Federal Research: Interim Report on the Small Business Innovation Research Program
Highlights
GAO discussed its review of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. GAO noted that: (1) the quality of research proposals to date appear to have kept pace with the program's expansion; (2) it is too early to judge the long-term quality of research proposals because major increases in program funding have not yet occurred; (3) agencies providing SBIR funding have not implemented the technical assistance provision and future implementation remains uncertain; (4) program officials have been critical of the technical assistance provision, but they have provided assistance with the commercialization of research results; (5) duplicate funding of similar research projects has increased as the numbers of research proposals submitted to the SBIR program has grown; and (6) duplicative funding occurs due to the evasion of certification procedures, lack of consensus on what constitutes a duplicate proposal, and general lack of current information on recent SBIR awards.