S.Amdt. 2515

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).''.
______