[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 117 (Monday, September 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 2429, THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 
                  PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1997

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                    HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 8, 1997

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce H.R. 2429, 
a bill to reauthorize the Small Business Technology Transfer [STTR] 
Program through the fiscal year 2000. I am joined on the bill by 
Chairman Talent and Ranking Member LaFalce of the Small Business 
Committee, Science Committee ranking member George Brown, Chairwoman 
Morella and Ranking Member Gordon of the Technology Subcommittee, 
Subcommittee on Government Programs and Oversight Chairman Bartlett and 
Ranking Member Poshard, and Science Committee member Tom Davis. 
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Talent of the 
Small Business Committee for his efforts to ensure a smooth 
reauthorization process for STTR, a program over which our two 
Committees share jurisdiction. It has been a pleasure working with him 
and his committee staff.
  STTR was created as a pilot program during the 1992 reauthorization 
of the Small Business Innovation Research [SBIR] Program. The program 
requires Federal agencies with extramural R&D budgets in excess of $1 
billion to set aside 0.15 percent of that budget for technology 
transfer from Government to small business. This set-aside provides 
funding for ideas, that are cooperatively researched and developed by 
small businesses and nonprofit research institutions, such as 
universities.
  Five agencies currently participate in the STTR Program. They are the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, 
National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and the National 
Science Foundation. In fiscal year 1995, the STTR Program issued a 
total of 260 awards, totaling over $33 million.
  STTR's authorization will expire on September 30, 1997. H.R. 2429 
will extend the program's life through fiscal year 2000, the same year 
the authorization for SBIR expires.
  STTR and SBIR have similar structures. The programs are divided into 
three phases. Phase I is the development stage of the idea. Awards for 
this phase may total up to $100,000 in both programs. Phase II allows 
for further development of the most promising ideas from phase I. These 
awards can be as much as $500,000 in the STTR Program, and $750,000 in 
the SBIR Program. The final phase, phase III, is the commercialization 
of the product, or the use of that product by the Federal Government. 
The STTR and SBIR set-asides are not used for phase III grants.
  Unlike SBIR, STTR requires the participation of a research 
institution in all its awards. STTR was designed to take ideas that 
originated in universities and laboratories, and develop them through a 
cooperative agreement with a small business entity. Under SBIR, 
universities can play a limited role in the program, but their 
participation is not required.
  While STTR and SBIR are similar programs, they differ vastly in 
scale. In fiscal year 1995, SBIR made over 4,000 awards totaling over 
$800 million. In fiscal year 1997, SBIR grants will total over $1 
billion. SBIR was created in 1982 to increase the participation of 
small, high-technology companies in Federal R&D. This was done by 
requiring Federal agencies with large R&D budgets to set aside 2.5 
percent of their extramural research funding.
  In the first 3 years of the program, STTR has awarded 784 grants 
totaling just over $115 million. These relatively low totals make it 
impossible to accurately measure the success of the program. However, 
there appears to be enough anecdotal evidence that the program is 
working to warrant its extension for an additional 3 fiscal years. At 
that time, it is my hope that the Science Committee, working with the 
Small Business Committee, can do a thorough review of not only STTR, 
but also the $1 billion SBIR Program.




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