This piece originally appeared in RealClearDefense.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a powerful tool to commercialize technology and provides government agencies new tools to solve problems. But for a program described as “America's Seed Fund,” some companies use it more like a trough to feed on constantly versus a unique opportunity to grow. With the SBIR program expiring at the end of FY 2025, now is the time to implement reforms that will fulfill the program's original mission.
Based on my research as a staffer at the Senate Small Business Committee, I recently found, using SBIR award data with contract data from SAM.gov, that for the top 25 Department of Defense SBIR award winners from FY 2010 to FY 2024, 56 percent of their Department of Defense contracts come from SBIR awards. These companies have received SBIR awards for an average of 30 years.
The SBIR program was founded in 1982 to improve science commercialization and increase small businesses' involvement in federal research and development. Examples of Department of Defense SBIR awardees that fit this model include Qualcomm, ViaSat, and AeroVironment. These companies received SBIR awards that allowed them to commercialize their research and become big companies. Qualcomm used an SBIR award to hire its first engineers to develop chips. ViaSat prototyped and then mass-produced satellite telecommunications technology for the Department of Defense. And AeroVironment used SBIR awards to improve its drone technology, the final result being the Switchblade UAV, which is used by the American military today.
