Volume 5, Number 3     May/June 1997

  Small Business/SBIR

SBIR/STTR Update

STTR Phase I Proposals Number 215

ASA RECEIVED 215 SMALL BUSINESS Technology Transfer (STTR) program proposals during the 1997 STTR solicitation. Research topics include Earth remote sensing, advanced technology for space science, human exploration and development of space, general aviation, advanced space transportation, and nondestructive evaluation of material properties and structural integrity.

NASA anticipates selecting approximately 30 to 35 Phase I projects from this solicitation. Awards will be announced by mid-July.

STTR awards contract to small businesses for cooperative research and development with a research institution through a uniform, three-phase process. While modeled after the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, STTR is a separately funded activity.

STTR differs from SBIR in several important aspects. It is a small program authorized for three years beginning in fiscal year 1994. The planned funding set-aside for fiscal year 1997 is 0.25 percent of the external research and development budget, one-tenth of the amount for SBIR. The technical scope also is limited.

Offerors must be teams of small businesses and research institutions that will conduct joint research. Research institutions are nonprofit research organizations, federal laboratories or universities. STTR's goal is to transfer technology developed by universities and federal laboratories into the marketplace through small business entrepreneurship. The small business and its partnering institution are required to sign an agreement on how they will share intellectual property.

Phase I STTR projects receive up to $100,000 for one year. Phase II projects are limited to $500,000 for two years.

Visit http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/SBIR.html to learn more about STTR.

NASA Selects Phase II Projects

ASA HAS SELECTED 14 ADDITIONAL research proposals for negotiating Phase II contract awards through NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The selected projects have a total value of approximately $8.4 million. They will be conducted by 13 small, high-technology firms in nine states. These additional selections were made possible by a change in the fiscal year 1997 SBIR program funding plan.

SBIR stimulates technological innovation, increases the use of small business in meeting federal research and development needs, and increases private-sector commercialization of the results of federally funded research. A list of the awards may be accessed on the Internet (http://sbir.hq.nasa.gov/SBIR.html).

SBIR contractors completing Phase I projects initiated in 1995 submitted 277 proposals, and 170 were selected previously. These additional projects all have met SBIR Phase I objectives, and they all are feasible research innovations that meet NASA needs. The additional selections were taken from the original recommendation list.

Phase II continues the development of the most promising Phase I projects. Selection criteria include technical merit and innovation, Phase I results, value to NASA, commercial potential and company capabilities. Funding for Phase II contracts may be up to $600,000 for a two-year performance period.

The NASA SBIR Program Management Office is located at the Goddard Space Flight Center, with executive oversight by NASA's Office of Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology at NASA Headquarters. Individual SBIR projects are managed by NASA Field Centers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

For more information, contact Paul Mexcur at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Call 301/286-8888,E-mail: paul.mexcur@pop700.gsfc.nasa.gov
Or contact Carl Ray at NASA Headquarters
Call 202/358-4652,E-mail: cray@hq.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.