Volume 9, Number 1 • January/February 2001
Small Business/SBIR
SBIR Program Reauthorized
Sometimes even the best-laid plans go awry. That is exactly what happened to NASA’s (SBIR) Program during the fall of 2000. The program had planned to award its program year 1999 Phase II contracts (which had been selected in late August) in early November. It had planned to announce its selections for program year 2000’s Phase I contracts on October 13, with contract negotiation and award to be completed by mid-December. However, the Congressionally mandated SBIR Program’s authorization expired on September 30, 2000, and the reauthorization got caught up in the end of the Congressional year, which was further exacerbated this year by the uncertainty of the Presidential elections.
Because NASA could not be certain that the SBIR Program reauthorization language would end up in a bill that was actually passed by Congress and signed by the President, it was determined that the program could not move forward with awards unless and until the program was fully reauthorized. That reauthorization was accomplished on December 21, 2000, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2000.
NASA quickly moved forward to make both the selections and awards that had been held up. The Program Year 2000 Phase I selections were announced on December 22, 2000, with negotiations and awards scheduled to be completed by February 16, 2001. The vast majority of Program Year 1999 Phase II contracts were quickly finalized, with most signed and underway by early January.
The reauthorization extends the program for an additional eight years, through September 30, 2008. In addition, the major elements of the program remain unchanged. The amount of funding for the program is held constant at 2.5 percent of each participating agency’s extramural R&D budget and the three-phase structure of the program is also unchanged.
There were several improvements made to the program in the new legislation. The most important of these may be the improved protection of the small business’s intellectual property rights through the Phase III process. In addition, there is a new program entitled the Federal and State Technology Partnership, or FAST Program. This program will provide local mentoring and support programs for companies interested in pursuing SBIR contracts or grants. The funding for the FAST Program will be initiated at the state level with matching funds provided by the federal government.
Other improvements to the program include further development of electronic data management that will assist firms with commercialization efforts as well as identifying business mentors. The National Research Council was directed to conduct comprehensive studies of the SBIR Programs at agencies, including NASA, with SBIR budgets of more than $50 million. The studies will attempt to determine how the SBIR Program has stimulated technological innovation and used small businesses to meet federal research and development needs.
Although there was a fairly significant delay in getting the program reauthorized, the NASA SBIR Program has tried hard to catch up and get back on track. There are two final adjustments that will occur in the near future. The first will be the selection of approximately 28 additional Program Year 1999 Phase II awards. Due to the delay in reauthorization, there was a level of uncertainty about the NASA SBIR budget for the current fiscal year. After the program’s status became clear, the final budget determination, which increased the budget by several million dollars, was made.
The second significant adjustment to the future schedule is being made to complete the catch-up effort. That adjustment is a modification of the Program Year 2001 schedule. Originally, the SBIR Solicitation was scheduled to come out in May of 2001. That date has been moved up and the 2001 Solicitation will open on March 28; the full Solicitation will be available on the SBIR Program’s Web site at http://sbir.nasa.gov The Solicitation will close on June 6, 2001.
For more information, visit the SBIR Web site at http://sbir.nasa.gov.
Small Business Projects SelectedDeveloping a new class of deep-sea vehicles for sample collection is just one of the 280 research proposals NASA has selected for Phase I contract awards as part of its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The combined total of the awards is expected to be more than $19 million. The goals of the SBIR Program are to stimulate technological innovation; increase the use of small business, including women-owned and disadvantaged firms, in meeting federal research and development needs; and increase private sector commercialization of federally funded research results. NASA received 1,847 proposals, submitted by small, high-technology businesses from across the country. The proposals were reviewed for technical merit and feasibility, as well as relevance to NASA research and technology requirements. The selected firms will be awarded fixed-price contracts valued up to $70,000 each to perform a six-month Phase I feasibility study. Companies that successfully complete the Phase I activities are eligible to compete for Phase II selection the following year. The Phase II award allows for a two-year, fixed-price contract in an amount up to $600,000. Research into the development of the new class of deep-sea vehicles project is being undertaken by Deep Sea DNA of Point Richmond, California. The object of the research is to reduce the costs of deep-sea exploration and retrieval of biological and geological samples via the development of a new generation of deep-sea craft. The vehicles will be simple to operate, easily controlled and tracked and have efficient communications systems. NASA’s interest in deep-sea exploration is based in the astrobiology program, which includes the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe. Astrobiology provides a biological perspective to many areas of NASA research, linking such endeavors as the search for habitable planets, exploration missions to Mars and Europa, efforts to understand the origin of life and planning for the future of life beyond Earth. The NASA SBIR Program Management Office is located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, with executive oversight by NASA’s Office of Aerospace Technology, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. Individual SBIR projects are managed by NASA’s ten field centers. For more information, contact Michael Braukus at NASA Headquarters (202/358-1979) mbraukus@hq.nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation. |
NASA Official: Jonathan Root
Web Design: Printing & Design Office, NASA Headquarters
Credits