Most federal agencies are complying with requirements that they direct a certain percentage of their external research funding to small businesses, GAO has reported.
However, it said it could not reach a conclusion regarding DoD, the largest agency, and the EPA, which devotes a major portion of its budget to research, because they did not collect or submit the needed data to the SBA.
Of nine other agencies reviewed for compliance with the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, all but Agriculture met the 2.9 percent threshold. Most others were barely above it, although at DHS the figure was above 5 percent.