[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 94 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3362-S3363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2515. Mr. CARDIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 2282 submitted by Mr. Inhofe (for himself and Mr. McCain) 
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 5515, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle I of title VIII, add the following:

     SEC. 896. ACCELERATING SBIR AND STTR AWARDS.

       Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is 
     amended--
       (1) in subsection (hh)--
       (A) by striking ``Federal agencies'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(1) In general.--Federal agencies'';
       (B) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by striking 
     ``attempt to''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) Pilot program to accelerate department of defense 
     sbir and sttr awards.--
       ``(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this paragraph, the Under Secretary of Defense 
     for Acquisition and Sustainment, acting through the Director 
     of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy of the 
     Department of Defense, shall establish a pilot program to 
     reduce the time for awards under the SBIR and STTR programs 
     of the Department of Defense, under which the Department of 
     Defense shall--
       ``(i) develop simplified and standardized procedures and 
     model contracts throughout the Department of Defense for 
     Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III SBIR awards;
       ``(ii) for Phase I SBIR and STTR awards, reduce the amount 
     of time between solicitation closure and award;
       ``(iii) for Phase II SBIR and STTR awards, reduce the 
     amount of time between the end of a Phase I award and the 
     start of the Phase II award;
       ``(iv) for Phase II SBIR and STTR awards that skip Phase I, 
     reduce the amount of time between solicitation closure and 
     award;
       ``(v) for sequential Phase II SBIR and STTR awards, reduce 
     the amount of time between Phase II awards; and
       ``(vi) reduce the award times described in clauses (ii), 
     (iii), (iv), and (v) to be as close to 90 days as possible.
       ``(B) Consultation.--In carrying out the pilot program 
     under subparagraph (A), the Director of Defense Procurement 
     and Acquisition Policy of the Department of Defense shall 
     consult with the Director of the Office of Small Business 
     Programs of the Department of Defense.
       ``(C) Termination.--The pilot program under subparagraph 
     (A) shall terminate on September 30, 2022.''; and
       (2) in subsection (ii)--
       (A) by striking ``Federal agencies'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(1) In general.--Federal agencies''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) Comptroller general reports.--The Comptroller General 
     of the United States

[[Page S3363]]

     shall submit to the Committee on Small Business and 
     Entrepreneurship of the Senate, the Committee on Armed 
     Services of the Senate, the Committee on Small Business of 
     the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Armed 
     Services of the House of Representatives--
       ``(A) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
     this paragraph, and every year thereafter for 3 years, a 
     report that--
       ``(i) provides the average and median amount of time that 
     each component of the Department of Defense with an SBIR or 
     STTR program takes to review and make a final decision on 
     proposals submitted under the program; and
       ``(ii) compares that average and median amount of time with 
     that of other Federal agencies participating in the SBIR or 
     STTR program; and
       ``(B) not later than December 5, 2021, a report that--
       ``(i) includes the information described in subparagraph 
     (A);
       ``(ii) assesses where each Federal agency participating in 
     the SBIR or STTR program needs improvement with respect to 
     the proposal review and award times under the program;
       ``(iii) identifies best practices for shortening the 
     proposal review and award times under the SBIR and STTR 
     programs, including the pros and cons of using contracts 
     compared to grants; and
       ``(iv) analyzes the efficacy of the pilot program 
     established under subsection (hh)(2).''.
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