It is reported that the Senate and the House have agreed on a compromise regarding the SBIR program. No, they did not agree on a bill to reauthorize the program, which should have been done last year. They agreed on how long to again extend the program, which is until July 31, 2009.
Can Congress pass a reauthorization of the program in the next four and a half months or will they go for another extension beyond that? It is good that an extension was made, but the current situation of uncertainty caused by repeated short extensions without long-term reauthorization does no one any good. Not the companies who are trying to develop new technologies under the program and not the federal agencies and not the public.
As mentioned in previous posts, if you have any opinions on this, please express them to your Senators and Representative.