I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2747 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve outreach and support activities 

and to increase award recipients from rural areas with respect to the 

Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business 

Technology Transfer Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 8, 2009 

Mrs. HALVORSON 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 improve outreach and 

support activities and to increase award recipients from 

rural areas with respect to 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 ‘‘Rural Technology De5 velopment and Outreach Act’’. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
2 

•HR 2747 IH

1 SEC. 2. OUTREACH AND SUPPORT ACTIVITIES. 

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

3 is amended by inserting after subsection (r) the following: 

4 ‘‘(s) OUTREACH AND SUPPORT ACTIVITIES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the other provi6 sions of this subsection, the Administrator shall 

7 make grants on a competitive basis to organizations, 

8 to be used by the organizations to do one or both 

9 of the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) To conduct outreach efforts to in11 crease participation in the programs under this 

12 section. 

13 ‘‘(B) To provide application support and 

14 entrepreneurial and business skills support to 

15 prospective participants in the programs under 

16 this section. 

17 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

18 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad19 ministrator $10,000,000 to carry out paragraph (1) 

20 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

21 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—For each of 

22 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1), the 

23 amount of assistance provided to an organization 

24 under that subparagraph in any fiscal year— 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
3 

•HR 2747 IH

1 ‘‘(A) shall be equal to the total amount of 

2 matching funds from non-Federal sources pro3 vided by the organization; and 

4 ‘‘(B) shall not exceed $250,000. 

5 ‘‘(4) DIRECTION.—An organization receiving 

6 funds under paragraph (1) shall, in using those 

7 funds, direct its activities at one or both of the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(A) Small business concerns located in 

10 geographic areas that are underrepresented in 

11 the programs under this section. 

12 ‘‘(B) Small business concerns owned and 

13 controlled by women, small business concerns 

14 owned and controlled by service-disabled vet15 erans, and small business concerns owned and 

16 controlled by minorities. 

17 ‘‘(5) ADVISORY BOARD.— 

18 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 

19 days after the date of the enactment of this 

20 subsection, the Administrator shall establish an 

21 advisory board for the activities carried out 

22 under this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(B) NON-APPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The 

24 Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

25 App.) shall not apply to the advisory board. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
4 

•HR 2747 IH

1 ‘‘(C) MEMBERS.—The members of the ad2 visory board shall include the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) The Administrator (or the Ad4 ministrator’s designee). 

5 ‘‘(ii) For each Federal agency re6 quired by this section to conduct an SBIR 

7 program, the head of the agency (or the 

8 designee of the head of the agency). 

9 ‘‘(iii) Representatives of small busi10 ness concerns that are current or former 

11 recipients of SBIR awards, or representa12 tives of organizations of such concerns. 

13 ‘‘(iv) Representatives of service pro14 viders of SBIR outreach and assistance, or 

15 representatives of organizations of such 

16 service providers. 

17 ‘‘(D) DUTIES.—The advisory board shall 

18 have the following duties: 

19 ‘‘(i) To develop guidelines for awards 

20 under paragraph (1), including guidelines 

21 relating to award sizes, proposal require22 ments, measures for monitoring awardee 

23 performance, and measures for deter24 mining the overall value of the activities 

25 carried out by the awardees. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
5 

•HR 2747 IH

1 ‘‘(ii) To identify opportunities for co2 ordinated outreach, technical assistance, 

3 and commercialization activities among 

4 Federal agencies, the recipients of the 

5 awards under paragraph (1), and appli6 cants and recipients of SBIR awards, in7 cluding opportunities such as— 

8 ‘‘(I) podcasting or webcasting for 

9 conferences, training workshops, and 

10 other events; 

11 ‘‘(II) shared online resources to 

12 match prospective applicants with the 

13 network of paragraph (1) recipients; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(III) venture capital conferences 

16 tied to technologies and sectors that 

17 cross agencies. 

18 ‘‘(iii) To review and recommend revi19 sions to activities under paragraph (1). 

20 ‘‘(iv) To submit to the Committee on 

21 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 

22 the Senate and the Committee on Small 

23 Business and the Committee on Science 

24 and Technology of the House of Represent25 atives an annual report on the activities 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
6 

•HR 2747 IH

1 carried out under paragraph (1) and the 

2 effectiveness and impact of those activities. 

3 ‘‘(6) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In awarding 

4 grants under this subsection, the Administrator shall 

5 use selection criteria developed by the advisory board 

6 established under paragraph (5). The criteria shall 

7 include— 

8 ‘‘(A) criteria designed to give preference to 

9 applicants who propose to carry out activities 

10 that will reach either an underperforming geo11 graphic area or an underrepresented population 

12 group (as measured by the number of SBIR ap13 plicants); 

14 ‘‘(B) criteria designed to give preference to 

15 applicants who propose to carry out activities 

16 that complement, and are integrated into, the 

17 existing public-private innovation support sys18 tem for the targeted region or population; 

19 ‘‘(C) criteria designed to give preference to 

20 applicants who propose to measure the effec21 tiveness of the proposed activities; and 

22 ‘‘(D) criteria designed to give preference to 

23 applicants who include a Small Business Devel24 opment Center program that is accredited for 

25 its technology services. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
7 

•HR 2747 IH

1 ‘‘(7) PEER REVIEW.—In awarding grants under 

2 this subsection, the Administrator shall use a peer 

3 review process. Reviewers shall include— 

4 ‘‘(A) SBIR program managers for agencies 

5 required by this section to conduct SBIR pro6 grams; and 

7 ‘‘(B) private individuals and organizations 

8 that are knowledgeable about SBIR, the innova9 tion process, technology commercialization, and 

10 State and regional technology-based economic 

11 development programs. 

12 ‘‘(8) PER-STATE LIMITATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re14 ceive a grant under this subsection, the appli15 cant must have the written endorsement of the 

16 Governor of the State where the targeted re17 gions or populations are located (if the regions 

18 or populations are located in more than one 

19 State, the applicant must have the written en20 dorsement of the Governor of each such State). 

21 Such an endorsement must indicate that the 

22 Governor will ensure that the activities to be 

23 carried out under the grant will be integrated 

24 with the balance of the State’s portfolio of inVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:54 Jun 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747

hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
8 

•HR 2747 IH

1 vestments to help small business concerns com2 mercialize technology. 

3 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Each fiscal year, a 

4 Governor may have in effect not more than one 

5 written endorsement for a grant under para6 graph (1)(A), and not more than one written 

7 endorsement for a grant under paragraph 

8 (1)(B). 

9 ‘‘(9) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARDS.— 

10 In making awards under paragraph (1) the Adminis11 trator shall ensure that each award shall be for a pe12 riod of 2 fiscal years. The Administrator shall estab13 lish rules and performance goals for the disburse14 ment of funds for the second fiscal year, and funds 

15 shall not be disbursed to a recipient for such a fiscal 

16 year until after the advisory board established under 

17 this subsection has determined that the recipient is 

18 in compliance with the rules and performance 

19 goals.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. RURAL PREFERENCE. 

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

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

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(aa) RURAL PREFERENCE.—In making awards 

25 under this section, Federal agencies shall give priority to 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
9 

•HR 2747 IH

1 applications so as to increase the number of SBIR and 

2 STTR award recipients from rural areas.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. OBTAINING SBIR APPLICANT’S CONSENT TO RE4 LEASE CONTACT INFORMATION TO ECO5 NOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS. 

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

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

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(bb) CONSENT TO RELEASE CONTACT INFORMA10 TION TO ORGANIZATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ENABLING CONCERN TO GIVE CONSENT.— 

12 Each Federal agency required by this section to con13 duct an SBIR program shall enable a small business 

14 concern that is an SBIR applicant to indicate to the 

15 agency whether the agency has its consent to— 

16 ‘‘(A) identify the concern to appropriate 

17 local and State-level economic development or18 ganizations as an SBIR applicant; and 

19 ‘‘(B) release the concern’s contact informa20 tion to such organizations. 

21 ‘‘(2) RULES.—The Administrator shall estab22 lish rules to implement this subsection. The rules 

23 shall include a requirement that the agency include 

24 in its SBIR application forms a provision through 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
10 

•HR 2747 IH

1 which the applicant can indicate consent for pur2 poses of paragraph (1).’’. 

3 SEC. 5. INCREASED PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN SBIR 

4 AWARDEES AND PRIME CONTRACTORS, VEN5 TURE CAPITAL INVESTMENT COMPANIES, 

6 AND LARGER BUSINESSES. 

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 ‘‘(cc) INCREASED PARTNERSHIPS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each agency required by 

12 this section to conduct an SBIR program shall es13 tablish initiatives by which the agency encourages 

14 partnerships between SBIR awardees and prime 

15 contractors, venture capital investment companies, 

16 business incubators, and larger businesses, for the 

17 purpose of facilitating the progress of the SBIR 

18 awardees to the third phase. 

19 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

20 ‘business incubator’ means an entity that provides 

21 coordinated and specialized services to entrepre22 neurial businesses which meet selected criteria dur23 ing the businesses’ startup phases, including pro24 viding services such as shared office space and office 

25 services, access to equipment, access to telecommuniVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:54 Jun 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747

hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
11 

•HR 2747 IH

1 cations and technology services, flexible leases, spe2 cialized management assistance, access to financing, 

3 mentoring and training services, or other coordi4 nated business or technical support services designed 

5 to provide business development assistance to entre6 preneurial businesses during these businesses’ start7 up phases.’’. 

Æ 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS