Proposals for Projects to Develop New Technologies

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 15:57:45 -0400
To: "USGS Employees"<distribution>
From: Rosemarie Graves <rgraves>
Subject: Proposals for Projects to Develop New Technologies 

Memorandum 

To:	       All USGS Employees 	

From:		The Technology Enterprise Office 
		
Subject:	Proposals for Projects to Develop New Technologies

The DOI is in its last fiscal year of receiving income from royalties
generated by industrial licenses on the FT-30 patent.  These license
agreements were completed in late 1994 after almost 18 months of
negotiations.  The U.S. patent expired in mid 1999 and the foreign patents
expire in 2000.   This is in all probability the final year of funding this
grant program. 

Uses of royalty funds are defined in USC 63, Title 15, Section 3710c(B).
It is the intent of the  Technology Transfer Committee to disburse a
significant portion of these funds to the Bureaus to support activities,
within the scope of this law, that have potential for technology transfer
and income generation through patents and licenses.  Our prime objective is
to use these funds as seed money for projects that have an excellent
probability of generating new technology that has high utility for the
private sector and will eventually generate additional royalty revenue to
replace the present source as it diminishes over the next several years.  

By law, the majority of royalty funds returning to a Federal agency must be
transferred to the laboratory (bureau) where the invention occurred.   The
majority share of new royalty income generated through this program will go
to the bureau or bureaus where the inventions and/or licenses originated.
The remaining funds will be put back into this "New Technologies" program
to continue its sponsorship of technology development projects.

This memorandum is a call for proposals for such projects. Proposals for
the coming year of existing grants also are necessary as well proposals for
new projects.  Proposals for new grants must be for projects that:

		develop technologies and/or intellectual property that has a high
probability of transfer to the private sector.  The technologies and/or
intellectual property should reach maturity and be ready for transfer to
the private sector, or ready to patent, in no more than 1 year.

These funds also may augment existing projects that meet the aforementioned
criteria, as long as the funds are used specifically to expedite the
technology or product that is transferable to the private sector.

New projects cannot be more than one year in length.  The key factor is
that there will be a product ready for transfer to the private sector in 12
months or less.

Proposals for projects having the following characteristics  will have the
highest chance of success. These characteristics are listed in order of
decreasing priority.


	1.	Projects with high visibility, high positive impact on the DOI, and a
high probability of generating royalty income for the Department..

	2	A clearly defined end product - there must be a technology and/or
product developed by the project that is transferable to the private sector
in a manner that may generate royalty income to the Department (patent or
license).

	3.	Multi-bureau projects - personnel from at least two bureaus are
involved in the work.  Involvement of personnel from more than two bureaus
is encouraged. 

	4.	Projects which involve, or have the immediate opportunity to involve, a
private sector partner in the project.  This involvement can be through a
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) or other means of
partnership.

Both ongoing (but not funded by this program) and new projects will be
considered for new grants under this program.

A detailed proposal for a project using these funds must be submitted to
your bureau's Technology Transfer Committee Member  by Nov. 26, 1999.
Consider March 1, 2000, as the start date for your project.  All proposals
must be approved and signed at the bureau level before submittal to your
Technology Transfer Committee Member.  Bureau approval certifies that the
resources (people, infrastructure, etc.) called for in the proposal will
indeed be dedicated to the project if awarded. Proposals will be reviewed
and recommended for award by an evaluation panel of Federal scientists
outside of the DOI.    

As previously stated, proposals are expected for continuing projects as
well as proposals for new projects.


	HOW TO APPLY FOR A NEW GRANT 
	

 Prepare a brief proposal (no more than 10 pages) and submit it to your
bureau's Technology Transfer Committee Member. The name and address of each
bureau's member who will receive your proposal is listed at the end of this
announcement.

Each proposal must contain the following information in order to
be considered for funding:

*	Name, DOI affiliation, address, phone number, FAX number, and E-Mail
address of principal investigator and all other participants.

*	A brief history and more detailed description of the technology and/or
product under consideration for the funds. 
   
*	A discussion of the potential utility of the technology or product to the
private sector. This discussion should include evidence and justification
of the potential value of the technology to the private sector, what the
use would be, what private sector segment or industry would be targeted for
transfer of the technology/product, and who the end users would be.  A
detailed explanation of the basis of all assumptions is required.  In other
words, what good is it and have you really done your homework?

*	A detailed plan of the project and how the subject technology or product
is to be developed.  This plan must state the objective of the project, how
that objective will be accomplished, and what the state of the technology
or product will be at the completion of the project. Also discuss the
length of the proposed project.  How long will it take for the proposed
product to be ready for transfer? When ready for transfer, what will the
product be and what will it look like, i.e. is it a patent, license,
software, or some other device?

	Specific tasks should be described to reach the objective.  For each task,
also discuss who will perform that task, and the time involved.

*	A detailed schedule for the entire project delineating the planned tasks
and definitive milestones. The objective is to have the technology ready
for transfer, or for seeking a patent, within one year. Projects with a
product ready to transfer under license within the one year time frame will
take precedence. 

*	A detailed budget for the entire project.  If these funds are to be used
to augment an existing project, detail how the requested funds are to be
spent and how they relate to other monies used for the project.

	Funds can be used for all  legitimate expenses including, but not limited
to, salaries,  travel, fabrication, testing, demonstration, and promotion
costs.  The budget should include all appropriate Bureau assessments.

*	A brief resume or statement of qualifications for each of the major
participants in the project.  All participants must be employees of the
Department of the Interior.



	HOW TO APPLY FOR CONTINUINED FUNDING ON AN EXISTING GRANT


 Prepare a brief proposal (no more than 10 pages) and submit it to your
bureau's Technology Transfer Committee Member. The name and address of each
bureau's member who will receive your proposal is listed at the end of this
announcement.

Each proposal must contain the following information in order to be
considered for continued funding:

*	Title of the existing grant, name, DOI affiliation, address, phone
number, FAX number, and E-Mail address of principal investigator and all
other participants.

*	A summary of progress over the grant to date and how this relates to the
results projected for this year (1999) in the original proposal submitted
last year. Special emphasis should be give to any changes in direction made
or anticipated to be made since the inception of this funding year in March
1999.
   
*	Discussion of  any significant new information, since the original
proposal, concerning the utility of the end product.  Has anything new
developed that changes your original estimation of the value of your product?

*	A detailed plan for the continuation of the project in this final year
and how the subject technology or product is being developed.  This plan
should be a continuation of the plan stated in last year's proposal.  How
have your results to date affected the original plan?  Is the project still
on schedule and in budget as originally proposed?  If not, why not?  What
modifications to the original plan do you propose and why?  When is your
proposed completion date (no later than Feb. 28, 2001) and is this the same
as originally proposed?  When ready for transfer, what will the product be
and what will it look like, i.e. is it a patent, license, software, or some
other device?

	Are the specific tasks described in the original proposal being modified?
If so describe in detail the changes and their justification.

*	A detailed schedule for the remaining project delineating the planned
tasks and definitive milestones. Explain any differences between this
schedule and the one presented in last year's proposal.  The objective
remains to have the technology ready for transfer as a patented invention,
or ready for licensing, in one more year (end of 2000).  

*	A detailed budget for the coming final year.  Include a table of
expenditures for the this year (1999) versus allocated budget.  Will there
be any carry over funds from this year?  If so, how will these monies be
used to offset the projected next year (2000) expenses?   

	Remember that your budgets need to include all appropriate Bureau
assessments.

*	A brief resume or statement of qualifications for any new major
participant in the project.  Remember, all participants must be employees
of the Department of the Interior.



For more information contact your bureau's TTC Member.  They are:

Bureau	Name				Phone No.		FAX
BIA		Leroy Clifford		703-235-3044		703-235-5565
BOR		Donald Ralston		202-208-5671		202-208-6252
BLM		Dwight Hempel		202-452-7778		202-452-7708
FWS		Linda Andreason		703-358-2458		703-358-2210
MMS		Charles Smith		703-787-1559		703-787-1555
NPS		Lindsay McClelland	202-208-4958		202-208-4620
OSM		Doug Growitz		202-208-2634		202-219-3100
USGS		Tony Inderbitzen	703-648-4450		703-648-4408