I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2769 

To amend the Small Business Act to promote the commercialization of certain 

small business research and development projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 9, 2009 

Mr. BRIGHT 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 promote the commercialization of certain small business research and development projects, 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 ‘‘Commercializing Small 

5 Business Research and Development Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FOCUS ON COMMERCIALIZATION. 

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

8 638(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘It is further the policy of Congress that the programs 

2 established in this section should focus on promoting re3 search and development of projects governed by commer4 cial business plans, which have significant potential to 

5 produce products or services for the marketplace or for 

6 acquisition by Federal agencies.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF ENERGY-RELATED RESEARCH TOP8 ICS AND RARE DISEASE-RELATED RESEARCH 

9 TOPICS AS DESERVING ‘‘SPECIAL CONSIDER10 ATION’’ AS SBIR RESEARCH TOPICS. 

11 Section 9(g)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 638(g)(3)) is amended— 

13 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 

14 by inserting after ‘‘critical technologies’’ the fol15 lowing: ‘‘or pressing research priorities’’; 

16 (2) at the end of subparagraph (A) by striking 

17 ‘‘or’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(C) the National Academy of Sciences, in 

20 the final report issued by the ‘America’s Energy 

21 Future: Technology Opportunities, Risks, and 

22 Tradeoffs’ project, and in subsequent reports 

23 issued by the National Academy of Sciences on 

24 sustainability, energy, and alternative fuels; 


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1 ‘‘(D) the National Institutes of Health, in 

2 the annual report on the rare diseases research 

3 activities of the National Institutes of Health 

4 for fiscal year 2005, and in subsequent reports 

5 issued by the National Institutes of Health on 

6 rare diseases research activities; or 

7 ‘‘(E) the National Academy of Sciences, in 

8 the final report issued by the ‘Transit Research 

9 and Development: Federal Role in the National 

10 Program’ project and the ‘Transportation Re11 search, Development and Technology Strategic 

12 Plan (2006–2010)’ issued by the United States 

13 Department of Transportation Research and 

14 Innovative Technology Administration, and in 

15 subsequent reports issued by the National 

16 Academy of Sciences and United States Depart17 ment of Transportation on transportation and 

18 infrastructure;’’. 

19 SEC. 4. NANOTECHNOLOGY-RELATED RESEARCH TOPICS. 

20 (a) SBIR.—Section 9(g)(3) of the Small Business 

21 Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)(3)), as amended, is further amend22 ed— 

23 (1) at the end of subparagraph (D) by striking 

24 ‘‘or’’; 


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1 (2) at the end of subparagraph (E) by adding 

2 ‘‘or’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(F) the national nanotechnology strategic 

5 plan required under section 2(c)(4) of the 21st 

6 Century Nanotechnology Research and Develop7 ment Act (15 U.S.C. 7501(c)(4)) and in subse8 quent reports issued by the National Science 

9 and Technology Council Committee on Tech10 nology, focusing on areas of nanotechnology 

11 identified in such plan;’’. 

12 (b) STTR.—Section 9(o)(3) of the Small Business 

13 Act (15 U.S.C. 638(o)(3)) is amended— 

14 (1) at the end of subparagraph (A) by striking 

15 ‘‘or’’; 

16 (2) at the end of subparagraph (B) by adding 

17 ‘‘or’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(C) by the national nanotechnology stra20 tegic plan required under section 2(c)(4) of the 

21 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and De22 velopment Act (15 U.S.C. 7501(c)(4)) and in 

23 subsequent reports issued by the National 

24 Science and Technology Council Committee on 


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1 Technology, focusing on areas of nanotechnol2 ogy identified in such plan;’’. 

3 SEC. 5. CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF ‘‘PHASE THREE’’. 

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

5 638(e)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (4)(C) in the matter preceding 

7 clause (i) by inserting after ‘‘a third phase’’ the fol8 lowing: ‘‘, which shall consist of work that derives 

9 from, extends, or logically concludes efforts per10 formed under prior SBIR funding agreements 

11 (which may be referred to as ‘Phase III’)’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (8) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

13 end; 

14 (3) in paragraph (9) by striking the period at 

15 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(10) the term ‘commercialization’ means the 

18 process of developing marketable products or serv19 ices and producing and delivering products or serv20 ices for sale (whether by the originating party or by 

21 others) to government or commercial markets.’’. 

22 SEC. 6. AGENCY RESEARCH GOALS. 

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

24 is amended by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(h) AGENCY RESEARCH GOALS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the require3 ments of subsection (f), each Federal agency that is 

4 required by this section to have an SBIR program 

5 and that awards annually $5,000,000,000 or more 

6 in procurement contracts shall, effective for fiscal 

7 year 2010 and each fiscal year thereafter, establish 

8 annual goals for commercialization of projects fund9 ed by SBIR awards. 

10 ‘‘(2) SPECIFIC GOALS.—The goals required by 

11 paragraph (1) shall include specific goals for each of 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) The percentage of SBIR projects that 

14 receive funding for the third phase (as defined 

15 in subsection (e)(4)(C)). 

16 ‘‘(B) The percentage of SBIR projects that 

17 are successfully integrated into a program of 

18 record. 

19 ‘‘(C) The amount of Federal dollars re20 ceived by SBIR projects through Federal con21 tracts, not including dollars received through 

22 the SBIR program. 

23 ‘‘(3) SUBMISSION TO COMMITTEES.—For each 

24 fiscal year for which goals are required by paragraph 

25 (1), the agency shall submit to the Committee on 


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1 Small Business of the House of Representatives and 

2 the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre3 neurship of the Senate— 

4 ‘‘(A) not later than 60 days after the be5 ginning of the fiscal year, the goals; and 

6 ‘‘(B) not later than 90 days after the end 

7 of the fiscal year, data on the extent to which 

8 the goals were met and a description of the 

9 methodology used to collect such data.’’. 

10 SEC. 7. COMMERCIALIZATION PROGRAMS. 

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 ‘‘(aa) COMMERCIALIZATION PROGRAMS.— 

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

16 this section to conduct an SBIR program shall es17 tablish a commercialization program that supports 

18 the progress of SBIR awardees to the third phase. 

19 The commercialization program may include activi20 ties such as partnership databases, partnership con21 ferences, multiple second phases, mentoring between 

22 prime contractors and SBIR awardees, multiple sec23 ond phases with matching private investment re24 quirements, jumbo awards, SBIR helpdesks, and 

25 transition assistance programs. The agency shall inVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:40 Jun 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2769.IH H2769

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1 clude in its annual report an analysis of the various 

2 activities considered for inclusion in the commer3 cialization program and a statement of the reasons 

4 why each activity considered was included or not in5 cluded, as the case may be. 

6 ‘‘(2) FUNDING FOR COMMERCIALIZATION PRO7 GRAMS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made 

9 available to carry out this paragraph, the Ad10 ministrator may, on petition by agencies re11 quired by this section to conduct an SBIR pro12 gram, transfer funds to such agencies to sup13 port the commercialization programs of such 

14 agencies. 

15 ‘‘(B) PETITIONS.—The Administrator shall 

16 establish rules for making transfers under sub17 paragraph (A). The initial set of rules shall be 

18 promulgated not later than 90 days after the 

19 date of the enactment of this paragraph. 

20 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA21 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

22 to the Administrator to carry out this para23 graph $27,500,000 for fiscal year 2010 and 

24 each fiscal year thereafter. 


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1 ‘‘(3) FUNDING LIMITATION.—For payment of 

2 expenses incurred to administer the commercializa3 tion programs described in paragraphs (1) and (2), 

4 the head of an agency may use not more than an 

5 amount equal to 1 percent of the funds set aside for 

6 the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research 

7 program. Such funds— 

8 ‘‘(A) shall not be subject to the limitations 

9 on the use of funds in subsection (f)(2); and 

10 ‘‘(B) shall not be used for the purpose of 

11 funding costs associated with salaries and ex12 penses of employees of the Federal Govern13 ment.’’. 

Æ 


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