49 U.S.C. § 119 — Advanced Research Projects Agency–Infrastructure

(a) Definitions. Key terms include: "ARPA-I" (the agency created by subsection (b)); "Department" (the Department of Transportation); "Director" (the head of ARPA-I, appointed under subsection (d)); "eligible entity" (a state or local government, a college or university, a commercial entity, a research foundation, a trade or industry research collaborative, a federally funded R&D center, a DOT-owned or funded research facility, an international research collaborative, or a group of two or more of these); "infrastructure" (any U.S. transportation method or facility, including roads, highways, bridges, airports, rail lines, harbors, and pipelines); and "Secretary" (the Secretary of Transportation). (b) Establishment. The Department gets a new agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Infrastructure, to support science and technology solutions to long-term transportation infrastructure challenges. (c) Goals. (1) ARPA-I's goals are to advance U.S. transportation infrastructure through innovations that lower long-term development and maintenance costs, reduce environmental harm including greenhouse gas emissions, improve safe and efficient movement of goods and people, and build resilience against physical and cyber threats — and to keep the U.S. a global leader in these technologies. (2) ARPA-I pursues these goals by funding projects that push early-stage research toward real use, move techniques from concept to prototype or demonstration, develop advanced domestic manufacturing for new transportation technologies, and take on high-uncertainty work that private industry won't fund on its own. (d) Director. (1) The President appoints the Director, with Senate confirmation. (2) The Director must be qualified, by background and experience, to advise the Secretary and manage research programs in this area. (3) The Director sits within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and reports to the Secretary. (4) No other DOT program reports to the Director. (5) The Director's duties include approving new ARPA-I programs, setting funding criteria and success milestones, administering funding, ending programs that aren't meeting their goals, and setting up a process for eligible entities to submit unsolicited research proposals. (e) Personnel. (1) The Director must build a staff qualified to carry out ARPA-I's work alongside the rest of the Department. (2) Program directors: (A) the Director designates employees as program directors; (B) each program director must set research and development goals (including through workshops and outside experts), publicize those goals, solicit applications especially where private industry or government wouldn't otherwise act, build research partnerships, select projects on merit — weighing novelty, an applicant's proven ability, whether it considered future commercial uses, and other Director-set criteria — find cost-sharing arrangements, monitor project progress, find ways to commercialize successful projects, and recommend restructuring or ending projects as needed; (C) a program director serves a 3-year term and may be reappointed. (3) Hiring and management: (A) the Director may hire scientific, engineering, and professional staff outside normal civil service rules, set their base pay up to Executive Schedule Level II, and pay bonuses capped at the lowest of $25,000, 25 percent of the employee's base pay, or the limit in section 5307(a)(1) of title 5, for any 12-month period; (B) the Director may hire a private recruiting firm to find qualified technical staff; (C) the Director may also hire administrative, financial, and clerical staff as needed. (f) Research Proposals. (1) An eligible entity may send the Director an unsolicited research proposal, describing its past efforts and any current or prior investment in the relevant technology. (2) The Director reviews each proposal for its novelty and technical merit, the applicant's demonstrated ability to carry it out, whether it considered future commercial partnerships, and other set criteria; may approve funding if the research fits ARPA-I's goals or an applicable strategic research plan and wouldn't duplicate other federal research; and must respond in writing — explaining the reasons and possibly suggesting another program if funding is denied, or providing written approval plus assistance under subsection (g) if it's approved. (g) Forms of Assistance. Once a proposal is approved, the Director may fund it through a grant, a contract, a cooperative agreement, a cash prize, or a similar funding method. (h) Reports and Roadmaps. (1) Each year, the Director must give the Secretary a report, for the Department's budget request, describing the past year's funded projects — including which ones came from unsolicited proposals and which overlap with other Department activities (with an analysis of compliance with subsection (i)(1)) — and any assistance given to industry entities and why. (2) By October 1, 2022, and at least every 4 years after that, the Director must send Congress a roadmap describing ARPA-I's strategic plan for choosing future projects over the next 4 fiscal years. (i) Coordination and Nonduplication. The Director must make sure ARPA-I's work doesn't duplicate other Department or federal research programs, and must make sure ARPA-I only funds projects whose applicants either have made real efforts to get private financing or have shown the project isn't independently commercially viable. (j) Federal Demonstration of Technologies. The Director should look for chances to partner with federal purchasing and procurement programs to demonstrate ARPA-I technologies. (k) Partnerships. The Director should seek contracts or partnerships with minority-serving institutions to help meet ARPA-I's goals, build their capacity in transportation technology, involve underserved communities, and address ARPA-I's other needs. (l) University Transportation Centers. The Director may partner with existing university transportation centers, and may fund additional, competitively selected university transportation center grants aimed at ARPA-I's specific technology and material goals. (m) Advice. (1) The Director may seek advice from an existing Department advisory body, or set up a new ARPA-I advisory committee, for guidance on specific tasks or ARPA-I's overall direction. (2) The Director may also seek advice from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or relevant professional or scientific organizations. (n) Evaluation. (1) By December 27, 2024, the Secretary may arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate how well ARPA-I is meeting its goals. (2) That evaluation may recommend whether ARPA-I should continue, whether it (or the Department generally) should keep accepting unsolicited proposals, and what lessons were learned and how they might apply elsewhere. (3) Once finished, the evaluation must be shared with Congress and the public. (o) Protection of Information. (1) Certain information ARPA-I collects from eligible entities is treated as privileged, confidential commercial and financial information, exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. (2) That protected information covers: commercialization plans (like business plans, market studies, and cost models); details of third-party investments, including any ownership stake given in return; plans to invest, or requests for, further financial support; and revenue from licensing or selling a resulting product or service. (p) Effect on Existing Authorities. ARPA-I's authority adds to the Secretary's existing powers — it doesn't replace or change them. (q) Funding. (1) Congress may appropriate whatever funds are necessary to run this section. (2) ARPA-I's budget request and its appropriated funding must both be kept separate from the rest of the Department's. (3) Of the funds appropriated each year: at least 5 percent must go to technology transfer and outreach work; and none of it may be used to build a new building or facility during the 5 years after the Surface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 was enacted.