The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs made more investments in Phase II research projects than Phase 1 feasibility studies from 2018 to 2022, Raj Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Public Spend Forum, said in an interview on Federal News Network.

The market intelligence organization released a report on the impact and effectiveness of SBIR and STTR programs, which could inform the Biden administration as it works toward equitable business growth across the United States, according to Sharma.

Public Spend Forum collated data from different sources to provide an in-depth analysis of the programs’ investments by sector and region.

It found that SBIR Phase I funding essentially remained the same, from $592 million in 2018 to $581 million in 2022. However, Phase II funding grew from $1.9 billion in 2018 to $2.6 billion in 2022. STTR Phase I investments totaled $115 million in 2018 and rose to $196 million in 2022, but Phase II investments increased from $244 million to $336 million.

“I think that’s a good sign that phase 2 has grown by 37%, that means more of those technologies are being funded to grow and to further develop,” Sharma commented.

The programs also granted 38 percent of their awards to biotechnology and medical technology projects, while advanced manufacturing and computing accounted for the second and third highest investments during the period.

Sharma and his team will focus next on Phase III funding, which companies often fail to reach due to commercialization challenges and lack of government contract follow-through.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory recently achieved 100 years of operation, reflecting its strong history of impactful scientific research for the military services.

Originally titled as the Naval Experimental and Research Laboratory, the organization was commissioned on July 2, 1923, the NRL announced from Washington, D.C. late last month.

Plans for the laboratory were largely driven by the events of World War I and a recommendation from Thomas Edison, who said that the U.S. government should invest in a “great research laboratory” in a 1915 New York Times article. Edison was then selected by former Navy Secretary Hon. Josephus Daniels to head the Naval Consulting Board, which played a leading role in the NRL’s establishment.

In its early years, the organization had two divisions, radio and sound, which conducted research on high-frequency radio and underwater sound propagation and developed multiple related technologies, most notably the first U.S.-built practical radar equipment. These advancements played a key role in numerous Naval victories during World War II.

Since then, the laboratory has widened the range of its activities across the earth, sea, sky, space and cyberspace environments. These developments dramatically expanded the spectrum of NRL’s projects, which grew to include programs to monitor the sun’s behavior, analyze marine atmospheric conditions and measure parameters of the deep oceans, among other initiatives.

Many issues, such as submarine habitability, lubricants, shipbuilding materials, firefighting and the study of sound in the sea, have been continuous concerns for the NRL. Recently, virtual reality, superconductivity, biotechnology and nanotechnology have also become major focus areas.

In the years following World War II, the organization was restructured to ensure that it was equipped to support long-term Navy demands. Now, the NRL prioritizes Navy strategic interests in the evolving 21st century warfighting environment. Current programs surround ongoing Naval needs as well as emerging technologies, including solar energy, hypersonics and quantum information science.

Emily Murphy, a senior fellow with the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, said Congress should immediately act to save Section 876 of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act to support competition and mitigate administrative burden on contracting officers and small businesses.

Murphy, former administrator of the General Services Administration, wrote in a commentary published Monday on Federal News Network that Section 876 is meant to ensure that vendors with the best technical ability secure positions on multiple-award contracts and advance price competition at the task order level.

She made the call in response to a decision by the Court of Federal Claims that restricted the applicability of the NDAA provision on multiple-award contracts such as Polaris and Oasis-Plus.

“As it pursues its legislative agenda, Congress can save Section 876 with a simple clarification that the authority extends to any services contract where pricing will be thoroughly competed prior to awarding each task order,” noted Murphy, a three-time Wash100 awardee.

“This could easily be accomplished as an amendment to the NDAA,” she added.

Click here to read some of Murphy’s featured articles for Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program.