Senate Approves Small-Business R&D Programs

The Senate has approved legislation (S. 1867) that would reauthorize the government’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs for another eight years. The measures were added to the $662 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, which the Senate passed by a vote of 93-7 on Dec. 1. “This amendment not only keeps these programs alive, it also gives them stability,” Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, said in a statement. “I am hopeful our counterparts in the House will work with us to bring this to the President’s desk immediately so that we can continue to keep our nation on the forefront of defense technology and scientific innovation.” The bill must be reconciled with a defense policy authorization measure (H.R. 2219) passed by the House of Representatives in May. The reauthorization is important to the Defense Department because the Pentagon is the largest user of the competitive-awards-based small-business programs.