text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Technology and Research Accelerating 
  National Security and Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2014'' or the 
  ``TRANSFER Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER GRANT PROGRAM.
  
      Section 9(jj) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(jj)) is 
  amended to read as follows:
      ``(jj) Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer.--
              ``(1) Grant program.--
                      ``(A) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                              ``(i) the term `covered agency' means a 
                          Federal agency that is required to establish an 
                          STTR program under subsection (n);
                              ``(ii) the term `eligible institution' 
                          means--
                                      ``(I) an institution of higher 
                                  education;
                                      ``(II) a technology transfer 
                                  organization that facilitates the 
                                  commercialization of technologies 
                                  developed by 1 or more institutions of 
                                  higher education;
                                      ``(III) a Federal laboratory;
                                      ``(IV) a public or private 
                                  nonprofit entity; or
                                      ``(V) a consortium of any of the 
                                  entities described under subclause (I), 
                                  (II), (III), or (IV);
                              ``(iii) the term `Federal laboratory' has 
                          the meaning given that term under section 4(6) 
                          of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 
                          Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703(6));
                              ``(iv) the term `institution of higher 
                          education' has the meaning given that term 
                          under section 101(a) of the Higher Education 
                          Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)); and
                              ``(v) the term `program' means an 
                          Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer 
                          Grant Program established by a covered agency 
                          under subparagraph (B).
                      ``(B) Establishment of program.--The head of each 
                  covered agency shall establish a grant program, to be 
                  known as the Innovative Approaches to Technology 
                  Transfer Grant Program of the covered agency, to make 
                  grants to eligible institutions to improve or 
                  accelerate the commercialization of high quality and 
                  commercially viable federally funded research and 
                  technology by small business concerns.
                      ``(C) Use of funds.--Grants awarded under a program 
                  may be used to--
                              ``(i) provide early-stage proof of concept 
                          funding for translational research;
                              ``(ii) identify research and technology 
                          that have the potential for accelerated 
                          commercialization;
                              ``(iii) support technology maturation 
                          activities, including prototype construction, 
                          experiment analysis, product comparison, and 
                          the collection of performance data;
                              ``(iv) provide funding for technical 
                          validations, market research, clarifying 
                          intellectual property rights position and 
                          strategy, and investigating commercial and 
                          business opportunities;
                              ``(v) provide advice, mentoring, 
                          entrepreneurial education, project management, 
                          and technology and business development 
                          expertise to innovators and recipients of 
                          technology transfer licenses to maximize 
                          commercialization potential; and
                              ``(vi) conduct outreach to small business 
                          concerns as potential licensees of federally 
                          funded research and technology to provide 
                          technology transfer services to those small 
                          business concerns.
                      ``(D) Application.--
                              ``(i) In general.--An eligible institution 
                          desiring a grant under the program shall submit 
                          an application to a covered agency at such 
                          time, in such manner, and containing such 
                          information as the covered agency may require.
                              ``(ii) Required information.--An 
                          application submitted for a grant under the 
                          program shall include--
                                      ``(I)(aa) a description of 
                                  innovative approaches to technology 
                                  transfer, technology development, and 
                                  commercial readiness that have the 
                                  potential to increase or accelerate 
                                  technology transfer outcomes and can be 
                                  adopted by other eligible institutions; 
                                  or
                                      ``(bb) a demonstration of, or a 
                                  plan to implement, proven technology 
                                  transfer and commercialization 
                                  strategies that can achieve greater 
                                  commercialization of federally funded 
                                  research and technology with a grant 
                                  under the program;
                                      ``(II) a description of how the 
                                  eligible institution will contribute to 
                                  local and regional economic development 
                                  efforts;
                                      ``(III) a plan for sustainability 
                                  after grant amounts have been expended; 
                                  and
                                      ``(IV) a plan to assemble an 
                                  oversight board in accordance with 
                                  subparagraph (F).
                      ``(E) Competitive basis.--A covered agency shall 
                  award grants to eligible institutions under the program 
                  of the covered agency on a competitive basis.
                      ``(F) Oversight board.--
                              ``(i) In general.--An eligible institution 
                          that receives a grant under the program shall 
                          assemble an oversight board to--
                                      ``(I) establish award programs for 
                                  individual projects, including an 
                                  application process;
                                      ``(II) provide rigorous evaluation 
                                  of project applications;
                                      ``(III) determine which projects 
                                  should receive awards from the eligible 
                                  institution;
                                      ``(IV) establish milestones and 
                                  associated award amounts for projects 
                                  that reach certain milestones;
                                      ``(V) determine whether a project 
                                  is reaching the established milestones; 
                                  and
                                      ``(VI) develop a process to 
                                  reallocate outstanding award amounts 
                                  from projects that are not reaching 
                                  milestones to other projects with more 
                                  potential to reach those milestones.
                              ``(ii) Membership and qualifications.--
                                      ``(I) In general.--An oversight 
                                  board assembled under clause (i) shall 
                                  be composed of members who shall have 
                                  demonstrated relevant technical, 
                                  scientific, or business expertise, of 
                                  whom three-fifths shall be drawn from 
                                  relevant industries, start-up 
                                  companies, venture capital or other 
                                  equity investment mechanisms, technical 
                                  enterprises, financial institutions, 
                                  and business development organizations 
                                  with a track record of success in 
                                  commercializing innovations.
                                      ``(II) Conflicts of interest.--An 
                                  oversight board assembled under clause 
                                  (i) shall adopt policies that--
                                              ``(aa) prohibit conflicts 
                                          of interest among members of 
                                          the oversight board;
                                              ``(bb) ensure that relevant 
                                          relationships are disclosed; 
                                          and
                                              ``(cc) establish proper 
                                          recusal procedures in the event 
                                          of a conflict of interest.
                              ``(iii) Use of existing oversight boards.--
                          An eligible institution may use oversight 
                          boards in existence on the date of the 
                          enactment of the Technology and Research 
                          Accelerating National Security and Future 
                          Economic Resiliency Act of 2014 that meet the 
                          requirements of this subparagraph.
                      ``(G) Grant and award amounts.--
                              ``(i) Grant amounts.--The amount of a grant 
                          made by a covered agency under the program of 
                          the covered agency shall be not more than 
                          $3,000,000.
                              ``(ii) Award amounts.--An eligible 
                          institution that receives a grant under a 
                          program shall make awards for individual 
                          projects that support the activities of clauses 
                          (i), (iii) and (iv) of subparagraph (C), 
                          which--
                                      ``(I) shall not be more than 
                                  $100,000; and
                                      ``(II) shall be provided in phased 
                                  amounts, based on whether the project 
                                  is reaching the milestones established 
                                  by the oversight board of the eligible 
                                  institution.
                      ``(H) Authorized expenditures for the program.--
                              ``(i) Expenditure amounts.--The percentage 
                          of the extramural budget for research, or 
                          research and development, required to be 
                          expended by a covered agency for the program of 
                          the covered agency shall be--
                                      ``(I) 0.05 percent for fiscal year 
                                  2015; and
                                      ``(II) 0.1 percent for each of 
                                  fiscal years 2016 and 2017.
                              ``(ii) Treatment of expenditures.--Any 
                          portion of the extramural budget expended by a 
                          covered agency for the program of the covered 
                          agency shall apply toward the STTR expenditure 
                          requirements of the covered agency under 
                          subsection (n).
              ``(2) Program evaluation and data collection and 
          dissemination.--
                      ``(A) Evaluation plan and data collection.--
                              ``(i) In general.--Each covered agency 
                          shall develop a program evaluation plan to 
                          collect data to identify outcomes resulting 
                          from the transfer of technology under the 
                          program of the covered agency, including--
                                      ``(I) specific follow-on funding 
                                  identified or obtained, including 
                                  follow-on funding sources, such as 
                                  Federal sources or private sources, not 
                                  later than 3 years after the date on 
                                  which an eligible institution makes an 
                                  award for a project under the program;
                                      ``(II) the number of projects 
                                  which, not later than 5 years after 
                                  receiving an award from an eligible 
                                  institution under the program, result 
                                  in a license to a start-up company or 
                                  an established company with sufficient 
                                  resources for effective 
                                  commercialization;
                                      ``(III) the number of invention 
                                  disclosures received, United States 
                                  patent applications filed, and United 
                                  States patents issued not later than 5 
                                  years after the date on which an 
                                  eligible institution makes an award for 
                                  a project under the program;
                                      ``(IV) the number of projects 
                                  receiving an award from an eligible 
                                  institution under the program that 
                                  secure Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR 
                                  awards;
                                      ``(V) available information on 
                                  revenue, sales, or other measures of 
                                  products that have been commercialized 
                                  as a result of projects receiving an 
                                  award from an eligible institution 
                                  under the program not later than 5 
                                  years after the date on which the 
                                  eligible institution made the award;
                                      ``(VI) the number and location of 
                                  jobs created as a result of projects 
                                  receiving an award from an eligible 
                                  institution under the program; and
                                      ``(VII) any other data as the 
                                  covered agency may determine 
                                  appropriate.
                      ``(B) Evaluative report to congress.--Not later 
                  than September 30, 2018, the head of each covered 
                  agency shall submit to the Committee on Small Business 
                  and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on 
                  Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on 
                  Small Business of the House of Representatives a report 
                  evaluating the activities of the program of the covered 
                  agency, which shall include--
                              ``(i) a detailed description of the 
                          implementation of the program;
                              ``(ii) a detailed description of selection 
                          process used by the covered agency to award a 
                          grant to an eligible institution under the 
                          program;
                              ``(iii) an accounting of the funds used in 
                          the program; and
                              ``(iv) a summary of the data collected 
                          under subparagraph (A).
                      ``(C) Data dissemination.--For purposes of program 
                  transparency and the dissemination of best practices, 
                  the Administrator shall include on the public database 
                  under subsection (k)(1) information on the program of 
                  each covered agency, including--
                              ``(i) the program evaluation plan required 
                          under subparagraph (A);
                              ``(ii) a list of recipients of awards made 
                          by an eligible institution for projects under 
                          the program by State; and
                              ``(iii) information on the use by 
                          recipients of awards made by an eligible 
                          institution for projects under the program.''.
target: Technology and Research Accelerating National Security and Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2013 or the TRANSFER Act of 2013 - Amends the Small Business Act to revise the requirement that the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) use funds for a Proof of Concept Partnership pilot program to accelerate the creation of small businesses and the commercialization of research innovations made by certain institutions. Directs the head of each covered federal agency required to establish a small business technology transfer (STTR) program to establish an Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer Grant Program to make grants to institutions of higher education, technology transfer organizations that facilitate the commercialization of technologies developed by one or more of the institutions, federal laboratories, public or private nonprofit entities, or a consortium of any of these entities in order to improve or accelerate the commercialization of high quality and commercially viable federally funded research and technology by small businesses. Outlines activities eligible for funding, application requirements, and award procedures and amounts. Requires grant recipients to assemble an oversight board to establish award programs for individual projects and evaluate project applications. Prescribes the percentage of each covered agency's extramural budget for research, or research development required to be expended on such Program for FY2015-FY2017. Directs each covered agency to develop a Program evaluation plan to collect data to identify outcomes resulting from the transfer of technology under its Program. Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to include information on each covered agency's Program on the public database of small businesses participating in STTR or Small Business Innovation Research programs.
feat_title: TRANSFER Act