Is SBIR Working?

Federal agencies with budgets of at least $100 million are required to participate in the Small Business Innovation Research program. The program is designed — in part — to encourage participation by disadvantaged and women-owned businesses. The Government Accountability Office recently reviewed Defense, Energy, NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation over a four-year period to see if the plan is working. Reviewers found that the agencies are participating in the SBIR program in a variety of ways but that there's not enough data to evaluate the program's impact. GAO wants SBA to work with those agencies to collect data that can tell if SBIR is actually working.