Some SBIR Predictions for 2010
.Yogi Berra said it best: "It's tough to make predictions -- especially about the future. The future ain't what it used to be!"What's going on in Washington sure underscores Yogi's insight. Things,...
View ArticleSenate Calls for FAST SBIR Action
.Well, not exactly. But it's a wonderful idea! We've only got a week before SBIR fades away or gets extended -- again.What the Senate did do this week is call upon the SBA to swiftly implement the...
View ArticleSenator Cardin Introduces Bill to Repeal NIH SBIR Exclusion
.It's about time! It's been almost a year since that abomination was perpetrated! As Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) said in a Press Release from the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee...
View ArticleCongress Extends SBIR Program for 90 Days
.Jere Glover, Executive Director of the Small Business Technology Council (SBTC), issued the following announcement this morning:"The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to extend the SBIR...
View ArticleDC Snow Job - A metaphor for SBIR reauthorization?
.Washington DC is shut down this week, buried in a couple feet of snow! Nothing much happening in Congress this week. That's probably a good thing, over all. The only thing of interest this week is the...
View ArticleThe Jobs Bill Train is Leaving the Station -- and SBIR is being smuggled aboard!
.Evan Bayh said it true. The process Congress uses is flawed. It's more about partisan deal making than the public interest. Back room deals. Sneaking legislative provisions into sometimes unrelated...
View ArticleSBIR Reauthorization compromise suggested -- but is it a ploy?
.It works! Raising our voices slowed the attempt to smuggle the House version of SBIR Reauthorization into the Jobs Bill.But they haven't given up. The train's going down a new track. And the new...
View ArticleSBIR dodges a bullet -- for now. But they'll reload, so let's get busy!
.The House passed the so called Jobs Bill (HR.2847) on Thursday with only minor changes from the Senate version. SBIR Reauthorization does NOT appear to have been one of those changes. We haven't seen...
View ArticleObamaCare "Cures" SBIR Controversy - CAN it be true?
.Yes, you're reading that right. The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" aka the Heath Care Reform Bill signed by President Obama today includes a provision that may affect SBIR. Maybe even...
View ArticleSBA Raises SBIR Award Caps
.NOTE: STTR was not changed by this move -- only SBIR (for now)..The SBA announced the intent back in 2008. They sought comments. They sat on it for almost two years and did nothing. Until now.The SBA...
View ArticleThe NIH SBIR proposal submission process SUCKS!
.There. I said it. And I meant it.Over the last few weeks I coached five companies through the intimidating, arduous, and demeaning NIH SBIR proposal submission process for the April 5th deadline. A...
View ArticleSBIR Companies' Futures Threatened by Finance Reform Unintended Consequences
.UPDATE: The Senate's Cloture Vote failed on Monday, but they'll try again. It's not too late to follow this guidance ....It's so tiresome. Every time I hear one of our politicos, from the top guy on...
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Greed Drives Continued Campaign to Hijack SBIR's Funding Base
.We're getting it from all sides. Small business is being pushed by big bullies. What we get from SBIR funding is tantamount to lunch money -- just enough to keep us from starving. But they want it....
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Sometimes it does take a Rocket Scientist!
.I decided a couple of months ago that beating the SBIR drum was just making noise that no one (but a few of us in what's loosely called the Advocacy) cared about. I was getting a headache and decided...
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SBIR Reauthorization? Hit the Reset Button.
.It ain't gonna happen this year folks. The 111th Congress will be remembered for many things. Reauthorizing SBIR won't be among them.But, don't worry, they won't let it die. No one wants to be accused...
View ArticleRe-inventing SBIR?
.They've been meeting for almost a year with good intent: make SBIR more "effective and efficient". They're calling it SBIR 2.0 - borrowing on the Web 2.0 lexicon that heralded the shift from passive...
View ArticleVelazquez Holding SBIR Hostage for Lame Duck Ploy
. [UPDATE 9/29: Nydia Caved Under Pressure! Read this and then click HERE for the update.]__________________________________Incredible! And I wish I could say unbelievable! But, sadly, I'm not really...
View ArticleVelazquez Caves Under Pressure -- SBIR Extended
.We did it! Hundreds of calls and letters produced an overwhelming level of bipartisan peer pressure that even the most stubborn Committee Chair couldn't stand up against.A special issue of Rick...
View ArticleLet’s End “Huggem-Muggem”!
.An open letter to the Republican House Leadership:Legendary SBIR advocate, Milt Stewart, said it best in observing how Congress treats small business, “In public they hug them, in private they mug...
View ArticleStakeholder Value from SBIR? Think Assets not Revenues!
.A client recently asked me to help him with a presentation that involved a chart that depicted the value derived by “stakeholders” in an SBIR project. The chart only considered the distribution of the...
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