SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, and for other purposes.

4/18/2008--Reported to House amended. SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act - Title I: Modernizing the SBIR and STTR Programs -
(Sec. 101) Amends the Small Business Act to extend through FY2010 (currently scheduled to expire at the end of FY2008) the Small Business Innovation Research more... (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA).
(Sec. 102) Increases, for FY2009 and thereafter, from:
(1) 2.5% to 3.0% of participating federal agencies' extramural research budget the set-aside for SBIR program activities; and
(2) 0.3% to 0.6% of such budget the set-aside for STTR program activities.
(Sec. 103) Increases, for both the SBIR and STTR programs, the individual small business award levels from:
(1) $100,000 to $300,000, for participation at a Phase One level; and
(2) $750,000 to $2.2 million, for participation at a Phase Two level. Allows participating federal agencies (agencies) to exceed such award levels if such agencies notify, and provide annual reports concerning such increase to, the congressional small business committees.
(Sec. 104) Directs each federal agency that is required to conduct an SBIR program and that annually administers $50 million or more in SBIR grants to have an SBIR advisory board. Outlines advisory board duties and requirements, including an annual program report to the small business committees.
(Sec. 105) Increases technical assistance funding for Phase One awardees and Phase Two grantees. Includes under authorized technical assistance assistance in implementing manufacturing processes and production strategies. Allows Phase One grantees to opt-out of the agency's technical assistance in favor of a payment of up to $2,500, to be used to purchase such assistance. Requires agencies to select technical assistance vendors for a term not to exceed three years.
(Sec. 106) Requires each agency to conduct at least two rounds of SBIR research solicitations per year, and to render a final decision on each proposal within 90 days after the solicitation closes (with an authorized extension to 180 days on a case-by-case basis).
(Sec. 107) Includes energy-related and rare disease-related research topics as "special consideration" SBIR research topics.
(Sec. 108) Requires the SBA Administrator to submit annually to the small business committees a list of small businesses that, during the previous five-year period, received 15 or more Phase One awards and no Phase Two awards.
(Sec. 109) Requires each agency to engage with SBIR awardees that have been awarded multiple Phase One awards but no Phase Two awards, and to develop performance metrics to measure awardee progress in the SBIR program.
(Sec. 110) Allows a small business that receives an:
(1) SBIR award from one agency to receive an award for a subsequent phase from another agency, as long as the head of each agency certifies that the topics of the relevant awards are the same; and
(2) award under either the SBIR or STTR program to receive an award for a subsequent phase under either program.
(Sec. 111) Requires the Comptroller General to carry out, and report to the small business committees on, an audit of agency calculations of SBIR and STTR extramural research budgets. Title II: Venture Capital Investment Standards -
(Sec. 201) Provides that, effective only for the SBIR and STTR programs:
(1) a business concern that has more than 500 employees shall not qualify as a small business concern;
(2) in determining whether a small business concern is independently owned and operated, the SBA Administrator shall not consider a business concern to be affiliated with a venture capital operating company if the venture capital operating company does not own 50% or more of the business concern and employees of the venture capital operating company do not constitute a majority of the board of directors of the business concern;
(3) a business concern shall be deemed to be independently owned and operated if it is owned in majority part by one or more natural persons or venture capital operating companies, there is no single venture capital operating company that owns 50% or more of the business concern, and there is no single venture capital operating company the employees of which constitute a majority of the board of directors of the business concern; and
(4) to be eligible to receive an award under the SBIR or STTR program, a small business concern may not have an ownership interest by more than one venture capital operating company controlled by a business with more than 500 employees, and that venture capital operating company may not own more than 10% of that small business concern. Title III: SBIR and Economic Development -
(Sec. 301) Directs the Administrator to make two-year grants to organizations to:
(1) conduct SBIR outreach efforts to increase small business participation; and
(2) provide application support and entrepreneurial and business skills support to prospective participants. Provides assistance limits. Requires organizations receiving grants to direct activities towards small business concerns located in underrepresented geographic areas and/or small business concerns owned and controlled by women, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, and small business concerns owned and controlled by minorities. Requires the Administrator to establish an advisory board to:
(1) assist with such activities; and
(2) report annually to the small business committees. Provides per-state limits on grant awards, with specific requirements for awards under the SBA's FAST (Federal and State Technology Partnership) program.
(Sec. 302) Requires each agency to receive an SBIR applicant's consent to the release of contact information to economic development organizations. Title IV: Advancing Commercialization of SBIR-Funded Research -
(Sec. 401) Revises the definition of "Phase Three" of the SBIR program. Defines "commercialization" as the process of developing marketable products or services and producing and delivering products or services for sale (whether by the originating party or by others) to government or commercial markets.
(Sec. 402) Requires agencies to establish annual goals for:
(1) the percentage of SBIR projects that receive Phase Three funds;
(2) the percentage of SBIR projects that are integrated into a program of record; and
(3) the amount of non-SBIR federal funds received by SBIR projects through federal contracts. Directs each agency to submit annually to its advisory board information on the extent to which such goals were met.
(Sec. 403) Requires the Administrator to issue directives to ensure that:
(1) a small business that receives a Phase Two award for an SBIR project remains eligible to receive additional Phase Two awards; and
(2) agencies are expressly authorized to provide additional Phase Two awards for testing and evaluation assistance for the insertion of SBIR technologies into technical or weapons systems.
(Sec. 404) Directs each agency to establish initiatives to encourage partnerships between SBIR awardees and prime contractors, venture capital investment companies, and larger businesses in order to facilitate the progression of SBIR awardees to Phase Three.
(Sec. 405) Authorizes agencies to develop fast-track programs to eliminate funding delays by issuing Phase Two SBIR awards as soon as practicable, including simultaneously with the issuance of the Phase One award.
(Sec. 406) Requires each agency to establish a commercialization program that supports the progression of SBIR awardees to Phase Three. Requires commercialization program information to be included in each agency and advisory board's annual report. Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 407) Requires each agency's advisory board to include in annual report requirements information on efforts to enhance manufacturing activities. Title V: Supporting Program Utilization -
(Sec. 501) Requires:
(1) SBIR and STTR small business participants to provide updated project information for purposes of updating agency databases which evaluate the outcome of Phase One and Two awards; and
(2) participating agencies to develop and maintain such databases.
(Sec. 502) Requires each agency to create and maintain a technology utilization database, available to the public, containing data supplied by award recipients.
(Sec. 503) Requires:
(1) the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish an Interagency SBIR/STTR Policy Committee; and
(2) specified Committee reports to the small business committees.
(Sec. 504) Adds nanotechnology-related research to the SBIR list of research topics deserving special consideration.
(Sec. 505) Requires agencies to give a priority to SBIR and STTR award applications submitted by rural companies. Title VI: Implementation -
(Sec. 601) Directs the Administrator to promulgate amendments to SBIR and STTR policy directives to conform such directives to this Act and its amendments.
(Sec. 602) Amends the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 2000 to remove the requirement that the National Research Council provide an updated report on the SBIR program.

Sponsor

• Rep. Nydia Velazquez [D, NY-12]
• and 2 Co-Sponsors
  • Rep. Samuel Graves [R, MO-6]
  • Rep. Joe Sestak [D, PA-7]
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Committees

• House Small Business
• 2 more
  • Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship
  • House Science and Technology
  close

Amendments

This bill has 15 amendments. See All AmendmentsHide All Amendments

Amendments to H.R.5819

Number	Status	Purpose
H.Amdt1008	Pass	An amendment numbered 1 printed in House Report 110-603 to give priority to applications from companies located in areas that have lost a major source of employment.
H.Amdt1009	Pass	An amendment numbered 2 printed in House Report 110-603 to strike section 102--doing so leaves the current set-asides for SBIR and STTR unchanged.
H.Amdt1010	Pass	An amendment numbered 3 printed in House Report 110-603 to notifiy an applicant to the SBIR and STTR programs, who is not successful in receiving an award, that the applicant can request an explanation of why the applicant did not receive the award.
H.Amdt1011	Pass	An amendment numbered 4 printed in House Report 110-603 to give priority to small businesses and organizations, in the awarding of SBIR, STTR, and FAST grants, that are making significant contributions towards energy efficiency, including those that are making efforts to reduce their carbon footprint or are carbon neutral.
H.Amdt1012	Pass	An amendment numbered 5 printed in House Report 110-603 to mandate that SBIR awardees must be entities with their primary business operations in the United States.
H.Amdt1013	Pass	An amendment numbered 6 printed in House Report 110-603 to strike and replace Title II, regarding venture capital investment standards.
H.Amdt1014	Pass	An amendment numbered 7 printed in House Report 110-603 to add business in cubators as eligible for the partnerships with SBIR awardees that are required by section 404. The amendment also defines the term `business incubators' for this purpose.
H.Amdt1015	Pass	An amendment numbered 8 printed in House Report 110-603 to provide that veterans will be given priority when applying for SBIR and STTR awards.
H.Amdt1016	Pass	An amendment numbered 9 printed in House Report 110-603 to require agencies that administer SBIR programs to give special consideration to pressing transportation and infrastructure research activities, as identified by reports issued by the Department of Transportation and National Academy of Sciences.
H.Amdt1017	Pass	An amendment numbered 10 printed in House Report 110-603 to establish a pilot program to make grants to minority institutions that partner with nonprofit organizations that have experience developing relationships between industry, minority institutions, and other entities.
H.Amdt1018	Pass	An amendment numbered 11 printed in House Report 110-603 to change section 104, regarding the SBIR Advisory Board. It would add to small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans to the groups to be targeted by the board to make applications for SBIR grants.
H.Amdt1019	Pass	An amendment numbered 12 printed in House Report 110-603 to allow the Administrator of the SBA to view favorably FAST grant applicants that use accredited SBDC's in determining the award of a FAST grant.
H.Amdt1020	Pass	An amendment numbered 13 printed in House Report 110-603 to require a veteran small-business owner must be at least one of the people appointed to the advisory board overseeing the Small Business Innovation Research Program Grants.
H.Amdt1021	Pass	An amendment numbered 14 printed in House Report 110-603 to would require the Small Business Administration to consult with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop an outreach program to publicize the Small Business Innovation Research program to veterans returning from service and encourage veterans with appropriate technical skills to apply for SBIR grants.
H.Amdt1022	Pass	An amendment numbered 15 printed in House Report 110-603 to require SBIR awardees to be owned and controlled by at least one individual, or a business concern owned and controlled by individuals, who are a citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States. Any applicant found knowingly hiring, recruiting, or referring for a fee, an unauthorized alien shall not be eligible for the receipt of future awards.

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Introduced		Voted on by House		Voted on by Senate		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
April 16, 2008		April 23, 2008

Related Bills:

• H.Res.1125

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• Venture capital
• Technology transfer
• Technology
• Technological innovations
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• Small business
• Small Business Administration
• Science policy
• Research grants
• Research and development
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In the News

May 07, 2008 Small business critical to economy

... I was pleased to join with nearly 90 percent of my colleagues to support the Small Business Technological Innovation Bill (HR 5819). ...

Source: Hillsboro Times Gazette, OH
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May 05, 2008 California regulators seek to expand utilities' loans for small ...

The bill, HR 5819, has landed in the Senate committee on small business and entrepreneurship after speedy and overwhelming approval by the House of ...

Source: Los Angeles Times, CA
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May 04, 2008 House opens SBIR awards to VC-owned firms

The SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act (HR 5819) also would increase the size of the awards. After the vote, BIO President Jim Greenwood said, "Congress has ...

Source: Dallas Business Journal, TX
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Blog Coverage

May 15, 2008 technology-transfer: Women in Business House Passes Bill Supporting…

HR 5819 reauthorizes through 2010 the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Research Posted in Women in business ( 1 link from 1 site). read full story.

Source: CIT2 News Wire
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May 15, 2008 Women in Business - House Passes Bill Supporting Small Business ...

HR 5819 reauthorizes through 2010 the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Research programs. The bill was passed 368-43."Innovation is crucial for maintaining America’s competitive lead in this ...

Source: Women In Business
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May 06, 2008 House opens SBIR awards to VC-owned firms

The American Small Business League (ASBL) has launched a national campaign against HR 5819 and has taken a strong stance against amending the definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms owned and controlled ...

Source: American Small Business League
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