The remaining five centers continued to receive TAPP funds through fiscal year 1995. TAPP Center Officials Are Pleased With Their Progress

Officials at the five centers still participating in TAPP told us they were satisfied with the programs they had developed and believed that they were providing valuable services to their client businesses. Lessons Learned Under TAPP Could Be Useful in Designing Future Programs

While federal funding for TAPP will be discontinued after fiscal year 1995, the interest in programs providing technical assistance to small businesses continues. Projects during fiscal year 1994 were evenly divided between technical and nontechnical information, according to Nexus Associates. Moreover, 59 percent of the users were manufacturing companies. These include (1) adding more specificity to the objectives and goals of the program; (2) determining whether a separate and distinct federal program is needed and, if so, what type of organization is best suited to manage it; and (3) deciding how the program should be funded, including charging user fees for the services provided. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Public Law 102-140, enacted October 28, 1991, required GAO to issue two reports on the Pilot Technology Access Program (TAPP). The second report was to determine the program’s effectiveness and impact on improving small business productivity and innovation. We agreed to report on the experiences of and lessons learned by the TAPP centers during the pilot program.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Pilot Technology Access Program (TAPP), focusing on the: (1) program's effectiveness and impact on improving small business productivity and innovation; and (2) experiences and the lessons learned by the TAPP centers during the pilot program.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) Congress has decided not to fund TAPP beyond fiscal year (FY) 1995; (2) one TAPP center has operated independently on a reduced scale since FY 1993 and the remaining five centers plan to continue operations beyond FY 1995, but they are not sure of their organization, services, and funding; (3) the five centers serviced 1,840 businesses in FY 1994, of which 59 percent were manufacturers and 66 percent were businesses just getting started; (4) TAPP services included technical and nontechnical information, and technical, patent, and marketing assistance; (5) although the program's impact could not be determined, TAPP clients were generally satisfied with the centers' operations and services; (6) center officials were generally pleased with their programs' development and believed that certain individual projects produced favorable results; and (7) lessons learned from TAPP that should be considered in designing future programs include adding more specificity to program goals and objectives, determining whether a separate and distinct federal program is necessary, determining the organizational type best suited to manage such a program, and deciding program funding options.