SBIR/STTR Website Improvement Act
SBIR/STTR Website Improvement Act would tighten and expand public reporting for federal SBIR and STTR programs. The bill amends the Small Business Act to require agencies that administer SBIR or STTR awards to collect and publicly share more detail about the research institutions that are subcontracted by small business awardees. Specifically, it adds data on the name and location of subcontracted institutions and classifies them by institution type (e.g., institution of higher education, nonprofit institution, or federally funded research and development center), with additional category designations for higher education institutions (such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges, Alaska Native-serving institutions, Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and Native American-serving nontribal institutions). The bill also expands the SBIR/STTR database to include Phase III information and requires the data to be updated within one year of enactment. In short, the act aims to improve transparency around who conducts subcontracted research under SBIR/STTR awards and to broaden public access to this information, including the participation of diverse types of research institutions.
Key Points
- 1Adds new reporting requirements for SBIR (9(g)(8)) and STTR (9(o)(9)) to capture details about each research institution subcontracted by a recipient for Phase I, II, and (for SBIR) III awards.
- 2- For each subcontracted institution: name, location, and type (IHE, nonprofit other than HEI, or federally funded R&D center).
- 3- For higher education institutions, additional categorization applies (e.g., part B, HSI, Tribal College/University, Alaska Native-serving, Native Hawaiian-serving, Predominantly Black Institution, AANAPISI, Native American-serving nontribal).
- 4Mirrors the same information requirements for STTR, limited to Phase I and Phase II (and corresponding HEI categorizations).
- 5Expands the SBIR/STTR database reporting (9(k)) to include, for Phase I, II, and III SBIR/STTR awards, information about any research institution subcontracted, with the same data elements (name, location, type, HEI category).
- 6Requires the database to include Phase III data and to ensure the required information is added within 1 year after enactment.