NDIA Lauds Passage of ‘SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022’
ARLINGTON, VA – The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) applauds the overwhelming bipartisan passage of S.4900, the “SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022,” a three-year reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. If an extension had not been provided due to sunset provisions in the programs, both initiatives would have expired at the end of this fiscal year.
“I’d like to thank NDIA for all their work to help get SBIR/STTR reauthorization across the finish line,” chairwoman of the small business committee, Rep. Velázquez D-N.Y. said. “NDIA’s expertise regarding these programs and their impacts has been indispensable throughout this process. NDIA’s efforts to ensure the continued success of SBIR/STTR will help support American small businesses, innovation, and national defense.”
Ensuring the SBIR/STTR programs are funded is a top priority for NDIA.
Kea Matory, director of legislative policy at NDIA, thanked Senator Cardin and Rep. Velázquez for their continued support for small businesses, as well as the department of defense for their work. “It took a herculean effort to get this bill passed in the timeframe we were working within, but funding these programs will have an outsized impact on small businesses, the engine of America’s innovation. And NDIA’s Small Business Division, led by Ms. ML Mackey, has tirelessly worked with us to secure the extension of the bill.”
Mackey said of the bill’s passage: “The reauthorization of the SBIR/STTR program is critical to national security. The NDIA team–from leadership to the legislative policy team–worked with industry participation–within the Small Business Division and beyond–to ensure small businesses needs were front and center on Capitol Hill. The NDIA team was a critical lever in moving this process forward.”
Founded in 1982, the SBIR and STTR programs create partnerships between federal agencies, public research institutions and the nation’s small businesses to develop innovative technologies. For fiscal year 2020, the most complete year of data, these programs resulted in nearly $3.9 billion going to small high-technology firms. The programs ensure small business innovators can effectively compete in the defense industrial base, bringing in new technology that keeps the United States at the forefront of technology against a pacing threat from China.
Dr. Mark Lewis, executive director of NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute and former acting deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, applauded the Senate’s action. “Our nation’s small businesses are often the source of the most innovative and agile solutions to our most pressing national security challenges, and they are an especially critical element in the urgent push for the rapid delivery of emerging defense technologies,” he said. “By any standard, the SBIR/STTR program has been an overwhelming success in making talent available to the DoD, as well as in encouraging some of America’s best and brightest minds working in non-defense areas to support the needs of national defense.”
NDIA understands that the most important parts of the extension relate to due diligence for security – which makes it easier for small businesses to continue their work under a provision in Section 4 of the bill on foreign risk management, as well as a part on Section 8 regarding multiple award winners. A key fear was that the House would originally limit companies with multiple awards to three per year. “The move to remove an award limit is a significant win compared to the language originally submitted when negotiations began,” Matory said.
Topics: Small Business