The Small Business Administration revised its policy directive for the Small Business Innovation Program to reflect legislative changes accompanying the recent extension of the program through 2008. The purpose of the SBIR program is to strengthen the role of small business concerns (SBCs) in receiving federally funded research and development resources. The widely-used SBIRs include three phases: Phase I is a feasibility study to evaluate scientific and technical merit of an idea where awards are for a period up to six months in amounts up to $100,000; Phase II expands on the results of Phase 1 where awards are up to two years and amounts up to $750,000 and; Phase III is for commercialization of the results of Phase II and usually requires the use of private sector or non-SBIR federal funding.
The statute extending the SBIR program included other requirements such as:
Requires the SBA to clarify that rights to data generated during the performance of an SBIR award apply to all SBIR awards, including Phase I, II, and III awards;
Requires establishment of an SBIR program government-accessible database as well as a public-accessible database;
Requires that application for a Phase II award contain a succinct commercialization plan;
Requires agencies to report to the SBA all instances where the agency pursues research, development or production of a technology developed by an SBIR Phase I or II awardee and determined that it was not practicable to enter into a follow-on Phase III award with that awardee;
Clarifies when a Phase III award can be issued;
Establishes the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program to strengthen the technological competitiveness of SBCs.
In response to numerous comments, the final policy directive clarified (1) the SBIR applies only to small businesses (2) “Other Transactions” are not a type of award allowable under the SBIR program and (3) each member of a joint venture must be a small business concern where the principle investigator must have their primary employment with the SBD at the time of a Phase I or Phase II award. The policy directive is in the Federal Register NO. 60,072 where there is a section-by-section analysis explaining the changes.
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