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Commerce Budget Proposal Would Affect SBIR
The Department of Commerce budget request as submitted by the Clinton Administration includes language that would exempt the Advanced Technology Program's $239 million budget from inclusion in the 2.5 percent set-aside for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. If passed as written, the result would result in a nearly $6 million cut in the Commerce SBIR obligation, which in FY1998 totaled $6.7 million.
Ann Eskesen, a leading SBIR expert and advocate, brought the Commerce issue to the attention of the SBIR community through the ASBIR Two Cents@ website, sponsored by Ms. Eskesen's firm, Innovation Development Institute (http://www.inknowvationcom/SBIR_TwoCents/). According to information posted on Two Cents, the Commerce budget request is scheduled to go to the Senate for consideration on April 21.
Commerce would be the third agency where attempts have been made to reduce or eliminate its financial obligation under the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. A similar exemption was attempted in 1996 for the National Institutes of Health, the second largest agency in the SBIR program. In 1998, the National Science Foundation reclassified $100 million of its extramural budget, which reduced the NSF obligation to SBIR by $2.5 million.