[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4842 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4842

      To amend section 9 of the Small Business Act to require the 
    Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish 
 training on Phase III acquisitions for the acquisition workforce, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2025

 Mr. Cisneros introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on 
    Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend section 9 of the Small Business Act to require the 
    Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish 
 training on Phase III acquisitions for the acquisition workforce, 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 ``SBIR Commercialization Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PHASE III AWARD EDUCATION.

    Section 9(r) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(r)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Workforce training.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Administrator, in 
                coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the 
                Administrator of the General Services Administration, 
                and the head of any such other Federal agency that the 
                Administrator determines appropriate, shall establish 
                training activities for contracting officers and agency 
                acquisition workforce of Federal agencies to ensure 
                that such individuals are fully aware of all aspects of 
                Phase III acquisitions under the SBIR and STTR 
                programs, as applicable.
                    ``(B) Training topics.--The training activities 
                required under subparagraph (A) shall include training 
                on--
                            ``(i) the missions, goals, and authorities 
                        of the SBIR and STTR programs;
                            ``(ii) the use of Phase III agreement;
                            ``(iii) Phase III data rights; and
                            ``(iv) the execution of Phase III sole 
                        source award contracts.
                    ``(C) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Agency acquisition workforce.--The 
                        term `agency acquisition workforce' means the 
                        employees of a Federal agency that have 
                        procurement or acquisition responsibilities, 
                        including--
                                    ``(I) employees described in 
                                section 1703 of title 41, United States 
                                Code; and
                                    ``(II) individuals that are part of 
                                the acquisition workforce (as such term 
                                is defined in section 101(a) of title 
                                10, United States Code).
                            ``(ii) Phase iii acquisition.--The term 
                        `Phase III acquisition' means the acquisition 
                        of a good or service from a participant in 
                        Phase III that such participant has 
                        commercialized or is seeking to commercialize 
                        as such a participant.''.

SEC. 3. PHASE III IMPROVEMENTS.

    (a) Procurement Center Representative Directives.--
            (1) In general.--Section 9(j)(4) of the Small Business Act 
        (15 U.S.C. 638(j)(4)) is amended by inserting before the period 
        at the end the following: ``, and advocate for the maximum 
        practicable use and transition of products, services, and 
        technologies developed under SBIR or STTR programs to Phase III 
        by means of Phase III awards to small business concerns''.
            (2) Modification deadline.--Not later than one year after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 
        Small Business Administration shall modify the policy 
        directives issues pursuant to subsection (j) of section 9 of 
        the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(j)) in accordance with 
        paragraph (4) of such subsection, as amended by paragraph (1).
    (b) Phase III Award Simplification.--Section 9(r)(4) of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(r)(4)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
                    ``(C) report to the Administrator on the actions 
                taken by the Federal agency or Federal prime contractor 
                to develop simplified and standardized procedures and 
                model contracts for Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III 
                SBIR awards; and
                    ``(D) shall issue standardized solicitation 
                provisions and contract clauses which provide clear 
                guidance on the information that small business 
                concerns participating in SBIR or STTR programs can be 
                expected to provide as part of market research or as 
                part of a proposal by such small business concern to 
                establish eligibility for Phase III awards.''.

SEC. 4. PHASE III AND SOLE-SOURCE AWARDS.

    Section 9(r) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by inserting ``Sole Source and Other'' 
        after ``Justification for''; and
            (2) in the heading for paragraph (4), by inserting ``sole 
        source and other'' after ``justification for''.
                                 <all>