§ 3715. Use of partnership intermediaries
(a)
Authority
Subject to the approval of the Secretary or head of the affected department or agency, the Director of a Federal laboratory, or in the case of a federally funded research and development center that is not a laboratory (as defined in section
3710a
(d)(2) of this title), the Federal employee who is the contract officer, may—
(1)
enter into a contract or memorandum of understanding with a partnership intermediary that provides for the partnership intermediary to perform services for the Federal laboratory that increase the likelihood of success in the conduct of cooperative or joint activities of such Federal laboratory with small business firms, institutions of higher education as defined in section
1141
(a) [1] of title
20, or educational institutions within the meaning of section
2194 of title
10; and
(c)
“Partnership intermediary” defined
For purposes of this section, the term “partnership intermediary” means an agency of a State or local government, or a nonprofit entity owned in whole or in part by, chartered by, funded in whole or in part by, or operated in whole or in part by or on behalf of a State or local government, that assists, counsels, advises, evaluates, or otherwise cooperates with small business firms, institutions of higher education as defined in section
1141
(a) [1] of title
20, or educational institutions within the meaning of section
2194 of title
10, that need or can make demonstrably productive use of technology-related assistance from a Federal laboratory, including State programs receiving funds under cooperative agreements entered into under section 5121(b) of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 278l note ).
[1] See References in Text note below.