90 



even improved. They cited the level of competitiveness and the 

 large reserves of unfunded but worthy projects as the principal 

 reasons for their view. 



Among the five major agencies, NIH was the only one in which 

 we found some cause for concern about the expansion of the program 

 in fiscal year 1993. We found that the National Cancer Institute 

 (NCI), which accounted for about 18 percent of the program at NIH, 

 funded nearly all of the projects deemed worthy during fiscal year 

 1993. Top NCI officials expressed concern about the quality of 

 research proposals in relation to the funds available in fiscal 

 year 1993 but concluded that all of the projects selected should 

 have been funded. NCI data for fiscal year 1994 showed a lower 

 ratio of awards to proposals and a large number of unfunded but 

 worthy proposals, suggesting that the difficulty experienced in 

 fiscal year 1993 was not recurring. 



THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROVISION 

 IS NOT BEING IMPLEMENTED 



No agency has implemented the technical assistance provision, 

 and future implementation remains uncertain. Agency officials were 

 critical of the provision for several reasons. First, they noted 

 that it calls for the use of program funds, thereby reducing the 

 number of awards they can make. In this respect, they view the 

 provision as competing for the same funds that could be used in 

 making additional awards. 



Second, they see little need for technical assistance when 

 projects are selected primarily for their technical merit. NASA's 

 SBIR director, for example, pointed out that the largest single 

 portion (40 percent) of a company's score in the selection process 

 is based on technical merit. In his view, a company would be 

 eliminated from the competition if any indications of technical 

 inadequacies appeared. 



