# Presentation: 135712

## NASA SBIR Program

## What is SBIR?

- SBIR is a federal program where small businesses compete for up to $670,000 to research, develop and commercialize a new technology.
- A legislated federal research & development set-aside for small high-technology firms
- A way for government to use the innovation & efficiency of small high-technology firms and research institutions assist in accomplishing agency missions

## SBIR Bidders

- Average size of participating firm is 12 persons
- Approximately 20% are lone individuals wanting to start their own company

## So which agencies?

**National Aeronautics and Space Administration**
- Department of Defense
- Department of Energy
- National Institutes of Health
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Agriculture
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Education

## Three Phase Program

**Phase I **evaluates the technical feasibility or proof-of-concept.  Awards are up to six months for amounts up to $70,000.
**Phase II** expands on the results of and further pursues the development of Phase I.  Awards are up to two years in amounts up to $600,000.
**Phase III** commercializes the results of Phase II and requires use of private or non-SBIR federal funding.

## Details

**NASA SBIR 2003 Phase I Solicitation**
- Solicitation Period: July 7 - September 9, 2004
- Phase I submitted proposals to awards = 8:1
- Approximately 40% of Phase 1 proposals are selected down to Phase II

## 2003 SBIR Solicitation

- Participating under (**Lead Center - ARC**)
**E3.01 Automation and Planning **
- The Automation and Planning Subtopic solicits proposals that allow either spacecraft or ground systems to robustly perform complex tasks given high-level goals with minimal human direction. Technology innovations include, but are not limited to:
- 1) automation and autonomous systems that support high-level command abstraction;
- 2) efficient and effective techniques for processing large volumes of data (commonly available on the Internet) into useful information;
- 3) intelligent search of large, distributed data archives, and data discovery through searches of heterogeneous data sets and architecture; and
- 4) automation of routine, labor intensive tasks that either increase reliability or throughput of current process

## 2003 SBIR Solicitation

- Participating under (**Lead Center – ARC**)
**E3.02 Distributed Information Systems and Numerical Simulation**
- This subtopic seeks advances in tools, techniques, and technologies for distributed information systems and large-scale numerical simulation.
- The goal of this work is to:
- create an autonomous information and computing environment that enables NASA scientists to work naturally with distributed teams and resources to dramatically reduce total time-to-solution (i.e., time to discovery, understanding, or prediction),
- vastly increase the feasible scale and complexity of analysis and data assimilation, and
- greatly accelerate model advancement cycles.

## Advantages of SBIR

- Small firms **CAN** win
- No debt incurred
- Alternative to venture capital
- Attracts future venture capital
- Establishes a sole-source marketing position with government

## . . . more advantages

- Retain full rights to inventions and data
- Retain all cash (no payback requirements)
- Each Agency provides a specific “shopping list” for small firms
- Provides credibility to winning companies
- Fund innovative, high risk, early stage projects
- Offers a simplified route to obtaining federal R&D funds
- Procedures are less complex than regular federal procurement
- Failure only expends your time, not your cash

## Expense of Money    	       Risk of Project

- Expense of Money    	       Risk of Project

- 		Venture Capital
- 		Debt
- 		Sales
- 		SBIR

- 		SBIR
- 		Venture Capital
- 		Debt
- 		Sales

- Higher

- Lower

## Who Qualifies

- Employ <500 people, including affiliates
- Must be organized for profit
- Small business must be independently owned and operated in the United States by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens
- The PI is considered key to the success of the effort; therefore, a PI's involvement with the project must be substantial
- The PI must be primarily employed by the small business at the time of contract award

## SBIR as a Transition Vehicle

- Can SARP researchers use SBIR as a transition vehicle?
- Quick answer = YES
- All SBIR funded research must begin with the Phase I feasibility study, so...
- Cannot propose to simply transition previously funded SARP research
- Research  must be a new and unproven extension of previous work
- Must meet SBIR criteria

## Technology Criteria

- Must be in program solicitation (No unsolicited proposals)
- Must have a potentially profitable  commercial application
- Must be useful to a government agency

## Protecting intellectual property

- Inventions & designs can be protected with patents
- Technical data
- Computer software
- Writings that can be protected with copyright
- Government gets royalty free use
- Data is not published until 4 years after completion of Phase II

## Proposing

- All proposals are submitted electronically via the Internet
- Proposals are screened for administrative completeness and then sent to the managing NASA Center for technical review
- Evaluation Criteria
- Scientific/Technical Merit and Feasibility
- Experience, Qualifications, and Facilities
- Effectiveness of the Proposed Work Plan
- Commercial Merit and Feasibility

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