I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2772 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Small Business Innovation 

Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 9, 2009 

Mr. SCHOCK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on Science 

and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Small 

Business Innovation Research Program and the Small 

Business Technology Transfer 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 ‘‘SBIR and STTR En5 hancement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCREASED NUMBER OF RESEARCH TOPIC SOLICI2 TATIONS ANNUALLY AND SHORTENED PE3 RIOD FOR FINAL DECISIONS ON APPLICA4 TIONS. 

5 (a) INCREASED NUMBER OF RESEARCH TOPIC SO6 LICITATIONS ANNUALLY.—Section 9(g)(2) of the Small 

7 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)(2)) is amended by insert8 ing before the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, but 

9 not less often than twice per year’’. 

10 (b) SHORTENED PERIOD FOR FINAL DECISIONS ON

11 APPLICATIONS.—Section 9(g)(4) of the Small Business 

12 Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)(4)) is amended by inserting before 

13 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, but a final deci14 sion on each proposal shall be rendered not later than 90 

15 days after the date on which the solicitation closes unless 

16 the Administrator determines, on a case by case basis, 

17 that a decision may be extended from 90 days to 180 

18 days’’. 

19 SEC. 3. AGENCIES SHOULD FUND VITAL R&D PROJECTS 

20 WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR COMMERCIALIZA21 TION. 

22 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) 

23 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(aa) MULTIPLE FIRST PHASE SBIR AWARDS RE25 PORT.—The Administrator shall, on an annual basis, sub26 mit to the Committee on Small Business and the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:41 Jun 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2772.IH H2772

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1 mittee on Science and Technology of the House of Rep2 resentatives and the Committee on Small Business and 

3 Entrepreneurship of the Senate a list identifying each 

4 small business concern that, for the period covered by the 

5 preceding 5 fiscal years, received 15 or more first phase 

6 SBIR awards and no second phase SBIR awards.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. FEDERAL AGENCY ENGAGEMENT WITH SBIR 

8 AWARDEES THAT HAVE BEEN AWARDED MUL9 TIPLE PHASE ONE AWARDS BUT HAVE NOT 

10 BEEN AWARDED PHASE TWO AWARDS. 

11 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

12 as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(bb) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO FEDERAL

15 AGENCY ENGAGEMENT WITH CERTAIN FIRST PHASE

16 SBIR AWARDEES.—Each Federal agency required by this 

17 section to conduct an SBIR program shall engage with 

18 SBIR awardees that have been awarded multiple first 

19 phase SBIR awards but have not been awarded any sec20 ond phase SBIR awards and shall develop performance 

21 measures with respect to awardee progression in the SBIR 

22 program.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. FUNDING FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, OVERSIGHT, AND 

2 CONTRACT PROCESSING COSTS. 

3 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

4 as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(cc) ASSISTANCE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, OVER7 SIGHT, AND CONTRACT PROCESSING COSTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail9 able to carry out this subsection, the Administrator 

10 may, on petition by Federal agencies required by 

11 this section to conduct an SBIR program, transfer 

12 funds to such agencies to assist with the administra13 tive, oversight, and contract processing costs relating 

14 to such program. 

15 ‘‘(2) PETITIONS.—The Administrator shall es16 tablish rules for making transfers under paragraph 

17 (1). The initial set of rules shall be promulgated not 

18 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

19 of this subsection. 

20 ‘‘(3) LIMIT ON TRANSFER.—A Federal agency 

21 may not receive under this subsection in a fiscal 

22 year an amount greater than 3 percent of the SBIR 

23 budget of such agency for such fiscal year. 

24 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

25 There is authorized to be appropriated to the AdVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:41 Jun 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2772.IH H2772

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1 ministrator to carry out this subsection $27,500,000 

2 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL AUDIT OF HOW FEDERAL 

4 AGENCIES CALCULATE EXTRAMURAL RE5 SEARCH BUDGETS. 

6 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

7 carry out a detailed audit of how Federal agencies cal8 culate extramural research budgets for purposes of calcu9 lating the size of the agencies’ Small Business Innovation 

10 Research Program and Small Business Technology Trans11 fer Program budgets. Not later than 1 year after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

13 submit to the Committee on Small Business and the Com14 mittee on Science and Technology of the House of Rep15 resentatives and the Committee on Small Business and 

16 Entrepreneurship of the Senate a report on the results 

17 of the audit. 

18 SEC. 7. AGENCY DATABASES TO SUPPORT PROGRAM EVAL19 UATION. 

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

21 638(k)) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause 

24 (ii); 


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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause 

2 (iii); and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

4 clause: 

5 ‘‘(iv) information on the ownership 

6 structure of award recipients, both at the 

7 time of receipt of the award and upon com8 pletion of the award period;’’; 

9 (2) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol10 lows: 

11 ‘‘(3) UPDATING INFORMATION FOR DATA12 BASE.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency 

14 shall not make a Phase I or Phase II payment 

15 to a small business concern under this section 

16 unless the small business concern has provided 

17 all information required under this subsection 

18 and available at the time with respect to the 

19 award under which the payment is made, and 

20 with respect to any other award under this sec21 tion previously received by the small business 

22 concern or a predecessor in interest to the small 

23 business concern. 

24 ‘‘(B) APPORTIONMENT.—In complying 

25 with this paragraph, a small business concern 


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1 may apportion sales or additional investment 

2 information relating to more than one second 

3 phase award among those awards, if it notes 

4 the apportionment for each award. 

5 ‘‘(C) ANNUAL UPDATES UPON TERMI6 NATION.—A small business concern receiving an 

7 award under this section shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) in the case of a second phase 

9 award, update information in the data10 bases required under paragraphs (2) and 

11 (6) concerning that award at the termi12 nation of the award period; 

13 ‘‘(ii) in the case of award recipients 

14 not described in clause (iii), be requested 

15 to voluntarily update such information an16 nually thereafter for a period of 5 years; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a small business 

19 concern applying for a subsequent first 

20 phase or second phase award, be required 

21 to update such information annually there22 after for a period of 5 years.’’; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

24 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(6) AGENCY PROGRAM EVALUATION DATA2 BASES.—Each Federal agency required to establish 

3 an SBIR or STTR program under this section shall 

4 develop and maintain, for the purpose of evaluating 

5 such programs, a database containing information 

6 required to be contained in the database under para7 graph (2). Each such database shall be designed to 

8 be accessible to other agencies that are required to 

9 maintain a database under this paragraph. Each 

10 such database shall be developed and operated in a 

11 manner to ensure that each such database is rel12 evant to and contributes to the agency’s oversight 

13 and evaluation of the SBIR and STTR programs. 

14 Paragraphs (4) and (5) apply to each database 

15 under this paragraph.’’. 

16 SEC. 8. AGENCY DATABASES TO SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY 

17 UTILIZATION. 

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

19 638(k)), as amended, is further amended by adding at the 

20 end the following new paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(7) AGENCY DATABASES TO SUPPORT TECH22 NOLOGY UTILIZATION.—Each Federal agency with 

23 an SBIR or STTR program shall create and main24 tain a technology utilization database, which shall be 

25 available to the public and shall contain data supVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:41 Jun 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2772.IH H2772

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1 plied by the award recipients specifically to help 

2 them attract customers for the products and services 

3 generated under the SBIR or STTR project, and to 

4 attract additional investors and business partners. 

5 Each database created under this paragraph shall 

6 include information on the other databases created 

7 under this paragraph by other Federal agencies. 

8 Participation in a database under this paragraph 

9 shall be voluntary, except that such participation is 

10 required of all award recipients who received supple11 mental payments from SBIR and STTR program 

12 funds above their initial Phase II award. Each data13 base created under this paragraph shall be developed 

14 and operated in a manner to ensure that each such 

15 database is relevant to and contributes to the agen16 cy’s oversight and evaluation of the SBIR and 

17 STTR programs.’’. 

18 SEC. 9. INTERAGENCY POLICY COMMITTEE. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

20 Science and Technology Policy shall establish an Inter21 agency SBIR/STTR Policy Committee comprised of one 

22 representative from each Federal agency with an SBIR 

23 program. 

24 (b) COCHAIRS.—The Director of the Office of Science 

25 and Technology Policy and the Director of the National 


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1 Institute of Standards and Technology shall jointly chair 

2 the Interagency SBIR/STTR Policy Committee. 

3 (c) DUTIES.—The Interagency SBIR/STTR Policy 

4 Committee shall review the following issues and make pol5 icy recommendations on ways to improve program effec6 tiveness and efficiency: 

7 (1) The public and government databases de8 scribed in section 9(k) (1) and (2) of the Small 

9 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(k) (1) and (2)). 

10 (2) Federal agency flexibility in establishing 

11 Phase I and II award sizes, and appropriate criteria 

12 to exercise such flexibility. 

13 (3) Commercialization assistance best practices 

14 in Federal agencies with significant potential to be 

15 employed by other agencies, and the appropriate 

16 steps to achieve that leverage, as well as proposals 

17 for new initiatives to address funding gaps business 

18 concerns face after Phase II but before commer19 cialization. 

20 (d) REPORTS.—The Interagency SBIR/STTR Policy 

21 Committee shall transmit to the Committee on Science 

22 and Technology and the Committee on Small Business of 

23 the House of Representatives, and to the Committee on 

24 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate— 


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1 (1) a report on its review and recommendations 

2 under subsection (c)(1) not later than 1 year after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act; 

4 (2) a report on its review and recommendations 

5 under subsection (c)(2) not later than 18 months 

6 after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

7 (3) a report on its review and recommendations 

8 under subsection (c)(3) not later than 2 years after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 10. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL SBIR STUDY. 

11 Section 108(d) of the Small Business Reauthoriza12 tion Act of 2000, enacted into law by reference under sec13 tion 1(a)(9) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001 

14 (Public Law 106–554), is amended— 

15 (1) by striking ‘‘of the Senate’’ and all that fol16 lows through ‘‘not later than 3’’ and inserting ‘‘of 

17 the Senate, not later than 3’’; and 

18 (2) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and all that follows 

19 through ‘‘update of such report’’. 

20 SEC. 11. EXPRESS AUTHORITY TO ‘‘FAST-TRACK’’ PHASE 

21 TWO AWARDS FOR PROMISING PHASE ONE 

22 RESEARCH. 

23 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

24 as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(dd) AUTHORITY TO ‘FAST-TRACK’ PHASE TWO

2 AWARDS FOR PROMISING PHASE ONE RESEARCH.—To 

3 address the delay between an award for the first phase 

4 of an SBIR program and the application for and extension 

5 of an award for the second phase of such program, each 

6 Federal agency with an SBIR program may develop ‘fast7 track’ programs to eliminate such delay by issuing second 

8 phase SBIR awards as soon as practicable, including in 

9 appropriate cases simultaneously with the issuance of the 

10 first phase SBIR award. The Administrator shall encour11 age the development of such ‘fast-track’ programs.’’. 

12 SEC. 12. INCREASED SBIR AND STTR AWARD LEVELS. 

13 (a) SBIR AWARD LEVEL AND ANNUAL ADJUST14 MENTS.—Section 9(j) of the Small Business Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 638(j)) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(4) FURTHER ADDITIONAL MODIFICATIONS.—Not 

18 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

19 paragraph and notwithstanding paragraph (2)(D), the Ad20 ministrator shall modify the policy directives issued pursu21 ant to this subsection to provide for an increase to 

22 $250,000 in the amount of funds which an agency may 

23 award in the first phase of an SBIR program, and to 

24 $2,000,000 in the second phase of an SBIR program, and 


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1 a mandatory annual adjustment of such amounts to reflect 

2 economic adjustments and programmatic considerations.’’. 

3 (b) STTR AWARD LEVEL AND ANNUAL ADJUST4 MENTS.—Section 9(p)(2)(B)(ix) of the Small Business Act 

5 (15 U.S.C. 638(p)(2)(B)(ix)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘$100,000’’ and ‘‘$750,000’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘$250,000’’ and ‘‘$2,000,000’’, re8 spectively; and 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘greater or lesser amounts’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘with a mandatory annual adjustment of 

11 such amounts to reflect economic adjustments and 

12 programmatic considerations, and with lesser 

13 amounts’’. 

14 (c) LIMITATION ON CERTAIN AWARDS.—Section 9 of 

15 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), as amended, is 

16 further amended by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(ee) LIMITATION ON PHASE I AND II AWARDS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No Federal agency shall 

19 issue an award under the SBIR program or the 

20 STTR program if the size of the award exceeds the 

21 amounts established under subsections (j)(4) and 

22 (p)(2)(B)(ix), except as provided in paragraph (2). 

23 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The prohibition in para24 graph (1) does not apply to an agency for a fiscal 

25 year if the head of the agency— 


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1 ‘‘(A) notifies the Administrator that the 

2 agency intends to issue awards in that fiscal 

3 year without regard to the prohibition in para4 graph (1); and 

5 ‘‘(B) reports to the Committee on Small 

6 Business and the Committee on Science and 

7 Technology of the House of Representatives 

8 and the Committee on Small Business and En9 trepreneurship of the Senate at least annually 

10 the number of instances in which the agency 

11 issued an award that exceeds the amounts re12 ferred to in paragraph (1) and the justification 

13 for each such instance.’’. 

14 SEC. 13. EXPRESS AUTHORITY FOR AN AGENCY TO AWARD 

15 SEQUENTIAL PHASE TWO AWARDS FOR SBIR16 FUNDED PROJECTS. 

17 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

18 as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(ff) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO ADDITIONAL

21 SECOND PHASE SBIR AWARDS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A small business concern 

23 that receives a second phase SBIR award for a 

24 project remains eligible to receive additional second 

25 phase SBIR awards for such project. 


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1 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL OR WEAPONS SYSTEMS.— 

2 Agencies are expressly authorized to provide addi3 tional second phase SBIR awards for testing and 

4 evaluation assistance for the insertion of SBIR tech5 nologies into technical or weapons systems.’’. 

6 SEC. 14. FIRST PHASE REQUIRED. 

7 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), 

8 as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(gg) FIRST PHASE REQUIRED.—Under this section, 

11 a Federal agency shall provide to a small business concern 

12 an award for the second phase of an SBIR program with 

13 respect to a project only if such agency finds that the 

14 small business concern has been provided an award for 

15 the first phase of an SBIR program with respect to such 

16 project or has completed the determinations described in 

17 subsection (e)(4)(A) with respect to such project despite 

18 not having been provided an award for the first phase.’’. 

Æ 


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