[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2150 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2150
To establish a regional high-growth collaborative pilot program in the
Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 17, 2019
Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a regional high-growth collaborative pilot program in the
Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Spurring Small Business Innovation
Act''.
SEC. 2. REGIONAL HIGH-GROWTH COLLABORATIVE PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``Administration'' means the Small Business
Administration;
(2) the term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of
the Administration;
(3) the term ``covered period'' means the 5-fiscal year
period beginning in the first fiscal year that begins after the
date of enactment of this Act;
(4) the term ``eligible entity'' includes--
(A) a nonprofit organization;
(B) a public or nonprofit private institution of
higher education;
(C) a State government or any agency of a State
government;
(D) a regional entity, as described in section
21(a)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
648(a)(1));
(E) a State-chartered development, credit, or
finance corporation;
(F) a small business development center;
(G) a women's business center;
(H) a veteran business outreach center;
(I) a small business growth accelerator;
(J) a small business incubator; and
(K) a combination of entities described in
subparagraphs (A) through (J);
(5) the term ``institution of higher education'' has the
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001);
(6) the term ``Office'' means the Office of Innovation and
Technology of the Administration;
(7) the term ``pilot program'' means the Regional High-
Growth Collaborative Pilot Program established under subsection
(b);
(8) the term ``small business concern'' has the meaning
given the term in section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 632(a));
(9) the term ``small business development center'' has the
meaning given the term in section 3(t) of the Small Business
Act (15 U.S.C. 632(t));
(10) the terms ``Small Business Innovation Research
Program'' and ``Small Business Technology Transfer Program''
have the meanings given the terms in section 9(e) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(e)); and
(11) the term ``women's business center'' means a women's
business center operating pursuant to section 29 of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656).
(b) Establishment of Pilot Program.--There is established in the
Administration, for the covered period, a Regional High-Growth
Collaborative Pilot Program, the purpose of which is to provide the
specialized resources that are necessary in order to start and scale
small business concerns in high-growth industries.
(c) Phases of Pilot Program.--
(1) Phase i.--
(A) In general.--The Office shall--
(i) carry out a competition to establish a
total of 10 entities that shall serve as
regional high-growth collaboratives during the
first 2 fiscal years of the covered period; and
(ii) in carrying out the competition
required under clause (i), ensure that there is
established 1 regional high-growth
collaborative in each of the 10 regions of the
Administration, as in existence on the day
before the date of enactment of this Act.
(B) Duties.--Each collaborative established under
subparagraph (A) shall, during the 2-fiscal year period
described in subparagraph (A)(i), establish connections
between small business concerns in industries relating
to technology and other entities in order to--
(i) offer to those small business
concerns--
(I) access to appropriate technical
and managerial resources; and
(II) connections to the programs
overseen by the Office of
Entrepreneurial Development of the
Administration;
(ii) provide to those small business
concerns--
(I) market research relating to
potential customers for the products
and services offered by the small
business concerns; and
(II) other types of business
training relating to technology and
innovation;
(iii) facilitate access to capital for
those small business concerns;
(iv) refer those small business concerns to
other assistance programs, as appropriate; and
(v) provide those small business concerns
with assistance in preparing applications with
respect to the Small Business Innovation
Research Program and other similar programs.
(C) Evaluations.--
(i) In general.--The Office shall evaluate
the success of each collaborative established
under subparagraph (A) by analyzing, for the 2-
fiscal year period described in subparagraph
(A)(i)--
(I) the number of small business
concerns assisted by the collaborative;
(II) the number of small business
concerns assisted by the collaborative
that submitted proposals under the
Small Business Innovation Research
Program, the Small Business Technology
Transfer Program, and other similar
programs;
(III) the rates of hiring by small
business concerns assisted by the
collaborative;
(IV) the amount of capital provided
to small business concerns assisted by
the collaborative;
(V) the percentage of small
business concerns assisted by the
collaborative that operate in rural
areas;
(VI) the degree to which the
services provided by the collaborative
are geographically dispersed;
(VII) the number of small business
concerns created as a result of the
activities carried out by the
collaborative; and
(VIII) any additional metric that
the Office determines to be
appropriate.
(ii) Factor weighting.--The Office shall--
(I) in performing evaluations under
clause (i), determine how much weight
should be given to each metric
described in subclauses (I) through
(VIII) of that clause; and
(II) make the determination of the
Office under subclause (I) publicly
available.
(D) Award of funds through cooperative agreement.--
(i) In general.--The Administrator shall
enter into a cooperative agreement with each
collaborative established under subparagraph
(A), under which the Administrator shall award
to the collaborative $300,000--
(I) for each fiscal year in which
the collaborative carries out the
duties described in subparagraph (B);
and
(II) to carry out the duties
described in subparagraph (B).
(ii) Administrator discretion.--With
respect to an award under clause (i), the
Administrator may distribute the award as
determined appropriate by the Administrator,
including by distributing the award in
installments.
(E) Relationship to phase ii.--
(i) Highest scoring collaborative.--The
collaborative that scores the highest with
respect to the evaluations performed under
subparagraph (C) (referred to in this
subparagraph as the ``highest scoring
collaborative'') shall--
(I) subject to clause (ii), serve
as the model with respect to how to
structure the high-growth
collaboratives established under phase
II of the pilot program under paragraph
(2); and
(II) be guaranteed to receive an
award under paragraph (2) for the first
fiscal year in which phase II of the
pilot program is in effect under that
paragraph.
(ii) Other collaboratives.--The
Administrator--
(I) may incorporate elements from
collaboratives other than the highest
scoring collaborative when determining
how to structure the high-growth
collaboratives established under phase
II of the pilot program under paragraph
(2); and
(II) if the Administrator makes an
incorporation described in subclause
(I), shall make the methodology
regarding that incorporation publicly
available.
(2) Phase ii.--
(A) In general.--The Office shall enter into a
total of 10 cooperative agreements, under which the
Office shall make awards to eligible entities to
establish, for the third, fourth, and fifth fiscal
years of the covered period, 1 regional high-growth
collaborative in each of the 10 regions of the
Administration, as in existence on the day before the
date of enactment of this Act.
(B) Application.--An eligible entity that wishes to
enter into a cooperative agreement under subparagraph
(A) shall submit to the Office an application--
(i) in such form and manner as the Office
may require; and
(ii) that contains--
(I) a plan describing--
(aa) how the eligible
entity will provide the
services described in clauses
(i) through (v) of paragraph
(1)(B) (referred to in this
subparagraph as ``covered
services'');
(bb) the means by which the
eligible entity will provide
covered services;
(cc) the partnerships into
which the eligible entity will
enter in order to provide
covered services;
(dd) how the eligible
entity will encourage
participation by small business
concerns that operate in rural
areas;
(ee) the method used by the
eligible entity to tailor
covered services to account for
the various geographic areas
and economic conditions in the
region in which the eligible
entity will serve as a
collaborative; and
(ff) the geographic area
that the eligible entity will
serve;
(II) a budget for the provision of
covered services by the eligible
entity;
(III) the name of the individual
who will serve as executive director of
the collaborative or a plan to appoint
such an individual; and
(IV) any other information that the
Office determines to be necessary.
(C) Amount of award.--
(i) In general.--Each award to an eligible
entity under this paragraph shall be--
(I) in an amount that is $500,000;
and
(II) obligated during the fiscal
year in which the eligible entity
receives the award.
(ii) Matching funds.--An eligible entity to
which the Office makes an award under clause
(i) shall be required to match 50 percent of
that award, which may be satisfied through the
use of an in-kind match.
(D) Evaluations.--The Office shall, with respect to
each award made under this paragraph, evaluate the
eligible entity to which the award is made using the
same metrics used under paragraph (1)(C).
(E) Renewal.--The Office may, for each of the
fourth and fifth fiscal years of the covered period,
renew an award made to an eligible entity under this
paragraph in the third or fourth fiscal year of the
covered period, as applicable, if, with respect to that
third or fourth fiscal year, the eligible entity scores
highly on the evaluation conducted under subparagraph
(D) with respect to the eligible entity.
(d) Administrator Responsibilities.--The Administrator shall--
(1) provide oversight of the Office with respect to the
carrying out of the pilot program; and
(2) ensure that--
(A) the pilot program is consistent with statutory
requirements, including the requirements of this Act;
and
(B) the district and regional offices of the
Administration work closely to ensure the success of
the pilot program.
(e) Reports.--
(1) SBA.--For each fiscal year in which the pilot program
is in effect, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a
report that contains, with respect to the year covered by the
report--
(A) the information collected by the Office in
order to carry out the evaluations required under
paragraphs (1)(C) and (2)(D) of subsection (c);
(B) a description of the services provided by
collaboratives under the pilot program;
(C) a list of--
(i) with respect to phase I of the pilot
program under subsection (c)(1), each entity
established as a collaborative under such
subsection (c)(1); and
(ii) with respect to phase II of the pilot
program under subsection (c)(2), each eligible
entity with which the Office entered into a
cooperative agreement under such subsection
(c)(2); and
(D) with respect to phase II of the pilot program
under subsection (c)(2), an analysis of how the Office
determined whether to renew an award under subsection
(c)(2)(E).
(2) GAO.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which the
pilot program expires, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall submit to Congress a report that analyzes--
(A) the impact of the pilot program; and
(B) the effectiveness of the oversight required
under subsection (d)(1).
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