The NIH has recently been pushing the SBA to grant a blanket waiver to issue multiple “jumbo” sized awards, ie awards larger than the $1.5 million award limit allowed in the law. The SBTC is very opposed to this, as it would result in dramatically fewer awards given out, potentially putting many small businesses out of business. We also argue that there is no justification in the law for such a waiver, and that there are other provisions that allow for limited use of jumbo awards if absolutely necessary that the NIH should exercize, instead of going around the law altogether.
We have drafted this letter to SBA Director of Innovation & Technology Pravina Raghavan oulining our objections to NIH’s request and urging her to hold strong in upholding the law and do not allow any blanket waivers outside what is permitted in the SBIR law.
Letter to SBA Regarding NIH Award Size Waiver Request