I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 6684 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 7, 2023 Mr. Neguse (for himself and Mr. Flood ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require the Comptroller General to submit a report on the disclosure process for intellectual property created under a Federal grant, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Improving Efficiency to Increase Competition Act . 2. GAO study on the impact of Bayh-Dole Act regulations on contractors in the United States (a) Report required Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall brief the relevant committees, with a report to follow on a mutually agreed upon date that is not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, that reviews the implementation of chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code, (commonly referred to as the Bayh-Dole Act), specifically with regard to the requirements under that chapter and implementing regulations that a contractor under a funding agreement with the Federal Government must follow with regard to patent disclosure. The report shall include, to the extent practicable, information on the following: (1) The percentage of inventions that are not elected by contractors to retain within the time period provided following the disclosure of an invention under part 401 of title 37, Code of Federal Regulations. (2) After any automatic extension has been granted and in a case in which a contractor requests an additional extension, the number of time extensions that are granted by Federal agencies for disclosure, election, and filing and the average response time by each agency for any such extension. (3) How the reporting requirements in such chapter impact the ability of a contractor to compete with foreign competitors. (4) How the Government uses Federal reporting under such chapter by contractors and suggested improvements to ensure there is an improved public-private partnership. (5) Barriers that Federal reporting requirements create for contractors to develop inventions. (6) The time and effort institutions of higher education must use for the management and reporting required under such chapter, including— (A) input from contractors with various sizes, budgets, geographical positions, and specialties; (B) with respect to any institution of higher education included in the report, a consideration of the specific research designations for such institution, including R1 and R2; and (C) how such contractors vary on the their ability to efficiently comply with the requirements under such chapter. (7) Difficulties contractors encounter in using the iEdison system and recommendations to address these difficulties. (8) If any other Federal agency does not use the patent reporting system deployed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, commonly known as iEdison, whether such agency would benefit from using a singular standard Federal reporting system and whether such agency can effectively standardize reporting requirements in order to streamline processes required by contractors. (9) The number of disclosure systems used throughout the Federal Government, listed by what system is used by each Federal agency, and the various disclosure requirements made by each such agency. (b) Definitions In this Act: (1) Ability The term ability means time, resources, staff, and any other metric determined necessary for compliance under the contract requirements described in the Bayh Dole Act, including any regulation issued under such Act. (2) Contractor; Federal agency; funding agreement The terms contractor , Federal agency , and funding agreement have the meaning given those terms in section 201 of title 35, United States Code. (3) Institution of higher education The term institution of higher education has the meaning given that term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1001 ). (4) Relevant committees The term relevant committees means the following: (A) The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. (B) The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives. (C) The Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives. (D) The Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate. (E) The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. (F) The Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate.