I'm a NASA civil servant and I'm regularly involved with SBIR contracts. While there are definite wins that make the SBIR program feel totally worth it, those are probably exception.
A big factor, however, is that much the tech NASA needs to develop for space applications has no commercial viability outside of NASA. We're the only potential buyer. And since it wasn't directly motivated by a specific NASA program and funded by a NASA project dollars, it has little chance to continue development once the SBIR contract ends. For many technologies, SBIR funding is the only fundamental tech development funding they get at all.
How can a private company develop a technology only the government needs when the funding from the government is extremely irregular, inconsistent, and insufficient?
I guess they could have a bunch of irons in the fire so they have a decent shot of getting some funding for anything they can do to stay in business. Maybe some of them eventually turn into SBIR mills.
