This bill, titled the Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act, changes section 10221 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act. It adds a requirement to include risk-management best practices for engineering biology and biomanufacturing, including risks related to artificial intelligence. It directs the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (the Director) to do measurement research to help create and improve technical standards and best practices for biosecurity tied to nucleic acid synthesis. The bill lists research topics: testing to improve the accuracy, efficacy, and reliability of nucleic acid screening; security and access controls for sequence-of-concern databases; technical implementation guidance; conformity-assessment best practices and standards; and methods to evaluate how well these measures work. The Director must convene a consortium of stakeholders (industry, colleges and universities, nonprofits, and customers) to develop and update consensus priorities, best practices, and roadmaps. The Director must report the consortium’s findings to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology within 18 months of the consortium’s first meeting. The bill authorizes $5,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, drawn from funds authorized for NIST scientific and technical research and services laboratory activities, to carry out these activities.
If you work with synthetic nucleic acids, run or use sequence databases, or provide related screening services, this bill directs NIST to develop standards, testing practices, and guidance that may shape future technical expectations. It creates a stakeholder consortium to set priorities and produce a report to Congress. The bill authorizes funding so NIST can do the research and coordination. No publicly available information describes new legal requirements or specific deadlines beyond the 18-month reporting requirement.
The bill authorizes $5,000,000 per year for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to be appropriated from the funds already authorized for NIST scientific and technical research and services laboratory activities to carry out the new subsection. No publicly available information on other costs, offsets, or total program costs beyond that authorization.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.