[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 96 (Monday, June 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S3686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2673. Mr. ROUNDS 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 appropriate place in title II, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. NATIONAL DEFENSE ACCELERATOR NETWORK PILOT.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) has spurred 
     investment from private venture capital into new non-
     traditional companies that focus on national defense 
     solutions. Since June 2016, seven startups supported by 
     Defense Innovation Unit Experimental have raised close to 
     $720,000,000 in subsequent rounds of private venture capital 
     funding.
       (2) An innovation ecosystem can be developed based on a hub 
     and spoke network closely aligned to public research 
     universities in partnership with the government and private 
     capital.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) while Defense Innovation Unit Experimental has been 
     able to attract early stage private capital to dual-use 
     start-ups, more needs to be done to re-establish a dual use 
     innovation ecosystem in the United States similar to what was 
     created in the 1950s and early 1960s in radar and 
     microelectronics technologies;
       (2) this older ecosystem eventually evolved into the 
     globally dominant commercial information technology industry 
     primarily based in Silicon Valley but was initially jump-
     started based on a partnership between the Government, 
     leading universities, and the private sector; and
       (3) new innovation networks should be developed and 
     incubated that would be comprised of emerging non-traditional 
     defense companies to enable the Department of Defense to 
     stabilize and then hopefully begin to close the digital and 
     technological gap that is beginning to emerge in many key 
     areas with United States competitors.
       (c) Pilot Required.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a 
     pilot program to assess innovation network capabilities.
       (2) Establishment of network.--In carrying out the pilot 
     program required by paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
     establish a network of the dual-use startups produced under 
     the pilot program. Such network would be known as the 
     ``National Defense Accelerator Network''.
       (3) Initial test phase.--In carrying out the pilot program 
     required by paragraph (1), the Secretary may carry out an 
     initial test phase at one leading university that--
       (A) has an established leadership team that is intimately 
     familiar with the workings of In-Q-Tel and Defense Innovation 
     Unit Experimental; and
       (B) has established relationships with leading venture 
     capital firms and other sources of early stage financial 
     capital.
       (4) Producing dual-use startups.--The pilot program 
     required by paragraph (1) shall be a pilot program to assess 
     the ability to produce dual-use startups focused on priority 
     defense technology that attract seed and round A financing 
     from premier venture capital firms in the United States.
       (5) Scalability.--The Secretary shall ensure that the pilot 
     program conducted under paragraph (1) is designed to be 
     scalable and, if successful, enlarged to consist of at least 
     10 and not more than 20 leading regionally-based public 
     research universities.
       (d) Semiannual Reports.--Not less frequently than once 
     every six months for the first two years of the pilot program 
     conducted under subsection (c), the Secretary shall brief the 
     congressional defense committees on the progress of the 
     Secretary in carrying out the pilot program.
       (e) Funding.--Of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this Act for the Industrial Base Analysis and 
     Sustainment program (IBAS), Defense Innovation Unit 
     Experimental, the Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF), and for any 
     purpose relating to strengthening and improving the defense 
     industrial base, $5,000,000 shall be available to carry out 
     the pilot program required by subsection (c).
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