reauthorization

SBIR REAUTHORIZATION

REAUTHORIZATION REQUIRED

Every 7-10 years, the SBIR program must be “reauthorized” by Congress or it will cease to exist. It has survived three reauthorizations in the past, and faces another one in Federal Fiscal Year 2008.

Although SBIR is a popular program, its reauthorization is never a sure bet. That is particularly true now, with many interests vying for limited Federal budget dollars. And, SBIR continues to have its adversaries who, for various reasons, oppose the program.

WHY ACT NOW?

Terry Bibbens, former Entrepreneur in Residence at the Small Business Administration (SBA), has made the important point that many members of Congress were not in office the last time SBIR was reauthorized (2000). Therefore, they may not even know that SBIR exists, much less its value to their constituents. Now is a great time to educate your Congressional representatives about SBIR and what it has done for your state, community, and maybe even your company.

WHAT DIFFERENCE YOU CAN MAKE

You’ve heard it before, and we’ll say it again: Members of Congress take note when substantial numbers of their constituents contact them about a particular Federal program or legislative bill. If they don’t hear from any constituents, then they go on their own assessment of the merits of the program or bill. If they hear from one or two constituents, then they consider their comments. But if they hear from dozens of constituents, now they strongly consider how those constituents feel about the program or bill. Add your voice so that your Congressional representatives will hear not from one or two constuents about the importance of SBIR, but from many of you!

Reauthorization UPDATE APRIL 2009

The latest information we have suggests that the House will begin work soon on writing new SBIR reauthorization legislation, with a goal of completing it in August 2009. It will then be the Senate’s turn; they may either take up what the House passes, or (like they did last year) they may start from scratch. Any differences between the two versions of the reauthorization legislation will have to be ironed out before final legislation is hopefully signed by the President. Given the time required for all of this, GCGI believes Congress will need to pass yet another “continuing resolution” to keep SBIR alive beyond the current 7/31/09 end date.

CONTACTING YOUR CONGRESSMAN OR WOMAN: Made Easy

The Small Business Technology Coalition (SBTC) has made it pretty easy to write your Congresspersons. Go to their website at http://www.sbtc.org, and click on the “SBIR Reauthorization Action Alert” button. This takes you to a canned letter that you can modify extensively (see our advice on a “message” below), and then simply click on the submit button to have it automatically sent to your representatives!
However, you need to carefully note at the top of the canned SBTC letter whether it is going to your Representative and Senators, or only one or the other. If the latter, and you want to send a message to your other Congresspersons, then you can find their contact information on line. For members of the House of Representatives, go to http://www.house.gov/writerep. You will be asked to enter your state and zip code, and will receive information about your Representative. What is displayed, however, is only snail mail address and phone; to get the useful fax and email information, click on the name of your Representative, which is linked to his or her website. If a Website isn’t accessible here, try http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml, which lists all Representatives’ website alphabetically or by state.
It is the Congressperson’s website where you can find a fax number, usually under a “Contact Rep Jones” type button. Email has gotten a bit trickier for most Congresspersons; instead of giving you their email address, most provide an electronic form that you will fill out and then send (email) it to them. Therefore, you may want to write out what you want to say, then cut and paste it into this form.

Finding information on your Senator is accomplished by going to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. Enter your state, and you are told their names and websites; once again, the website is where you will find a fax number and (typically) a “form” for sending an email.

Another useful website in this process is http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/. By clicking on your state, this website will list all of your Senators and Representatives. Click on the Congressperson’s name (not their website), and you are given a 1-2 page “bio” of him or her. Note under “Political Profile” the category “First Elected to Office.” If he or she has been elected since 2000, then they are a newbie who is less likely to even know what SBIR is.

What To Say to Your Congressperson

Let’s face it: many of us just don’t know what to say to our Representative or Senator when we write them. We’re here to help! Read on…

As general advice and examples of what a letter to your Congressperson should look like, check out http://www.ams.org/government/contact.html, http://www.healthcare-now.org/action/write.htm, and http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa020199.htm. In short, keep it brief (1 page or less), explain why you are writing and why it is an important issue, and request a specific action.

Click here for sample letters that you might consider modifying and sending to your Congressperson, specific to the SBIR program reauthorization:

Where Do I Get Ammo?

If you’re an Army Ranger asking that, we can’t help you. But if you’re someone who wants to write his or her Congressional Representatives to solicit their support for the SBIR program’s reauthorization, here are some suggestions:

The SBA maintains a database of SBIR awards made since the program’s inception. Check out http://tech-net.sba.gov/tech-net/public/dsp_search.cfm?URLTokenSuppressed=Yes. You can sorts these data in all sorts of ways to provide some interesting tidbits in your letter. For example, to fill in the blanks in our sample SBIR letters above, you would select a state, specify only SBIR (not including STTR), ask for “State Summary List” under the Desired Report subcategory, and hit the “Search These Criteria” button. The List you get has number of awards and their dollar value, which you can now plug into the blanks in your version of the sample letters. One caution: do not use the data under “Total Awards” from the SBA website, as it is not always correct; you instead should add together the number of Phase I awards and number of Phase 2 awards to get an accurate total.

The Small Business Technology Coalition (SBTC) maintains a wealth of information relevant to SBIR’s impact and the 2008 reauthorization effort at its website http://www.sbtc.org. Look under the “Resources” column on the home page for some juicy bits of information that you can use.

Staying on Top of the SBIR Reauthorization

We’re the first to admit that it isn’t easy to stay on top of Legislative efforts, including something like the reauthorization of the SBIR program. We can suggest a few sources that might be helpful:

The aforementioned SBTC (http://www.sbtc.org) is actively involved in the reauthorization effort, and its website should be consulted regularly.

The SBIR Gateway (http://www.zyn.com/sbir/) also does a good job of staying abreast of the reauthorization effort. Look under the “News Items” column for articles like “View Latest SBIR News” for reauthorization updates.

When a specific Legislative Bill containing the SBIR reauthorization is created, you can track it on the Thomas Library of Congress website, http://thomas.loc.gov/. As specific reauthorization legislation winds its way through Congress, you may want to write additional letters to your Congressional representatives, reminding them of the importance of SBIR generally, to your state, and to your company.

Good luck, and thank you on behalf of all SBIR participants, past/present/future, who you will be helping by “getting involved” and contacting your Congresspersons!