The House on Thursday approved a bill that would reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs through fiscal year 2025.

The lower chamber passed the SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 a week after the Senate approved the measure.

SBIR “is known for its tagline of ‘America’s seed fund’ as it inspires small businesses across the country to transform their ideas into marketable products and services,” Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said in a statement published Thursday.

“Today, I am proud to have voted to extend the SBIR and STTR to add much-needed stability to the program,” added Stevens, chairwoman of the House Science, Space and Technology’s research and technology subcommittee.

The bill would direct agencies with SBIR or STTR programs to review the security risks associated with applications with financial links to some foreign entities and require the departments of Defense, Energy, National Science Foundation and other federal agencies to evaluate the research, integrity and national security risks of the two small business programs.

Under the legislation, the Government Accountability Office to assess and report on subcontracting practices of program recipients.

The U.S. Army is inviting small businesses, sole proprietors and institutions nationwide to join a new prize competition to develop defense manufacturing technologies in areas, including directed energy, additive and smart manufacturing and hypersonic systems.

The xTechManufacture competition provides an opportunity for eligible participants to pitch their technology proposals directly to the Department of Defense’s principal manufacturing arms to secure funding for development.

The competition offers a total of $445,000 in cash prizes and consists of a short concept submission round and a final pitch event.

During the first round, the Army will select up to 10 finalists to be awarded $15,000 each and the chance to pitch their ideas at the 2022 Defense Manufacturing Conference scheduled from Dec. 5 to 8 in Tampa, Florida.

The first-place winner of the competition will receive $150,000, second-place will get $75,000 and the third-place will secure $25,000 to further develop their technologies. Other final-round participants will receive a prize of $10,000 each.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology will host the competition in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel.

The Federal Aviation Administration has released design guidelines for vertiports that will support advanced air mobility aircraft capable of vertical take off and landing.

The document outlines several standards that designers and developers will need to follow in areas including markings, lighting and visual aids; safety-critical geometry and design elements; and charging and electric infrastructure, the FAA said Monday.

The guidance also includes information on the requirements for airports looking to add vertiports to an existing commercial airport and for developers that seek to build vertiports on top of existing structures.

“These vertiport design standards provide the foundation needed to begin safely building infrastructure in this new era,” said Shannetta Griffin, associate administrator for airports at FAA.

VTOL aircraft powered with electric motors will be used to transport cargo and passengers at lower altitudes in urban, suburban and rural areas.

The Government Accountability Office has identified four challenges that federal agencies should address as they move to the cloud and these are ensuring cybersecurity, procuring cloud services, tracking savings and costs and maintaining a skilled workforce.

When it comes to cloud acquisition, GAO found that some of the agencies did not always integrate key practices for service level agreements into their contracts for cloud services, such as specifying how networks and data will be managed and responsibilities for notifying the agency in the event of a security breach, according to a report published Wednesday.

GAO recommended that agencies create guidance that includes key practices for such agreements.

The congressional watchdog said most of the agencies continue to utilize cloud services that were not certified under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.

According to the report, four of the major agencies GAO picked for a detailed assessment do not always include in their cloud security plans the required information and incorporate summaries of security control test results in security review reports.

GAO called on the Office of Management and Budget to hold federal agencies accountable for cloud service authorization via FedRAMP.