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Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, it is 

 my pleasure to testify before you today concerning the successful 

 high technology programs administered by the Small Business 

 Administration (SBA) : The Small Business Innovation Research 

 (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) 

 Pilot program. I am Robert L. Neal, Associate Deputy Administrator 

 for Government Contracting and Minority Enterprise Development. 



Small Business Innovation Research Program 



In 1982 Congress passed and the President signed into law the 

 Small Business Innovation Act which directed the SBA to establish 

 the SBIR program within the Federal Government. The purpose of the 

 program is to involve the small business entrepreneur in the 

 federal research and development (R&D) agenda and to promote 

 commercialization of new technologies. 



The Act accomplished the purpose of setting aside a fixc'-^. 

 percentage of extramural R&D funds for small business. Each 

 Federal agency with an extramural R&D budget greater than $100 

 million for any fiscal year must establish a SBIR program. 

 Currently, there are 11 participating agencies. Under the original 

 1982 law, the set aside was 0.5%. Over the subsequent years, the 

 program has slowly grown such that with the second reauthorization, 

 P.L. 102-564, signed October 28, 1992, the set-aside is currently 

 at 2.0% with an increase to 2.5% scheduled in FY 1997. 



