TAPP was established originally by section 232 of the Small Business Administration Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-574). In October 1991, Congress repealed the earlier authorization in section 609 of Public Law 102-140 and replaced it with the current program. Intended from the start to be a pilot program, the law authorized funding for 4 years, not to exceed $5 million a year. In mid-1994, the Congress decided that it would not reauthorize TAPP beyond fiscal year 1995. TAPP was modeled after Minnesota Project Outreach, a state program that provided small businesses with access to computerized databases and technical experts. Services for Project Outreach were provided under contract by Teltech Resource Network Corporation (Teltech), a Minnesota-based, national supplier of technical and business knowledge. The Minnesota program was regarded as a success in providing user-friendly services to small businesses that would not otherwise have the means or the ability to obtain needed technical information. Its success provided the stimulus for the TAPP legislation. The law made three agencies responsible for administering TAPP. The Small Business Administration (SBA) was authorized to make grants to competing Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), which had to obtain matching contributions at least equal to the awards. SBA was to coordinate with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Technical Information Service in establishing and managing the program. According to NIST officials, only SBA and NIST took an active role in program administration because the National Technical Information Service is an agency whose primary role is to collect and disseminate scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information generated by other federal agencies and foreign sources. In early 1991, NIST and SBA signed a memorandum of understanding that resulted in NIST’s implementing TAPP on behalf of and in close cooperation with SBA. SBA administers TAPP through its Office of Small Business Development Centers, which is responsible for setting policies, developing new approaches, monitoring compliance, and improving operations for the SBDCs. NIST manages and monitors TAPP through its Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a network of organizations to help American manufacturers increase their competitiveness nationally and internationally through ongoing technological deployment. The SBDCs, which provide counseling and training to existing and prospective small businesses, were chosen as the local level through which TAPP services would be provided. As of July 1994, there were SBDCs and subcenters at 750 geographically dispersed locations nationwide, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Counselors at the SBDCs are knowledgeable in the needs of small businesses and are experienced in working with them. The first TAPP grants were made for fiscal year 1992 and went to SBDCs in Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Oregon dropped out of TAPP after fiscal year 1993 when it was not able to obtain matching funds; however, it has continued to operate without federal funding on a reduced scale. The remaining five centers continued to receive TAPP funds through fiscal year 1995. As shown in appendix II, federal grants to the six TAPP centers for the 4 years of the program totaled $3,537,000. While the centers have differed somewhat in the way they chose to deliver services, the basic model for each center is the same. First, the center offers its clients access to a variety of on-line databases. These databases cover technical areas such as product development, patents, and manufacturing processes as well as nontechnical areas, such as market research and vendor listings. Secondly, the center links the clients with experts who can provide specific assistance. Typically, services are provided for free or at a nominal charge and may be augmented by other SBDC programs and services. Appendixes IV through IX describe each of the current and former TAPP centers. In our first report on TAPP, we raised concerns about the evaluation methodology for measuring the program’s impact. Although NIST subsequently identified a strategy to address these concerns, this issue is now moot because the program will not be funded past fiscal year 1995. (See app. III.) In our first report, we noted that TAPP had started slowly and that some of the centers, while making progress, were not operating in accordance with the statements of work in their proposals. This is no longer the case. In the program’s fourth and final year, each of the five centers still in the program is fully operational. While the centers differ in some important respects, in many ways they have become more nearly alike in the types of services offered and the methods of delivering them. SBA and NIST have not evaluated the impact on small business productivity and innovation either nationwide or within the individual states where TAPP centers were located. According to the limited responses to client satisfaction surveys, however, the businesses that used TAPP services were pleased with the services they received. Also, TAPP center officials were pleased with the way their individual programs had developed and provided examples of projects that had been successful. At the time of our review, each of the TAPP centers planned to continue its program beyond fiscal year 1995. However, most officials within the centers were uncertain about how they would be organized, what services they would provide, or where they would obtain funding. Currently, the TAPP centers primarily serve clients with a need for new technology, many of whom are just getting started in business. Overall, the five TAPP centers still in the pilot program served approximately 1,840 clients in fiscal year 1994, ranging from 230 in Missouri to 445 in Wisconsin. According to Nexus Associates, a NIST consultant, 59 percent were manufacturers, 21 percent were service companies, 14 percent were wholesale and retail companies, and 7 percent represented other segments of the small business community. Forty percent of the clients had not yet established a business, and another 26 percent were involved in new ventures. While there were some “repeat” clients, 89 percent undertook only one project during the period. The five centers responded to 2,843 information requests during fiscal year 1994, ranging from 283 in Missouri to 847 in Pennsylvania. According to Nexus Associates and as shown in table 1, these projects were evenly divided between technical and nontechnical information, although there were differences among the centers. A more detailed breakdown of the services showed an emphasis on product or process information and market research. Database searches, rather than the use of technical experts, represent the primary type of service provided by the TAPP centers. As shown in table 2, for example, 65 percent of the projects in fiscal year 1994 were for literature searches. Only 9 percent of the projects were for expert and/or technical counseling. The impact TAPP has had on business productivity and innovation cannot be measured because there are no substantive data. Moreover, because NIST cancelled its plans for evaluating the program’s impact after funding was discontinued, no such determination will likely be made. NIST continues to collect data on client satisfaction; however, the surveys are of limited value because of the low response rate. For example, in fiscal year 1994 the response rate of the clients surveyed ranged from a low of 9 percent in Pennsylvania to a high of 46 percent in Wisconsin. According to an analysis by Nexus Associates, those clients that did respond to the satisfaction survey for fiscal year 1994 indicated a high degree of satisfaction with TAPP services. The vast majority of those responding ranked the services they received as “good” to “excellent” and would recommend TAPP to other companies. Similarly, more than 90 percent of the respondents said that their requests for assistance received prompt attention. More than 80 percent said that the representatives who assisted them possessed the necessary skills. The overwhelming majority of the clients rated as “good” to “excellent” the helpfulness of the representatives and the relevance, currentness, and conciseness of the information received. The estimated value of the services provided varied widely among the centers and their clients. The median value, according to the clients’ estimates in their survey responses, ranged from $101 to $150 among the centers; however, 19 percent of the clients responding to the survey placed a value of more than $500 on the services they received. Those clients valuing the services at more than $500 tended to (1) be new businesses, (2) focus on expert searches rather than vendor searches, and (3) request market research information rather than management or vendor information. Two-thirds of the clients responding said that they were unlikely to have been able to obtain the information they received without TAPP. However, the level of satisfaction depended on the type of information requested. For example, while the majority of companies receiving patent information believed they could have received the information elsewhere, the majority of companies receiving management or vendor information believed it was unlikely they could have found this information elsewhere. 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. While they could provide no statistics on the overall impact, they did provide examples of projects perceived as successful, such as the following: An environmental services company in Missouri feared it was infringing on an existing U.S. patent for monitoring gasoline contamination of groundwater around service stations and storage tanks. As part of an overall action plan, the TAPP center conducted a search of the technology that predated the patent. The company resolved the issue and was able to continue to market its services to test for leaks from storage tanks. TAPP center personnel also referred the company to other SBDC personnel who were able to assist it in preparing three Small Business Innovation Research project proposals to SBA. A Wisconsin manufacturer risked losing a major customer because the liquid crystal displays it was making were breaking too easily. Through a literature search by the TAPP center, the manufacturer identified a number of new databases and obtained information that it subsequently incorporated into its product improvement process. The company believes that the information helped it save an account worth approximately $2 million over a 2-year period.