[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3569 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3569

  To require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a 
  report on the disclosure process for intellectual property created 
             under a Federal grant, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 10, 2024

  Mr. Tillis introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a 
  report on the disclosure process for intellectual property created 
             under a Federal grant, 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 ``Improving Efficiency to Increase 
Competition Act''.

SEC. 2. GAO STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF BAYH-DOLE ACT REGULATIONS ON 
              CONTRACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Ability.--The term ``ability'' means time, resources, 
        staff, and any other metric determined necessary for compliance 
        under the contract requirements described in chapter 18 of 
        title 35, United States Code, including any regulation issued 
        under that chapter.
            (2) Contractor; federal agency; funding agreement.--The 
        terms ``contractor'', ``Federal agency'', and ``funding 
        agreement'' have the meanings 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 the 
        term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1001(a)).
            (4) Relevant committees.--The term ``relevant committees'' 
        means the following:
                    (A) The Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
                    (B) The Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                Transportation of the Senate.
                    (C) The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                Pensions of the Senate.
                    (D) The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
                Representatives.
                    (E) The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
                of the House of Representatives.
                    (F) The Committee on Education and the Workforce of 
                the House of Representatives.
    (b) Report Required.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        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 enactment of this Act, regarding the 
        implementation of chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code 
        (commonly referred to as the ``Bayh-Dole Act''), specifically 
        with respect to the requirements under that chapter, and the 
        regulations implementing that chapter, that a contractor under 
        a funding agreement with a Federal agency must follow with 
        respect to patent disclosure.
            (2) Contents.--The report required under paragraph (1) 
        shall include, to the extent practicable, information on the 
        following:
                    (A) The percentage of inventions, as defined in 
                section 201 of title 35, United States Code, 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, or any successor regulations.
                    (B) After any automatic extension of time has been 
                granted under section 401.14 of title 37, Code of 
                Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, and 
                in a case in which a contractor requests an additional 
                extension--
                            (i) the number of such extensions that are 
                        granted by Federal agencies for disclosure, 
                        election, and filing under that section; and
                            (ii) the average response time by each 
                        Federal agency for such an extension.
                    (C) How the reporting requirements under chapter 18 
                of title 35, United States Code, impact the ability of 
                a contractor to compete with foreign competitors.
                    (D) How the Federal Government uses Federal 
                reporting under chapter 18 of title 35, United States 
                Code, by contractors and suggested improvements to 
                ensure there is an improved public-private partnership.
                    (E) Barriers that Federal reporting requirements 
                under chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code, 
                create for contractors to develop inventions, as 
                defined in section 201 of title 35, United States Code.
                    (F) The time and effort institutions of higher 
                education must use for the management and reporting 
                required under chapter 18 of title 35, United States 
                Code, including--
                            (i) input from contractors with various 
                        sizes, budgets, geographical positions, and 
                        specialties;
                            (ii) with respect to any institution of 
                        higher education included in the report, a 
                        consideration of the specific research 
                        designations for that institution, including 
                        whether the institution is classified as an R1 
                        or R2 doctoral university, according to the 
                        Carnegie Classification of Institutions of 
                        Higher Education framework; and
                            (iii) how such contractors vary on their 
                        ability to efficiently comply with the 
                        requirements under that chapter.
                    (G) Difficulties contractors encounter in using the 
                patent reporting system deployed by the National 
                Institute of Standards and Technology (commonly known 
                as, and referred to in this paragraph as, ``iEdison'') 
                and recommendations to address those difficulties.
                    (H) If any other Federal agency does not use 
                iEdison, whether that Federal agency--
                            (i) would benefit from using a singular 
                        standard Federal reporting system; and
                            (ii) can effectively standardize reporting 
                        requirements in order to streamline processes 
                        required by contractors.
                    (I) The number of disclosure systems used 
                throughout the Federal Government, listed by which 
                system is used by each Federal agency, and the various 
                disclosure requirements made by each such Federal 
                agency.
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