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SBIR/STTR Program Set to Expire Later This Month; Support for Reauthorization Waning

Written by on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

As we reported previously, he SBIR/STTR program is set to expire on March 20th of this month, unless Congress takes last minute emergency action to save it.

Unfortunately,  SBIR Insider author Rick Shindell reports that there is growing opposition in Congress to saving the SBIR/STTR program.

In fact, the idea of even providing funding for the SBIR/STTR program was rejected with the passage of the Stimulus Bill in Congress, where according to The SBIR Coach’s Blog, a provision that would have provided the SBIR/STTR programs $250 million was struck at the last minute from the bill and language was inserted which explicitly precluded the NIH from using the stimulus money for the SBIR/STTR programs.

Does this really make sense?  Regardless of how you feel about the Stimulus Bill that was passed, does it make sense to exclude funding for small businesses from a bill that is supposed to stimulate the economy and create jobs?

The SBIR Coach’s Blog voices its opinion on this issue as follows:

What were they thinking? As Ann said in her alert, “Such an exclusion is underhanded and entirely inappropriate.” There’s the understatement of the year (so far)!

Entirely inappropriate for sure. Does it make sense for the NIH to not seek additional innovative solutions from our small businesses — a sector hailed by President Obama himself as being the most likely one to create the jobs that we so desperately need? 2.5% +0.3% of $7.4B is $207.2M that’s been inappropriately withheld from our small businesses. That could be used to create a whole bunch of jobs!

And underhanded to boot! They snuck the wording into the fine print in “code” so we wouldn’t spot it. A search for “SBIR” or “STTR” won’t turn anything up.

While I agree that the SBIR/STTR program is far from perfect, and I have been critical of the whole SBA program in the past based on my personal experiences with the SBA in trying to secure loans for my business, it is my personal opinion that, at a time like this when the economy seems to many of us to be in freefall, reauthorizing SBIR/STTR should be a no-brainer.  Why wouldn’t Congress want to maintain support for small businesses, which, in my opinion, are the lifeblood of our economy?  Moreover, why in the world wouldn’t Congress want to include funding for small business programs like the SBIR/STTR in a huge spending bill intended to stimulate the economy?

I can tell you personally that it is nothing short of impossible right now to secure funding for a small business, period.  The help seems to be going to Detroit, the banking system, and AIG, as well as to all kinds of random programs in various states across the country (which to be honest, have made me scratch my head a little bit and wonder why we are funding many of them with taxpayer dollars),  but there is little or nothing that small businesses can do right now  to get access to additional funding.  Supposedly there is some provision that did make it into the Stimulus Bill which will free up some funding fo help small businesses refinance debt, but this funding is not yet in effect and most small businesses have yet to get much in the way of details on this particular program.

So, back to the topic of the SBIR/STTR program, which will shortly expire: in this economic climate,  why in the world  isn’t Congress acting to ensure that this doesn’t happen?

Your guess is as good as mine.  However, the bottom line is that the expiration of SBIR/STTR is all but a done deal now.  If this is a concern to you, you have 16 days left to take action and get your voice heard by Congress.  Perhaps there is still time to save this program from extinction.

Rick Shindell has provided a list of instructions for how to get your voice heard on this issue:

Develop a brief message urging an SBIR extension for a year, stating its importance to you, your business and community. Stress that a collapse of SBIR could be catastrophic not just for you, but the entire high tech small business community. Stress that SBIR community is a pillar of America’s innovation and economic stimulus . Do it in your own words because boilerplate language is far less effective.

  1. Call your Senators, both their local and DC offices. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
  2. Call your Representative, both their local and DC offices. http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml
  3. Go to their web sites and use the email or webmail links to send them your message.
  4. Contact the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship info@small-bus.senate.gov – 202-224-5175
  5. Contact the House Small Business Committee (202) 225-4038 www.house.gov/smbiz/
  6. Contact the House Committee on Science (202) 225-6375 – http://science.house.gov/contact/contact_generalform.shtml
  7. Go to the President’s web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
  8. Write to your local newspapers, TV and radio stations.
  9. Work with other small business groups to form a united effort.

The California Biotech Law Blog will continue to keep you posted on any new developments on this issue, and will let you know if there seems to be any movement towards saving the program.


Comments

Comment from Fred Patterson – The SBIR Coach
Time March 5, 2009 at 12:00 am

Thank you, Kristie, for adding your voice to the growing concern and wonderment about why small business is being left out of the Stimulus picture, seemingly in direct opposition to President Obama’s having extolled small business as the primary source of innovation and the major creator of new jobs in our struggling economy.

You are correct that, outside of SBIR, “it is nothing short of impossible right now to secure funding for a small business, period.” We cannot let SBIR expire. My friend, Rick Shindell, is correct — there are elements that would rather see SBIR go away, but we’re fighting hard to get that Continuing Resolution (CR).

My website (http://www.sbircoach.com) has a section on SBIR Reauthorization (direct link to it is on the home page) that has a recitation of the issues, some writings of Roland Tibbetts (the Father of SBIR), links to advocacy sites, my personal recommendations, and a template letter for legislators that you can tailor for your own wording with links to address and phone numbers of individual legislators.

Rick and I urge everyone to join us in pressing for the CR so that we may continue the debate and help guide our legislators in crafting a compromise bill that will satisfy all parties and improve the SBIR Program. We almost had one last year (S.3362) but it was lost in the shuffle of the credit crisis and never came up for a vote.

As for that exclusion from the NIH’s Stimulus funding for R&D, we still don’t know for sure whodunit but we have our suspicions. The truth will eventually come out. There’s a letter to protest this on my website as well, with a call for the introduction of a bill to repeal the exclusion. (Sometimes I do feel like Don Quixote!)

Thanks again, Kristie, and thanks to all of you who do get involved for your support.

Fred Patterson – The SBIR Coach

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