II 

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. 

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 ‘‘Technology and Re5 search Accelerating National Security and Future Eco6 nomic Resiliency Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘TRANSFER Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TECHNOLOGY 

8 TRANSFER GRANT PROGRAM. 

9 Section 9(jj) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

10 638(jj)) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(jj) INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TECHNOLOGY

2 TRANSFER.— 

3 ‘‘(1) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

4 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

5 ‘‘(i) the term ‘covered agency’ means 

6 a Federal agency that is required to estab7 lish an STTR program under subsection 

8 (n); 

9 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘eligible institution’ 

10 means— 

11 ‘‘(I) an institution of higher edu12 cation; 

13 ‘‘(II) a technology transfer orga14 nization that facilitates the commer15 cialization of technologies developed 

16 by 1 or more institutions of higher 

17 education; 

18 ‘‘(III) a Federal laboratory; 

19 ‘‘(IV) a public or private non20 profit entity; or 

21 ‘‘(V) a consortium of any of the 

22 entities described under subclause (I), 

23 (II), (III), or (IV); 

24 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘Federal laboratory’ 

25 has the meaning given that term under 


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1 section 4(6) of the Stevenson-Wydler Tech2 nology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 

3 3703(6)); 

4 ‘‘(iv) the term ‘institution of higher 

5 education’ has the meaning given that 

6 term under section 101(a) of the Higher 

7 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

8 1001(a)); and 

9 ‘‘(v) the term ‘program’ means an In10 novative Approaches to Technology Trans11 fer Grant Program established by a cov12 ered agency under subparagraph (B). 

13 ‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The 

14 head of each covered agency shall establish a 

15 grant program, to be known as the Innovative 

16 Approaches to Technology Transfer Grant Pro17 gram of the covered agency, to make grants to 

18 eligible institutions to improve or accelerate the 

19 commercialization of high quality and commer20 cially viable federally funded research and tech21 nology by small business concerns. 

22 ‘‘(C) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded 

23 under a program may be used to— 

24 ‘‘(i) provide early-stage proof of con25 cept funding for translational research; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) identify research and technology 

2 that have the potential for accelerated 

3 commercialization; 

4 ‘‘(iii) support technology maturation 

5 activities, including prototype construction, 

6 experiment analysis, product comparison, 

7 and the collection of performance data; 

8 ‘‘(iv) provide funding for technical 

9 validations, market research, clarifying in10 tellectual property rights position and 

11 strategy, and investigating commercial and 

12 business opportunities; 

13 ‘‘(v) provide advice, mentoring, entre14 preneurial education, project management, 

15 and technology and business development 

16 expertise to innovators and recipients of 

17 technology transfer licenses to maximize 

18 commercialization potential; and 

19 ‘‘(vi) conduct outreach to small busi20 ness concerns as potential licensees of fed21 erally funded research and technology to 

22 provide technology transfer services to 

23 those small business concerns. 

24 ‘‘(D) APPLICATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institu2 tion desiring a grant under the program 

3 shall submit an application to a covered 

4 agency at such time, in such manner, and 

5 containing such information as the covered 

6 agency may require. 

7 ‘‘(ii) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—An 

8 application submitted for a grant under 

9 the program shall include— 

10 ‘‘(I)(aa) a description of innova11 tive approaches to technology transfer, 

12 technology development, and commer13 cial readiness that have the potential 

14 to increase or accelerate technology 

15 transfer outcomes and can be adopted 

16 by other eligible institutions; or 

17 ‘‘(bb) a demonstration of, or a 

18 plan to implement, proven technology 

19 transfer and commercialization strate20 gies that can achieve greater commer21 cialization of federally funded research 

22 and technology with a grant under the 

23 program; 

24 ‘‘(II) a description of how the eli25 gible institution will contribute to 


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1 local and regional economic develop2 ment efforts; 

3 ‘‘(III) a plan for sustainability 

4 after grant amounts have been ex5 pended; and 

6 ‘‘(IV) a plan to assemble an over7 sight board in accordance with sub8 paragraph (F). 

9 ‘‘(E) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—A covered 

10 agency shall award grants to eligible institu11 tions under the program of the covered agency 

12 on a competitive basis. 

13 ‘‘(F) OVERSIGHT BOARD.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institu15 tion that receives a grant under the pro16 gram shall assemble an oversight board 

17 to— 

18 ‘‘(I) establish award programs 

19 for individual projects, including an 

20 application process; 

21 ‘‘(II) provide rigorous evaluation 

22 of project applications; 

23 ‘‘(III) determine which projects 

24 should receive awards from the eligi25 ble institution; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) establish milestones and 

2 associated award amounts for projects 

3 that reach certain milestones; 

4 ‘‘(V) determine whether a project 

5 is reaching the established milestones; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(VI) develop a process to reallo8 cate outstanding award amounts from 

9 projects that are not reaching mile10 stones to other projects with more po11 tential to reach those milestones. 

12 ‘‘(ii) MEMBERSHIP AND QUALIFICA13 TIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—An oversight 

15 board assembled under clause (i) shall 

16 be composed of members who shall 

17 have demonstrated relevant technical, 

18 scientific, or business expertise, of 

19 whom three-fifths shall be drawn from 

20 relevant industries, start-up compa21 nies, venture capital or other equity 

22 investment mechanisms, technical en23 terprises, financial institutions, and 

24 business development organizations 


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1 with a track record of success in com2 mercializing innovations. 

3 ‘‘(II) CONFLICTS OF INTER4 EST.—An oversight board assembled 

5 under clause (i) shall adopt policies 

6 that— 

7 ‘‘(aa) prohibit conflicts of 

8 interest among members of the 

9 oversight board; 

10 ‘‘(bb) ensure that relevant 

11 relationships are disclosed; and 

12 ‘‘(cc) establish proper recus13 al procedures in the event of a 

14 conflict of interest. 

15 ‘‘(iii) USE OF EXISTING OVERSIGHT

16 BOARDS.—An eligible institution may use 

17 oversight boards in existence on the date of 

18 the enactment of the Technology and Re19 search Accelerating National Security and 

20 Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2014 

21 that meet the requirements of this sub22 paragraph. 

23 ‘‘(G) GRANT AND AWARD AMOUNTS.— 

24 ‘‘(i) GRANT AMOUNTS.—The amount 

25 of a grant made by a covered agency under 


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1 the program of the covered agency shall be 

2 not more than $3,000,000. 

3 ‘‘(ii) AWARD AMOUNTS.—An eligible 

4 institution that receives a grant under a 

5 program shall make awards for individual 

6 projects that support the activities of 

7 clauses (i), (iii) and (iv) of subparagraph 

8 (C), which— 

9 ‘‘(I) shall not be more than 

10 $100,000; and 

11 ‘‘(II) shall be provided in phased 

12 amounts, based on whether the 

13 project is reaching the milestones es14 tablished by the oversight board of the 

15 eligible institution. 

16 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES FOR

17 THE PROGRAM.— 

18 ‘‘(i) EXPENDITURE AMOUNTS.—The 

19 percentage of the extramural budget for 

20 research, or research and development, re21 quired to be expended by a covered agency 

22 for the program of the covered agency 

23 shall be— 

24 ‘‘(I) 0.05 percent for fiscal year 

25 2015; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) 0.1 percent for each of fis2 cal years 2016 and 2017. 

3 ‘‘(ii) TREATMENT OF EXPENDI4 TURES.—Any portion of the extramural 

5 budget expended by a covered agency for 

6 the program of the covered agency shall 

7 apply toward the STTR expenditure re8 quirements of the covered agency under 

9 subsection (n). 

10 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM EVALUATION AND DATA COL11 LECTION AND DISSEMINATION.— 

12 ‘‘(A) EVALUATION PLAN AND DATA COL13 LECTION.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each covered 

15 agency shall develop a program evaluation 

16 plan to collect data to identify outcomes 

17 resulting from the transfer of technology 

18 under the program of the covered agency, 

19 including— 

20 ‘‘(I) specific follow-on funding 

21 identified or obtained, including fol22 low-on funding sources, such as Fed23 eral sources or private sources, not 

24 later than 3 years after the date on 

25 which an eligible institution makes an 


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1 award for a project under the pro2 gram; 

3 ‘‘(II) the number of projects 

4 which, not later than 5 years after re5 ceiving an award from an eligible in6 stitution under the program, result in 

7 a license to a start-up company or an 

8 established company with sufficient 

9 resources for effective commercializa10 tion; 

11 ‘‘(III) the number of invention 

12 disclosures received, United States 

13 patent applications filed, and United 

14 States patents issued not later than 5 

15 years after the date on which an eligi16 ble institution makes an award for a 

17 project under the program; 

18 ‘‘(IV) the number of projects re19 ceiving an award from an eligible in20 stitution under the program that se21 cure Phase I or Phase II SBIR or 

22 STTR awards; 

23 ‘‘(V) available information on 

24 revenue, sales, or other measures of 

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1 cialized as a result of projects receiv2 ing an award from an eligible institu3 tion under the program not later than 

4 5 years after the date on which the el5 igible institution made the award; 

6 ‘‘(VI) the number and location of 

7 jobs created as a result of projects re8 ceiving an award from an eligible in9 stitution under the program; and 

10 ‘‘(VII) any other data as the cov11 ered agency may determine appro12 priate. 

13 ‘‘(B) EVALUATIVE REPORT TO CON14 GRESS.—Not later than September 30, 2018, 

15 the head of each covered agency shall submit to 

16 the Committee on Small Business and Entre17 preneurship of the Senate and the Committee 

18 on Science, Space, and Technology and the 

19 Committee on Small Business of the House of 

20 Representatives a report evaluating the activi21 ties of the program of the covered agency, 

22 which shall include— 

23 ‘‘(i) a detailed description of the im24 plementation of the program; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) a detailed description of selection 

2 process used by the covered agency to 

3 award a grant to an eligible institution 

4 under the program; 

5 ‘‘(iii) an accounting of the funds used 

6 in the program; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) a summary of the data collected 

8 under subparagraph (A). 

9 ‘‘(C) DATA DISSEMINATION.—For pur10 poses of program transparency and the dissemi11 nation of best practices, the Administrator shall 

12 include on the public database under subsection 

13 (k)(1) information on the program of each cov14 ered agency, including— 

15 ‘‘(i) the program evaluation plan re16 quired under subparagraph (A); 

17 ‘‘(ii) a list of recipients of awards 

18 made by an eligible institution for projects 

19 under the program by State; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) information on the use by recipi21 ents of awards made by an eligible institu22 tion for projects under the program.’’. 

Æ 


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