AMENDMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH PROGRAM.

SEC. 103. AMENDMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH PROGRAM. (a) Definition of the Small Business Innovation Research Program.— Section 9(e)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(e)(4)) is amended— (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting “that appear to have commercial potential, as described in subparagraph (B)(ii),” after “ideas”; and (2) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) and inserting the following: 106 STAT. 4251 “(B) a second phase, to further develop proposals which meet particular program needs, in which awards shall be made based on the scientific and technical merit and feasibility of the proposals, as evidenced by the first phase, considering, among other things, the proposal’s commercial potential, as evidenced by— “(i) the small business concern’s record of success-fully commercializing SBIR or other research; “(ii) the existence of second phase funding commitments from private sector or non-SBIR funding sources; “(iii) the existence of third phase, follow-on commitments for the subject of the research; and “(iv) the presence of other indicators of the commercial potential of the idea; and “(C) where appropriate, a third phase— “(i) in which commercial applications of SBIR-funded research or research and development are funded by non-Federal sources of capital or, for products or services intended for use by the Federal Government, by follow-on non-SBIR Federal funding awards; and “(ii) for which awards from non-SBIR Federal funding sources are used for the continuation of research or research and development that has been competitively selected using peer review or scientific review criteria; and”. (b) Required Expenditures for SBIR by Federal Agencies.— Section 9(f) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(f)) is amended to read as follows: “(f) Federal Agency Expenditures for the SBIR Program.— “(1) Required expenditure amounts.— Each Federal agency which has an extramural budget for research or research and development in excess of $100,000,000 for fiscal year 1992, or any fiscal year thereafter, shall expend with small business concerns— “(A) not less than 1.5 percent of such budget in each of fiscal years 1993 and 1994; “(B) not less than 2.0 percent of such budget in each of fiscal years 1995 and 1996; and “(C) not less than 2.5 percent of such budget in each fiscal year thereafter, specifically in connection with SBIR programs which meet the requirements of this section, policy directives, and regulations issued under this section. “(2) Limitations.— A Federal agency shall not— “(A) use any of its SBIR budget established pursuant to paragraph (1) for the purpose of funding administrative costs of the program, including costs associated with salaries and expenses; or “(B) make available for the purpose of meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) an amount of its extramural budget for basic research which exceeds the percentages specified in paragraph (1). “(3) Exclusion of certain funding agreements.— Funding agreements with small business concerns for research or research and development which result from competitive or single source selections other than an SBIR program shall106 STAT. 4252 not be considered to meet any portion of the percentage requirements of paragraph (1).”. (c) Inclusion of Certain Department of Defense Research and Development Activities.— Section 9(e) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(e)) is amended in paragraph (1), by striking “for the Department of Defense” and all that follows through “development” and inserting “for the Department of Energy it shall not include amounts obligated for atomic energy defense programs solely for weapons activities or for naval reactor programs”. (d) SBIR Solicitations.— Section 9(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (7) as paragraphs (4) through (8), respectively; and (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: “(3) unilaterally determine research topics within the agency’s SBIR solicitations, giving special consideration to broad research topics and to topics that further 1 or more critical technologies, as identified by— “(A) the National Critical Technologies Panel (or its successor) in the 1991 report required under section 603 of the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976, and in subsequent reports issued under that authority; or “(B) the Secretary of Defense, in the 1992 report issued in accordance with section 2522 of title 10, United States Code, and in subsequent reports issued under that authority;”. (e) Deadline for Final Payment Under SBIR Funding Agreements.— Section 9(g)(7) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)(7)) (as redesignated by subsection (d)(1)) is amended by inserting before the semicolon the following: “and, in all cases, make payment to recipients under such agreements in foil, subject to audit, on or before the last day of the 12-month period beginning on the date of completion of such requirements”. (f) Modifications to SBIR Policy Directives.— Section 9(j) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(j)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (2), by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (H) as clauses (i) through (viii), respectively; (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (7) as subparagraphs (A) through (G), respectively; (3) by inserting before “The Small Business Administration” the following: “(1) Policy directives.—”; and (4) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(2) Modifications.— Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992, the Administrator shall modify the policy directives issued pursuant to this subsection to provide for— “(A) retention by a small business concern of the rights to data generated by the concern in the performance of an SBIR award for a period of not less than 4 years; “(B) continued use by a small business concern participating in the third phase of the SBIR program, as a directed bailment, of any property transferred by a Federal agency to the small business concern in the second phase106 STAT. 4253 of an SBIR program for a period of not less than 2 years, beginning on the initial date of the concern’s participation in the third phase of such program; “(C) procedures to ensure, to the extent practicable, that an agency which intends to pursue research, development, or production of a technology developed by a small business concern under an SBIR program enters into follow-on, non-SBIR funding agreements with the small business concern for such research, development, or production; “(D) an increase to $100,000 in the amount of funds which an agency may award in the first phase of an SBIR program, and to $750,000 in the second phase of an SBIR program, and an adjustment of such amounts once every 5 years to reflect economic adjustments and programmatic considerations; “(E) a process for notifying the participating SBIR agencies and potential SBIR participants of the 1991, 1992, and the current critical technologies, as identified— “(i) by the National Critical Technologies Panel (or its successor), in accordance with section 603 of the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976; or “(ii) by the Secretary of Defense, in accordance with section 2522 of title 10, United States Code; “(F) enhanced outreach efforts to increase the participation of socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns, as defined in section 8(a)(4), and the participation of small businesses that are 51 percent owned and controlled by women in technological innovation and in SBIR programs, including the third phase of such programs, and the collection of data to document such participation; “(G) technical and programmatic guidance to encourage agencies to develop gap-funding programs to address the delay between an award for the first phase of an SBIR program and the application for and extension of an award for the second phase of such program; “(H) procedures to ensure that a small business concern that submits a proposal for a funding agreement for the first phase of an SBIR program and that has received more than 15 second phase SBIR awards during the preceding 5 fiscal years is able to demonstrate the extent to which it was able to secure third phase funding to develop concepts resulting from previous second phase SBIR awards; and “(I) procedures to ensure that agencies participating in the SBIR program retain the information submitted under subparagraph (H) at least until the General Accounting Office submits the report required under section 105 of the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992.”. (g) Elimination of Surveying and Reporting Requirement.— Section 9(k) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(k)) is amended to read as follows: “(k) [Reserved].”. (h) Reporting of Awards Made From Single Proposal, to Multiple Award Winners, or to Critical Technology Topics.— 106 STAT. 4254 (1) In general.—Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(l) Reporting of Awards Made From Single Proposal, to Multiple Award Winners, or to Critical Technology Topics.— “(1) Single proposal.— If a Federal agency required to establish an SBIR program under subsection (f) makes an award with respect to an SBIR solicitation topic or subtopic for which the agency received only 1 proposal, the agency shall provide written justification for making the award in its next quarterly report to the Administration and in the agency’s next annual report required under subsection (g)(8). “(2) Multiple awards.— An agency referred to in paragraph (1) shall include in its next annual report required under subsection (g)(8) an accounting of the awards the agency has made for the first phase of an SBIR program during the reporting period to entities that have received more than 15 awards for the second phase of an SBIR program during the preceding 5 fiscal years. “(3) Critical technology awards.— An agency referred to in paragraph (1) shall include in its next annual report required under subsection (g)(8), an accounting of the number of awards it has made to critical technology topics, as defined in subsection (g)(3), including an identification of the specific critical technologies topics, and the percentage by number and dollar amount of the agency’s total SBIR awards to such critical technology topics.”. (2) Conforming amendment.— Section 9(g)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(g)(5)) (as redesignated by subsection (d)) is amended by inserting “subject to subsection (l),” before “unilaterally”. (i) Information on Allowable Expenses.— Section 9(g)(5) of the Small Business Act (as redesignated by subsection (d)) is amended by inserting before the semicolon the following: “and inform each awardee under such an agreement, to the extent possible, of the expenses of the awardee that will be allowable under the funding agreement”.