WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today sent letters to 11 different government agencies requesting a report on how they are implementing goals and incentives for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
“Under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (2012 NDAA), the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Senate Committee on Armed Services included provisions to accelerate the transition of technologies under the SBIR and STTR programs to Phase III,” Senator Landrieu wrote. “The objectives of these provisions are to maximize the government’s R&D investments, to stimulate economic growth, and to create jobs. As Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I ask for information on those actions that your Department or Agency has taken to comply.”
The SBIR and STTR programs are the largest federal research and development programs for small businesses. The programs allow small businesses to compete for a portion of federal research dollars in order to help the agencies meet their many missions from areas of health and environment to national defense and agriculture, and move the ideas from lab to market, whether for the government or commercial purposes.
Sen. Landrieu successfully led the fight to include a six-year extension of both the SBIR and STTR programs in 2012 NDAA.
Sen. Landrieu requested these reports from the following agencies by April 1:
- Department of Defense
- Department of Energy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Education
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Transportation
- Environmental Protection Agency
For samples of the letters Sen. Landrieu sent to the agencies, please click here and here.
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