SBIR Reauthorization
A Link To: The SBIR Reauthorization Issues (updated)
7/28/2010 The following is verbatim from Rick Shindel's SBIR Insider of July 27, 2010
The House just passed H. R. 5849, "To provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes."
What this means is that all SBIR and STTR programs (except the DoD) will be extended "AS IS" for an additional 60 days. The DoD SBIR, STTR and CPP were previously extended through September 30, 2010 under separate legislation. With the passing of this bill, all 11 SBIR agency programs are authorized through September 30, 2010.
This action is the 8th in a line of short term continuing resolutions (CRs) since 2008, and is expected to quickly pass the Senate and be signed by the President this week, thereby avoiding a programmatic lapse, not just for SBIR, but for several other important SBA programs as well.
If there is good news to this short term extension, it is that both House and Senate committees are hopeful that they will reach compromise prior to September 30, and unlike last year, the relevant committees are communicating and getting close to an agreement. The downside to this short term action is the precarious position the agencies are put in.
It is interesting to note that in his floor speech to urge passage of H. R. 5849, Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) stated "uncertainty is the enemy of growth." Do these elected officials realize that "uncertainty" is also the enemy of stability in government programs? SBIR and STTR have been suffering from this uncertainty for far too long, and many agencies are reluctant to commit to making awards, especially in phase II.
SBIR REAUTHORIZATION IN 60 DAZE?
No, that's not a typo. Although September 30 may be almost 60 days away to us, it is far less for congress who is in the midst of a re-election daze, the likes of which we haven't seen in quite sometime.
If all goes according to plan, congress will recess August 6 for what is known as their "district work period" and will return September 13. The number of legislative days they will have from enactment of this bill to September 30 is estimated to be about 18.
During the district work period you may have the opportunity to speak with your representative or senator, perhaps in person, or in a town hall. Don't be afraid to call their local, regional or state office to invite them to visit your business. Let them know how important the SBIR program is to you, your business, and potential new jobs. Programs such as SBIR that help keep or add employment for good wage paying jobs, are usually popular with the politicos.
SBIR AND THE SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010
There are some gray clouds the agencies are dealing with in the form of H.R. 4899, "Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010" Although the House and Senate passed their own versions of this bill, there are many areas of disagreement between the two bodies, and the conferencing work has failed to produce enough votes to pass the legislation. There are many issues other than raw funding in this large bill, and passage is essential in keeping much of our government operating.
One concern in the SBIR arena is a number of rescissions made to existing budgets (retroactive) as listed in section 4114. Obviously many of these were made to help offset the spending increases in other areas. A notable number of rescissions are in the areas of R&D. In the DoD we see an R&D reduction of about $505M which could translate to a loss of more than $12M in SBIR funding.
The DoD has cautioned congress that without passage of supplemental funding, the war efforts will run out of funds in early to mid August, 2010. You may recall that a few years ago we had a situation where war funding was in peril and the DoD started to "rob Peter to pay Paul" in an effort to protect our war fighters. This affects most DoD programs including SBIR.
CLOSING
In our last issue we discussed the possibilities of kicking the SBIR can down the road to the next congress. I can tell you that most of the SBIR veterans we polled, who have been around since the beginning, and fought the wars over the years to establish and keep the SBIR program running, are very concerned about a new congress with many freshmen.
On the other hand there is a concern of giving too much of the program away to special interests (both large and small). There are some groups within government working for a "next generation" SBIR program. Many of these people are relatively new to the program, and do not have a balanced view of what SBIR was created to be, or how it may best serve the private sector in addition to the government.
SBIR was not a government idea, it came from the outside world. It came from the visionary mind of Roland Tibbetts, who conceived the program, along with the energy, force and respect of the late Milt Stewart. Stewart created the political environment and inertia in congress to establish the program. There was also a great cast of characters without whose participation, SBIR would not have been possible.
Most of these people are still with us today and are of sharp mind. Yet, in all this talk of a new SBIR program (rumored to be SBIR 2.0), we are not hearing of any involvement with any of these great people. Perhaps the eggs think they are smarter than the chickens.
Thanks again for your time and we welcome your comments.
Sincerely,
Rick Shindell
SBIR Gateway
Copyright © 2010 Zyn Systems. All rights reserved.
4/28/2010 Another House SBIR Hijacking Attempt Underway
Sign-on to SBTC Letter TODAY to Support the SBIR Program
As you may recall, a few weeks ago Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA) attempted to get his version of the House SBIR reauthorization bill included in the jobs creation package. It didn't work, but now Rep. Altmire is making another attempt to have the House SBIR Reauthorization bill included in the new jobs creation package. He says that he wants a "compromise bill" included in the jobs package, but for the last five months the House has refused to even discuss a compromise with the Senate. A true compromise bill should be worked out between the two negotiating parties, not crafted independently by the House and forced through the Senate. In response to this latest effort by Altmire, a group of small businesses, led by SBTC, have written a letter (see below) to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) asking them, as the House leaders, to oppose including SBIR legislation in the jobs creation package, and to send a message to Rep. Altmire to stop trying to make and end run around the negotiations. We ask any small businesses that support this letter to please send an email to Alec Orban at alec@sbtc.org with your name, the name of your company, and the company's address, and we will add it to the list of signatories for this letter. Please scroll down to view the letter. Thank you for taking the time to support this critical effort! --SBTC
-------------------------------------------------- Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer: On April 19 a letter was circulated to members that suggested that SBIR reauthorization be included in jobs legislation. We are [XX] actual small businesses developing new technology and jobs for America, and we consider it vital that you realize the following: The April 19 letter said there needs to be a compromise between the House and Senate reauthorization bills. In fact, as you know, the House Small Business Committee has refused to compromise on its version of reauthorization. The House reauthorization bill would severely compromise the ability of real small businesses to access SBIR funding, by removing the small-scale innovations in Phase I of the program and encouraging mega-grants that will be more tailored to companies backed by larger firms. Larger grants and no increase in funding can only mean fewer grants for real small businesses. If the House reauthorization bill becomes law, "flyover" states not favored by large financial institutions will see SBIR funding, and jobs, leave their borders. The primary beneficiaries of the House SBIR bill - biotech companies owned by VC firms - recently received $1.5 billion in funding as part of the Healthcare Reform legislation, in the form of tax credits and the Cures Acceleration Network, which has 4 venture capitalists and no small businesses on its board. These new programs effectively provide VC-owned biotech companies with more than twice as much funding as they would have from the entire NIH SBIR program. Any further benefits to the VC community in the SBIR program should be subject to at least a 3-year moratorium as these new programs are studied. The April 19 letter was not signed by a single small business owner. While the Universities and medical associations that signed the letter are important sources of innovation, why are they involved in lobbying for a Small Business bill? It is our concern that the letter actually represents an attempt to deflect attention from the damage the House bill would do to small businesses and make the funds more accessible to large institutions. Large institutions already get 96% of available research funds and contribute only 3% of new patents, while small businesses create 38% of new patents. We are small businesses creating jobs in states that large investment firms often ignore. We are small businesses with successful track records in continuing to innovate, while large corporations focus on downsizing and outsourcing. We urge you to let the House Small Business Committee know that you support language similar to that in S. 1233 which would keep the "Small Business" in SBIR. Sincerely, [Supporting Companies]
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4/23/2010
Rick Shindell's SBIR INSIDER issue sent out this morning tells the story:
Dear SBIR Insider, Almost live from the floor (literally) at the National SBIR Conference in Hartford (5:00am local time) we bring you this abbreviated but important SBIR Insider issue. SENATE PASSES SBIR EXTENSION (CR) BILL The Senate has passed a bill to extend the SBIR/STTR and some other SBA programs through July 31, 2010. (This does not affect the DoD's SBIR/STTR program that is good through September 30, 2010.) This 3 month extender, S. 3253 was led by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and ranking member Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Most of you that follow the SBIR Insider know that the Senate wanted a longer leash, perhaps as long as a one year extension, but true to form and typical of the House Small Minded (oops) I meant House Small Business Committee, three months was the maximum Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) was willing to give. This now marks the 7th in a series of short term CRs since 2008 to extend the SBIR/STTR program. THE ALTMIRE QUAGMIRE PART III Oh yes, he's at it again (for the 3rd time). Our favorite lobbyist turned … lobbyist… ehh congressman, Jason Altmire (D-PA) sent out another of his "Dear Colleague letters (see http://www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/sb-insider03-01-10.htm ) wanting the House to insert his radical SBIR reauthorization bill into one of the upcoming "jobs" bills. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that his most recent letter (unlike his first) called for a compromise between the House and Senate SBIR bills. There's only one small problem, as of this writing, he has still not attempted to pursue any talks on compromise with the Senate, in spite of the fact that the Senate made an amazing compromise to the House, way back in October! Still included in that Altmire Quagmire is a list of supporters for his bill, not one of which is a small business, and most are universities. In the Altmire Quagmire we also see a "minor" omission of fact that the new Health Care legislation provides an additional $500M for the NIH Cures Acceleration Network, whose board, under statutory mandate must include at least 4 venture capitalists. Add to this the $1B Therapeutic Investor Tax Credit, targeted to the VCs, and there is a potential bonanza to the Wall Street VC crowd of up to $1.5B!! (Thanks to Jonathan Cohen of 20/20 Gene Systems, Inc for this info). In spite of all of this, Altmire, Velazquez, Graves, and their Wall Street BIO and NVCA lobbyists still want to take the lion's share of the SBIR program. [Other items not related to SBIR Reauthorization are not reproduced here] Thanks again for your time and we welcome your comments. Sincerely, Rick Rick Shindell SBIR Gateway Zyn Systems rick@zyn.com www.zyn.com/sbir Copyright © 2010 Zyn Systems. All rights reserved.
Dear SBIR Insider, Almost live from the floor (literally) at the National SBIR Conference in Hartford (5:00am local time) we bring you this abbreviated but important SBIR Insider issue. SENATE PASSES SBIR EXTENSION (CR) BILL The Senate has passed a bill to extend the SBIR/STTR and some other SBA programs through July 31, 2010. (This does not affect the DoD's SBIR/STTR program that is good through September 30, 2010.) This 3 month extender, S. 3253 was led by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and ranking member Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Most of you that follow the SBIR Insider know that the Senate wanted a longer leash, perhaps as long as a one year extension, but true to form and typical of the House Small Minded (oops) I meant House Small Business Committee, three months was the maximum Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) was willing to give. This now marks the 7th in a series of short term CRs since 2008 to extend the SBIR/STTR program. THE ALTMIRE QUAGMIRE PART III Oh yes, he's at it again (for the 3rd time). Our favorite lobbyist turned … lobbyist… ehh congressman, Jason Altmire (D-PA) sent out another of his "Dear Colleague letters (see http://www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/sb-insider03-01-10.htm ) wanting the House to insert his radical SBIR reauthorization bill into one of the upcoming "jobs" bills. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that his most recent letter (unlike his first) called for a compromise between the House and Senate SBIR bills. There's only one small problem, as of this writing, he has still not attempted to pursue any talks on compromise with the Senate, in spite of the fact that the Senate made an amazing compromise to the House, way back in October! Still included in that Altmire Quagmire is a list of supporters for his bill, not one of which is a small business, and most are universities. In the Altmire Quagmire we also see a "minor" omission of fact that the new Health Care legislation provides an additional $500M for the NIH Cures Acceleration Network, whose board, under statutory mandate must include at least 4 venture capitalists. Add to this the $1B Therapeutic Investor Tax Credit, targeted to the VCs, and there is a potential bonanza to the Wall Street VC crowd of up to $1.5B!! (Thanks to Jonathan Cohen of 20/20 Gene Systems, Inc for this info). In spite of all of this, Altmire, Velazquez, Graves, and their Wall Street BIO and NVCA lobbyists still want to take the lion's share of the SBIR program.
[Other items not related to SBIR Reauthorization are not reproduced here]
4/18/2010 A Great SBIR Benefits Summary
Nothing really new to report, but this domument is worth having to pass on to anyone who needs convincing of the benefits of the SBIR Program:
Here's a link to it:
3/5/2010 SBIR dodges a bullet - for now...
The House passed the so called Jobs Bill (HR.2847) on Thursday with only minor changes from the Senate version. SBIR Reauthorization does NOT appear to have been one of those changes. We haven't seen the actual wording of this bill yet, however, and we do know how sneaky they can be. But apparently Speaker Pelosi wasn't willing to back the Altmire/Velazquez maneuver to fold the House version of SBIR Reauthorization (HR.2965) into this bill.The Jobs Bill now goes back to the Senate for approval of those minor changes before getting signed. It's doubtful that the Senate will do anything to delay enactment, so we can breathe a sigh of relief.But make that a brief breath please. We have only a few weeks to get the attention of our legislators to actually get a compromise together that will include the Senate's bill (S.1233) and improve SBIR, not harm it. And there's much work to doI spoke to Deb Santy earlier this week. She runs the Connecticut SBIR office as an arm of Connecticut Innovations. Deb's group has stepped up to again host the National SBIR Conference. It will be April 21-23 in Hartford. We figure this will be right around the time that SBIR Reauthorization goes on the front burner on Congress before it's expiry date of April 30th. Here's Deb's message to y'all:
"The SBIR Program is under attack. All of us are trying to figure out how to get our government to properly reauthorize the SBIR program. A demonstration of your commitment and support is to show up -- attend the 2010 SBIR National. If you have won awards over the years and want to continue winning them -- you need to show your support and get your "you know whats" over to the SBIR National in Hartford. Make this the best attended SBIR National ever -- because it really needs to be the best. If you want this program to continue, if you want the billions of grant dollars to continue, you need to come and make headlines. Hey, you might even make some great contacts and help commercialize your technologies -- because there is a great lineup of networking and "Partner for Profit" activities. I'll be there .. and so should you. No excuses. Just Register"
I'll be there too, Deb. We know our collective voices can make a difference. We just showed that to be true. The SBTC is leading this fight, and Jere Glover will be hosting a special meeting of the SBTC in Hartford. We had 100+ at the last such meeting in Reno. Let's double or even triple that for Hartford. Better schedule a big room, Deb!Make no mistake about it. Those who would hijack SBIR for their own bigger business Wall Street focused agendas will reload and take aim at Main Street's small business interests. We've raised the awareness of SBIR among our legislators to unprecedented levels, but we have to even do more.Pay attention to the strategies that will be suggested on www.SBIRreauthorization.com. Pick up your pens (or Blackberries/iPhones/etc.) and keep the information flowing. We may be small business, but we have big voices.Come to Hartford. We'll get some national attention on our National Conference. Together, we will make a difference.
3/2/2010 Altmire initiative slowed, not stopped -- KEEP UP THE PRESSURE!
Rick Shindell's SBIR Insider issue released today provides us an update on Jason Altmire's attempt to sneak the House version of SBIR Reauthorization into the Jobs Bill:
Dear SBIR Insider, Here is a brief update on some results of your efforts to counter the antics of the "Honorable" Jason Altmire (lobbyist turned congressman D-PA) who attempted to trick the House into inserting his radical SBIR legislation (H.R. 2965) into the Jobs bill. (New subscribers, see
Dear SBIR Insider,
Here is a brief update on some results of your efforts to counter the antics of the "Honorable" Jason Altmire (lobbyist turned congressman D-PA) who attempted to trick the House into inserting his radical SBIR legislation (H.R. 2965) into the Jobs bill. (New subscribers, see
Your response was great. The House received many emails from you, SBTC members, readers of Ann Eskesen's email, readers of Fred Patterson's Blog (The SBIR Coach), and I'm sure several other sources as well. Your voices were heard and it threw Mr. Altmire for a curve but he's bouncing back with a clarification to his previous email.
THE ALTMIRE QUAGMIRE PART DEUX
In what appears to be an attempt to negate the impact of your letters objecting to his original email, Altmire has sent out a second letter, this time suggesting a COMPROMISE between the House & Senate SBIR bills. The new part reads:
"As Congress crafts legislative packages to stimulate the economy and create jobs, American small businesses should be first and foremost on our minds. SBIR Reauthorizations passed the House and the Senate in 2009, but have yet to be reconciled and signed into law (H.R. 2965 and S.1233.) A compromise of these two bills to reauthorize SBIR would be an ideal job-creating addition to a jobs package."
In actuality the House & Senate Small Biz Committees could have reconciled their differences long ago, and a reauthorized, stable SBIR program could have been in place and creating additional jobs for the last several months (both House and Senate passed their bills last summer).
The Altmire Quagmire is the fact that neither he, nor any of his House Small Business Committee members have attempted to even respond to the Senate's compromise offers since October of 2009. If actions speak louder than words, it suggests Altmire is strictly a phony on the SBIR issues he presents.
Obviously if Altmire and Nydia Velazquez (House Small Biz Committee chair) refuse to meet, or direct their staffers to meet with the Senate Small Biz folks, it suggests Altmire & Velazquez are banking on their radical House SBIR bill to be included "as is" in the House's jobs bill, where SBIR is likely to get lost in the Jobs bill conferencing with the Senate. End result being the House SBIR bill becomes law.
Bottom Line: The email campaign to your representatives should continue. If you haven't written to your congressmen and the House leadership staffers, you should consider doing so now.
Although I believe in sending individual emails to your politicos, the Small Business Technology Council (SBTC) has created a quick and easy "fill in the form" email service for you to use. It is located at:
The addresses of pertinent staffers to send directly to are:
Altmire: nathan.robinson@mail.house.govPelosi: Anne.macmillan@mail.house.govHoyer: fallon.shields@mail.house.gov (this address contained a typo in our last Insider)
Also, MOST IMPORTANT, call or write your congressman!
If you wish, copy your email to me at rick@zyn.com. Many of you have, and it is appreciated.
Thanks again for your time.
Rick
3/1/2010 Ann Eskesen's Call to Action on Altmire Initiative
Thanks to my friend Fred Hagen, CEO of Icogenix, I've just been made aware of Ann Eskesen's excellent summary of the SBIR Reauthorization situation and of the Altmire initiative to subvert the negotiation process with the Senate by sneaking the House's version into the Obama Jobs Bill.
This is a MUST READ:
2/25/2010 Quick way to send a letter to your Congressman on the SBIR Hijacking
The NSBA sent out the following this afternoon:
2/24/2010 SBTC Issues Action Alert on Attempted House Maneuver
Action Alert: Contact Congress Immediately!We have just learned that Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-4) is attempting to have the House SBIR Reauthorization bill (HR 2965) included in the jobs stimulus legislation currently being crafted in the House. Yesterday afternoon his office sent out a Dear Colleague letter asking for support for this move from fellow Representatives. In support of this letter, it was also signed by 98 universities and organizations, and exactly 1 small business, and that business was likely added in error.As you know, this legislation was passed by the House last year and included a number of radical changes to the SBIR program that the SBTC believes would damage the program and reduce the number of awards available to small businesses. Since it passed the House, it has been in conference while Congress attempts to reconcile it with the Senate SBIR reauthorization bill (S 1233).Representative Altmire is effectively attempting to bypass the negotiations between the House and Senate and force his version of the bill through the back door. If he succeeds in including his legislation in the job stimulus bill, it will be difficult for the Senate to oppose it, especially since the President wants this legislation passed quickly.Contact your Representative and tell them not to support Altmire's attempt to circumvent the negotiations! Oppose Altmire's Dear Colleague letter and work with the Senate to find a compromise bill that can be acceptable to both sides. Also, send an email to Rep Altmire's staffer: nathan.robinson@mail.house.gov; Speaker Pelosi's staffer: anne.macmillan@mail.house.gov; and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's staffer: fallan.shield@mail.house.gov, and let them know that the small business community does not support including this legislation in the jobs package.For more information on why the SBTC opposes the House bill, follow this link: http://www.nsba.biz/content/2737.shtmlTo read Representative Altmire's Dear Colleague Letter, follow this link: http://www.nsba.biz/docs/rep_altmire_dear_colleague_letter.pdf
2/23/2010 An Open Letter From a Concerned SBIR Awardee
Rick,
Thank you for your Insider today. A slight correction to your account of the incident with Glenn Nye is in order.
The survey was called for from the audience - I know because I'm the one who called for it! The request popped into my head fifteen seconds before I asked it and it was only because the microphone was already at my table that I had the chance to do so. I've been surprised at how much buzz that impromptu survey has caused as I have had several people, both inside and outside DoD, mention it to me not knowing that I was the originator.
My objective was simply to give Congressman Nye a chance at unfiltered feedback from the small businesses that matter most - those capable of delivering valuable innovation to the Navy as evidenced by their Phase II awards. Congressman Nye's response was unfortunate, especially given that the audience consisted mainly of scientists and engineers. By my estimate well over 95% of the response was against VC participation. The survey wasn't quantitative, but the results are incontrovertible. I apologized later that day to John Williams, Navy SBIR program manager, if I inadvertently embarrassed Congressman Nye. I give him the benefit of the doubt that my survey's result may have stunned him, as it did me. Remember, this happened two months before the Town Hall phenomenon last year, so being directly faced with overwhelming opposition might have been a new and unexpected experience for him.
A subtle part of that survey has been lost in its retelling. At first, there were many more hands in favor of VC participation. Seeing that most of those for VC participation were the representatives of large primes I had met earlier at the Forum, I interjected that my survey was meant to be only of small businesses, and those representing the large prime contractors put their hands down. Don't get me wrong. Having worked with several, I like primes in the SBIR process - on the transition end of our innovations. But I fear that the large defense contractors see this as a means to channel concepts from their own R&D groups through shill companies majority-owned by their VC funds. With their marketing and program connections, it would be extremely difficult for an independent small business to compete for Phase I awards, let alone straight-to-Phase II awards. I may be misreading the proposed legislation, but I haven't heard enough on this point.
I have been told by an important DoD SBIR program manager that my survey has generated buzz within DoD because it illustrates that small businesses have an unrealistic expectation that DoD should entirely fund their technology developments. That's fair enough for dual-use technology. But for those topics that are clearly aimed at the military, quite often with ITAR from the start, is it unreasonable for us to expect DoD funding alone until we have reached a TRL that warrants interest from the primes or acquisition programs? I've worked for a firm that received conventional VC funds after receiving SBIR contracts, and I can tell you that VC do not care at all what DoD needs because that market is too small. They just want the money DoD's SBIR provides. And 80% of the time VC funding will ultimately ruin the business, leaving DoD with nothing.
I chartered my company after 9/11 to serve the needs of the US military. If DoD SBIR money is to continue funding innovations the warfighter needs, then Congress needs to be extremely cautious about VC participation. I haven't heard enough about that goal in the SBIR discussions in Congress either.
Thanks again for the Insider. I'll drive through this rare Austin snow storm today in order to fax our Austin Representatives (Smith, McCaul,
Best wishes,
Gary C. Marsden, Ph.D., CEOgary.c.marsden@troutgreen.comTrout Green Technologies, Inc.Austin, Texas
2/23/2010
More on this coming soon. For now, read Rick Shindell's SBIR Insider Issue of 2/23/10, replicated in its entirety here:
It's late Monday night and I have some news you need to be made aware of right now, so I'm pulling off another "all-nighter" to inform you of some outrageous actions happening in the House, that threaten your SBIR program. Swift action on your part is necessary (contacting the congressionals listed below as well as your representative) if you want to make an impact and not let your SBIR program get taken over by non-small business interests. Altmire Attempts To Get His Radical House SBIR Reauth Bill Inserted In Jobs Bill In a bid to negate the Senate's SBIR reauthorization compromise efforts, Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), the small business water boy for Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Chair of the House Small Business Committee, is trying to get support to insert the House's radical SBIR reauthorization bill (H.R. 2965: SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2009) into a "must pass" jobs bill. As previously reported, the Senate has worked hard on compromise issues with the House's radical bill, sending the House even more concessions back in October of 2009, and the House didn't even offer the courtesy of a response. No dialog, no nothing! Radical features of Altmire & Velazquez's House SBIR bill includes: virtually unlimited majority ownership and control of small businesses by VC syndicates; no limitations on the overall percentage of award dollars made to these larger entities; elimination of mandatory phase I (allows direct to phase II); allowing and encouraging "Jumbo Awards", award amounts with no ceilings, only loose guidelines not requiring justification (makes possible $10B, $20B or more awards,); allowing earmarking of SBIR award dollars; only 2 year reauthorization (contributes to continued destabilization of the SBIR program but acts as a fund raising mechanism for incumbent house members, bipartisan at that); no allowance to raise the SBIR allocation (Senate raises from 2.5% to 3.5% over 10 years). There are many additional issues beyond the scope of this article. Altmire feels that he can score a touchdown for his large investor benefactors by getting "friends" in the House to write to Pelosi in support of attaching the House version of the SBIR bill (as is) to the Jobs bill. The Jobs bill being so important that the Senate might not even attempt to remove something as "small potatoes" as SBIR run amok. The Altmire Quagmire What do you call someone who lies, distorts, and makes decisions in their own best interest rather than their constituents? In high ranking government, they call them "The Honorable….." In his Dear Colleague letter (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/altmire.pdf ), "The Honorable" Jason Altmire gives the impression along with the semi-bogus support letter he passed along to his colleagues, that his legislation is a strong, bipartisan bill supported by many industry groups and stakeholders, 99 in fact. You may ask, how can this be a semi-bogus Altmire Quagmire? Easy, SBIR stands for Small Business Innovation Research, and of the 99 signatories on the letter, only one is from a small business!! There is one other from a small business organization, but that's in question as to its authenticity. Lets look at the makeup of the rest of the 99 (some are in more than 1 category): 60 are from medical / bio facilities & universities, 89 from universities and/or university based societies. Of course our friends from BIO are there too, why else would we have 60% of the signers come from the medical/biotech field? Doesn't this correlate to the fact that most of the SBIR hearings the House Small Biz committee held (under the direction of "The Honorable" Nydia Velazquez), had a majority of BIO/medical witnesses? Small businesses against the Altmire and Velazquez VC language were not invited or allowed to testify. Now let's look at the universities. Why would we have 90% of the signers be university or university components? How about the fact that the Senate's bill raises the 2.5% SBIR allocation to 3.5% while the House bill doesn't? Every time the subject of raising the allocation is even thought about, there is a tremendous, well organized response by the universities. The Altmire Quagmire continues by virtue that most of the 435 members of the House have no idea that a key statement in the letter to Pelosi is untrue. That statement reads: "The Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act has passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in July 2009, making it a candidate with appeal in both houses and both parties." Hey Jason, if you really believe those words: "making it a candidate with appeal in both houses and both parties" , why have you, Velazquez, Pelosi et al., refused to work with the Senate since October 2009, to try and reach a compromise to pass the SBIR reauthorization? You admit the bills were passed in July of 2009, and yet we still have nothing? Do you deny that the Senate sent the House a version back in October of 2009 containing additional compromises for your cause? But you, Velazquez, Pelosi (and let's not forget the House S&T folks under Representative David Wu (D-OR)) never bothered to respond or counter offer? More On The Altmire Quagmire "The Honorable" Jason Altmire is correct in believing that SBIR can, and does create jobs, yet he and his "Honorable" cronies refused to take action and help pass the SBIR reauthorization. Perhaps he and his "honorables" were too busy making 2009 the best year the Wall street community has ever seen, while many of us on Main street were (and are) hurting badly. Jason et al., could have helped in getting SBIR inserted into the DoD authorization, but instead he, Velazquez and some of their other "honorables" wrote a letter and gave testimony to try and strip the SBIR out of the DoD authorization. You guys are really "pro jobs!" The House & Senate could (and should) be conferencing on the SBIR bill right now, and they could reach a point where a bill could be passed and signed by the president in a matter of days. This creates jobs, NOW! Your Turn To Be A Hero And Write A Letter Last year at the Navy Opportunity Forum, freshman congressman Glenn Nye (D-VA) gave a brief presentation and touched on the VC issue. He assumed from his work with the House Small Business Committee that the majority of the SBIR community were in favor of the new VC proposals in the House bill. Some people piped up and Nye asked for a quick show of hands, and he was shocked to see how the crowd was overwhelmingly against the House VC portion. When asked about it later, he muttered something about the poll being unscientific. This election is going to be a barn burner for most. Your writing may never have a better opportunity for impact. If you disagree with the letter Altmire is circulating, you need to send a firm response to the House and let them know your thoughts. Be brief, polite but firm. If it were me, I would tell them I'm very upset that the House has made little to no attempt to work with the Senate to reach a reasonable compromise for SBIR reauthorization. Let them know the importance of the program to you, what it means for growing your business, adding jobs, retaining jobs, and stimulating the economy. Tell them you expect them to get the job done! Although there may be more important criteria to your supporting a candidate than SBIR, let them know that their actions will affect your support of them and/or their party, and you will talk with neighbors and friends about their responsiveness (or lack thereof) to you and America's small businesses. To offset the Altmire Quagmire, I would email your thoughts to the following: For Altmire: Nathan.Robinson@mail.house.gov For Pelosi: Phelan.Shield@mail.house.gov For Hoyer: Anne.Macmillan@mail.house.gov Also, MOST IMPORTANT, call or write your congressman! Time is of the essence, so if your interested please do this now. If you wish, copy your email to me at rick@zyn.com Heroes In The House Back in July of 2009, there was a group in the House that were not subject to the short-sighted view of the "The Honorables." Led by Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), 26 congressionals, in a bipartisan effort sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Small Business chair, Mary Landrieu encouraging her and her committee to support the Senate's language for size standards and award amounts. The letter can be viewed at: www.zyn.com/sbir/reference/Letter_to_Landrieu2.pdf Also a salute to the work of both the House & Senate Armed Services Committees in standing up for what they believed in supporting the SBIR program within the DoD. This move was a major help in keeping stability in the program until a full and proper reauthorization can be agreed to (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/sb-insider10-22-09.htm ). The SBIR Brand, National Academies & Dr. Charles Wessner The House set out to, and admitted their intent to "rebrand" the SBIR program. That makes sense, let's mess up one of the few government programs that works well, as it was intended. Studies were done on the program by various groups, but the most comprehensive to date was by the National Research Council of the National Academies, under the direction of Dr. Charles Wessner. Dr. Wessner and his study has been "selectively quoted" in ways to mislead audiences as to the overall results of the study. The SBIR Insider has always turned to Dr. Wessner's "Summary Of Key Findings." This leading paragraph of the 2008 summary states: "The core finding of the study is that the SBIR program is sound in concept and effective in practice. It can also be improved. Currently, the program is delivering results that meet most of the congressional objectives." Several of the Senate's compromises to the House addressed areas of concern stated in the above report, but those compromises fell on deaf ears in the house. Dr. Wessner was recently interviewed in the Federal Technology Watch Weekly Report, published February 22, 2010. In this non-SBIR specific interview Dr. Wessner was asked about his views on various S&T issues. When asked about evaluating federal programs, Dr. Wessner offered the following comment: "Another element of our work focuses on early-stage finance, and we've completed a massive study of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which has shown that the program is sound in concept and effective in operation. We've been surprised how successful the program is, and there's a growing recognition of the need for federal help to cross the 'Valley of Death,' the gap between a promising idea and the proof of principle and prototype. SBIR handles that [role] and it's being emulated by countries all around the world. From ones like Finland and Sweden to places like Singapore and Shanghai, which is not a country but is almost the size of a country! India has adopted SBIR for its biotech sector, and other countries among the former East European bloc are also going to be adopting it." Isn't it wonderful that the USA's SBIR program can only be run a few months at a time because our House insists on short term Continuing Resolutions, and desire only a short term reauthorization (2 years, while 8 years has been the norm). Is it any wonder that we're going to have quite a turnover later this year? The clock is telling me it is 4:30am so I apologize if I'm not making sense. But then again, neither is congress, and they get more sleep than do I.Thanks again for your time.Sincerely,Rick ShindellSBIR GatewayRick@zyn.comwww.zyn.com/sbir
It's late Monday night and I have some news you need to be made aware of right now, so I'm pulling off another "all-nighter" to inform you of some outrageous actions happening in the House, that threaten your SBIR program.
Swift action on your part is necessary (contacting the congressionals listed below as well as your representative) if you want to make an impact and not let your SBIR program get taken over by non-small business interests.
Altmire Attempts To Get His Radical House SBIR Reauth Bill Inserted In Jobs Bill
In a bid to negate the Senate's SBIR reauthorization compromise efforts, Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), the small business water boy for Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Chair of the House Small Business Committee, is trying to get support to insert the House's radical SBIR reauthorization bill (H.R. 2965: SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2009) into a "must pass" jobs bill. As previously reported, the Senate has worked hard on compromise issues with the House's radical bill, sending the House even more concessions back in October of 2009, and the House didn't even offer the courtesy of a response. No dialog, no nothing! Radical features of Altmire & Velazquez's House SBIR bill includes: virtually unlimited majority ownership and control of small businesses by VC syndicates; no limitations on the overall percentage of award dollars made to these larger entities; elimination of mandatory phase I (allows direct to phase II); allowing and encouraging "Jumbo Awards", award amounts with no ceilings, only loose guidelines not requiring justification (makes possible $10B, $20B or more awards,); allowing earmarking of SBIR award dollars; only 2 year reauthorization (contributes to continued destabilization of the SBIR program but acts as a fund raising mechanism for incumbent house members, bipartisan at that); no allowance to raise the SBIR allocation (Senate raises from 2.5% to 3.5% over 10 years). There are many additional issues beyond the scope of this article. Altmire feels that he can score a touchdown for his large investor benefactors by getting "friends" in the House to write to Pelosi in support of attaching the House version of the SBIR bill (as is) to the Jobs bill. The Jobs bill being so important that the Senate might not even attempt to remove something as "small potatoes" as SBIR run amok.
As previously reported, the Senate has worked hard on compromise issues with the House's radical bill, sending the House even more concessions back in October of 2009, and the House didn't even offer the courtesy of a response. No dialog, no nothing!
Radical features of Altmire & Velazquez's House SBIR bill includes: virtually unlimited majority ownership and control of small businesses by VC syndicates; no limitations on the overall percentage of award dollars made to these larger entities; elimination of mandatory phase I (allows direct to phase II); allowing and encouraging "Jumbo Awards", award amounts with no ceilings, only loose guidelines not requiring justification (makes possible $10B, $20B or more awards,); allowing earmarking of SBIR award dollars; only 2 year reauthorization (contributes to continued destabilization of the SBIR program but acts as a fund raising mechanism for incumbent house members, bipartisan at that); no allowance to raise the SBIR allocation (Senate raises from 2.5% to 3.5% over 10 years). There are many additional issues beyond the scope of this article.
Altmire feels that he can score a touchdown for his large investor benefactors by getting "friends" in the House to write to Pelosi in support of attaching the House version of the SBIR bill (as is) to the Jobs bill. The Jobs bill being so important that the Senate might not even attempt to remove something as "small potatoes" as SBIR run amok.
The Altmire Quagmire
What do you call someone who lies, distorts, and makes decisions in their own best interest rather than their constituents? In high ranking government, they call them "The Honorable….." In his Dear Colleague letter (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/altmire.pdf ), "The Honorable" Jason Altmire gives the impression along with the semi-bogus support letter he passed along to his colleagues, that his legislation is a strong, bipartisan bill supported by many industry groups and stakeholders, 99 in fact. You may ask, how can this be a semi-bogus Altmire Quagmire? Easy, SBIR stands for Small Business Innovation Research, and of the 99 signatories on the letter, only one is from a small business!! There is one other from a small business organization, but that's in question as to its authenticity. Lets look at the makeup of the rest of the 99 (some are in more than 1 category): 60 are from medical / bio facilities & universities, 89 from universities and/or university based societies. Of course our friends from BIO are there too, why else would we have 60% of the signers come from the medical/biotech field? Doesn't this correlate to the fact that most of the SBIR hearings the House Small Biz committee held (under the direction of "The Honorable" Nydia Velazquez), had a majority of BIO/medical witnesses? Small businesses against the Altmire and Velazquez VC language were not invited or allowed to testify. Now let's look at the universities. Why would we have 90% of the signers be university or university components? How about the fact that the Senate's bill raises the 2.5% SBIR allocation to 3.5% while the House bill doesn't? Every time the subject of raising the allocation is even thought about, there is a tremendous, well organized response by the universities. The Altmire Quagmire continues by virtue that most of the 435 members of the House have no idea that a key statement in the letter to Pelosi is untrue. That statement reads: "The Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act has passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in July 2009, making it a candidate with appeal in both houses and both parties." Hey Jason, if you really believe those words: "making it a candidate with appeal in both houses and both parties" , why have you, Velazquez, Pelosi et al., refused to work with the Senate since October 2009, to try and reach a compromise to pass the SBIR reauthorization? You admit the bills were passed in July of 2009, and yet we still have nothing? Do you deny that the Senate sent the House a version back in October of 2009 containing additional compromises for your cause? But you, Velazquez, Pelosi (and let's not forget the House S&T folks under Representative David Wu (D-OR)) never bothered to respond or counter offer?
In his Dear Colleague letter (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/altmire.pdf ), "The Honorable" Jason Altmire gives the impression along with the semi-bogus support letter he passed along to his colleagues, that his legislation is a strong, bipartisan bill supported by many industry groups and stakeholders, 99 in fact.
You may ask, how can this be a semi-bogus Altmire Quagmire? Easy, SBIR stands for Small Business Innovation Research, and of the 99 signatories on the letter, only one is from a small business!! There is one other from a small business organization, but that's in question as to its authenticity.
Lets look at the makeup of the rest of the 99 (some are in more than 1 category): 60 are from medical / bio facilities & universities, 89 from universities and/or university based societies. Of course our friends from BIO are there too, why else would we have 60% of the signers come from the medical/biotech field?
Doesn't this correlate to the fact that most of the SBIR hearings the House Small Biz committee held (under the direction of "The Honorable" Nydia Velazquez), had a majority of BIO/medical witnesses? Small businesses against the Altmire and Velazquez VC language were not invited or allowed to testify.
Now let's look at the universities. Why would we have 90% of the signers be university or university components? How about the fact that the Senate's bill raises the 2.5% SBIR allocation to 3.5% while the House bill doesn't? Every time the subject of raising the allocation is even thought about, there is a tremendous, well organized response by the universities.
The Altmire Quagmire continues by virtue that most of the 435 members of the House have no idea that a key statement in the letter to Pelosi is untrue. That statement reads:
"The Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act has passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in July 2009, making it a candidate with appeal in both houses and both parties."
Hey Jason, if you really believe those words: "making it a candidate with appeal in both houses and both parties" , why have you, Velazquez, Pelosi et al., refused to work with the Senate since October 2009, to try and reach a compromise to pass the SBIR reauthorization?
You admit the bills were passed in July of 2009, and yet we still have nothing? Do you deny that the Senate sent the House a version back in October of 2009 containing additional compromises for your cause? But you, Velazquez, Pelosi (and let's not forget the House S&T folks under Representative David Wu (D-OR)) never bothered to respond or counter offer?
More On The Altmire Quagmire
"The Honorable" Jason Altmire is correct in believing that SBIR can, and does create jobs, yet he and his "Honorable" cronies refused to take action and help pass the SBIR reauthorization. Perhaps he and his "honorables" were too busy making 2009 the best year the Wall street community has ever seen, while many of us on Main street were (and are) hurting badly. Jason et al., could have helped in getting SBIR inserted into the DoD authorization, but instead he, Velazquez and some of their other "honorables" wrote a letter and gave testimony to try and strip the SBIR out of the DoD authorization. You guys are really "pro jobs!" The House & Senate could (and should) be conferencing on the SBIR bill right now, and they could reach a point where a bill could be passed and signed by the president in a matter of days. This creates jobs, NOW!
Jason et al., could have helped in getting SBIR inserted into the DoD authorization, but instead he, Velazquez and some of their other "honorables" wrote a letter and gave testimony to try and strip the SBIR out of the DoD authorization. You guys are really "pro jobs!"
The House & Senate could (and should) be conferencing on the SBIR bill right now, and they could reach a point where a bill could be passed and signed by the president in a matter of days. This creates jobs, NOW!
Your Turn To Be A Hero And Write A Letter
Last year at the Navy Opportunity Forum, freshman congressman Glenn Nye (D-VA) gave a brief presentation and touched on the VC issue. He assumed from his work with the House Small Business Committee that the majority of the SBIR community were in favor of the new VC proposals in the House bill. Some people piped up and Nye asked for a quick show of hands, and he was shocked to see how the crowd was overwhelmingly against the House VC portion. When asked about it later, he muttered something about the poll being unscientific. This election is going to be a barn burner for most. Your writing may never have a better opportunity for impact. If you disagree with the letter Altmire is circulating, you need to send a firm response to the House and let them know your thoughts. Be brief, polite but firm. If it were me, I would tell them I'm very upset that the House has made little to no attempt to work with the Senate to reach a reasonable compromise for SBIR reauthorization. Let them know the importance of the program to you, what it means for growing your business, adding jobs, retaining jobs, and stimulating the economy. Tell them you expect them to get the job done! Although there may be more important criteria to your supporting a candidate than SBIR, let them know that their actions will affect your support of them and/or their party, and you will talk with neighbors and friends about their responsiveness (or lack thereof) to you and America's small businesses. To offset the Altmire Quagmire, I would email your thoughts to the following: For Altmire: Nathan.Robinson@mail.house.gov For Pelosi: Phelan.Shield@mail.house.gov For Hoyer: Anne.Macmillan@mail.house.gov Also, MOST IMPORTANT, call or write your congressman! Time is of the essence, so if your interested please do this now. If you wish, copy your email to me at rick@zyn.com
This election is going to be a barn burner for most. Your writing may never have a better opportunity for impact. If you disagree with the letter Altmire is circulating, you need to send a firm response to the House and let them know your thoughts. Be brief, polite but firm.
If it were me, I would tell them I'm very upset that the House has made little to no attempt to work with the Senate to reach a reasonable compromise for SBIR reauthorization. Let them know the importance of the program to you, what it means for growing your business, adding jobs, retaining jobs, and stimulating the economy. Tell them you expect them to get the job done!
Although there may be more important criteria to your supporting a candidate than SBIR, let them know that their actions will affect your support of them and/or their party, and you will talk with neighbors and friends about their responsiveness (or lack thereof) to you and America's small businesses.
To offset the Altmire Quagmire, I would email your thoughts to the following:
For Altmire: Nathan.Robinson@mail.house.gov For Pelosi: Phelan.Shield@mail.house.gov For Hoyer: Anne.Macmillan@mail.house.gov
Time is of the essence, so if your interested please do this now.
If you wish, copy your email to me at rick@zyn.com
Heroes In The House
Back in July of 2009, there was a group in the House that were not subject to the short-sighted view of the "The Honorables." Led by Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), 26 congressionals, in a bipartisan effort sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Small Business chair, Mary Landrieu encouraging her and her committee to support the Senate's language for size standards and award amounts. The letter can be viewed at: www.zyn.com/sbir/reference/Letter_to_Landrieu2.pdf Also a salute to the work of both the House & Senate Armed Services Committees in standing up for what they believed in supporting the SBIR program within the DoD. This move was a major help in keeping stability in the program until a full and proper reauthorization can be agreed to (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/sb-insider10-22-09.htm ).
Back in July of 2009, there was a group in the House that were not subject to the short-sighted view of the "The Honorables." Led by Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), 26 congressionals, in a bipartisan effort sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Small Business chair, Mary Landrieu encouraging her and her committee to support the Senate's language for size standards and award amounts. The letter can be viewed at: www.zyn.com/sbir/reference/Letter_to_Landrieu2.pdf
Also a salute to the work of both the House & Senate Armed Services Committees in standing up for what they believed in supporting the SBIR program within the DoD. This move was a major help in keeping stability in the program until a full and proper reauthorization can be agreed to (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/sb-insider10-22-09.htm ).
The SBIR Brand, National Academies & Dr. Charles Wessner
The House set out to, and admitted their intent to "rebrand" the SBIR program. That makes sense, let's mess up one of the few government programs that works well, as it was intended. Studies were done on the program by various groups, but the most comprehensive to date was by the National Research Council of the National Academies, under the direction of Dr. Charles Wessner. Dr. Wessner and his study has been "selectively quoted" in ways to mislead audiences as to the overall results of the study. The SBIR Insider has always turned to Dr. Wessner's "Summary Of Key Findings." This leading paragraph of the 2008 summary states: "The core finding of the study is that the SBIR program is sound in concept and effective in practice. It can also be improved. Currently, the program is delivering results that meet most of the congressional objectives." Several of the Senate's compromises to the House addressed areas of concern stated in the above report, but those compromises fell on deaf ears in the house. Dr. Wessner was recently interviewed in the Federal Technology Watch Weekly Report, published February 22, 2010. In this non-SBIR specific interview Dr. Wessner was asked about his views on various S&T issues. When asked about evaluating federal programs, Dr. Wessner offered the following comment: "Another element of our work focuses on early-stage finance, and we've completed a massive study of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which has shown that the program is sound in concept and effective in operation. We've been surprised how successful the program is, and there's a growing recognition of the need for federal help to cross the 'Valley of Death,' the gap between a promising idea and the proof of principle and prototype. SBIR handles that [role] and it's being emulated by countries all around the world. From ones like Finland and Sweden to places like Singapore and Shanghai, which is not a country but is almost the size of a country! India has adopted SBIR for its biotech sector, and other countries among the former East European bloc are also going to be adopting it." Isn't it wonderful that the USA's SBIR program can only be run a few months at a time because our House insists on short term Continuing Resolutions, and desire only a short term reauthorization (2 years, while 8 years has been the norm). Is it any wonder that we're going to have quite a turnover later this year?
Studies were done on the program by various groups, but the most comprehensive to date was by the National Research Council of the National Academies, under the direction of Dr. Charles Wessner. Dr. Wessner and his study has been "selectively quoted" in ways to mislead audiences as to the overall results of the study. The SBIR Insider has always turned to Dr. Wessner's "Summary Of Key Findings." This leading paragraph of the 2008 summary states: "The core finding of the study is that the SBIR program is sound in concept and effective in practice. It can also be improved. Currently, the program is delivering results that meet most of the congressional objectives."
Several of the Senate's compromises to the House addressed areas of concern stated in the above report, but those compromises fell on deaf ears in the house.
Dr. Wessner was recently interviewed in the Federal Technology Watch Weekly Report, published February 22, 2010. In this non-SBIR specific interview Dr. Wessner was asked about his views on various S&T issues. When asked about evaluating federal programs, Dr. Wessner offered the following comment:
"Another element of our work focuses on early-stage finance, and we've completed a massive study of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which has shown that the program is sound in concept and effective in operation. We've been surprised how successful the program is, and there's a growing recognition of the need for federal help to cross the 'Valley of Death,' the gap between a promising idea and the proof of principle and prototype. SBIR handles that [role] and it's being emulated by countries all around the world. From ones like Finland and Sweden to places like Singapore and Shanghai, which is not a country but is almost the size of a country! India has adopted SBIR for its biotech sector, and other countries among the former East European bloc are also going to be adopting it."
Isn't it wonderful that the USA's SBIR program can only be run a few months at a time because our House insists on short term Continuing Resolutions, and desire only a short term reauthorization (2 years, while 8 years has been the norm). Is it any wonder that we're going to have quite a turnover later this year?
The clock is telling me it is 4:30am so I apologize if I'm not making sense. But then again, neither is congress, and they get more sleep than do I.Thanks again for your time.Sincerely,Rick ShindellSBIR GatewayRick@zyn.comwww.zyn.com/sbir
1/31/2010 Senate Approves SBIR Extension Here's the Press Release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senate-approves-extension-of-sba-programs-82990762.html
Here's the link to the text of the actual Bill (HR 4508):http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4508
With this action, the SBIR/STTR Programs for all agencies other than DOD are now extended to April 30, 2010. The DOD's Programs were extended to September 30, 2010, via the Defense Appropriations Bill.
1/28/2010 House Extends SBIR Program for 90 Days
"The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to extend the SBIR program for another 90 days. The program had been set to expire on Jan. 31, 2010, but the new continuing resolution now pushes the expiration date back to April 30. The Senate is also expected to pass this legislation in short order. This is the sixth CR passed since the SBIR program was originally up for expiration in 2008. Although reauthorization bills have been passed in the House and the Senate, the language in the two bills was very different, and the two Chambers have so far been unable to reconcile the differences in the two bills into a single bill that can be sent to the President for his signature. While we are happy that Congress has not allowed this important program to lapse, it is important that the two sides can reach an agreement this year, before the new Congress starts next year and this process will have to start all over again.SBTC has endorsed the Senate’s language as an acceptable compromise, and urges the House to do so as well."
"The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to extend the SBIR program for another 90 days. The program had been set to expire on Jan. 31, 2010, but the new continuing resolution now pushes the expiration date back to April 30. The Senate is also expected to pass this legislation in short order.
This is the sixth CR passed since the SBIR program was originally up for expiration in 2008. Although reauthorization bills have been passed in the House and the Senate, the language in the two bills was very different, and the two Chambers have so far been unable to reconcile the differences in the two bills into a single bill that can be sent to the President for his signature.
While we are happy that Congress has not allowed this important program to lapse, it is important that the two sides can reach an agreement this year, before the new Congress starts next year and this process will have to start all over again.SBTC has endorsed the Senate’s language as an acceptable compromise, and urges the House to do so as well."
1/27/2010
"It was a severe blow to biotechnology firms across the country when NIH extramural research funding was exempted from their requirement to dedicate funding to SBIR and STTR awards. As a result, small businesses across the country, which the recovery package was intended to benefit, have been denied the opportunity to fairly compete for more than $200 million in grants."
1/22/2010 FAST SBIR Action?
12/18/2009
As predicted, Omnibus Appropriations bills were rushed through this week, but SBIR reauthorization was not included among them. So it'll be January before any more attention is paid to us.The SBA did get $2 million appropriated for the Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) program for State SBIR outreach funding. This hopefully assumes there will be something to reach out for! Unfortunately that money won't go very far. FAST awards have been in the $100K-$150K range. So, not much to report, and not much to advise y'all to do. We're just hanging. If you get a chance to talk to a legislator (or an aide) during the Christmas recess, do it! They might actually be relieved you're NOT talking about health care.We do have word from the White House that President Obama will turn his attention to Small Business issues as soon as Health Care is done. We say -- the sooner the better! Perhaps we can get some REAL attention to SBIR and other small business concerns for a change. This lip service we've been getting just isn't cutting it. Frankly, we'll believe it when we see it.
10/30/2009 House agrees to a three month SBIR Extension to 1/31/2010
The following is excerpted from Rick Shindell's SBIR Insider of 10/29/09:
As reported to you on Oct 26, Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), chair and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship (SBE) were able to get the Senate to pass S. 1929 that extends SBIR/STTR for all agencies (except DoD which was handled separately) for 6 months, expiring on April 30, 2010. The bill was then sent to the House for a vote.
Naturally, Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), chair of the House Small Business Committee (SBC), didn't see eye to eye with the Senate, so she amended the bill by changing 6 months to 3 with an expiration date of January 31, 2010. With the short leash of the current October 31, 2009 expiration, and the fact that the House will not meet on Friday, the Senate will concur with the amendment and the President will sign this new Continuing Resolution (CR).
Bottom line, the SBIR/STTR programs will be extended through January 31, 2010, except for the DoD which was addressed separately by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, and run through September 30, 2010.
The House and Senate are still in conference trying to reconcile differences in their bills in order to pass a true SBIR reauthorization bill. All conferees are being tight lipped about the progress but it is believed that they are getting close to a compromise bill. The Senate's bill originally contained several compromises on sensitive issues while the House was closer to "my way or the highway." Consequently progress on conferencing the two bills has been very slow and tough, to the point where some question if they can "get er done."
The Senate and House Armed Services Committees, lead by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO), were not comfortable with the above scenario. Realizing that the SBIR, STTR and CPP programs were of great importance and benefit to the Department of Defense (DoD), as well as many small businesses, Levin and Skelton took matters into their own hands and worked together (with their ranking members and committees) to extended the DoD SBIR/STTR/CPP programs though the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2010). The vehicle used was the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law Wednesday, October 28.
The Armed Services committees were aided and abetted by the Senate SBE, while the House's SBC and S&T committees cried "foul", sent letters to Skelton and whined to Pelosi. Ultimately House S&T subcommittee David Wu (D-OR) worked out a compromise and the 14 year DoD extension was reduced to 1 year. Kudos to Levin, Skelton, Landrieu and their staff for their efforts. Oh yes, a "restrained nod" to Wu for trying to be helpful in a difficult situation.
Rick Shindell Copyright © 2009 Zyn Systems
10/27/2009
The following is from Rick Shindell's SBIR Insider of 10/26/09:
Today (October 26, 2009), the Senate passed S. 1929 that extends SBIR/STTR for all agencies (except DoD) as well as other small business programs for 6 months, expiring on April 30, 2010. This bill does not effect the earlier DoD SBIR/STTR 1 year extension passed by Congress as part of the DoD 2010 Authorization expected to be signed by the President on Wednesday.
Mary Landrieu (D-LA), chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship had this to say about this new extension bill (S.1929):
"A six-month extension of the SBA and its programs – including the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs – ensures that the agency has the stability it needs to provide our innovators and job creators the assistance they need to remain successful. While we continue to make progress on all of our reauthorization measures – SBIR/STTR, SBA’s loans and venture capital programs, contracting assistance, and management counseling – this temporary reauthorization will help keep America’s 29 million small businesses running through the holiday season. "
The bill will now be sent to the House to be evaluated by the House Small Biz Committee and its chair Nydia Velazquez, who will make changes or approve the bill in its current form and send to the whole House for a vote. Her committee has been reluctant to extend SBIR for any reasonable length of time, so it will be interesting to see if she and the House will go along with the Senate's bill of 6 months. Calculating that Congress will be very busy through November (absent during Thanksgiving week), and generally off as early as possible in December, it would be unlikely that any reauthorization could be completed before the end of the calendar year.
For those of you DoD SBIR'ers, you can relax for a while. The President is expected to sign the DoD Authorization on Wednesday, and that includes extension of DOD SBIR/STTR/CPP for 1 year (ending Sept 30, 2011). There was a great controversy to this bill, not because of SBIR but due to the addition of the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill" being included in this authorization. It caused a backlash by the Republicans who usually support defense, and you can expect certain sections of the press to report on the signing of this defense authorization bill to be called the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill".
So regardless of the new media title, the defense bill will be signed into law on Wednesday and the DoD SBIR is good until at least September 30, 2010.
I'm sorry I can't answer each of your questions personally (although I try), we'll publish many of the most popular ones in the next issue which should follow as soon as we receive word of the extension, aka "CR".
10/12/09
There has been a lot of action this week on the Hill with regards to the SBIR program. There were a number of hearings in the House and Senate that dealt with issues related to the SBIR program.The House and Senate Armed Services Committee in their Conference Report on the Defense Authorization Bill of 2010 approved a one year extension of the DOD SBIR, STTR and CPP programs. We had hoped to get the 14-year reauthorization period that was originally included in the Defense Authorization bill, but a 1-year reauthorization for the DOD programs is still a minor victory. It shows that this is an important enough program that the Armed Services committee is willing to step in and preserve it, and also allows the DOD and Armed Services-related small businesses plan for the next year, at least.We are grateful for the leadership and hard work of Chairman Ike Skelton and Chairman and Ranking Member, Howard McKeon and Chairman Carl Levin and Ranking Member John McCain. We are especially thankful for the hard work of Arun Seraphin of the Senate Armed Services Committee and of Tim McClees of the House Armed Services Committee. This allows the DOD to make sure the SBIR and CPP programs will continue to help small businesses develop and transition new technology to the warfighter.On Tuesday, the Senate Small Business and entrepreneurship Committee held a hearing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and small business. Witnesses at the hearing were from SBA, DOD, DOE and NIH. The witnesses at the hearing testified that President Obama had directed them to make the "maximum practicable opportunity for small business" and that they took the President's directive seriously. The SBA said that its lending program were working well and were back to the pre recession levels. A remarkable increase from the sever downturn in lending last year. DOD testified that to date 58% of all of its ARRA funds have gone to small business. DOE testified that 6.7% of its contracts under ARRA have gone to small business.The NIH was unable to explain who asked for the NIH exemption from the SBIR in the ARRA. Dr. Sally Rockey testified that she was concerned that a decline in SBIR proposals would have meant that there wouldn't be sufficient quality proposal to award the 2.8% or $230 million. NIH testified that it had created some programs for small business and that small business had been encouraged to submit to other NIH programs. NIH said that small business response to the ARRA resulted in "unprecedented submissions by small business" and that small business "response was impressive." Despite this NIH stated that NIH will only provide $200 million of the ARRA money to small business. This is substantially less than NIH would have awarded under the SBIR program alone if NIH had not received an exemption. One has to question whether NIH is complying with President Obama's directive to make maximum practicable opportunity for small business.& nbsp; A number of questions appear obvious: 1. Given the unprecedented submissions by small business to existing and other NIH programs, wouldn't there have been a tremendous interest in the ARRA SBIR solicitation? 2. Why other agencies can do between 6 and 96% of their ARRA funds and NIH can barely do 2%? 3. Why did NIH creat new small business solicitations instead of using the existing SBIR program?
10/11/09
House / Senate Conference Report For National Defense Authorization Bill Includes "DoD Only" SBIR/STTR Reauthorization
Wednesday, October 7, 2009. The House & Senate Armed Service Committees reached agreement on the conference report to H.R. 2647, the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In this conference report (agreement on the consolidation / compromises of both House & Senate defense bills) of more than 1,400 pages, there are 2 pages of language that in essence, reauthorize the DoD's SBIR and STTR programs for 1 year (ending September 30, 2010), and extending the Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP) for the same period. This has no effect on the other ten agency SBIR/STTR programs that will expire on October 31, 2009 unless extended by another CR or reauthorized. The NDAA should come to the floor of both bodies quickly for a vote, perhaps Thursday. There are some provisions that are controversial and a few that the President didn't want, so the bill's passage and the President's signing, although likely, will not be a slam dunk. We have a copy of the SBIR portion of the report at www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/SBIR-Armed_Services_Report-100709.pdf. In our last SBIR Insider we told you that staffers of the House Small Business Committee (HSBC), House Science & Technology Committee (HS&T), and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) were being very tight lipped about progress of their conference negotiations to pass comprehensive SBIR/STTR reauthorization. Obviously the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) actions reflect a vote of "no confidence" in the ability or likelihood of the other committees to reach SBIR reauthorization in a timely manner. INSIDE STUFF: Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the SASC, who is also a member of the SBE, worked closely with SBE committee chair Mary Landrieu (D-LA) as did their staffers, to incorporate the entirety of the Senate's SBIR reauthorization bill (S.1233) into the NDAA. Some SBIR changes were made by the SASC including making the reauthorization for 14 years, making the CPP permanent (rather than its pilot program status), and expanding the CPP to the STTR program. The HASC worked for inclusion of SBIR reauthorization for DoD only and had some differences with the Senate's bill. Bottom line was that all systems (in HASC & SASC) were "go" to reauthorize SBIR in the NDAA. Once it came to light that this action was for real and was gaining traction, HSBC chair Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), and HS&T subcommittee chair David Wu (D-OR) fired off a strong letter of complaint to HASC chair Ike Skelton (D-MO) and ranking member Buck McKeon (R-CA), along with a CC to Nancy Pelosi. (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/HASC_letter-9-25-09.pdf) In the House, there was great pressure on Armed Services to stand down on the SBIR issue. Chairman Skelton would not cave but he would compromise. The 14 years were reduced to 1, CPP was also only 1 year and was not expanded to STTR. This compromise should serve notice the other House committees that SBIR must be reauthorized properly or the DoD may run with their own program next year. Although this action is unprecedented in SBIR history, the Armed Services Committees are showing us that the SBIR program is of extreme importance to the DoD and support for the war fighter. It is also vital to many of America's small high tech businesses. Almost everyone on the hill agrees that SBIR is a good program that accomplishes what it was created to do. That's rare for most government programs, yet the House Small Business and S&T committees want to uproot the program to serve a few of their special interests at the expense of the overall program. Is it possible that the House Small Business and S&T committees are ignoring the success of the program in order to morph the program to serve their own special interests? Even if you agree with the House Small Business and S&T's sweeping changes, can you explain why they insist on only a 2 year reauthorization? The agencies could hardly get everything changed and running within that time, let alone measuring the effectiveness of the changes. If this doesn't wreak of a fund raising mechanism from their lobbyists, I'd like you to enlighten me. The House Small Business Committee hearings concentrated mainly on NIH/BIO/NVCA issues with very little attention given to DoD, which is 50 % of the entire SBIR program! Is it any wonder that Armed Services has taken the matter into their own hands? The Small Business Technology Council (SBTC) has issued the following statement on this unique action by Armed Services: "The House and Senate Armed Services Committee in their Conference Report on the Defense Authorization Bill of 2010 just approved a one year extension of the DOD SBIR, STTR and CPP programs. We are grateful for the leadership and hard work of House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, Ranking Member Howard McKeon, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, and Ranking Member John McCain. We are especially thankful for the hard work of Arun Seraphin of the Senate Armed Services Committee and of Tim McClees of the House Armed Services Committee. This allows the DOD to make sure the SBIR and CPP programs are going to continue developing and transitioning new technology to the warfighter." We will update you on the progress of the NDAA bill and its effect on the SBIR community. Stay tuned. Rick Shindell Copyright © 2009 Zyn Systems.
In this conference report (agreement on the consolidation / compromises of both House & Senate defense bills) of more than 1,400 pages, there are 2 pages of language that in essence, reauthorize the DoD's SBIR and STTR programs for 1 year (ending September 30, 2010), and extending the Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP) for the same period.
This has no effect on the other ten agency SBIR/STTR programs that will expire on October 31, 2009 unless extended by another CR or reauthorized.
The NDAA should come to the floor of both bodies quickly for a vote, perhaps Thursday. There are some provisions that are controversial and a few that the President didn't want, so the bill's passage and the President's signing, although likely, will not be a slam dunk. We have a copy of the SBIR portion of the report at www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/SBIR-Armed_Services_Report-100709.pdf.
In our last SBIR Insider we told you that staffers of the House Small Business Committee (HSBC), House Science & Technology Committee (HS&T), and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) were being very tight lipped about progress of their conference negotiations to pass comprehensive SBIR/STTR reauthorization. Obviously the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) actions reflect a vote of "no confidence" in the ability or likelihood of the other committees to reach SBIR reauthorization in a timely manner.
INSIDE STUFF: Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the SASC, who is also a member of the SBE, worked closely with SBE committee chair Mary Landrieu (D-LA) as did their staffers, to incorporate the entirety of the Senate's SBIR reauthorization bill (S.1233) into the NDAA. Some SBIR changes were made by the SASC including making the reauthorization for 14 years, making the CPP permanent (rather than its pilot program status), and expanding the CPP to the STTR program.
The HASC worked for inclusion of SBIR reauthorization for DoD only and had some differences with the Senate's bill. Bottom line was that all systems (in HASC & SASC) were "go" to reauthorize SBIR in the NDAA.
Once it came to light that this action was for real and was gaining traction, HSBC chair Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), and HS&T subcommittee chair David Wu (D-OR) fired off a strong letter of complaint to HASC chair Ike Skelton (D-MO) and ranking member Buck McKeon (R-CA), along with a CC to Nancy Pelosi. (see www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/HASC_letter-9-25-09.pdf)
In the House, there was great pressure on Armed Services to stand down on the SBIR issue. Chairman Skelton would not cave but he would compromise. The 14 years were reduced to 1, CPP was also only 1 year and was not expanded to STTR.
This compromise should serve notice the other House committees that SBIR must be reauthorized properly or the DoD may run with their own program next year.
Although this action is unprecedented in SBIR history, the Armed Services Committees are showing us that the SBIR program is of extreme importance to the DoD and support for the war fighter. It is also vital to many of America's small high tech businesses.
Almost everyone on the hill agrees that SBIR is a good program that accomplishes what it was created to do. That's rare for most government programs, yet the House Small Business and S&T committees want to uproot the program to serve a few of their special interests at the expense of the overall program.
Is it possible that the House Small Business and S&T committees are ignoring the success of the program in order to morph the program to serve their own special interests? Even if you agree with the House Small Business and S&T's sweeping changes, can you explain why they insist on only a 2 year reauthorization? The agencies could hardly get everything changed and running within that time, let alone measuring the effectiveness of the changes. If this doesn't wreak of a fund raising mechanism from their lobbyists, I'd like you to enlighten me.
The House Small Business Committee hearings concentrated mainly on NIH/BIO/NVCA issues with very little attention given to DoD, which is 50 % of the entire SBIR program! Is it any wonder that Armed Services has taken the matter into their own hands?
The Small Business Technology Council (SBTC) has issued the following statement on this unique action by Armed Services:
"The House and Senate Armed Services Committee in their Conference Report on the Defense Authorization Bill of 2010 just approved a one year extension of the DOD SBIR, STTR and CPP programs. We are grateful for the leadership and hard work of House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, Ranking Member Howard McKeon, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, and Ranking Member John McCain. We are especially thankful for the hard work of Arun Seraphin of the Senate Armed Services Committee and of Tim McClees of the House Armed Services Committee. This allows the DOD to make sure the SBIR and CPP programs are going to continue developing and transitioning new technology to the warfighter."
We will update you on the progress of the NDAA bill and its effect on the SBIR community. Stay tuned.
7/31/09 STATUS OF REAUTHORIZATIONFollowing yesterday morning’s call with SBTC, here is the latest on SBIR reauthorization with some action items for us all over the August recess to help ensure that the final bill coming out of conference is the best that we can get for the small biz community.
ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE OVER THE SUMMER:Over the coming weeks there will active negotiation within the House and Senate conference committee, into which we will have no insight. We must expect active lobbying by the Wall Street VC crowd, especially as their House champions are up for re-election this Fall. The best we can do is to make our House and Senate Representatives aware that we as small businesses are unhappy with the House bill and support the Senate bill. Become a burr under their saddles. In particular, express your support for limiting VC involvement, limiting the size of awards, and increasing the size of the program so that the number of awards does not drop as a result of VC involvement. Therefore, during August recess when your representatives are in their districts, please remain an active advocate for SBIR reauthorization. Here are some guidelines:
We still have our work cut out, but we have made amazing progress. Great work everyone.Have fun this summer.Les
The SBTC Sent out the following today:
The Senate passed a continuing resolution on Friday that would extend the SBIR program another two months. That would make the new expiration date for the SBIR program September 30th, 2009. This CR also needs to pass the House of Representatives to be enacted, and we expect it to pass the House on Tuesday.Currently, the staff from the House Small Business and Science Committees are in negotiations in conference with the staff from the Senate Small Business Committee to produce a compromise SBIR reauthorization bill that will incorporate elements from both the House and the Senate Reauthorization Bills. We have heard and have reason to believe that both sides are negotiating in good faith, and that no party is acting unreasonably or otherwise sabotaging the process. Because there is an agreement between the staffers in the conference, we won't know what's in the compromise bill until it is finished and released to the public.The SBTC will be hosting a conference call to discuss these developments.SBTC Conference CallThursday, July 30th, 200911:00am ESTFor the call in number and code, contact Alec Orban at the SBTCAlec@SBTC.org or (202) 662-9700 ext 337
Dear SBIR Advocates:Click HERE: (SBIR_Conferee_Letter.pdf) to see the letter that will be sent from House Representatives to Senator Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, expressing their support for S. 1233, the Senate SBIR Reauthorization Bill. We need about fifty House Representatives to sign on in order to swing the SBIR House/Senate conference deliberations to support the Senate bill. They can do that by contacting Mitch Robinson (Rep. Markey) at 5-2836 or Mitchell.Robinson@mail.house.gov, or Kate Lynch (Rep. Tsongas) at 5-4311 or Kate.Lynch@mail.house.gov.As you know, the Senate SBIR reauthorization bill, unlike its House counterpart, H.R. 2965, preserves most of the SBIR program for genuinely small businesses like ours, while the House bill sells out the SBIR program to large venture capital-controlled businesses. You will recall that several House representatives, including those who have already signed on to this letter, proposed amendments to H.R. 2965 that would have made it less onerous to small businesses, but this amendment was shot down by the House Rules Committee. We believe the reason was that your prior outreach efforts to your House representatives caused widespread consternation in the House that the Markey/Tsongas/Hodes/Welch amendment would pass, much to the consternation of the VC-lobby that has taken over the House SBIR reauthorization process. By signing onto this letter, your representatives get a second bite of that apple. Their signature supporting the Senate bill gives much better insight into what most House representatives really felt about House bill H.R. 2965 and its bad consequences for true small businesses. It provides Senator Landrieu and the Senate conference committee delegates with much-needed leverage to achieve a compromise SBIR reauthorization bill that is more like S. 1233 than its House counterpart. We need SBIR to remain a program that works for innovative, independently-owned small businesses like ours, rather than becoming a bail-out fund for well-heeled venture-capitalists.You do need to take action today. These negotiations will be over early next week. Your representative has already received a copy of this letter. Please call your House representative’s small business staffer, email the letter and ask him or her to bring it to their boss’ attention and get them to sign on this week. Thank you for this last effort in support of the 2009 SBIR reauthorization.We will keep you posted as information emerges from conference.Best,Les________________Leslie J. BowenPresidentMaterials Systems Inc.
Dear SBIR Advocates:Click HERE: (SBIR_Conferee_Letter.pdf) to see the letter that will be sent from House Representatives to Senator Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, expressing their support for S. 1233, the Senate SBIR Reauthorization Bill.
We need about fifty House Representatives to sign on in order to swing the SBIR House/Senate conference deliberations to support the Senate bill. They can do that by contacting Mitch Robinson (Rep. Markey) at 5-2836 or Mitchell.Robinson@mail.house.gov, or Kate Lynch (Rep. Tsongas) at 5-4311 or Kate.Lynch@mail.house.gov.As you know, the Senate SBIR reauthorization bill, unlike its House counterpart, H.R. 2965, preserves most of the SBIR program for genuinely small businesses like ours, while the House bill sells out the SBIR program to large venture capital-controlled businesses. You will recall that several House representatives, including those who have already signed on to this letter, proposed amendments to H.R. 2965 that would have made it less onerous to small businesses, but this amendment was shot down by the House Rules Committee. We believe the reason was that your prior outreach efforts to your House representatives caused widespread consternation in the House that the Markey/Tsongas/Hodes/Welch amendment would pass, much to the consternation of the VC-lobby that has taken over the House SBIR reauthorization process. By signing onto this letter, your representatives get a second bite of that apple. Their signature supporting the Senate bill gives much better insight into what most House representatives really felt about House bill H.R. 2965 and its bad consequences for true small businesses. It provides Senator Landrieu and the Senate conference committee delegates with much-needed leverage to achieve a compromise SBIR reauthorization bill that is more like S. 1233 than its House counterpart. We need SBIR to remain a program that works for innovative, independently-owned small businesses like ours, rather than becoming a bail-out fund for well-heeled venture-capitalists.You do need to take action today. These negotiations will be over early next week. Your representative has already received a copy of this letter. Please call your House representative’s small business staffer, email the letter and ask him or her to bring it to their boss’ attention and get them to sign on this week. Thank you for this last effort in support of the 2009 SBIR reauthorization.We will keep you posted as information emerges from conference.Best,Les________________Leslie J. BowenPresidentMaterials Systems Inc.
Here's a Dear Colleague letter sent to all Members of the House of Representatives by Rep. Niki Tsongas and others: Tsongas Dear Colleague Letter.pdf
Get your Representatives to sign onto this letter! They can do that by contacting Mitch Robinson (Rep. Markey) at 5-2836 or Mitchell.Robinson@mail.house.gov, or Kate Lynch (Rep. Tsongas) at 5-4311 or Kate.Lynch@mail.house.gov.
Here's a letter from the SBTC to Senator Landrieu: SBTC Letter to Sen Landrieu.doc
Use this a basis for your own letters! The Primary Message to Legislators Regarding Eligibility: If companies with VC majority funding wind up getting SBIR awards, then more Federal R&D money will flow to States where companies with VC seed investment are located. The states with virtually no VC seed deal flow will lose Federal R&D money flow. Who wants to vote for fewer Federal R&D dollars coming to their State?
The Primary Message to Legislators Regarding Eligibility:
If companies with VC majority funding wind up getting SBIR awards, then more Federal R&D money will flow to States where companies with VC seed investment are located. The states with virtually no VC seed deal flow will lose Federal R&D money flow.
Here's a Data Sheet with the details of this information: PDF: 2005_VC_Seed_Investment_vs_SBIR_Awards_report.pdfExcel: 2005_VC_Seed_Investment_vs_SBIR_Awards_spreadsheet.xls
Here's a Data Sheet with the details of this information:
PDF: 2005_VC_Seed_Investment_vs_SBIR_Awards_report.pdfExcel: 2005_VC_Seed_Investment_vs_SBIR_Awards_spreadsheet.xls
When you fax a letter, address it to the Legislator, but send it to the attention of the "Legislative Policy Advisior for Small Business Issues".
SBIR on the Web
Here are links to some of the related articles that are appearing:
As SBIR Bill Passes To Senate, Venture Industry Not Pleased
Small Business Committee Votes to Reauthorize SBIR/STTR and ...
Should the Government Focus Resources on High-Potential Start-Ups?
The Daily Start-Up: It's Time To Mark Up The SBIR Bill
Battle Rages Over Venture Capital's Role in Federal Small Business ...SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONTRACTING AND TECHNOLOGY MARKS UP LEGISLATION TO ...
GRAVES & COMMITTEE EXAMINE SMALL BUSINESS ACCESS TO CAPITAL
House Ready to Steam Roll Venture Capital BillSlicing and dicing SBIR award dataLandrieu wants SBA programs extended
SBIR REAUTHORIZATION BEGINS JOURNEY IN THE HOUSELandrieu, Snowe Look to Strengthen Small Business Research and Development OpportunitiesCongress looking at modernizing SBIR & STTR programsWill SBA Be Kinder to VC Industy?Does biotech win if VCs get a better chance at SBIR?Obama's SBA Nomination Nods In Favor Of VC IndustryLandrieu, Snowe Comment on NAS SBIR StudyThe Study: NAS_Study-Venture_Funding_and_the_NIH_SBIR_Program.pdf(Know of any other good ones? Send me the link!)
SBIR ADVOCACY MAILING LIST SIGNUP
You'll be prompted: 1. Sign in to Google Groups; 2. Sign in and apply for membership; or 3. Contact the owner (select this option if you don't wish to create a Google login; you can still be added, but your control of group options will be restricted)
The primary contact at the SBTC is Alec Orban (202-662-9700 x337, Alec@SBTC.org)
You are urged to join the SBTC and help us in this campaign.
SBIR Advocacy - Ann Eskesen Ann's Call to Action Web-Section
Roland Tibbetts - An Important Voice to HeedRoland Tibbetts is universally acknowledged as the father of the SBIR Program with his design and development of the pilot program in the National Science Foundation in the mid-seventies. Retired from NSF since 1996, Roland continues to be a strong SBIR advocate. His insights and opinions are worthy of note and are provided here:The Importance of SBIR: Roland_Tibbetts_on_SBIR.pdfPreparing for Reauthorization - some facts to ponder:Roland Tibbetts on SBIR_Reauthorization - 2006 letter.pdfWhy the provisions in H.R.5819 would damage the SBIR Program:Roland Tibbetts on SBIR Reauthorization - 2008 critique.pdf
Past R&D 100 Awards:
Background
The SBIR Program, created by the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982, comes up for reauthorization periodically. SBIR Reauthorization was enacted in 1986, 1992, and 2000. The program was slated for reauthorization again by September 30, 2008, but was extended by continuing resolutions to March 20, 2009, and again to July 31, 2009.
The STTR Program was created by the Small Business Research and Development Act of 1992 as an additional element of the SBIR Program, and was reauthorized in 1996 and 2001. It is scheduled for further reauthorization by September 30, 2009.
The Coach's Position (updated with the current bills)
