Velazquez Holding SBIR Hostage for Lame Duck Ploy

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[UPDATE 9/29: Nydia Caved Under Pressure!
Read this and then click HERE for the update.]
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Incredible! And I wish I could say unbelievable! But, sadly, I'm not really surprised.

The illustrious Chairlady of the House Small Business Committee, Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), evidently holds herself above the will of both the Senate and the House. Is this a manifestation of self-importance (with a touch of petulance) or just selfish personal pocket-book protection? Or maybe both. I have my opinion, but you can draw your own conclusions. (Rumor has it she was recently seen shopping at Macy's for a bigger pocket-book.)

In an obvious ploy to sneak into law her provisions for opening up the SBIR program to unrestricted VC controlled company access to these funds, with jumbo awards to boot, she is defying the will of the Senate and many of her own Party in the House to get her way. The intent is to use the post-election Lame Duck session to tack her version of SBIR Reauthorization onto otherwise untouchable emergency legislation.

In his usual inimitable and eloquent style, Rick Shindell blew the whistle on this in his SBIR Insider of September 27:

SBIR/STTR/CPP EXPIRATION LOOMS

The SBIR/STTR/CPP now appears likely to expire on Thursday night, September 30. Some will deny it but here's what's happening.

Allegedly the Senate and House were close to a compromise complete with an 8 year reauthorization of SBIR/STTR/CPP but each time it goes back to the House (Nydia & Day), they change the VC language to masquerade 100% VC involvement as a compromise.

Because time is so short, the Senate passed a bill (S.3839) to simply extend SBIR/STTR/CPP through January 31, 2011. The House was going to pass it on Wednesday with the President signing Thursday. However, the word on the street is that Nydia Velazquez, chair of the House Small Business Committee, and her illustrious second, Michael Day, are rejecting the bill and are poised to let SBIR expire if necessary, at least in the short term.

It seems that Velazquez's hope is to move the SBIR reauthorization into the lame duck session and incorporate all her Wall Street investors' 100% non-compromise VC ownership and jumbo award support into a must pass, end of the year omnibus bill that can't be touched by her detractors.

This sounds like a script for TV, but several years ago we had a similar year end omnibus situation involving Nydia (as ranking member) and Sam Graves (subcommittee chair) and BIO/NVCA, but the main difference was that the small business committee chair was Donald Manzullo who nipped it in the bud. In our scenario today we have to look to the House leadership to do it, but it will take your involvement.

Many senior people in the democratic party called for the House to support the Senate compromise bill H.R. 2965, but Nydia ignored those calls, as did Jason Altmire, the creator of this infamous Altmire Quagmire. Now Nydia's really "miffed" because last week she tried to "scrub" H.R.5297, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, but the Obama administration and Speaker Pelosi rolled her over and passed it.

Rick includes a Call To Action to marshal support to prevent this Velazquez ploy from succeeding. You can read about it on the SBIR Insider itself, or on www.SBIRreauthorization.com.

Rick concludes his comments with a discussion of what happens if SBIR lapses, even for a short time:

Theoretically those projects (grants and contracts) that are already in place should be okay, but some not. All new unsigned agreements would stop. Agency comptrollers may start adjusting their budgets to put the overall 2.8% SBIR/STTR back into their own research pools. Administrative funding for SBIR could be severely cut back. Remember, all of your grants and contracts are "subject to the availability of funding."

On the other hand, SBIR can be voluntary, so some agencies may choose to keep their SBIR doors open, hoping for, or expecting the reinstatement of the program.

I agree with Rick. For SBIR to lapse, even for a short time, is bad for you and the agencies.

Please join our Call to Action and stop Nydia in her tracks.

REMIND EVERYONE YOU CONTACT THAT THEIR INACTION IN LETTING A SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM DIE WILL NOT PLAY WELL IN THEIR RE-ELECTION CHANCES!

Monitor what happens on www.SBIRreauthorization.com.
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Sometimes it does take a Rocket Scientist!

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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 I'd had enough. I wasn't going to write any more about SBIR reauthorization until something significant happened.

Well, nothing significant (or at least that's made any difference in getting a bill passed) has occurred, except for some behind-the-scenes (don'tcha just love the transparency) maneuvering to get the Senate's compromise worded so both the House and Senate can agree on something. They couldn't get it done by the end of July, so it's now September 30th before we'll, probably at the last minute, see a bill. Hopefully. But, frankly, after what's gone on this year, nothing our legislators do will surprise me. (Monitor www.SBIRreauthorization.com and Rick Shindell's SBIR Insider for updates.)

This isn't rocket science. It shouldn't be so hard to come up with an SBIR compromise if everyone involved really was interested in defining a program that worked better than what we've got. Wishful thinking perhaps, but ya' know, maybe they need to engage rocket scientists to work on this instead of lawyers. At some point, everyone needs a rocket scientist to get past a really tough problem and make things work better.

Hmmm... Don'tcha wish you could call up a "hire a rocket scientist" service and quickly get one to work on a tough problem you've got? No strings attached? And that service be free? ... Actually you can. Really!

I had coffee last week with Shaun Tinoco of The Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP). I thought I knew just about everything available to small technology businesses, especially the free (and non-dilutive) support opportunities, but the SATOP opportunity had eluded my ken.

As Shaun enthusiastically explained: "The SATOP program helps those small businesses and entrepreneurs that have hit a bump in the road during their product development. By simply submitting a short Request for Technical Assistance (RTA) via our website: http://www.spacetechsolutions.com/, they will be put in touch with the brightest engineers and researchers to solve their specific issue within 40 hours. This gets them back on the road to future revenue generation in a short time-frame and at no financial cost."

While this is a NASA supported program, no NASA connection is necessary. Any small business may apply. And the technologies involved need not be just ones NASA might be interested in. Just take a gander at their "Success Stories". A couple dozen industries have been helped, including consumer products and food processing.

And did you catch that this "rocket scientist" (likely to be an employee of one of the big NASA prime contractors) you'll be engaging with comes absolutely free of charge? In fact, more than 50 different aerospace companies, universities, and NASA centers have committed in excess of 30,000 hours to providing this free assistance to small businesses via SATOP. In the famous words of NASA legend Wernher von Braun, "It verks!"

Want an informative 2-page SATOP flyer? Click on the Astronaut to download it.


Shaun's final word: "Small businesses should not pass up this opportunity for free NASA support while federal funding is in place." I agree, Shaun!

There's so much more to talk about than reauthorization. I got in a rut about it, but have climbed out, and picked up the "pen" again. Expect more from me on a more regular basis. Thanks to the many of you who have encouraged me to write.
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Greed Drives Continued Campaign to Hijack SBIR's Funding Base

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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. Want it all. Want it bad enough to lie and cheat to get it.

Yes, lie.

The bullies make statements asserting that VC funded businesses can't participate in SBIR. Of course they can. The companies just can't be controlled by VCs and still be eligible. And they tearfully make statements asserting that VC controlled company SBIR eligibility was "taken away" in 2002. Bullfrogfeathers. It was never allowed. Tell a lie often enough and people begin to believe it. Trouble is, it's our elected officials who believe the lies. Or (tucking campaign fund envelopes in their pockets or purses) choose to ignore the truth.

And, yes, cheat.

Will someone please ask Representative Jason Altmire (D-PA-4) why he keeps trying to cheat the system by sneaking the House version of SBIR Reauthorization (HR. 2965) into other legislation? This is a bad bill. Viewed by everyone other than the NVCA/BIO bullies as being destructive to true small business innovation.

Altmire tried a couple of months ago to sneak it into the first Jobs Bill. Word is it was stopped by the Speaker after a rather rapid and loud outcry by small businesses all over the country. Altmire's on the House Small Business Committee. Isn't he supposed to be looking out for small business interests? Why is he taking the side of the bullies?

And, he's trying again. In a "dear colleague" letter sent out a few days ago, Altmire asked for support for including HR 2965 in the new "Jobs" bill, asserting that this was a "compromise" and good for small business. More bullfrogfeathers! In fact, the House Small Business Committee has steadfastly refused to negotiate with the Senate's Small Business Committee and hasn't even considered a compromise version of their much more reasonable SBIR reauthorization bill (S.1233) that was presented to it last October!

What's more, Altmire's letter was not signed by a single true small business. Lots of Universities and Big Businesses signed it though. This hijacking attempt is both a lie and a cheat!

We're appealing to the Speaker to again quash this attempt to cheat the system. (Join the Stop Altmire campaign!)

The bullies have gotten $1.5 BILLION in new funding from a combination of provisions in the recently enacted Health Care Reform Bill and the Jobs Bill. You'd think that would make them happy and they'd leave us alone for a while. All it's done is make them more greedy, emboldened to go and get it all. They're well funded and determined. And did I say greedy?

Even the Finance Reform bill inadvertently threatens small business via an unintended consequence of redefining accreditation of Angel investors and the process of doing funding deals. (Join the Save the Angels campaign!)

There have been a few voices out there on behalf of small business. The SBTC, Ann Eskesen, and Rick Shindell, for example, have tried valiantly to get out the word and counter the lies. And there are a host of other advocates who do their best to spread the word. Largely, these efforts have been ad hoc and woefully underfunded.

A new group has formed to try and organize some truth and reasonableness into this mess. It's called the Small Biotechnology Business Coalition (SBBC). Check out their website: http://www.smallbiotech.org. See everything they're into. If you're a biotech small business, join. If you're interested in supporting small biotech businesses, join. Any of you not covered by that? Join anyhow.

And, finally, in my last column, I mused about antibacterial lip balm for our legislators' excessive lip-service challenged chapped lips. Little did I know there actually is one. And, it's incredibly (some might say appropriately) branded:


Nothing to add to this, folks. I rest my case.
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SBIR Reauthorization compromise suggested -- but is it a ploy?

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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 direction is so ironic: compromise with the Senate's version!

Representative Jason Altmire (D-PA) has sent out a new Dear Colleague letter. Here's the new part:

"As Congress crafts legislative packages to stimulate the economy and create jobs, American small businesses should be first and foremost on our minds. SBIR Reauthorizations passed the House and the Senate in 2009, but have yet to be reconciled and signed into law (H.R. 2965 and S.1233.) A compromise of these two bills to reauthorize SBIR would be an ideal job-creating addition to a jobs package."

Compromise? Really? The House has steadfastly refused to even discuss compromise for quite some time. Why should we believe that's what's intended now? All of a sudden. And the term "reconciled" got my attention too. Uh Oh.

Hmmm.... I seem to remember the Senate offered an SBIR reauthorization compromise almost six months ago. No one has seen it, and the House refused to even consider it. Why are they hiding it? Let's see it! It may actually be worth considering.

Compromise means that both sides have to give and get something. What's the House going to give? What's the Senate going to get?

And what's the darn hurry? We have until April 30th to get an SBIR Reauthorization compromise negotiated. WHY STUFF IT INTO THIS HURRY-UP BILL?

Think about it -- even if SBIR is reauthorized via this Jobs Bill will any new SBIR projects be funded (or jobs created) immediately? Of course not! That's not the way SBIR works. And, the new rules wouldn't even apply until FY2011.

Rick Shindell revealed the existence of the new Altmire letter today in his latest SBIR Insider letter. As Rick points out, this "compromise" suggestion is very likely just a ploy to get us to lay down our pens while they do sneak the House version on the Jobs Bill train.

I agree. It's a ploy. We'd be foolish to trust them.

So please keep the pressure on. Send another letter to your Congressman. Thanks to the NSBA there's an easy way to do it:
http://www.capwiz.com/nsbaonline/issues/alert/?alertid=14725141&type=CO
But make some edits in the template:

1. Let's use Altmire's language to our advantage. Insist that the suggested compromise discussion actually be held. There's even an existing Senate compromise that's waiting for examination. Let's do that.

2. Be sure to point out the ridiculous assumption that this initiative would create small business jobs immediately. Yes, it will spur small business job growth -- next year. We've got two months to do SBIR reauthorization right. No need to rush it through this week!

See www.SBIRreauthorization.com for guidance on how to contact your legislators and updates.
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