Sec. 901. Establishment of Office of Strategic Capital
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Chapter 4 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: There is in the Office of the Secretary of Defense an office to be known as the Office of Strategic Capital (in this section referred to as the Office ). The Office shall be headed by a Director (in this section referred to as the Director ), who shall be appointed by the Secretary from among employees of the Department of Defense in Senior Executive Service positions (as defined in section 3132 of title 5).
The Office shall— develop, integrate, and implement proven capital strategies of partners of the Department of Defense to shape and scale investment in critical technologies and assets; identify and prioritize promising critical technologies and assets for the Department in need of capital assistance; and fund investments in such technologies and assets, including supply chain technologies not always supported through direct investment. An eligible entity seeking capital assistance for an eligible investment shall submit to the Director an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may require.
The Director shall establish criteria for selecting among eligible investments for which applications are submitted under subsection (d). Such criteria shall include— the extent to which an investment is significant to the national security of the United States; the likelihood that capital assistance provided for an investment would enable the investment to proceed sooner than the investment would otherwise be able to proceed; and the creditworthiness of an investment. The criteria established under paragraph
(1)shall not apply until— the Secretary of Defense submits the criteria to the congressional defense committees; and a period of 30 days has elapsed after such submission. Not less than 30 days before exercising the authority provided by section 834 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, the Director, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, shall notify the congressional defense committees of the purpose and terms of any capital assistance proposed to be provided under that section. Such notification may be made in classified form, if necessary. The Secretary of Defense shall establish a Strategic Capital Advisory Board to advise the Director with respect to activities carried out under this section. The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out this section, including regulations to ensure internal and external coordination to avoid duplication of effort, reduce inefficiency, and ensure policy coherence across the Department. The authorities made available under this section may not be exercised until the date that is 30 days after the regulations required by subsection
(i)have been— prescribed and adopted by the Department; and submitted to the congressional defense committees. Not later than December 31 of each year, the Director shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that— describes the activities of the Office during the most recent fiscal year ending before submission of the report, including— an identification of entities that received capital assistance from the Office during that fiscal year; a description of the status of the financial obligations of those entities as a result of receiving such assistance; and any success stories as a result of such assistance; assesses the status of the finances of the Office as of the end of that fiscal year; and describes the goals of the Office for the fiscal year that begins after submission of the report. In this section: The term capital assistance means loans, loan guarantees, equity investments, or technical assistance provided under section 834. The term eligible entity means— an individual; a corporation; a partnership, including a public-private partnership; a joint venture; a trust; a State, including a political subdivision or any other instrumentality of a State; a Tribal government or consortium of Tribal governments; any other governmental entity or public agency in the United States, including a special purpose district or public authority, including a port authority; or a multi-State or multi-jurisdictional group of public entities. The term eligible investment means an investment that facilitates the efforts of the Office— to identify, accelerate, and sustain the establishment, research, development, construction, procurement, leasing, consolidation, alteration, improvement, or repair of tangible and intangible assets vital to United States national security; or to protect tangible and intangible assets vital to United States national security from theft, acquisition, and transfer by countries that are adversaries of the United States. . The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 4 of such title is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 148. Office of Strategic Capital. .