[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 136 (Thursday, October 26, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11121-S11122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH'S RURAL OUTREACH PROGRAM
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about giving small
businesses the tools they need to be successful in today's competitive
marketplace. I am committed to providing those tools by fully
supporting the continuation of the Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR) Rural Outreach Program. Congressional commitment to small
business development has created a network of people nationwide,
especially in Wyoming, that is excited and knowledgeable about the SBIR
Rural Outreach Program.
The SBIR Rural Outreach Program provides an excellent funding
opportunity for individuals and small businesses in rural areas that
have a passion to explore, develop and commercialize their innovative
ideas. Created in 1982, the SBIR Program is a highly competitive
program that encourages small business to explore their technological
potential and provides the incentive to profit from its
commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the
Nation's research & development arena, high-tech innovation is
stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it
meets its specific research and development needs.
The SBIR Program is designed to target the entrepreneurial sector
because that is where most innovation and innovators thrive. However,
the risk and expense of conducting serious R&D efforts are often beyond
the means of many small businesses. By reserving a specific percentage
of federal R&D funds for small business, the SBIR Program protects the
small business and enables it to compete on the same level as large
businesses. The SBIR Program funds the critical startup and development
stages and it encourages the commercialization of the technology,
product, or service, which, in turn, stimulates the U.S. economy.
Each year, ten federal departments and agencies are required by the
SBIR
[[Page S11122]]
Program to reserve a portion of their R&D funds for award to small
business. Such agencies include the Department of Agriculture,
Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, and National Science Foundation.
Following submission of proposals, agencies make SBIR awards based on
small business qualification, degree of innovation, technical merit,
and future market potential. Small businesses that receive awards or
grants then begin a three-phase program. Phase I is the startup phase,
awarding up to $100,000 for approximately 6 months support exploration
of the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology. Phase
II awards of up to $750,000, for as many as 2 years, expanding Phase I
results. During this time, the R&D work is performed and the developer
evaluates commercialization potential. Only Phase I award winners are
considered for Phase II. Phase III is the period during which Phase II
innovation moves from the laboratory into the marketplace. The small
business must find funding in the private sector or other non-SBIR
federal agency funding.
In 1997, Senator Burns and I cosponsored legislation and Congress
established the SBIR Rural Outreach Program to increase the SBIR
participation of small businesses located in the states that receive
the fewest SBIR awards. The program is limited to funding activities
which encourage small firms in those states to participate in the SBIR
Rural Outreach Program. The Outreach Program is targeted toward the 25
under-represented jurisdictions in the SBIR program in an effort to
provide a secure funding mechanism to states so that they could develop
an effective five-year effort to assist small businesses to take
advantage of the SBIR program.
As you may know, western small businesses have some special
impediments to overcome. The SBIR Rural Outreach Program provides an
excellent funding opportunity for individuals and small businesses that
have a passion to explore, develop and commercialize their innovative
ideas. This is especially true in rural states like Wyoming. The
Wyoming small business community is one of the cornerstones of our
state's economy. Wyoming is the smallest state, with a large number of
small businesses. The SBIR Rural Outreach Program is one way for
Wyoming's small businesses to access federal funding.
Rural states need technology-based businesses that the SBIR program
nurtures. The SBIR Rural Outreach Program is one of the few
opportunities for Wyoming's small businesses to access federal R&D
funding. I believe more innovative and aggressive approaches are needed
to help rural states achieve greater participation in this, especially
at those agencies that have proved difficult for small businesses to
access.
There are several outreach activities that have been effective in
helping small businesses in rural states compete successfully in the
SBIR Rural Outreach Program. For example, the Wyoming SBIR Initiative
outreach efforts have led to substantial gains in both the number of
proposals submitted, the quality of proposals submitted, and the number
selected for award. For example, Wyoming received one Phase I award in
1994. Wyoming, however, received 8 Phase I awards by 1995 and has
received a total of 43 Phase I awards by 2000. To date, Wyoming has
received approximately $9 million since 1987 for both Phase I and II
awards, but there is still more that should be done to assist small
businesses in the West.
I want to share the dramatic impact that SBIR awards have made on one
Wyoming company--Wyoming Sawmills, Incorporated. The company's first
Phase I SBIR award was from U.S. Department of Agriculture in May 1997,
and it won the follow-on Phase II program in September 1998. The
project aims to convert low-grade lumber into construction quality
lumber through an innovative laminating technique. Wyoming Sawmills
will begin commercial sales of the new product in 1999, and it already
has captured related R&D funding based on this SBIR project. In January
1999, the company won a National Science Foundation Phase I award on
another laminated wood product concept.
Another success story is CC Technology. CC Technology, a Laramie-
based small business, has been notified of a $400,000 SBIR Phase II
grant award from the National Science Foundation, NSF. During Phase I,
the business did research on measuring cyanide levels in gold mining
leach pads. For Phase II, a team consisting of CC Technology, Detection
Limit, and Aspect Consultant Group has been built to monitor cyanide at
both the mining solution levels and at trace levels for environmental
compliance.
I want to express a special thank you to Chris Busch, from Senator
Burns' home state of Montana and who coordinated SBIR efforts in
Wyoming for the past five years. Chris Busch did a remarkable job
working with people in Wyoming to raise the awareness and participation
of small businesses in the SBIR program. Working with small businesses,
public organizations, and others in Wyoming and nationwide, Chris got
people involved, helped them through the grant management process, and
guided them in market development and commercialization. His commitment
to small business development has created a network of people in
Wyoming that is excited and knowledgeable about SBIR. Chris has helped
to plant the seeds of economic diversity in communities that really
need it. Chris' activities and commitment of this program are making
SBIR work.
In closing, SBIR programs work for small businesses in rural states,
especially Wyoming. Fortunately, we have several dedicated westerners
in the Congress who have committed their time and legislative efforts
to expand the successes of SBIR to all parts of the country. It is my
hope that my colleagues will see the importance of this particular
government program that is truly assisting small businesses nationwide.
I look forward to continued bipartisan efforts to benefit our nation's
small businesses by strongly supporting the SBIR Rural Outreach
Program.
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