NEWS | SBIR, STTR 5-Year Reauthorization Signed Into Law, NSBA, SBTC Commend Administration for Commitments to Small Business
- NSBA
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
NSBA and our Small Business Technology Council (SBTC) commend the Administration and President for signing the 5-year SBIR/STTR reauthorization into law - critical innovation and research development programs driving life-saving defense and health technologies, as well as providing crucial small-business innovation opportunities.
APRIL 14, 2026 | This week, President Trump signed the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (S. 3971) into law, officially reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs after nearly seven months lapsed.
Presented for signature into law more than a week prior, S. 3971 was on track to automatically become statue by Constitutional authority, but NSBA and our Small Business Technology Council (SBTC) commend the President for acting intentionally to sign this important bill into law.
The next step will be for the agencies to restart their SBIR/STTR programs and begin to implement the new changes to the law, including application security changes, as well as rule changes related to multiple SBIR/STTR award winners.
The Department of War (DoD) recently made its new SBIR/STTR topics live, and several other agencies sent out notifications announcing intent to restart their programs.
For how the SBIR/STTR authority lapsed in Sept. 2025 without a plan to account for a period to debate changes and updates to the program, many agencies are reporting they will be unable to spend all of their FY26 SBIR/STTR designate funds.
Fortunately, the new authority, which authorizes funds through Sept. 2031, allows agencies to roll over any unspent money into FY27.
View the announcement of the signing by the President and text of S. 3971 in the links below, and follow NSBA and SBTC as we continue tracking information related to the SBIR/STTR program changes and their implementation:
