Foreign Disclosures: Do you know who is behind the curtain of your organization?

by Ms. Kristen R. Hajduk & Dr. Dolores Kuchina-Musina

INTRODUCTION

On May 3, 2023, the Small Business Administration (SBA) closed comments for feedback on the draft foreign affiliation disclosure form in the Federal Register that can be adopted by all agencies to comply with this new requirement in the SBIR/STTR Extension Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–183). The provision seeking feedback requires each agency that administers a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to establish a "due diligence program" for evaluating whether or not a small business involved in SBIR has affiliations with or is controlled by interests in a "foreign country of concern" (defined as China, North Korea, Russia, Iran, or another country designated by the Secretary of State).  To understand the implications of the changes in this four decade-old program, we need to do a deep dive into the history of the SBIR/STTR program.

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