Small Business: Proposed Amendments to the Small Business Innovation Research Program

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed four proposed amendments to the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) that would: (1) gradually increase the SBIR formula from 1.25 percent of agency external research and development funds to 3 percent; (2) make SBIR permanent with a formal congressional review every 10 years; (3) allocate a share of SBIR funds for administrative purposes; and (4) lower the threshold for federal agency participation in SBIR from $100 million to $20 million.