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$2 Million for FAST in SBA Budget
The program has not been authorized yet, but that did not stop Congress from including $2 million in the FY10 Consolidated Appropriations Act for the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program (FAST). The funding, tucked in one sentence of the conference report for the Small Business Administration appropriations, will provide grants to state-based SBIR/STTR outreach and assistance programs on a competitive basis. Enabling legislation for FAST is contained in SBIR’s Reauthorization, which has been stalled in contentious conference negotiations for several months.
SBA’s appropriation also includes funding for 80 additional full-time staff at the Administration, $113 million for the Small Business Development Centers, and $10 million for a proposed Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (EDI). Within 45 days of enactment of the budget, the Administrator is to submit a spending plan for EDI to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for their approval prior to making any awards.
More information is available at: http://appropriations.house.gov/FY2010_consolidated.shtml.
small business, state tbed, sbir, FAST