SBIR Set to Expire Jan. 31, 2010 The highly successful Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is set to expire on Jan. 31, 2010. As the House of Representatives returns to Washington, D.C. this week and the Senate is set to reconvene Tuesday, Jan. 19, reauthorization of the SBIR program is among the critical must-do items. Both the Senate and House have passed reauthorizing legislation meaning leaving reconciliation the next logical step. Unfortunately there are some significant differences between the two bills. The reconciliation between the House and Senate versions of the SBIR program is being conducted by the staffs of the House Small Business Committee and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. NSBA has been very supportive of the compromise offered by the Senate Committee, and is urging the House to consider the implications on small business of yet another continuation of this program—which already has been delayed by more than 18 months. The House favors a significant increase in access to the program for venture capital (VC) controlled firms; much larger Phase I and Phase II awards than currently allowable; allowing some awards to go directly to large Phase II contracts, bypassing the Phase I competition; and reauthorizing the program for only 2 years instead of the Senate’s 14 years. The Senate bill, on the other hand has aimed to offer a certain level of compromise that would allow for more reasonable increased participation by VC controlled firms in certain agencies’ SBIR programs without making such drastic and devastating changes to the program. The SBIR program has been an extremely successful program, and a responsible reauthorization of this program is one of NSBA’s top priorities. Please click here for more details. |