        of interest among members of 
                                        the oversight board;
                                            ``(bb) ensure that relevant 
                                        relationships are disclosed; 
                                        and
                                            ``(cc) establish proper 
                                        recusal procedures in the event 
                                        of a conflict of interest.
                            ``(iii) Use of existing oversight boards.--
                        An eligible institution may use oversight 
                        boards in existence on the date of the 
                        enactment of the Technology and Research 
                        Accelerating National Security and Future 
                        Economic Resiliency Act of 2014 that meet the 
                        requirements of this subparagraph.
                    ``(G) Grant and award amounts.--
                            ``(i) Grant amounts.--The amount of a grant 
                        made by a covered agency under the program of 
                        the covered agency shall be not more than 
                        $3,000,000.
                            ``(ii) Award amounts.--An eligible 
                        institution that receives a grant under a 
                        program shall make awards for individual 
                        projects that support the activities of clauses 
                        (i), (iii) and (iv) of subparagraph (C), 
                        which--
                                    ``(I) shall not be more than 
                                $100,000; and
                                    ``(II) shall be provided in phased 
                                amounts, based on whether the project 
                                is reaching the milestones established 
                                by the oversight board of the eligible 
                                institution.
                    ``(H) Authorized expenditures for the program.--
                            ``(i) Expenditure amounts.--The percentage 
                        of the extramural budget for research, or 
                        research and development, required to be 
                        expended by a covered agency for the program of 
                        the covered agency shall be--
                                    ``(I) 0.05 percent for fiscal year 
                                2015; and
                                    ``(II) 0.1 percent for each of 
                                fiscal years 2016 and 2017.
                            ``(ii) Treatment of expenditures.--Any 
                        portion of the extramural budget expended by a 
                        covered agency for the program of the covered 
                        agency shall apply toward the STTR expenditure 
                        requirements of the covered agency under 
                        subsection (n).
            ``(2) Program evaluation and data collection and 
        dissemination.--
                    ``(A) Evaluation plan and data collection.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Each covered agency 
                        shall develop a program evaluation plan to 
                        collect data to identify outcomes resulting 
                        from the transfer of technology under the 
                        program of the covered agency, including--
                                    ``(I) specific follow-on funding 
                                identified or obtained, including 
                                follow-on funding sources, such as 
                                Federal sources or private sources, not 
                                later than 3 years after the date on 
                                which an eligible institution makes an 
                                award for a project under the program;
                                    ``(II) the number of projects 
                                which, not later than 5 years after 
                                receiving an award from an eligible 
                                institution under the program, result 
                                in a license to a start-up company or 
                                an established company with sufficient 
                                resources for effective 
                                commercialization;
                                    ``(III) the number of invention 
                                disclosures received, United States 
                                patent applications filed, and United 
                                States patents issued not later than 5 
                                years after the date on which an 
                                eligible institution makes an award for 
                                a project under the program;
                                    ``(IV) the number of projects 
                                receiving an award from an eligible 
                                institution under the program that 
                                secure Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR 
                                awards;
                                    ``(V) available information on 
                                revenue, sales, or other measures of 
                                products that have been commercialized 
                                as a result of projects receiving an 
                                award from an eligible institution 
                                under the program not later than 5 
                                years after the date on which the 
                                eligible institution made the award;
                                    ``(VI) the number and location of 
                                jobs created as a result of projects 
                                receiving an award from an eligible 
                                institution under the program; and
                                    ``(VII) any other data as the 
                                covered agency may determine 
                                appropriate.
                    ``(B) Evaluative report to congress.--Not later 
                than September 30, 2018, the head of each covered 
                agency shall submit to the Committee on Small Business 
                and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on 
                Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on 
                Small Business of the House of Representatives a report 
                evaluating the activities of the program of the covered 
                agency, which shall include--
                            ``(i) a detailed description of the 
                        implementation of the program;
                            ``(ii) a detailed description of selection 
                        process used by the covered agency to award a 
                        grant to an eligible institution under the 
                        program;
                            ``(iii) an accounting of the funds used in 
                        the program; and
                            ``(iv) a summary of the data collected 
                        under subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) Data dissemination.--For purposes of program 
                transparency and the dissemination of best practices, 
                the Administrator shall include on the public database 
                under subsection (k)(1) information on the program of 
                each covered agency, including--
                            ``(i) the program evaluation plan required 
                        under subparagraph (A);
                            ``(ii) a list of recipients of awards made 
                        by an eligible institution for projects under 
                        the program by State; and
                            ``(iii) information on the use by 
                        recipients of awards made by an eligible 
                        institution for projects under the program.''.
                                 <all>
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