S.Amdt. 2037

SA 2037. Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. McCain) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to
the bill H.R. 1735, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016
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 E of title VIII, add the following:

SEC. 884. PILOT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO COMMERCIAL
INNOVATION.

(a) Authority to Establish Program.--The Secretary of
Defense may conduct a program to increase access to
commercial innovation to meet the mission critical technology
needs of the Department of Defense.
(b) Elements.--The program authorized under this section
may include the following elements:
(1) Funding qualified non-profit entities that invest in
privately-held companies that are developing technologies
that are potentially mission critical to the Department of
Defense and that have secured investments from ``venture
capital funds'' (as defined by the Securities and Exchange
Commission pursuant to section 203(l) of the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C 80b-3(l)) subject to the
following conditions:
(A) The Secretary of Defense shall appoint an individual to
manage all such investments who possesses demonstrated
knowledge and experience in--
(i) understanding developing technologies; and
(ii) managing investments in ``venture capital funds'' (as
defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to
section 203(l) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15
U.S.C 80b-3(l)).
(B) For each investment in a qualified non-profit entity,
the Secretary of Defense shall secure the ability to select
at least one member of the qualified non-profit entity's
board of directors, board of trustees, or equivalent
governing body to actively monitor the Department of
Defense's investment in the qualified non-profit entity.
(C) The Secretary of Defense shall provide to the
Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of
Representatives a report describing each of the Department of
Defense's investments in each qualified non-profit entity,
including, at a minimum--
(i) a description and evaluation of the Department of
Defense mission each such investment is intended to help
accomplish; and
(ii) a financial evaluation that estimates the current and
projected value the Department of Defense is securing from
each of its investments.
(2) Conducting cost-effective outreach efforts and
establishing points of entry for non-traditional defense
contractors whose products and technologies could be acquired
by the Department of Defense.
(3) Training Federal acquisition personnel in innovative
acquisition techniques to access non-traditional defense
contractors.
(4) Use of other transactions authority under section 2371
of title 10, United States

[[Page S4166]]

Code, and authority to award prizes for advanced technology
achievements under section 2374a of such title.
(c) Authority to Enter Into Intelligence Community
Contracts and Other Agreements.--The Secretary of Defense is
authorized to use intelligence community contracts and other
agreements to meet the needs of the program established under
this section.
(d) Funding.--
(1) In general.--Of the unobligated amounts appropriated or
otherwise made available for fiscal year 2015 for the Office
of the Secretary of Defense for science and technology,
$10,000,000 may be used for technology innovation, as
described in the reprogramming action prior approval request
submitted by the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) to
Congress on May 15, 2015.
(2) Defense acquisition workforce fund.--The Defense
Acquisition Workforce Development Fund may be used for the
training of Department of Defense employees under this
section.
(e) Sunset.--The authority to carry out the pilot program
under subsection (a) shall terminate one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
______