DOE and SBA Research Act

Summary#

This bill directs the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to sign one or more memoranda of understanding or other agreements to carry out shared and collaborative research and development activities. The agencies must ensure the inclusion of small business concerns where appropriate. The agencies may use reimbursable agreements and may work with other federal agencies. The activities must follow the research security rules in subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act. The covered officials must send a report to Congress within two years that covers coordination, possible opportunities to expand technical capabilities, collaborative research achievements, future areas of success, and plans to continue coordination.

What it means for you#

• If you are a small business, the bill requires agencies to include small business concerns in these R&D activities when appropriate.
• The Department of Energy and the Small Business Administration will coordinate and document their joint work and present a report to Congress in two years.
• The agencies can use reimbursable agreements to support work and can partner with other federal agencies.
• The bill requires compliance with existing research security rules.

Expenses#

No additional amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. That means the bill does not provide new funding. The agencies may use reimbursable agreements to fund some activities from existing or transferred funds.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.