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GAO Report on STTR Program Released

The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report on the implementation of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Pilot Program. STTR is closely modeled after the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program with one notable exception: in the STTR Program, a small business must collaborate with a nonprofit research institution, such as a university. This collaboration is permitted but not required under SBIR.

The program began in FY1994 as a 3-year pilot and the authorizing legislation required that GAO report on the implementation of the program.

GAO reports that their discussions with agency officials “provided no evidence to suggest that STTR was competing for quality proposals with SBIR or reducing the quality of agency R&D in general.” Officials expressed differing views on the effect of the STTR Program on the agencies’ other R&D efforts, including the SBIR Program. The Army STTR program manager indicated that he believed the STTR Program had actually led to more collaboration in the Army’s SBIR Program, while SBA officials and the Department of Energy’s STTR program manager felt it was too early to draw any conclusions.

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