Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27721

find that Buffalo, Burnett, Crawford,

Douglas, Grant, La Crosse, Pepin, Pierce,

St. Croix, Trempealeau and Vernon

Counties in the State of Wisconsin

constitute a disaster area due to

damages caused by flooding occurring

between April 10, 2001 and continuing.

Applications for loans for physical

damage as a result of this disaster may

be filed until the close of business on

July 10, 2001 and for economic injury

until the close of business on February

11, 2002 at the address listed below or

other locally announced locations: U.S.

Small Business Administration, Disaster

Area 2 Office, One Baltimore Place,

Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30308.

In addition, applications for economic

injury loans from small businesses

located in the following contiguous

counties in Wisconsin may be filed until

the specified date at the above location:

Barron, Bayfield, Dunn, Eau Clair, Iowa,

Jackson, Juneau, Lafayette, Monroe,

Polk, Richland, Sauk, Sawyer and

Washburn; and Carlton, Chisago,

Dakota, Goodhue, Houston, Pine, St.

Louis, Wabasha, Washington and

Winona Counties in the State of

Minnesota.

The interest rates are:

Percent

For Physical Damage:

Homeowners With Credit

Available Elsewhere .......... 6.625

Homeowners Without Credit

Available Elsewhere .......... 3.312

Businesses With Credit Available Elsewhere .................. 8.000

Businesses and Non-Profit

Organizations Without

Credit Available Elsewhere 4.000

Others (Including Non-Profit

Organizations) With Credit

Available Elsewhere .......... 7.125

For Economic Injury:

Businesses and Small Agriculture Cooperatives Without Credit Available Elsewhere ................................. 4.000

The number assigned to this disaster

for physical damage is 333906. For

economic injury the numbers assigned

are 9L6900 for Wisconsin and 9L7000

for Minnesota.

Iowa counties and Illinois counties

contiguous to the above named primary

counties are not listed here because they

have been previously declared.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program Nos. 59002 and 59008)

Dated: May 14, 2001.

Herbert L. Mitchell,

Associate Administrator for Disaster

Assistance.

[FR Doc. 01–12584 Filed 5–17–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

New Markets Venture Capital Program;

Extension of Application Deadline

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business

Administration.

ACTION: Notice of extension of

application deadline.

SUMMARY: SBA invites applications for

designation as a New Markets Venture

Capital (‘‘NMVC’’) Company and for

grant awards available both to

participants in the NMVC Program and

to Specialized Small Business

Investment Companies. SBA extends its

deadline for accepting applications from

4 p.m. on May 21, 2001 to 4 p.m. on

May 29, 2001.

DATES: Applications may be submitted

to SBA immediately. The deadline for

receipt of an application has been

extended to 4 p.m. EST on May 29,

2001. Applications received in SBA’s

offices after that date and time will be

rejected and returned to the sender.

ADDRESSES: Applications must be sent

to Austin Belton, Director, Office of

New Markets Venture Capital,

Investment Division, U.S. Small

Business Administration, 409 3rd Street,

SW., Suite 6300, Washington, DC 20416.

Applications sent electronically or by

facsimile will not be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If

you have any questions about the

requirements for this program or

application procedures, or wish to

request an application package, contact

Austin Belton, Director, Office of New

Markets Venture Capital, Investment

Division, or Louis Cupp, Policy Analyst,

Investment Division, 202–205–6510.

Applications and other information

regarding SBA and its programs may be

downloaded from SBA’s web site at

http://www.sba.gov/inv.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SBA

previously extended this application

deadline from April 19, 2001 to May 21,

2001 (66 FR 18993, April 12, 2001). SBA

originally published information about

this funding opportunity in a Notice of

Funds Availability (‘‘NOFA’’),

published in the Federal Register on

January 22, 2001 (66 FR 7247).

Applicants should refer to the NOFA

(66 FR 7247) for more detailed

information concerning this funding

opportunity, including how to obtain

applications and the amount of funds

available for award. However, SBA

makes one important revision to the

NOFA. The NOFA referred applicants to

an interim final rule SBA published in

the Federal Register on January 22,

2001 (66 FR 7218). However, SBA will

be withdrawing that interim final rule

and, as a result, will not be

implementing the NMVC program with

that rule (see discussion in preamble to

SBA’s proposed rule, published in the

Federal Register on April 23, 2001, 66

FR 20531–20532). Applicants instead

are directed to a new final rule that SBA

intends to publish in the Federal

Register within a week of today’s date.

SBA will implement the NMVC

program, including evaluating and

selecting applications, through that new

rule instead of through the interim final

rule SBA previously published on

January 22, 2001. Applicants should

refer to SBA’s new final rule for

information concerning fee

requirements, evaluation criteria, and

other program requirements. SBA’s new

final rule will apply to all applications

received for the NMVC program.

Authority: New Markets Venture Capital

Program Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 106–553,

114 Stat. 2762A; Federal Funding Act, Fiscal

Year 2001, Pub. L. 106–554, 114 Stat. 2763;

and 13 CFR part 108.

Dated: May 15, 2001.

Harry Haskins,

Acting Associate Administrator for

Investment.

[FR Doc. 01–12585 Filed 5–17–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

RIN 3245–AE72

Small Business Innovation Research

Program Policy Directive

AGENCY: Small Business Administration.

ACTION: Notice of proposed policy

directive.

SUMMARY: This document proposes

revisions to the Small Business

Innovation Research (SBIR) Program

Policy Directive. This revised proposed

policy directive reflects recently enacted

statutory requirements. It is proposed to

provide guidance to participating

Federal agencies for the general conduct

of the SBIR Program.

DATES: Public comments on this

proposed policy directive should be

received on or before June 18, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments

concerning this proposed revision to

Maurice Swinton, Assistant

Administrator for Technology, Office of

Technology, Office of Policy, Planning,

and Liaison, Office of Government

Contracting/Business Development, U.S.

Small Business Administration, 409 3rd

Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416 or

via email to technology@sba.gov.

27722 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Maurice Swinton, Office of Technology;

Office of Policy, Planning, and Liaison;

Office of Government Contracting/

Business Development, at (202) 205–

6450. You may also e-mail

technology@sba.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1982,

Congress enacted the Small Business

Innovation Development Act of 1982

(SBIDA), Public Law 97–219 (codified at

15 U.S.C. 638), which established the

Small Business Innovation Research

Program (SBIR Program). SBIDA

requires the SBA to ‘‘issue policy

directives for the general conduct of the

SBIR programs within the Federal

Government.’’ 15 U.S.C. 638(j)(1). The

U.S. Small Business Administration

(SBA) published its first policy

directive, Policy Directive No. 65–01, 19

years ago (47 FR 52966, Nov. 24, 1982).

The last SBIR Policy Directive

amendments were published 8 years ago

(58 FR 6144–6158, Jan. 26, 1993).

The statutory purpose of the SBIR

Program is to strengthen the role of

innovative small business concerns

(SBCs) in Federally-funded research and

research and development (R/R&D).

Specific program purposes are to: (1)

Stimulate technological innovation; (2)

use small business to meet Federal R/

R&D needs; (3) foster and encourage

participation by socially and

economically disadvantaged SBCs, and

by SBCs that are 51 percent owned and

controlled by women, in technological

innovation; and (4) increase private

sector commercialization of innovations

derived from Federal R/R&D. The SBIR

Program is a phased process, uniform

throughout the Federal Government, of

soliciting proposals and awarding

funding agreements for R/R&D to meet

stated agency needs or missions. To

stimulate and foster scientific and

technological innovation, including

increasing commercialization of Federal

R/R&D, the program must follow a

uniform competitive process of three

phases: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III.

Recently, Congress enacted the Small

Business Innovation Research Program

Reauthorization Act of 2000

(Reauthorization Act), Public Law 106–

554 (Dec. 21, 2000). The

Reauthorization Act extends the SBIR

Program through September 30, 2008. In

addition, the Reauthorization Act: (1)

Clarifies SBIR data rights pertaining to

SBIR Phase I and II awards and awards

issued pursuant to Phase III (Proposed

Policy Directive, section 8(b) and App.

I, Instructions, § 5(d)(1)(iii)); (2) requires

the establishment of SBIR Program

Government-accessible and a publicaccessible database (Proposed Policy

Directive, section 11(e)); (3) requires

each application for a Phase II award

contain a succinct commercialization

plan (Proposed Policy Directive, section

6(b)); (4) requires agencies to report to

SBA all instances in which the agency

fails to issue a Phase III or follow-on

funding agreement (Proposed Policy

Directive, section 4(c)(7–8)); (5) clarifies

when a Phase III award can be issued

(Proposed Policy Directive, section 4(c));

(6) requires agencies with extramural

budgets over $50,000,000 to enter into

an agreement with the National

Academy of Sciences for the National

Research Council to conduct a review of

their SBIR Program (Proposed Policy

Directive, section 2(a)(1)(iv)); (7)

requires agencies to report to SBA

annually on the calculations of the

agency’s extramural budget within 4

months of enactment of the agency’s

annual Appropriations Act (Proposed

Policy Directive, sections 2(a)(1)(v) and

9(a)(1)); (8) establishes the Federal and

State Technology (FAST) Partnership

Program to strengthen the technological

competitiveness of small business

concerns (SBCs) in the United States

(Proposed Policy Directive, § 12(a)); (9)

and extends the Rural Outreach Program

through September 30, 2005, (Proposed

Policy Directive, section 12(b)). SBA

welcomes comment on our proposed

provisions to implement these new

statutory requirements. In addition, we

request comment on section 11(e)(3)(iii)

of the Proposed Policy Directive,

implementing the new statute requiring

information provided to the SBIR

databases to be privileged, confidential,

and not subject to the Freedom of

Information Act, codified at 15 USC

638(k)(4).

The Reauthorization Act directs SBA

to modify its policy directive to address

these amendments within 120 days after

the date of enactment of the

Reauthorization Act. In addition to

addressing these recent amendments to

the SBIR Program, SBA proposes

changes in this policy directive to

simplify and enhance the program. The

proposed policy directive is organized

into 12 self-explanatory sections: (1)

Purpose; (2) Summary of Legislative

Provisions; (3) Definitions; (4)

Competitively Phased Structure of the

Program; (5) Program Solicitation

Process; (6) Eligibility and Application

(Proposal) Requirements; (7) SBIR

Funding Process; (8) Terms of

Agreement Under SBIR Awards; (9)

Responsibilities of SBIR Participating

Agencies and Departments; (10) Annual

Report to SBA; (11) Responsibilities of

SBA; and (12) FAST Partnership

Program and Rural Outreach Program.

Two appendices are also included: (1)

Instructions for SBIR Program

Solicitation Preparation; and (2) TechNet Data Fields for Public Database.

Furthermore, this proposed policy

directive will provide more flexibility to

the agencies participating in the SBIR

Program to continue vital research for

meritorious proposals that could

potentially go unfunded due to a lack of

resources available under SBIR Program

or Small Business Technology Transfer

(STTR) Program budgets. STTR is a

separate program from SBIR in which

Federal agencies with extramural

budgets for R/R&D in excess of $1

billion per fiscal year make funding

agreements with SBC’s joint venturing

with a research institution, non-profit

organization, or Federally Funded

Research and Development Center

(FFRDC). SBA proposes a new policy at

section 4(b) that would allow

participating Federal agencies to fund

Phase II awards under their SBIR or

STTR Programs, which had its origin in

either program. Agencies must continue

to meet the statutory expenditure of the

extramural budget of 2.5 percent for the

SBIR program and .15 percent for the

STTR program. Any award that is

funded through this process will then be

deemed an award of the program which

provides the Phase II funding. The

awardee must meet the eligibility

requirements for the program under

which the Phase II award is funded. For

example, if a Phase I STTR award is

changed to a Phase II SBIR award, the

collaborative partner for the Phase I

STTR award could then be converted

from a joint venture to a subcontractor.

Conversely, if a Phase I SBIR award is

changed to a Phase II STTR award, the

small business concern must then

partner with a research institution,

Federal laboratory or non-profit

organization.

In developing this proposed policy

directive, SBA has considered initial

comments from all agencies required to

have SBIR programs. All of these

comments received by SBA were

individually reviewed and considered.

SBA welcomes public comments upon

this proposed policy directive and will

revise the policy directive as necessary

to improve the general conduct of the

SBIR Program based upon comments

received.

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27723

Notice of Proposed Policy Directive;

Small Business Innovation Research

Program

To: The Small Business Innovation

Research Program Directors

Subject: Small Business Innovation

Research Program Reauthorization Act

of 2000—Amendments to the Small

Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

Program

1. Purpose. Section 9(j)(3) of the Small

Business Act 15 U.S.C. 638(j)(3) requires

the U.S. Small Business Administration

(SBA) Administrator to modify the

Small Business Innovation Research

(SBIR) Program Policy Directive for the

general conduct of the SBIR Program

within the Federal Government.

2. Authority. This proposed policy

directive is issued under the authority

of 15 U.S.C. 638(j).

3. Procurement Regulations. The

Federal Acquisition Regulations may

need to be modified to conform to the

requirements of the Reauthorization Act

and a final policy directive. Regulatory

provisions that pertain to the areas of

SBA responsibility will require approval

of the SBA Administrator or designee.

The Office of Technology, Office of

Policy, Planning, and Liaison, Office of

Government Contracting/Business

Development, SBA, is the appropriate

office for coordinating such regulatory

provisions.

4. Personnel Concerned. All Federal

Government personnel who are

involved in the administration of the

program, including those involved with

the issuance and management of

funding agreements of the SBIR Program

and the establishment of goals for small

business concerns (SBCs) in research or

research and development

procurements or grants.

5. Distribution. Federal Government

agencies and departments participating

in the SBIR Program and those required

to establish small business research and

development goals as directed by

section 9 of the Small Business Act 15

U.S.C. 638(j).

6. Originator. Office of Technology,

Office of Policy, Planning, and Liaison,

Office of Government Contracting/

Business Development, SBA.

7. Dates. The SBIR Program is

authorized through September 30, 2008.

A final Policy Directive will be effective

when published in the Federal Register.

Authorized By:

William A. Fisher,

Deputy Associate Deputy Administrator,

Government Contracting/Business

Development, U.S. Small Business

Administration.

John Whitmore,

Acting Administrator, Small Business

Administration.

Small Business Innovation Research

(SBIR) Program, Proposed Policy

Directive

Contents

Section

1. Purpose

2. Summary of Legislative Provisions

3. Definitions

4. Competitively Phased Structure of the

Program

5. Program Solicitation Process

6. Eligibility and Application (Proposal)

Requirements

7. SBIR Funding Process

8. Terms of Agreement Under SBIR Awards

9. Responsibilities of SBIR Participating

Agencies and Departments

10. Annual Report to the Small Business

Administration (SBA)

11. Responsibilities of the SBA

12. Federal and State Technology (FAST)

Partnership Program and Rural Outreach

Program

Appendix I: Instructions For SBIR Program

Solicitation Preparation

Appendix II: Tech-Net Data Fields For Public

Database

1. Purpose

(a) Section 9(j) of the Small Business

Act (Act) requires that the Small

Business Administration (SBA) issue an

SBIR Program Policy Directive for the

general conduct of the SBIR Program

within the Federal Government.

(b) This proposed policy directive

fulfills SBA’s statutory obligation to

provide guidance to the participating

Federal agencies for the general

operation of the SBIR Program.

Additional or modified instructions may

be issued by the SBA as a result of

public comment or experience.

(c) The statutory purpose of the SBIR

Program is to strengthen the role of

innovative small business concerns

(SBCs) in Federally-funded research and

research and development (R/R&D).

Specific program purposes are to: (1)

Stimulate technological innovation; (2)

use small business to meet Federal R/

R&D needs; (3) foster and encourage

participation by socially and

economically disadvantaged SBCs, and

by SBCs that are 51 percent owned and

controlled by women, in technological

innovation; and (4) increase private

sector commercialization of innovations

derived from Federal R/R&D.

(d) Federal agencies participating in

the SBIR Program (SBIR agencies)

should follow the guidance provided by

this proposed policy directive. Each

agency is obligated to review its rules,

policies, and guidance on the SBIR

Program to ensure consistency with this

policy directive and to make any

necessary changes in accordance with

each agency’s normal procedures. This

is consistent with the statutory authority

provided to the SBA concerning the

SBIR Program.

2. Summary of Legislative Provisions

(a) The Small Business Innovation

Research Program Reauthorization Act

of 2000, Public Law 106–554, amended

section 9 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 638).

(1) The purposes of the amendments

to the Act are to:

(i) Continue the SBIR Program

through September 30, 2008;

(ii) Clarify data rights pertaining to

SBIR Phase I, Phase II, and federally

funded Phase III awards.

(iii) Establish databases—one for the

public and one for Government use—to

collect and maintain in a common

format, information necessary to assist

SBCs and assess the SBIR Program.

(iv) Require agencies with SBIR

budgets of over $50,000,000 to enter

into an agreement with the National

Academy of Sciences for the National

Research Council to conduct a review of

each agency’s SBIR Program.

(v) Require SBIR agencies to report to

SBA on the calculation of the agency’s

extramural budget within 4 months of

enactment of each agency’s annual

Appropriations Act.

(vi) Establish the Federal and State

Technology (FAST) Partnership

Program to strengthen the technological

competitiveness of SBCs.

(vii) Extend the Rural Outreach

Program through September 30, 2005.

(b) The Act requires each Federal

agency with an extramural budget for

Research/Research & Development (R/

R&D) in excess of $100,000,000 to

participate in the SBIR Program.

(c) The statutory requirements assist

SBCs by establishing a uniform,

simplified process for the operation of

the SBIR Program while allowing the

SBIR agencies flexibility in the

operation of their individual SBIR

Program. This policy directive fulfills

the Congressional intent to minimize

regulatory burden in the conduct of this

program.

(d) The Act requires each SBIR agency

to establish an SBIR Program by

reserving not less than 2.5 percent of its

extramural budget for awards to SBCs

for R/R&D through a uniform, threephase process, including:

27724 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

(1) Phases I and II. The first two

phases help SBIR agencies meet R/R&D

and commercialization objectives

through funding agreements.

(2) Phase III. The third phase, when

appropriate helps SBCs,

(i) to pursue commercial applications

from the Government-funded R/R&D in

order to stimulate technological

innovation and provide for the national

return on investment from R/R&D, and/

or

(ii) to obtain additional contract or

grant activity with Federal agencies

through non-SBIR funding agreements.

(e) The Act directs each SBIR agency

to report annually to SBA. The Act also

requires SBA to obtain annual reports

and monitor each agency’s SBIR

Program and to report our findings

annually to the Committee on Small

Business of the Senate and to the

Committee on Science and the

Committee on Small Business of the

House of Representatives.

(f) The competition requirements of

the Armed Services Procurement Act of

1947 (10 U.S.C. 2302 et seq.) and the

Federal Property and Administrative

Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 251 et

seq.) must be read in conjunction with

the procurement notice publication

requirements of Section 8(e) of the

Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)).

The following notice publication

requirements of Section 8(e) of the

Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e))

apply to SBIR agencies using contracts

as a SBIR funding agreement:

(1) Any Federal executive agency

intending to solicit a proposal to

contract for property or services valued

above $25,000 must transmit a notice of

the impending solicitation to the

governmentwide point of entry (GPE)

for access by interested sources. See

FAR 5.201. The GPE, located at http://

www.fedbizopps.gov, is the single point

where Government business

opportunities greater than $25,000,

including synopses of proposed contract

actions, solicitations, and associated

information, can be accessed

electronically by the public. The

contracting office may transmit the

notice to the Commerce Business Daily

(CBD) in lieu of the GPE if the

contracting office lacks the capability to

access the GPE and the notice is issued

prior to October 1, 2001.

(i) No agency shall issue its

solicitation for at least 15 days from the

date of the publication of the GPE or

CBD notice. The agency may not

establish a deadline for submission of

proposals in response to a solicitation

earlier than 30 days after the date on

which the solicitation was issued.

(ii) When transmitting notices to the

GPE before January 1, 2002, contracting

officers must direct the GPE to forward

the notice to the CBD.

(2) The contracting officer must

generally make available through the

GPE solicitations synopsized through

the GPE including specifications and

other pertinent information determined

necessary by the contracting officer. See

FAR 5.102.

(3) Any executive agency awarding a

contract for property or services valued

at more than $25,000 must submit a

synopsis of the award through the GPE

if a subcontract is likely to result from

such contract. See FAR 5.301. The

contracting office may transmit the

notice to the CBD in lieu of the GPE if

the contracting office lacks the

capability to access the GPE and the

notice is issued prior to October 1, 2001.

(4) The following are exemptions from

the notice publication requirements:

(i) In the case of agencies intending to

solicit Phase I proposals for contracts in

excess of $25,000, the head of the

agency may exempt a particular

solicitation from the notice publication

requirements if he/she makes a written

determination, with the consultation of

the Administrator of the Office of

Federal Procurement Policy and the

SBA Administrator, that it is

inappropriate or unreasonable to

publish a notice before issuing a

solicitation.

(ii) The SBIR Phase II award process

is exempt.

(iii) The SBIR Phase III award process

is exempt.

3. Definitions

(a) Act. The Small Business Act (15

U.S.C. 631 et seq.), as amended.

(b) Applicant. The organizational

entity that, at the time of award, will

qualify as a SBC, as defined in this

section, and that submits a contract

proposal or a grant application for a

funding agreement under the SBIR

Program.

(c) Affiliate. This term has the same

meaning as set forth in 13 CFR Part

121—Small Business Size Regulations,

§ 121.103, What is affiliation?

(d) Awardee. The SBC receiving an

SBIR funding agreement.

(e) Commercialization. The process of

developing markets and producing and

delivering products or services for sale

(whether by the originating party or by

others) to Government and/or

commercial markets.

(f) Cooperative Agreement. A

financial assistance mechanism used

when substantial Federal programmatic

involvement with the awardee during

performance is anticipated by the

issuing agency. The Cooperative

Agreement contains the responsibilities

and respective obligations of the parties.

(g) Data rights. The license the

Government obtains in scientific or

technical data, including computer

software and computer software

documentation, generated during the

performance of a funding agreement that

an awardee provides to the Government

upon completion of a Federally-funded

project.

(h) Essentially Equivalent Work. The

‘‘scientific overlap,’’ which occurs when

(1) substantially the same research is

proposed for funding in more than one

contract proposal or grant application

submitted to the same Federal agency;

(2) substantially the same research is

submitted to two or more different

Federal agencies for review and funding

consideration; or (3) a specific research

objective and the research design for

accomplishing an objective are the same

or closely related in two or more

proposals or awards, regardless of the

funding source.

(i) Extramural Budget. The sum of the

total obligations for R/R&D minus

amounts obligated for R/R&D activities

by employees of a Federal agency in or

through Government-owned,

Government-operated facilities. For the

Agency for International Development,

the ‘‘extramural budget’’ shall not

include amounts obligated solely for

general institutional support of

international research centers or for

grants to foreign countries. For the

Department of Energy, the ‘‘extramural

budget’’ shall not include amounts

obligated for atomic energy defense

programs solely for weapons activities

or for naval reactor programs. (Also see

Section 7(i) of this policy directive for

additional exemptions related to

national security.)

(j) Feasibility. The practical extent to

which a project is capable of being

successfully performed.

(k) Federal Agency. An executive

agency as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105, or a

military department as defined in 5

U.S.C. 102 except that it does not

include any agency within the

Intelligence Community as defined in

Executive Order 12333, Section 3.4(f), as

amended.

(l) Funding Agreement. Any contract,

grant, cooperative agreement, or other

transaction entered into between any

Federal agency and any SBC for the

performance of experimental,

developmental, or research work funded

in whole or in part by the Federal

Government.

(m) Funding Agreement Officer. A

contracting officer, a grants officer, or a

cooperative agreement officer.

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27725

(n) Grant. A financial assistance

mechanism providing money, property,

or both to an eligible entity to carry out

an approved project or activity. A grant

is used whenever the Federal agency

anticipates no substantial programmatic

involvement with the awardee during

performance of the financially assisted

activities.

(o) Innovation. Something new or

improved, including research for (1)

development of new technologies, (2)

refinement of existing technologies, or

(3) development of new applications for

existing technologies.

(p) Intellectual Property. The four

separate and distinct types of intangible

property that are referred to collectively

as ‘‘intellectual property’: patents,

trademarks, copyrights, and trade

secrets. The patent is the most common

type of intangible property fostered by

the SBIR Program.

(q) Joint Venture. An association of

persons or concerns with interests in

any degree or proportion by way of

contract, express or implied, consorting

to engage in and carry out a single

specific business venture for joint profit,

for which purpose they combine their

efforts, property, money, skill, or

knowledge, but not on a continuing or

permanent basis for conducting

business generally. A joint venture is

viewed as a business entity in

determining power to control its

management and is eligible under the

SBIR Program provided that the entity

created qualifies as a ‘‘SBC’’ as defined

in this section of the policy directive.

(r) Outcomes. The measures of longterm, eventual, program impact.

(s) Outputs. The measures of nearterm program impact.

(t) Principal Investigator/Project

Manager. The one individual designated

by the applicant to provide the scientific

and technical direction to the project

that will be supported by the funding

agreement.

(u) Program Solicitation. A formal

solicitation of proposals whereby a

Federal agency notifies the small

business community of its R/R&D needs

and interests in selected areas and

requests proposals in response to these

needs from SBCs. Announcements in

the Federal Register, Commerce

Business Daily, or the GPE are not

considered an SBIR Program

solicitation.

(v) Prototype. A model of something

to be further developed, which includes

designs, protocols, questionnaires,

software, and devices.

(w) Research or Research and

Development (R/R&D). Any activity that

is:

(1) A systematic, intensive study

directed toward greater knowledge or

understanding of the subject studied;

(2) A systematic study directed

specifically toward applying new

knowledge to meet a recognized need;

or

(3) A systematic application of

knowledge toward the production of

useful materials, devices, and systems

or methods, including design,

development, and improvement of

prototypes and new processes to meet

specific requirements.

(x) Small Business Concern. An SBC

is a concern that, on the date of award

for both Phase I and Phase II funding

agreements:

(1) is organized for profit, with a place

of business located in the United States,

which operates primarily within the

United States or which makes a

significant contribution to the United

States economy through payment of

taxes or use of American products,

materials or labor;

(2) is in the legal form of an

individual proprietorship, partnership,

limited liability company, corporation,

joint venture, association, trust or

cooperative, except that where the form

is a joint venture there can be no more

than 49 percent participation by foreign

business entities in the joint venture;

(3) is at least 51 percent owned and

controlled by one or more individuals

who are citizens of, or permanent

resident aliens in, the United States; and

(4) has, including its affiliates, not

more than 500 employees.

(y) Socially and Economically

Disadvantaged Individual. A member of

any of the following groups:

(1) Black Americans.

(2) Hispanic Americans.

(3) Native Americans.

(4) Asian-Pacific Americans.

(5) Subcontinent Asian Americans.

(6) Other groups designated from time

to time by SBA to be socially

disadvantaged; or any other individual

found to be socially and economically

disadvantaged by SBA pursuant to

Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act,

15 U.S.C. 637(a).

(z) Socially and Economically

Disadvantaged SBC. See 13 CFR Part

124 —8(A) Business Development/

Small Disadvantaged Business Status

Determinations, §§ 124.103 (Who is

socially disadvantaged?) and 124.104

(Who is economically disadvantaged?).

(aa) Subcontract. Any agreement,

other than one involving an employeremployee relationship, entered into by

an awardee of a funding agreement

calling for supplies or services required

solely for the performance of the

original funding agreement.

(bb) United States. Means the 50

states, the territories and possessions of

the Federal Government, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

District of Columbia, the Republic of the

Marshall Islands, the Federated States of

Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.

(cc) Women-Owned SBC. A SBC that

is at least 51 percent owned by one or

more women, or in the case of any

publicly owned business, at least 51

percent of the stock of which is owned

by women, and who also control and

operate it. ‘‘Control’’ in this context

means exercising the power to make

policy decisions. ‘‘Operate’’ in this

context means being actively involved

in the day-to-day management.

4. Competitively Phased Structure of

the Program

The SBIR Program is a phased

process, uniform throughout the Federal

Government, of soliciting proposals and

awarding funding agreements for R/R&D

to meet stated agency needs or missions.

To stimulate and foster scientific and

technological innovation, including

increasing commercialization of Federal

R/R&D, the program must follow a

uniform competitive process of three

phases:

(a) Phase I. Phase I involves a

solicitation of grant applications or

contract proposals (proposals) to

conduct feasibility related experimental

or theoretical R/R&D related to

described agency requirements. These

requirements, as defined by agency

topics contained in a solicitation, may

be general or narrow in scope,

depending on the needs of the agency.

The object of this phase is to determine

the scientific and technical merit and

feasibility of the proposed effort and the

quality of performance of the SBC with

a relatively small agency investment

before consideration of further Federal

support in Phase II.

(1) Several different proposed

solutions to a given problem may be

funded.

(2) Proposals will be evaluated on a

competitive basis. Agency criteria used

to evaluate SBIR proposals shall give

primary consideration to the scientific

and technical merit of the proposal

along with its potential for

commercialization. Secondary

considerations may include program

balance or critical agency requirements.

(3) Agencies may include

requirements for submission of a Phase

II proposal as a deliverable item under

Phase I.

(b) Phase II. The object of Phase II is

to continue the R/R&D effort from the

completed Phase I. Agencies must make

efforts to reduce the time frame for

27726 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

issuing Phase II awards and are

encouraged to develop gap-funding

methods to address the duration of

Phase II award cycles. Only SBIR

awardees in Phase I (including those

identified via a ‘‘novated’’ or ‘‘successor

in interest’’ or similarly-revised funding

agreement, or those that have

reorganized with the same key staff,

regardless of whether they have been

assigned a different tax identification

number) are eligible to participate in

Phase II.

(1) Awardees of an STTR (Small

Business Technology Transfer) Phase I

award may submit a proposal for an

SBIR Phase II award, which continues

the research conducted under the STTR

Phase I award. Agencies may then issue

an SBIR Phase II award to those

awardees using SBIR funds. However,

those awardees must meet the

requirements of the SBIR Program. For

example, the awardee could no longer

partner with a non-profit joint ventured

within the STTR Phase I award, but

could subcontract work to a non-profit.

In effect, the award converts from an

STTR to an SBIR award.

(2) Awardees of an SBIR Phase I

award may submit a proposal for an

STTR Phase II award, which continues

the research conducted under the SBIR

Phase I award. Agencies may then issue

an STTR Phase II award to those

awardees using STTR funds. However,

those awardees must meet the

requirements of the STTR Program.

Thus, the awardee must partner with a

research institution, non-profit

organization or Federally Funded

Research and Development Center

(FFRDC). In effect, the award converts

from an SBIR to an STTR award.

Agencies must provide to the SBA a

written justification with their annual

report the rationale for this deviation.

(3) Agencies must provide to the SBA

a written justification with their annual

report the rationale for this deviation.

Funding shall be based upon the results

of Phase I and the scientific and

technical merit and commercial

potential of the Phase II proposal. Phase

II awards may not necessarily complete

the total research and development that

may be required to satisfy commercial

or Federal needs beyond the SBIR or

STTR Programs. Completion of the

research and development may be

through a Phase III. The Phase II

funding agreement with the awardee

may, at the discretion of the agency

awarding the agreement, establish the

procedures applicable to third phase

agreements. The Government is not

obligated to fund any specific Phase II

proposal. The SBIR or STTR Phase II

award decision process requires, among

other things, consideration of a

proposal’s commercial potential.

Commercial potential includes the

potential to transition the technology to

private sector applications, Government

applications, or Government contractor

applications. Commercial potential in a

Phase II proposal may be evidenced by:

(i) the SBC’s record of successfully

commercializing SBIR, STTR or other

research;

(ii) the existence of second phase

funding commitments from private

sector or other non-SBIR or STTR

funding sources;

(iii) the existence of third phase,

follow-on commitments for the subject

of the research; and

(iv) the presence of other indicators of

commercial potential of the idea.

(a) Phase III. The term third phase

agreement means a follow-on, non-SBIR

funded award as described below. A

Federal agency may enter into a third

phase agreement with the awardee of

the second phase for additional work to

be performed during or after the second

phase period.

(1) The competition for SBIR Phase I

and Phase II awards satisfies any

competition requirement of the Armed

Services Procurement Act and the

Federal Property and Administrative

Services Act. Therefore, an agency that

wishes to fund an SBIR project in Phase

III (with non-SBIR funds), or enter into

a follow-on procurement with an SBIR

concern, is not required to conduct

another competition in order to satisfy

those statutory provisions.

(2) Where appropriate, there will be a

third phase, which is funded by:

(i) non-Federal sources of capital for

commercial applications of SBIR funded

research or research and development;

or

(ii) non-SBIR Federal funding for

SBIR derived products or services

intended for use by the Federal

Government; or

(iii) non-SBIR Federal funding sources

for the continuation of research or

research and development that has been

competitively selected using peer

review or scientific review criteria.

(3) The term ‘‘third-phase award’’ or

‘‘SBIR Phase III award’’ applies to each

of the following activities:

(i) commercial application of SBIRfunded research or R&D funded by nonFederal sources of capital;

(ii) products and services intended for

use by the Federal Government funded

by follow-on non-SBIR Federal funding

awards;

(iii) the continuation of R/R&D funded

by non-SBIR Federal funding sources.

(4) The third phase work may be for

products or production, services,

R/R&D, or any combination.

(5) There is no limitation on the

number, duration, or dollar value of

third phase awards made to a business

concern.

(6) As indicated above, the

competition for SBIR Phase I and Phase

II awards satisfies any competition

requirement of the Armed Services

Procurement Act and the Federal

Property and Administrative Act.

Therefore, agencies or their

Government-owned, contractor-operated

facilities or Federally funded research

and development centers or

Government prime contractors, that

wish to fund an SBIR project in Phase

III (with non-SBIR funds) or enter into

a follow-on procurement with a

business concern, shall not request FAR

required Justifications and Approvals in

the conduct of contract actions relative

to a third phase agreement.

(7) Congress intends that agencies or

their Government-owned, contractoroperated facilities or Federally-funded

research and development centers or

Government prime contractors,

pursuing R/R&D, or production

developed under the SBIR Program give

special acquisition preference,

including sole source awards, to the

awardee that developed the technology.

In fact, the Act requires reporting to

SBA of all instances in which an agency

fails to issue a Phase III award to a SBC

that pursued R/R&D pursuant to the

SBIR Program (see Section 9 of this

policy directive). SBA, in turn, reports

these instances to the Congress. The

Phase III awardee does not need to be

eligible as a SBC (as defined in this

policy directive) to receive the Phase III

funding agreement.

(8) Agencies or their Governmentowned, contractor-operated facilities or

Federally-funded research and

development centers, intending to

pursue R/R&D, or production developed

under the SBIR Program with an entity

other than the awardee of the second

phase, must notify SBA in writing prior

to awarding such a funding agreement.

This notification shall include: (a) the

reasons why the follow-on funding

agreement with the SBC is not

practicable; (b) the identity of the entity

with which the agency intends to make

an award to perform research,

development, or production; and (c) a

description of the type of funding

agreement under which the research,

development, or production will be

obtained. SBA reviews the justification

and may appeal the decision to the head

of the contracting activity. If SBA

decides to appeal the decision, SBA will

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27727

file its notice of intent to appeal to the

contracting officer no later than 5

business days after receiving notice of

the agency’s intent to make an award.

Upon receipt of SBA’s notice of intent

to appeal, the contracting officer should

suspend further action regarding the

funding agreement until the head of the

contracting activity issues a written

decision on the appeal. Within 15

business days of SBA’s notification of

its intent to appeal, SBA must either file

its formal appeal with the head of the

contracting activity or that agency may

consider the appeal withdrawn. The

contracting activity must specify in

writing to SBA its reasons for a denial

of an appeal.

5. Program Solicitation Process

(a) Each agency shall at least annually

issue a program solicitation that sets

forth a substantial number of R/R&D

topics and subtopic areas consistent

with stated agency needs or missions.

Both the list of topics and the

description of the topics and subtopics

must be sufficiently comprehensive to

provide a wide range of opportunity for

SBCs to participate in the agency

research or R&D programs. Topics and

subtopics must emphasize the need for

proposals with advanced concepts to

meet specific agency R/R&D needs. Each

topic and subtopic must describe the

needs in sufficient detail to assist small

firms in providing on-target responses,

but cannot involve detailed

specifications to prescribed solutions of

the problems.

(b) The Act requires issuance of SBIR

(Phase I) Program solicitations in

accordance with a Master Schedule

coordinated between SBA and the SBIR

agency. The SBA organization

responsible for coordination is: Office of

Technology, Office of Policy, Planning,

and Liaison, Office of Government

Contracting/Business Development, U.

S. Small Business Administration, 409

Third Street, SW, Washington, DC

20416, Phone: (202) 205–6450, Internet

site: www.sba.gov/sbir.

(c) For maximum participation by

interested SBCs, it is important that the

planning, scheduling and coordination

of agency program solicitation release

dates be completed as early as

practicable in order to be coordinated

with the commencement of the fiscal

year on October 1. Bunching of agency

program solicitation release and closing

dates may prohibit SBCs from the

preparation and timely submission of

proposals for more than one SBIR

project. SBA’s coordination of agency

schedules minimizes the bunching of

proposed release and closing dates.

Participating agencies may elect to

publish multiple program solicitations

within a given fiscal year to facilitate inhouse agency proposal review and

evaluation scheduling.

(d) Master Schedule

SBA posts an electronic Master

Schedule of release dates of program

solicitations with links to Internet web

sites of agency solicitations. Agencies

must post on their Internet web sites the

following information regarding each

program solicitation:

(1) The list of topics upon which

research or R&D proposals will be

sought.

(2) Agency address, phone number, or

email address from which SBIR Program

solicitations can be requested or

obtained, especially through electronic

means.

(3) Names, addresses, and phone

numbers of agency contact points where

SBIR-related inquiries may be directed.

(4) Release date(s) of program

solicitation(s).

(5) Closing date(s) for receipt of

proposals.

(6) Estimated number and average

dollar amounts or level of effort of Phase

I awards to be made under the

solicitation.

(e) Each agency representative must

notify SBA in writing or by e-mail of its

proposed program solicitation release

and proposal due dates for the next

fiscal year on or before August 1. The

SBA and the agency representatives will

coordinate the resolution of any

conflicting agency solicitation dates by

the second week of August. In all cases,

the SBA will make final decisions.

(f) For those agencies that use both

general topic and more specific subtopic

designations in their SBIR solicitations,

the topic data should accurately

describe the research solicited. For

example, rather than just announcing

topic information characterized as

‘‘Chemistry’’ or ‘‘Aerodynamics,’’ the

SBIR agency could summarize the

subtopic statements and, where

appropriate, utilize National Critical

Technologies.

(g) Simplified, Standardized, and

Timely SBIR Program Solicitations

(1) The Act requires ‘‘***

simplified, standardized and timely

SBIR solicitations’’ and for SBIR

agencies to use a ‘‘uniform process’’

minimizing the regulatory burden for

SBCs. Therefore, the instructions in

Appendix I to this policy directive

purposely depart from normal

Government solicitation format and

requirements. SBIR Program

solicitations shall be prepared according

to Appendix I.

(2) Agencies must provide the SBA’s

Office of Technology with two hard

copies or an e-mail version of each

solicitation and any modifications no

later than the date of release of the

solicitation or modification to the

public. Those agencies that issue

program solicitations in electronic

format only shall provide the Internet

site at which the program solicitation

may be accessed no later than the date

of posting at that site of the program

solicitation or modification to the

public.

(3) SBA does not intend that the SBIR

Program solicitation replace or be used

as a substitute for unsolicited proposals

for R/R&D awards to SBCs. In addition,

the SBIR Program solicitation

procedures do not prohibit other agency

research or R&D actions with SBCs that

are carried on in accordance with

applicable statutory/regulatory

authorizations.

6. Eligibility and Application (Proposal)

Requirements

(a) Eligibility Requirements:

(1) Each awardee under the SBIR

Program must qualify as a SBC as

defined in this policy directive.

(2) For Phase I—a minimum of twothirds of the research or analytical effort

must be performed by the awardee.

Deviation from this requirement must be

approved in writing by the funding

agreement officer.

(3) For Phase II—a minimum of onehalf of the research or analytical effort

must be performed by the awardee.

Deviation from this requirement must be

approved in writing by the funding

agreement officer.

(4) For both Phase I and II, the

primary employment of the principal

investigator must be with the SBC at the

time of award and during the conduct

of the proposed effort. Primary

employment means that more than onehalf of the principal investigator’s time

is spent in the employ of the SBC.

Primary employment with a SBC

precludes full-time employment with

another organization. Deviation from

this requirement must be approved in

writing by the funding agreement

officer. (For purposes of the SBIR

Program, personnel obtained through a

Professional Employer Organization or

other similar personnel leasing

company may be considered employees

of the awardee. This is consistent with

13 CFR § 121.106—Small Business Size

Regulations.)

(5) Also, for both Phase I and Phase

II, the research or R&D work must be

performed in the United States, as

defined in this proposed policy

directive. However, based on a rare and

unique circumstance agencies may

approve that particular portion of the

27728 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

research or R&D work to be performed

or obtained in a country outside of the

United States. For example, if a supply

or material or other item or project

requirement is not available in the

United States. Approval by the funding

agreement officer for each such specific

condition(s) must be in writing.

(b) Proposal Requirements:

(1) Documentation of

commercialization record of firms with

multiple Phase II awards. A SBC

submitting a proposal for a funding

agreement for Phase I of an SBIR

Program that has received more than 15

Phase II SBIR awards during the

preceding 5 fiscal years must document

the extent to which it was able to secure

third phase funding to develop concepts

resulting from previous Phase II SBIR

awards.

(2) Commercialization Plan. A

succinct commercialization plan must

be included with each proposal for an

SBIR Phase II award moving toward

commercialization. Elements of a

commercialization plan may include the

following:

(i) Company information: Focused

objectives/core competencies; size;

specialization area(s); products with

significant sales; and history of previous

Federal and non-Federal funding,

regulatory experience, and subsequent

commercialization.

(ii) Customer and Competition: Clear

description of key technology

objectives, current competition, and

advantages compared to competing

products or services; description of

hurdles to acceptance of the innovation.

(iii) Market: Milestones, target dates,

market analyses of market size, and

estimated market share after first year

sales and after 5 years; explanation of

plan to obtain market share.

(iv) Intellectual Property: Patent status

or other demonstration of a plan to

achieve sufficient protection to realize

the commercialization stage and attain

at least a temporal competitive

advantage.

(v) Financing: Plans of securing

necessary funding in Phase III.

(vi) Data Collection: Each Phase II

applicant will be required to provide

information to the Tech-Net Database

System (http://technet.sba.gov). See

Appendix I, Item III. C., for additional

information.

7. SBIR Funding Process

In requiring the establishment of a

‘‘simplified, standardized funding

process,’’ the SBIR legislation requires

that specific attention be given to the

following areas of SBIR Program

administration:

(a) Timely Receipt and Review of

Proposals.

(1) Participating agencies must

establish firm schedules and review

formats for appropriate distribution of

the proposals for reviewing

recommendations and submission to the

SBIR Project Manager for award

determinations.

(i) All activities related to Phase I

proposal reviews shall normally be

completed and awards made within 6

months from the closing date of the

program solicitation. However, agencies

may extend that period up to 12 months

based on agency needs.

(ii) The program solicitations for

Phase I must establish proposal

submission dates. Related to Phase II

activity, an agency may also establish

set proposal submission dates. However,

agencies may negotiate mutually

acceptable proposal submission dates

with individual Phase I performers,

accomplish proposal reviews

expeditiously, and proceed with

awards. While recognizing that Phase II

arrangements between the agency and

applicant may require more detailed

negotiation to establish terms acceptable

to both parties, agencies must not

sacrifice the R/R&D momentum created

under Phase I by engaging in

unnecessarily protracted Phase II

proceedings.

(iii) SBIR participants often submit

duplicate or similar proposals to more

than one soliciting agency when the

work projects appear to involve similar

topics or requirements, which are

within the expertise and capability

levels of the applicant. To the extent

reasonably feasible, interagency funding

duplications of ‘‘essentially equivalent

work’’ under the SBIR or other Federal

programs should not occur. For this

purpose, the standardized program

solicitation will require applicants to

indicate the name and address of the

agencies to which essentially equivalent

work proposals were made, or

anticipated to be made, and to identify

by subject the projects for which the

proposal was submitted and the dates

submitted. The same information will

be required for any previous Federal

Government awards. To assist in

avoiding duplicate funding, each agency

must provide to SBA and to each SBIR

agency a listing of Phase I and Phase II

awardees including the complete

address and title of each SBIR project.

This information should be distributed

no later than release of the funding

agreement award information to the

public.

(b) Review of SBIR Proposals. SBA

encourages SBIR agencies to use their

routine review processes for SBIR

proposals whether internal or external

evaluation is used. A more limited

review process may be used for Phase I

due to the larger number of proposals

anticipated. Where appropriate, ‘‘peer’’

reviews external to the agency are

authorized by the Act. SBA cautions

SBIR agencies that all review

procedures must be designed to

minimize any possible conflict of

interest as it pertains to applicant

proprietary data. The standardized SBIR

solicitation advises potential applicants

that proposals may be subject to an

established external review process and

that the applicant may include company

designated proprietary information in

its proposal.

(c) Selection of Awardees. Normally,

SBIR agencies shall establish a proposal

review cycle wherein successful and

unsuccessful applicants will be notified

of final award decisions within 6-

months of the agency’s Phase I proposal

closing date. However, agencies may

extend that period up to 12 months

based on agency needs.

(1) The standardized SBIR Program

solicitation must:

(i) Advise Phase I applicants that

additional information may be

requested by the awarding agency to

evidence awardee responsibility for

project completion.

(ii) Contain information advising

applicants of basic proposal evaluation

criteria for Phase I and Phase II.

(2) Phase II proposal submissions,

reviews, and selections shall be

managed by arrangements between the

SBIR agency and each Phase I awardee

considered for Phase II award.

(d) Cost Sharing.

Cost sharing can serve the mutual

interests of the SBIR agencies and

certain SBIR awardees by assuring the

efficient use of available resources.

However, cost sharing on SBIR projects

is not required, although it may be

encouraged. The standardized SBIR

Program solicitation (Appendix I) will

provide information to prospective SBIR

applicants concerning cost sharing.

(e) Payment Schedules and Cost

Principles.

(1) Under Section 9(g)(7) of the Small

Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 638(g)(7), SBIR

awardees may be paid under an

applicable, authorized progress payment

procedure or in accordance with a

negotiated/definitized price and

payment schedule. Advance payments

are optional and may be made under

appropriate law. In all cases, agencies

must make payment to recipients under

SBIR funding agreements in full, subject

to audit, on or before the last day of the

12-month period beginning on the date

of completion of the award.

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27729

(2) All SBIR funding agreements must

use, as appropriate, current cost

principles and procedures authorized

for use by the SBIR agencies. At the time

of award, agencies shall inform each

SBIR awardee, to the extent possible, of

the applicable Federal regulations and

procedures that refer to the costs that,

generally, are allowable under funding

agreements.

(f) Funding Agreement Types and Fee

or Profit. Statutory requirements for

uniformity and standardization require

consistency in application of SBIR

Program provisions among SBIR

agencies. However, consistency must

allow for flexibility by the various

agencies in missions and needs as well

as the wide variance in funds required

to be devoted to SBIR Programs in the

agencies. The following instructions are

for the purpose of meeting these

requirements:

(1) Funding Agreement. The choice of

type of funding agreement (contract,

grant, or cooperative agreement) rests

with the awarding agency but must be

consistent with 31 U.S.C. 6301–6308.

(2) Fee or Profit. Unless expressly

excluded by statute, awarding agencies

must provide for a reasonable fee or

profit on SBIR funding agreements,

consistent with normal profit margins

provided to profit-making firms for R/

R&D work.

(g) Periods of Performance and

Extensions.

(1) In keeping with the legislative

intent to make a large number of

relatively small awards, modification of

funding agreements to extend periods of

performance, increase the scope of

work, or to increase the dollar amount

should be kept to a minimum, except for

options in original Phase I or II awards.

(2) Phase I. Period of performance

should normally not exceed 6 months.

However, agencies may provide a longer

performance period based on agency

needs or research plans.

(3) Phase II. Period of performance

under Phase II is a subject of negotiation

between the awardee and the issuing

agency. The duration of Phase II should

normally not exceed 2 years. However,

agencies may provide a longer

performance period based on agency

needs or research plans.

(h) Dollar Value of Awards.

(1) The Act establishes $100,000 as

the maximum amount of funds which

an agency may award in the first phase

of an SBIR Program, and $750,000 as the

maximum amount of funds which an

agency may award in the second phase

of an SBIR Program. SBA may adjust

these amounts once every 5 years to

reflect economic adjustments and

programmatic considerations.

(2) After award of any funding

agreement exceeding $100,000 for Phase

I or $750,000 for Phase II, the agency

SBIR representative must provide SBA

with written justification of such action.

This justification must be submitted

with the SBIR agency’s Annual Report

data. Similar justification is required for

any dollar increase of a funding

agreement that would bring the

cumulative dollar amount to a total in

excess of the amounts above.

(i) National Security Exemption.

The Act provides for exemptions

related to the simplified standardized

funding process ‘‘* * * if national

security or intelligence functions clearly

would be jeopardized.’’ This exemption

should not be interpreted as a blanket

exemption or prohibition of SBIR

participation related to the acquisition

of effort on national security or

intelligence functions except as

specifically defined under Section

9(e)(2) of the Act, 15 USC 638(e)(2).

Agency technology managers directing

R/R&D projects under the SBIR Program,

where the project subject matter may be

affected by this exemption, must first

make a determination on which, if any,

of the standardized proceedings clearly

place national security and intelligence

functions in jeopardy, and then proceed

with an acceptable modified process to

complete the SBIR action. SBA’s SBIR

Program monitoring activities, except

where prohibited by security

considerations, shall include a review of

nonconforming SBIR actions justified

under this public law provision.

8. Terms of Agreement Under SBIR

Awards

(a) Proprietary Information Contained

in Proposals. The standardized SBIR

Program solicitation, as described in the

Appendix I of this policy directive, will

include provisions requiring the

confidential treatment of any

proprietary information to the extent

permitted by law. Agencies will

discourage SBCs from submitting

information considered proprietary

unless the information is deemed

essential for proper evaluation of the

proposal. The solicitation will require

that all proprietary information to be

clearly identified and marked with a

prescribed legend. Agencies may elect

to require SBCs to limit proprietary

information to that essential to the

proposal and to have such information

submitted on a separate page or pages

keyed to the text.

(b) Rights in Data Developed Under

SBIR Funding Agreement. The Act

provides for ‘‘retention by a SBC of the

rights to data generated by the concern

in the performance of an SBIR award.’’

(1) The legislative history states that

the law provides authority for the SBIR

agency to protect technical data

generated under the funding agreement.

Each agency should refrain from

disclosing such data to competitors of

the SBC or from using the information

to produce future technical procurement

specifications that could harm the SBC

that discovered and developed the

innovation until the SBC has a

reasonable opportunity to seek patent

protection, if appropriate.

(2) SBIR agencies shall protect such

technical data for a period of not less

than 4 years from completion of each

phase of the SBIR Program (Phase I,

Phase II, and Federally-funded Phase III)

from which the data were generated

unless the agencies obtain permission to

disclose such data from the awardee.

The Government shall retain a royaltyfree license for Government use of any

technical data delivered under an SBIR

funding agreement whether patented or

not. This section does not apply to

program evaluation.

(3) These data rights apply to all

funding awards, including subcontracts

to such awards, that fall within the

statutory definition of first phase,

second phase, and third phase of the

SBIR Program, as described in Section 4

of this proposed policy directive. The

scope and extent of the SBIR data rights

applicable to Federally funded third

phase awards shall be identical to the

SBIR data rights applicable to Phases I

or II SBIR awards. That is, for phases

one and two SBIR awards, the 4-year

period of protection identified in 8(b)(2)

immediately above begins with the

completion of the Phase I period, and if

a Phase II award is made, the 4-year

period extends through the completion

of the Phase II period. A Phase III

award, if made, may not occur for

several years beyond completion of the

Phase II SBIR award period. Thus, the

4-year period of protection for a Phase

III award begins with the completion of

the Phase III award period.

(c) Title Transfer of Agency Provided

Property. Under the Act, title to

equipment purchased for project

performance with funds provided under

SBIR funding agreements may be

transferred to the awardee where such

transfer would be more cost effective

than recovery of the property by the

Government.

(d) Continued Use of Government

Equipment. The Act directs that a SBC

participating in the third phase of the

SBIR Program be allowed continued

use, as a directed bailment, of any

property transferred by a Federal agency

to the SBC in the second phase of an

SBIR Program for a period of not less

27730 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

than 2 years, beginning on the initial

date of the concern’s participation in the

third phase of such program.

(e) Grant Authority. The Act does not,

in and of itself, convey grant authority.

Each agency must secure grant authority

in accordance with its normal

procedures.

(f) Conflicts of Interest. SBA cautions

SBIR agencies that awards made to SBCs

owned by or employing current or

previous Federal Government

employees can create conflicts of

interest for those employees in violation

of FAR Part 3 and the Ethics in

Government Act of 1978, as amended.

Each SBIR agency should refer to the

standards of conduct review procedures

currently in effect for its agency to

ensure that such conflicts of interest do

not arise.

(g) Congress intends that the awardee

of a funding agreement under the SBIR

Program should, when purchasing any

equipment or a product with funds

provided through the funding

agreement, purchase only Americanmade equipment and products, to the

extent possible in keeping with the

overall purposes of that program. Each

SBIR agency must provide to each

awardee a notice of this.

9. Responsibilities of SBIR Participating

Agencies and Departments

(a) The Act requires each agency

participating in the SBIR Program to:

(1) Submit to the SBA, not later than

4 months after the date of enactment of

its annual Appropriations Act, a report

describing the methodology used for

calculating the amount of its extramural

budget. The report must also include an

itemization of each research program

excluded from the calculation of its

extramural budget and a brief

explanation of why it is excluded.

(2) Unilaterally determine the

categories of projects to be included in

its SBIR Program, giving special

consideration to broad research topics

and to topics that further one or more

critical technologies, as identified by:

(i) the National Critical Technologies

panel (or its successor) in the 1991

report required under section 603 of the

National Science and Technology Policy

Organization and Priorities Act of 1976,

and in subsequent reports issued under

that authority, or

(ii) the Secretary of Defense in the

1992 report issued in accordance with

10 U.S.C. 2522 and in subsequent

reports issued under that authority.

(3) Release SBIR solicitations in

accordance with the SBA master

schedule.

(4) Unilaterally receive and evaluate

proposals resulting from program

solicitations and issue funding

agreements.

(5) Provide for the requirement of a

succinct commercialization plan with

each proposal for a Phase II funding

agreement that is moving toward

commercialization.

(6) Collect and maintain information

from awardees and provide it to SBA to

develop and maintain the Tech-Net

Database, as identified in Section 11(e)

of this proposed policy directive.

(7) Administer its own SBIR funding

agreements or delegate such

administration to another agency; and

inform each awardee under such

agreement, to the extent possible, of the

costs of the awardee that will be

allowable under the funding agreement.

(8) Include provisions in each funding

agreement under the SBIR Program

setting forth the respective rights of the

United States and the SBC with respect

to intellectual property rights and with

respect to any right to carry out followon research.

(9) Ensure that the rights in data

developed under each Federally-funded

SBIR first phase, second phase, and

third phase funding agreement are

properly protected.

(10) Make payments to awardees of

SBIR funding agreements on the basis of

progress toward or completion of the

funding agreement requirements and in

all cases make payment to awardees

under such agreements in full, subject to

audit, on or before the last day of the 12-

month period beginning on the date of

completion of such requirements.

(11) Provide an annual report on the

SBIR Program to SBA. See Section 10 of

this policy directive.

(12) Report at least annually to the

SBA’s Office of Technology all instances

in which an agency pursued research,

development, or production of a

technology developed by a SBC using an

award made under the SBIR Program of

that agency, where the agency

determined that it was not practicable to

enter into a follow-on non-SBIR

Program funding agreement with the

SBC. The report shall include, at a

minimum:

(i) The reasons why the follow-on

funding agreement with the SBC was

not practicable;

(ii) The identity of the entity with

which the agency contracted to perform

the research, development, or

production; and

(iii) A description of the type of

funding agreement under which the

research, development, or production

was obtained.

(13) Include in its annual performance

plan a section on its SBIR Program, and

shall submit such section to the

Committee on Small Business of the

Senate, and the Committee on Science

and the Committee on Small Business of

the House of Representatives.

(14) Provide data to SBA to be used

in SBIR Program evaluation (see Section

11(e) of this policy directive).

(b) The Act allows discretionary

technical assistance to SBIR awardees:

(1) Agencies may enter into funding

agreements to provide technical

assistance to SBIR awardees, which may

include:

(i) Assistance in technical decisions;

(ii) Assistance with technical

problems; and

(iii) Assistance with all facets of

commercialization.

(2) Under Phase I, each agency may

provide up to $4,000 of SBIR funds for

such technical assistance, for each

Phase I award. The amount will be in

addition to the award and will count as

part of the agency’s SBIR funding.

(3) In Phase II, agencies may allow

awardees to expend up to $4,000 of

SBIR funds per year of the funding

agreement for such services.

(c) Interagency actions.

(1) Joint funding. An SBIR project may

be financed by more than one Federal

agency. Joint funding is not required but

can be an effective arrangement for

some projects.

(2) Phase II awards. An SBIR Phase II

award may be issued by a Federal

agency other than the one that made the

Phase I award. The Phase I and Phase

II agencies should document their files

appropriately, providing clear rationale

for the transfer of the Phase II proposal

to, and award by, the funding Federal

agency.

(3) Timely notification of awards. In

order to avoid duplicate funding of an

SBIR project, agencies shall promptly

search the Tech-Net Database System for

awards for essentially equivalent work.

Discussion among agencies receiving

similar proposals is strongly encouraged

before an SBIR award is made.

(4) Participation by women-owned

SBCs and socially and economically

disadvantaged SBCs in the SBIR

Program. In order to meet statutory

requirements for greater inclusion, SBA

and the Federal participating agencies

must conduct outreach efforts to find

and place innovative women-owned

SBCs and socially and economically

disadvantaged SBCs in the SBIR

Program information system. These

SBCs will be required to compete for

SBIR awards on the same basis as all

other SBCs. However, participating

agencies are encouraged to work

independently and cooperatively with

SBA to develop methods to encourage

qualified women-owned SBCs and

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27731

socially and economically

disadvantaged SBCs to participate in the

SBIR Program.

(d) Agency limitation of participation

and use of funds.

(1) A Federal agency must not use any

of its SBIR budget for the purpose of

funding administrative costs of the

program, including costs associated

with program operations, employee

salaries, and other associated expenses.

(2) A Federal agency shall not issue

an SBIR funding agreement that

includes a provision for subcontracting

any portion of that agreement back to

the issuing agency or to any other

Federal Government agency or other

units of the Federal Government.

However, an agency may deviate from

this requirement based on a

determination that such subcontracting

is vital to its mission. Approval by the

funding agreement officer for each such

specific condition must be in writing.

(SBA expects that agency deviations

will not be routine, and will occur only

for those special SBIR projects where

the use of Federal resources is

absolutely essential to the successful

conduct of a project that is vital to the

mission of the agency, and equivalent

resources are not available in the private

sector.)

(3) No agency, at its own discretion,

may unilaterally cease participation in

the SBIR Program. R/R&D agency

budgets may cause fluctuations and

trends that must be reviewed in light of

SBIR program purposes. An agency may

be considered by SBA for a phased

withdrawal from participation in the

SBIR Program over a period of time

sufficient in duration to minimize any

adverse impact on SBCs. However, the

SBA decision concerning such a

withdrawal will be made case-by-case

basis and will depend on significant

changes to extramural R/R&D 3-year

forecasts as found in the annual Budget

of the United States Government and

National Science Foundation

breakdowns of total R/R&D obligations

as published in the Federal Funds for

Research and Development. Any

withdrawal of an SBIR Federal

participating agency from the SBIR

Program will be accomplished in a

standardized and orderly manner in

compliance with these statutorily

mandated procedures.

(4) Voluntary participation in the

SBIR Program by Federal agencies not

otherwise qualified for such

participation may be permitted under

this policy directive. Federal agencies

seeking to participate in the SBIR

Program must submit their written

requests to SBA. Voluntary participation

requires the written approval of the SBA

after review of the request.

10. Annual Report to the Small

Business Administration

The Act requires a ‘‘simplified,

standardized and timely annual report’’

from the SBIR agencies. The following

paragraphs expand on this requirement,

providing the due date, the kinds of

information to be included, and the

number of copies to be submitted to

SBA.

(a) Annual Report Due Date and Number

of Copies

Reporting shall be on an annual basis

and will be for the period ending

September 30 of each fiscal year. A

single, hard copy report is due to SBA

by March 15 of each year. However, if

agencies choose to send an e-mail

version, it should be sent to

technology@sba.gov. Example: The

report for FY 2001 (October 1, 2000—

September 30, 2001) must be submitted

to SBA by March 15, 2002. SBA

encourages agencies to submit their

annual report before the due date of

March 15 of each year.

(b) Annual Report Content

(1) Agency total fiscal year,

extramural R/R&D total obligations as

reported to the National Science

Foundation pursuant to the annual

Budget of the United States

Government.

(2) SBIR Program total fiscal year

dollars derived by applying the

statutory per centum to the agencies

extramural R/R&D total obligations.

(3) SBIR Program fiscal year dollars

obligated through SBIR Program funding

agreements for Phase I and Phase II.

(4) Number of topics and subtopics

contained in each program solicitation.

(5) Number of proposals received by

the agency for each topic and subtopic

in each program solicitation.

(6) For both Phase I and Phase II, the

awardee’s name and address,

solicitation topic and subtopic,

solicitation number, project title, and

total dollar amount of funding

agreement. Identify women-owned

SBCs, economically and socially

disadvantaged SBCs, and Phase II

awardees with a follow-on funding

commitment(s).

(7) Justification for the award of any

funding agreement exceeding $125,000

for Phase I or $750,000 for Phase II.

(8) The number of awardees for whom

the Phase I process exceeded the 6-

month period from the closing date of

the SBIR solicitation to award of the

funding agreement.

(9) For an agency Phase III award

using non-SBIR Federal funds to

continue a Phase II project, the agency

shall instruct the Phase III awardee to

provide the name, address, project title,

and dollar amount obligated.

(10) Awards made under a topic or

subtopic wherein only one proposal was

received shall be reported and justified.

Agencies must provide name, address,

topic or subtopic and dollar amount of

award. Information must be collected

quarterly but updated in agencies’

annual reports.

(11) An accounting of Phase I awards

made to SBCs that have received more

than 15 Phase II awards from all

agencies in the preceding 5 fiscal years.

Agencies to report as a minimum: name

of awarding agency, date of award,

funding agreement number, topic or

subtopic title, amount and date of Phase

II funding, and commercialization status

for each Phase II award.

(12) If applicable, report the number

of National Critical Technology topic or

subtopic funding agreements, the

percentage by number and dollar

amount of total SBIR awards to such

National Critical Technologies.

(13) Report at least annually all

instances in which an agency pursued

research, development, or production of

a technology developed by a SBC using

an award made under the SBIR Program

of that agency, and determined that it

was not practicable to enter into a

follow-on non-SBIR Program funding

agreement with the SBC. See Section

9(a)(12). for minimum reporting

requirements.

(14) Justification for continuing an

STTR Phase I project through the SBIR

Program using SBIR funds. Explain in

detail the rationale for this deviation.

11. Responsibilities of SBA

(a) The SBA’s Office of Technology

will annually obtain available

information on the current critical

technologies from the National Critical

Technologies panel (or its successor)

and the Secretary of Defense and

provide such information to the SBIR

agencies.

(b) SBA will request this information

in June of each year. The data received

will be submitted to each of the

participating Federal agencies and will

also be published in the September

issue of the SBIR Pre-Solicitation

Announcement.

(c) Examples of SBIR Areas to be

Monitored by SBA.

(1) SBIR Funding Allocations. Of

major significance to the success of the

SBIR Program is the magnitude and

nature of the SBIR agencies’ funding

allocations identified for fiscal year

27732 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

funding agreements. The Act explicitly

relates to both the definition of the SBIR

effort, R/R&D (as defined in the Act and

OMB Circular A–11), and the

mathematical methodology for

determining fiscal year participation

levels for all work categorized within

the statutory definitions. SBA monitors

these allocations.

(2) SBIR Program Solicitation and

Award Status. The accomplishment of

scheduled SBIR events, such as SBIR

Program solicitation release and the

issuance of funding agreements is

critical to meeting statutory mandates

and to operating an effective, useful

program. SBA monitors these and other

operational features of the SBIR

Program. SBA does not plan to monitor

administration of the awards except in

instances where SBA assistance is

requested and is related to a specific

SBIR project or funding agreement.

(3) Follow-on Funding Commitments.

SBA will monitor whether follow-on

non-Federal funding commitments

obtained by Phase II awardees for Phase

III were considered in the evaluation of

Phase II proposals as required by the

Act.

(4) Agency Rules and Regulations. It

is essential that no policy, rule,

regulation, or interpretation be

promulgated by the SBIR agencies that

are inconsistent with the Act or this

policy directive. SBA’s monitoring

activity will include review of policies,

rules, regulations, interpretations, and

procedures generated to facilitate intraagency SBIR Program implementation.

(d) The SBA develops, participates in,

and, when appropriate and feasible,

sponsors seminars for innovative

women-owned SBCs and socially and

economically disadvantaged SBCs to

inform them of the SBIR Program and

Federal and commercial assistance and

services available for SBIR Program

participants.

(e) Standardized Collection of Data—

‘‘Technology Resources Access

Network’’ (Tech-Net) Database System

Overview.

The SBA’s Office of Technology, as

functional program manager for the

SBIR and the Small Business

Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs,

is required to collect and report to the

Congress, information regarding awards

made to SBCs by each Federal agency

participating in these programs. The

Office of Technology maintains an

internal database of awards and uses the

system to report on technology and

demographical statistics regarding the

SBIR and the STTR Programs. The

system also stores the 200-word

technical abstract for each SBIR and

STTR award that is prepared by the

awardee summarizing the research effort

that has been supported by the Federal

Government. The system also provides

the Office of Technology with the ability

to perform keyword searches in many

areas, including any part of the name,

address, and technical abstract of the

awardee. The system produces many

reports that are used in the conduct of

audits performed by the General

Accounting Office (GAO) and to expose

potential duplication of research and

development efforts funded by the SBIR

agencies. The Office of Technology, in

a joint effort with the SBA’s Office of

the Chief Information Officer, is

redesigning the Office of Technology’s

internal awards database system to

operate on the Internet. The Internet

system is titled the ‘‘Technology

Resources Access Network,’’ or TechNet. Tech-Net offers a vast array of user

friendly capabilities, and is accessible

by the public at no charge. Tech-Net

allows for the online submission of

SBIR/STTR awards data from all SBIR

agencies, a process that until now was

part manual and part automated. TechNet also allows any end-user to perform

keyword searches and create formatted

reports of SBIR/STTR awards

information. Tech-Net will allow for

potential research partners to view

research and development efforts that

are ongoing in the SBIR and the STTR

Programs, increasing the investment

opportunities of the SBIR/STTR SBCs in

the high tech arena. Tech-Net serves as

an excellent marketing tool for the small

high tech business community, allowing

investors to view first hand the

technical capabilities of SBIR/STTR

awardees, which will ultimately

produce investments, partnerships, and

strategic alliances resulting in

commercialization of SBIR/STTR

research. Tech-Net also houses

legislatively mandated information on

all SBIR and STTR awards, as well as

outcome and output information that

will be relevant to measuring the

effectiveness and success of the

programs. Agencies can update awardee

information and add project

commercialization and sales data with

user names and passwords. This can be

done via the ‘‘Procurement Marketing

and Access Network’’ or Pro-Net

database. Pro-Net is the single source

client database for all internal and

external SBA database systems and

contains information regarding SBIR

and STTR awardees. Username and

passwords will be assigned only to

awardees to provide access to their

respective awards information

maintained in the Pro-Net system.

Award data maintained in the Tech-Net

database can be changed only by the

awardee, SBA, or the awarding

SBIR /STTR Federal agency. Project

commercialization and sales data can

only be viewed by Congress, the

Government Accounting Office (GAO),

agencies participating in the SBIR and

the STTR Programs, Office of

Management and Budget (OMB), Office

of Science and Technology Policy

(OSTP), Office of Federal Procurement

Policy (OFPP), and other authorized

persons (e.g., authorized contractors)

who are subject to a use and

nondisclosure agreement with the

Federal Government covering the use of

the database. To use the Tech-Net or

Pro-Net database systems, visit the

website http://tech-net.sba.gov. Online

help is available.

(1) Public Tech-Net Database (See

Appendix II for Data Fields)

SBA, in consultation with the Federal

agencies participating in the SBIR and

the STTR Programs, develops and

maintains a searchable, up-to-date,

electronic database that includes:

(i) the name, size, location, funding

agreement number, and tax

identification number of each SBC that

has received an SBIR or STTR Phase I

or Phase II award from a Federal agency;

(ii) a description of each SBIR or

STTR Phase I or Phase II award received

by the SBC including:

(A) an abstract of the project funded

by the award, excluding any proprietary

information so identified by the

awardee;

(B) the Federal agency making the

award; and

(C) the date and amount of the award.

(iii) an identification of any business

concern or subsidiary established for the

commercial application of a product or

service for which an SBIR or STTR

award is made; and

(iv) information regarding mentors

and Mentoring Networks, as required in

the Federal and State Technology

(FAST) Partnership Program described

in Section 12 of this proposed policy

directive.

(2) Government Tech-Net Database

SBA, in consultation with the Federal

agencies participating in the SBIR and

the STTR Programs, develops and

maintains a secure database that:

(i) contains, for each Phase II award:

(A) revenue from the sale of new

products or services resulting from the

research conducted under each Phase II

award;

(B) additional investment from any

source, other than Phase I or Phase II

SBIR or STTR awards, to further the

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27733

research and development conducted

under each Phase II award; and

(C) any other information received in

connection with the award that the

Administrator, in conjunction with the

SBIR program managers of the

participating agencies, considers

relevant and appropriate;

(ii) includes any narrative information

that a Phase II awardee voluntarily

submits to further describe the outputs

and outcomes of its awards;

(iii) includes for each applicant that

does not receive a Phase I or Phase II

award: (1) The name, size, location,

identifying number assigned by the

agency, and tax identification number;

(2) an abstract of the project; and (3) the

Federal agency to which the application

was made;

(iv) includes any other data collected

by or available to any Federal agency

that such agency considers to be useful

for SBIR program evaluation; and

(v) is available for use solely for

program evaluation purposes by the

Federal Government or, in accordance

with policy directives issued by SBA, or

by other authorized persons who are

subject to a use and nondisclosure

agreement with the Federal Government

covering the use of the database.

(3) Data Collection for Government

Tech-Net Database

(i) Each SBC applying for a Phase II

award is required to update the

appropriate information in the Tech-Net

database for any prior Phase II award

received by that SBC. In meeting this

requirement, the SBC may apportion

sales or additional investment

information relating to more than one

Phase II award among those awards, if

it notes the apportionment for each

award.

(ii) Each Phase II awardee is required

to update the appropriate information in

the Tech-Net database on that award at

the expiration of the award period. In

addition, the awardee is requested to

voluntarily update the appropriate

information on that award in the TechNet database annually thereafter for a

minimum period of 5 years.

(iii) Under 15 U.S.C. 638(k)(4)

information provided to the

Government Tech-Net Database is

privileged and confidential and not

subject to disclosure pursuant to 5

U.S.C. 552 (Government Organization

and Employees); nor shall it be

considered to be publication for

purposes of 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) or (b).

(iv) SBA will minimize the data

reporting requirements of SBCs, make

updating available electronically, and

provide standardized procedures.

12. Federal and State Technology

(FAST) Partnership Program and Rural

Outreach Program

(a) Federal and State Technology

Partnership Program

The Small Business Innovation

Research Program Reauthorization Act

of 2000 (Pub. L. 106–554) established

the Federal and State Technology

(FAST) Partnership Program to

strengthen the technological

competitiveness of SBCs in the United

States. Congress found that programs

that foster economic development

among small high-technology firms vary

widely among the States. Thus, the

purpose of the FAST Program is to

improve the participation of small

technology firms in the innovation and

commercialization of new technology,

thereby ensuring that the United States

remains on the cutting edge of research

and development in the highly

competitive arena of science and

technology. SBA administers the FAST

Program. Additional and detailed

information regarding this program is

available electronically at www.sba.gov/

SBIR.

(b) Rural Outreach Program

The Rural Outreach Program is

authorized by section 9(s) of the Small

Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 638 (s). The

Small Business Innovation Research

Program Reauthorization Act of 2000,

Public Law 106–554, which was signed

by the President on December 21, 2000,

extends the program through fiscal year

2005 (September 30, 2005).

Historically, SBCs located in a

relatively small number of States have

been highly successful in securing

awards under the SBIR Program. To

expand competition under the SBIR and

STTR Programs, and to encourage the

maximum number of SBCs to submit

proposals and succeed in winning

awards, SBA provides Federal

assistance to support statewide outreach

to small high-technology businesses

located in States that are

underrepresented in SBIR/STTR

awards. Cooperative Agreements to

‘‘Eligible States’’ are made on a

matching funds basis. The awards will

be made in a ratio of Federal dollars to

non-Federal dollars of 2:1, with a

maximum Federal contribution of

$100,000. Assistance provided to an

Eligible State under this program

announcement shall be used by the

State, in consultation with State and

local departments and agencies, for

programs and activities to increase the

participation of SBCs located in the

State in the SBIR and STTR Programs.

Only ‘‘Eligible States’’ may submit

proposals for the Rural Outreach

Program. An ‘‘Eligible State’’ is defined

in section 9(s)(1) of the Small Business

Act (15 U.S.C. 638(s)(1)): ‘‘Eligible

State’’ means a State-(A) if the total

value of SBIR/STTR awards made to

recipient businesses in the State during

fiscal year 1995 under this section [i.e.,

under SBIR and STTR Programs], was

less than $5,000,000 (as reflected in

SBA’s database of fiscal year 1995

awards); and (B) that certifies to the

Administration that the State will, upon

receipt of assistance under this

subsection, provide matching funds

from non-Federal sources in an amount

that is not less than 50 percent of the

amount provided under this subsection.

The 25 States for which the total

value of awards issued under the SBIR

and STTR Programs in fiscal year 1995

was less than $5,000,000 are: Alaska,

Arkansas, Delaware, District of

Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,

Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,

Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,

Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota,

Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island,

South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont,

West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Appendix I: Instructions for SBIR

Program Solicitation Preparation

1. General

Section 9(j) of the Small Business Act (15

U.S.C. 638(j)) requires ‘‘***simplified,

standardized and timely SBIR solicitations’’

and for SBIR agencies to utilize a ‘‘uniform

process’’ minimizing the regulatory burden of

participation. Therefore, the following

instructions purposely depart from normal

Government solicitation formats and

requirements. SBIR solicitations must be

prepared and issued as program solicitations

in accordance with the following

instructions.

2. Limitation in Size of Solicitation

In the interest of meeting the requirement

for simplified and standardized solicitations,

while also recognizing that the Internet has

become the main vehicle for distribution,

each agency should structure its entire SBIR

solicitation to produce the least number of

pages (electronic and printed), consistent

with the procurement/assistance standard

operating procedures and statutory

requirements of the participating Federal

agencies.

3. Format

SBIR Program solicitations must be

prepared in a simplified, standardized, easyto-read, easy-to-understand format including

a cover sheet, a table of contents and the

following sections in the order listed (content

of each section is discussed below):

1. Program Description.

2. Definitions.

3. Proposal Preparation Instructions and

Requirements.

4. Method of Selection and Evaluation

Criteria.

27734 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

5. Considerations.

6. Submission of Proposals.

7. Scientific and Technical Information

Sources.

8. Submission Forms and Certifications.

9. Research Topics.

4. Cover Sheet

The cover sheet or title page of an SBIR

Program solicitation must clearly identify the

solicitation as a SBIR solicitation, identify

the agency releasing the solicitation, specify

date(s) on which proposals (contract

proposals/grant applications) are due under

the solicitation, and state the solicitation

number or year.

Instructions for Preparation of SBIR

Program Solicitation Sections 1 Through 9

1. Program Description

(a) Summarize in narrative form the

invitation to submit proposals and the

objectives of the SBIR Program.

(b) Describe in narrative form the agency’s

SBIR Program including a description of the

three phases. Note in your description that

the solicitation is for Phase I proposals only.

(c) Describe program eligibility, as follows:

Eligibility. Each concern submitting a

proposal must qualify as a SBC for research

or R&D purposes at the time of award. In

addition, the primary employment of the

principal investigator must be with the SBC

at the time of award and during the conduct

of the proposed research, unless otherwise

approved in writing by the funding

agreement officer. Also, for both Phase I and

Phase II, the research or R&D work must be

performed in the United States. However,

based on a rare and unique circumstance, for

example, a supply or material or other item

or project requirement that is not available in

the United States, agencies may allow that

particular portion of the research or R&D

work to be performed or obtained in a

country outside of the United States.

Approval by the funding agreement officer

for such specific condition(s) must be in

writing.

(d) List name, address and telephone

number of agency contacts for general

information on the SBIR Program solicitation.

2. Definitions

Whenever terms are used that are unique

to the SBIR Program, a specific SBIR

solicitation or a portion of a solicitation, they

will be defined in a separate section entitled

‘‘Definitions.’’ At a minimum, the definitions

of ‘‘SBC,’’ ‘‘socially and economically

disadvantaged SBC,’’ ‘‘women-owned SBC,’’

‘‘funding agreement,’’ and ‘‘subcontract’’ as

stated in this proposed policy directive shall

be included.

3. Proposal Preparation Instructions and

Requirements

The purpose of this section is to inform the

applicant on what to include in his or her

proposal and to set forth limits on what may

be included. It should also provide guidance

to assist applicants in improving the quality

and acceptance of proposals particularly to

firms that may not have previous

Government experience.

(a) Limitations on Length of Proposal.

Include at least the following information: (1)

SBIR Phase I proposals must not exceed a

total of 25 pages, including cover page,

budget, and all enclosures or attachments,

unless stated otherwise in the agency

solicitation. Pages should be of standard size

(8 1/2’’ × 11’’; 21.6 cm × 27.9 cm) and should

conform to the standard formatting

instructions; in particular, 2.5 cm margins

and type no smaller than 10 point font size.

(2) A notice that no additional attachments,

appendices, or references beyond the 25-page

limitation shall be considered in proposal

evaluation (unless specifically solicited by an

agency) and that proposals in excess of the

page limitation shall not be considered for

review or award.

(b) Proposal Cover Sheet. Every applicant

will be required to include at least the

following information on the first page of

proposals. Items 8 and 9 are for statistical

purposes only.

(1) Agency and solicitation number or year.

(2) Topic Number or Letter.

(3) Subtopic Number or Letter.

(4) Topic Area.

(5) Project Title.

(6) Name and Complete Address of Firm.

(7) Small Business Certification (by

statement or checkbox) as follows:

‘‘The above concern certifies that it is a

SBC and meets the definition as stated in this

solicitation or that it will meet that definition

at time of award.’’

(8) Socially and Economically

Disadvantaged SBC Certification (by

statement or checkbox) as follows:

‘‘The above concern certifies that it l does

l does not qualify as a socially and

economically disadvantaged SBC and meets

the definition as stated in this solicitation.’’

(9) Women-owned SBC Certification (by

statement or checkbox) as follows:

‘‘The above concern certifies that it does

does not qualify as a women-owned SBC and

meets the definition as stated in this

solicitation.’’

(10) An information statement regarding

duplicate research as follows:

‘‘The applicant and/or Principal

Investigator l has l has not submitted

proposals for essentially equivalent work

under other Federal program solicitations or

l has l has not received other Federal

awards for essentially equivalent work.’’

(Identify proposals/awards in section

III.D.10, ‘‘Similar Proposals and Awards’’)

(11) Disclosure permission (by statement or

checkbox), such as follows, may be included

at the discretion of the funding agency: ‘‘Will

you permit the Government to disclose the

title and technical abstract page of your

proposed project, plus the name, address,

and telephone number of the corporate

official of your concern, if your proposal does

not result in an award, to concerns that may

be interested in contacting you for further

information? Yes l Nol’’

(12) Signature of a company official of the

proposing SBC and that individual’s typed

name, title, address, telephone number, and

date of signature.

(13) Signature of Principal Investigator or

Project Manager within the proposing SBC

and that individual’s typed name, title,

address, telephone number, and date of

signature.

(14) Legend for proprietary information as

described in the ‘‘Considerations’’ section of

this program solicitation if appropriate. May

also be noted by asterisks in the margins on

proposal pages.

(c) Data Collection Requirement.

(1) Each Phase II applicant will be required

to provide information for the Tech-Net

Database System (http://technet.sba.gov).

Following are examples of the data to be

entered by applicants into Tech-Net:

(i) Any business concern or subsidiary

established for the commercial application of

a product or service for which an SBIR award

is made.

(ii) Revenue from the sale of new products

or services resulting from the research

conducted under each Phase II award;

(iii) Additional investment from any

source, other than Phase I or Phase II awards,

to further the research and development

conducted under each Phase II award.

(iv) Update the information in the TechNet database for any prior Phase II award

received by the SBC. The SBC may apportion

sales or additional investment information

relating to more than one Phase II award

among those awards, if it notes the

apportionment for each award.

(2) Each Phase II awardee is required to

update the appropriate information on the

award in the Tech-Net database at the

expiration of the award period and is

requested to voluntarily update the

information in the Tech-Net database

annually thereafter for a minimum period of

5 years.

(d) Abstract or Summary. Applicants will

be required to include a one-page project

summary of the proposed research or R&D

including at least the following:

(1) Name and address of SBC.

(2) Name and title of principal investigator

or project manager.

(3) Agency name, solicitation number,

solicitation topic, and subtopic.

(4) Title of project.

(5) Technical abstract limited to two

hundred words.

(6) Summary of the anticipated results and

implications of the approach (both Phases I

and II) and the potential commercial

applications of the research.

(e) Technical Content. SBIR Program

solicitations must require as a minimum the

following to be included in proposals

submitted thereunder:

(1) Identification and Significance of the

Problem or Opportunity. A clear statement of

the specific technical problem or opportunity

addressed.

(2) Phase I Technical Objectives. State the

specific objectives of the Phase I research and

development effort, including the technical

questions it will try to answer to determine

the feasibility of the proposed approach.

(3) Phase I Work Plan. Include a detailed

description of the Phase I R/R&D plan. The

plan should indicate what will be done,

where it will be done, and how the R/R&D

will be carried out. Phase I R/R&D should

address the objectives and the questions cited

in D.2. above. The methods planned to

achieve each objective or task should be

discussed in detail.

(4) Related R/R&D. Describe significant R/

R&D that is directly related to the proposal

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27735

including any conducted by the project

manager/principal investigator or by the

proposing SBC. Describe how it relates to the

proposed effort, and any planned

coordination with outside sources. The

applicant must persuade reviewers of his or

her awareness of key recent R/R&D

conducted by others in the specific topic

area.

(5) Key Personnel and Bibliography of

Directly Related Work. Identify key personnel

involved in Phase I including their directly

related education, experience, and

bibliographic information. Where vitae are

extensive, summaries that focus on the most

relevant experience or publications are

desired and may be necessary to meet

proposal size limitation.

(6) Relationship with Future R/R&D.

(i) State the anticipated results of the

proposed approach if the project is successful

(Phase I and II).

(ii) Discuss the significance of the Phase I

effort in providing a foundation for the Phase

II R/R&D effort.

(7) Facilities. A detailed description,

availability and location of instrumentation

and physical facilities proposed for Phase I

should be provided.

(8) Consultants. Involvement of

consultants in the planning and research

stages of the project is permitted.

If such involvement is intended, it should

be described in detail.

( 9) Potential Post Applications. Briefly

describe:

(i) Whether and by what means the

proposed project appears to have potential

commercial application.

(ii) Whether and by what means the

proposed project appears to have potential

use by the Federal Government.

(10) Similar Proposals or Awards.

WARNING—While it is permissible with

proposal notification to submit identical

proposals or proposals containing a

significant amount of essentially equivalent

work for consideration under numerous

Federal program solicitations, it is unlawful

to enter into funding agreements requiring

essentially equivalent effort. If there is any

question concerning this, it must be

disclosed to the soliciting agency or agencies

before award. If an applicant elects to submit

identical proposals or proposals containing a

significant amount of essentially equivalent

work under other Federal program

solicitations, a statement must be included in

each such proposal indicating:

(i) The name and address of the agencies

to which proposals were submitted or from

which awards were received.

(ii) Date of proposal submission or date of

award.

(iii) Title, number, and date of solicitations

under which proposals were submitted or

awards received.

(iv) The specific applicable research topics

for each proposal submitted or award

received.

(v) Titles of research projects.

(vi) Name and title of principal investigator

or project manager for each proposal

submitted or award received.

(11) Prior SBIR Phase II Awards. If the SBC

has received more than 15 Phase II awards

in the prior 5 fiscal years, submit name of

awarding agency, date of award, funding

agreement number, amount, topic or subtopic

title, follow-on agreement amount, source,

and date of commitment and current

commercialization status for each Phase II.

(This required proposal information will not

be counted toward proposal pages count

limitation.)

(f) Cost Breakdown/Proposed Budget. The

solicitation will require the submission of

simplified cost or budget data.

4. Method of Selection and Evaluation

Criteria

(a) Standard Statement. Essentially the

following statement shall be included in all

SBIR Program solicitations:

‘‘All Phase I and II proposals will be

evaluated and judged on a competitive basis.

Proposals will be initially screened to

determine responsiveness. Proposals passing

this initial screening will be technically

evaluated by engineers or scientists to

determine the most promising technical and

scientific approaches. Each proposal will be

judged on its own merit. The Agency is

under no obligation to fund any proposal or

any specific number of proposals in a given

topic. It also may elect to fund several or

none of the proposed approaches to the same

topic or subtopic.’’

(b) Evaluation Criteria.

(1) The Agency in its evaluation process

shall develop a standardized method that

will consider as a minimum the following

factors:

(i) The technical approach and the

anticipated agency and commercial benefits

that may be derived from the research.

(ii) The adequacy of the proposed effort

and its relationship to the fulfillment of

requirements of the research topic or

subtopics.

(iii) The soundness and technical merit of

the proposed approach and its incremental

progress toward topic or subtopic solution.

(iv) Qualifications of the proposed

principal/key investigators, supporting staff,

and consultants.

(v) In Phase II, evaluations of proposals

require, among other things, consideration of

a proposal’s commercial potential as

evidenced by:

(A) the SBC’s record of commercializing

SBIR or other research,

(B) the existence of second phase funding

commitments from private sector or nonSBIR funding sources,

(C) the existence of third phase follow-on

commitments for the subject of the research,

and,

(D) the presence of other indicators of

commercial potential of the idea.

Phase II proposals may only be submitted

by Phase I award winners.

(2) The factors in B.1. above and other

appropriate evaluation criteria, if any, shall

be specified in the ‘‘Method of Selection’’

section of SBIR Program solicitations.

(c) Peer Review. The program solicitation

must indicate if the SBIR agency

contemplates that as a part of the SBIR

proposal evaluation it will use external peer

review.

(d) Release of Proposal Review

Information. After final award decisions have

been announced, the technical evaluations of

the applicant’s proposal may be provided to

the applicant. The identity of the reviewer

must not be disclosed.

5. Considerations

This section must include, as a minimum,

the following information:

(a) Awards. Indicate the estimated number

and type of awards anticipated under the

particular SBIR Program solicitation in

question, including:

(i) Approximate number of Phase I awards

expected to be made.

(ii) Type of funding agreement, i.e.,

contract, grant or cooperative agreement.

(iii) Whether fee or profit will be allowed.

(iv) Cost basis of funding agreement, for

example, firm-fixed-price, cost

reimbursement, or cost-plus-fixed fee.

(v) Information on the approximate average

dollar value of awards for Phase I and Phase

II.

(b) Reports. Describe the frequency and

nature of reports that will be required under

Phase I funding agreements. Interim reports

should be brief letter reports.

(c) Payment Schedule. Specify the method

and frequency of progress and final payment

under Phase I and II agreements.

(d) Innovations, Inventions and Patents.

(1) Limited Rights Information and Data.

(i) Proprietary Information. Essentially the

following statement shall be included in all

SBIR solicitations: ‘‘Information contained in

unsuccessful proposals will remain the

property of the applicant. The Government

may, however, retain copies of all proposals.

Public release of information in any proposal

submitted will be subject to existing statutory

and regulatory requirements. If proprietary

information is provided by an applicant in a

proposal, which constitutes a trade secret,

proprietary commercial or financial

information, confidential personal

information or data affecting the national

security, it will be treated in confidence, to

the extent permitted by law. This information

must be clearly marked by the applicant with

the term ‘‘confidential proprietary

information’’ and the following legend must

appear on the title page of the proposal:

‘‘For any purpose other than to evaluate

the proposal, this data shall not be disclosed

outside the Government and shall not be

duplicated, used, or disclosed in whole or in

part, provided that if a funding agreement is

awarded to this applicant as a result of or in

connection with the submission of this data,

the Government shall have the right to

duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the

extent provided in the funding agreement

and pursuant to applicable law. This

restriction does not limit the Government’s

right to use information contained in the data

if it is obtained from another source without

restriction. The data subject to this restriction

are contained on pages llof this proposal.’’

Any other legend may be unacceptable to the

Government and may constitute grounds for

removing the proposal from further

consideration, without assuming any liability

for inadvertent disclosure. The Government

will limit dissemination of such information

to within official channels.’’

27736 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

(ii) Alternative To Minimize Proprietary

Information. Agencies may elect to instruct

applicants to:

(A) Limit proprietary information to only

that absolutely essential to their proposal.

(B) Provide proprietary information on a

separate page with a numbering system to

key it to the appropriate place in the

proposal.

(iii) Rights in Data Developed Under SBIR

Funding Agreements. To notify the SBC of

the policy stated in Section 8(b) of this

proposed policy directive, the following

statement will be included in all SBIR

Program solicitations: ‘‘These SBIR data are

furnished with SBIR rights under Funding

Agreement No.l (and subcontractl if

appropriate). For a period of 4 years after

acceptance of all items to be delivered under

this funding agreement, the Government

agrees to use this data for Government

purposes only, and it shall not be disclosed

outside the Government (including

disclosure for procurement purposes) during

such period without permission of the

awardee, except that, subject to the foregoing

use and disclosure prohibitions, such data

may be disclosed for use by support

contractors. After the 4-year period, the

Government has a royalty-free license to use,

and to authorize others to use on its behalf,

this data for Government purposes, but is

relieved of all disclosure prohibitions and

assumes no liability for unauthorized use of

this data by third parties. This Notice shall

be affixed to any reproductions of this data,

in whole or in part.’’

(iv) Copyrights. Include an appropriate

statement concerning copyrights and

publications; for example: ‘‘With prior

written permission of the contracting officer,

the awardee normally may copyright and

publish (consistent with appropriate national

security considerations, if any) material

developed with (agency name) support.

(Agency name) receives a royalty-free license

for the Federal Government and requires that

each publication contain an appropriate

acknowledgement and disclaimer statement.’’

(v) Patents. Include an appropriate

statement concerning patents. For example:

‘‘Small business concerns normally may

retain the principal worldwide patent rights

to any invention developed with Government

support. The Government receives a royaltyfree license for Federal Government use,

reserves the right to require the patent holder

to license others in certain circumstances,

and requires that anyone exclusively licensed

to sell the invention in the United States

must normally manufacture it domestically.

To the extent authorized by 35 U.S.C. 205,

the Government will not make public any

information disclosing a Governmentsupported invention for a 4-year period to

allow the awardee a reasonable time to

pursue a patent.’’

(vi) Invention Reporting. Include

requirements for reporting invention Include

appropriate information concerning the

reporting of inventions, for example: ‘‘SBIR

awardees must report inventions to the

awarding agency within 2 months of the

inventor’s report to the awardee. The

reporting of inventions may be accomplished

by submitting paper documentation,

including fax.’’

Note: Some agencies provide electronic

reporting of inventions through the NIH

Edison Invention Reporting System. Use of

the Edison system satisfies all invention

reporting requirements mandated by the

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 37 CFR

Part 401, with particular emphasis on the

Standard Patent Rights Clauses, Section

401.14. Access to the system is through a

secure interactive Internet site, http://

www.iedison.gov, to ensure that all

information submitted is protected. All

agencies are encouraged to use the Edison

System. In addition to fulfilling reporting

requirements, Edison notifies the user of

future time sensitive deadlines with enough

lead-time to avoid the possibility of loss of

patent rights due to administrative oversight.

(e) Cost-Sharing. Include a statement

essentially as follows: ‘‘Cost-sharing is

permitted for proposals under this program

solicitation; however, cost-sharing is not

required. Cost-sharing will not be an

evaluation factor in consideration of your

Phase I proposal.’’

(f) Profit or Fee. Include a statement on the

payment of profit or fee on awards made

under the SBIR Program solicitation.

(g) Joint Ventures or Limited Partnerships.

Include essentially the following language:

‘‘Joint ventures and limited partnerships are

eligible provided the entity created qualifies

as a small business concern as defined in this

program solicitation.’’

(h) Research and Analytical Work. Include

essentially the following statement:

(1) ‘‘For Phase I a minimum of two-thirds

of the research and/or analytical effort must

be performed by the proposing small

business concern unless otherwise approved

in writing by the funding agreement officer.

(2) For Phase II a minimum of one-half of

the research and/or analytical effort must be

performed by the proposing small business

concern unless otherwise approved in

writing by the funding agreement officer.’’

(i) Awardee Commitments. To meet the

legislative requirement that SBIR

solicitations be simplified, standardized and

uniform, clauses expected to be in or

required to be included in SBIR funding

agreements shall not be included in full or

by reference in SBIR Program solicitations.

Rather, applicants shall be advised that they

will be required to make certain legal

commitments at the time of execution of

funding agreements resulting from SBIR

Program solicitations. Essentially, the

following statement shall be included in the

‘‘Consideration’’ section of SBIR Program

solicitations: ‘‘Upon award of a funding

agreement, the awardee will be required to

make certain legal commitments through

acceptance of numerous clauses in Phase I

funding agreements. The outline that follows

is illustrative of the types of clauses to which

the contractor would be committed. This list

should not be understood to represent a

complete list of clauses to be included in

Phase I funding agreements, or to be specific

wording of such clauses. Copies of complete

terms and conditions are available upon

request.’’

(j) Summary Statements. The following are

illustrative of the type of summary

statements to be included immediately

following the statement in the subparagraph

I. These statements are examples only and

may vary depending upon type of funding

agreement.

(1) Standards of Work. Work performed

under the funding agreement must conform

to high professional standards.

(2) Inspection. Work performed under the

funding agreement is subject to Government

inspection and evaluation at all times.

(3) Examination of Records. The

Comptroller General (or a duly authorized

representative) shall have the right to

examine any directly pertinent records of the

awardee involving transactions related to this

funding agreement.

(4) Default. The Government may

terminate the funding agreement if the

contractor fails to perform the work

contracted.

(5) Termination for Convenience. The

funding agreement may be terminated at any

time by the Government if it deems

termination to be in its best interest, in which

case the awardee will be compensated for

work performed and for reasonable

termination costs.

(6) Disputes. Any dispute concerning the

funding agreement that cannot be resolved by

agreement shall be decided by the

contracting officer with right of appeal.

(7) Contract Work Hours. The awardee may

not require an employee to work more than

8 hours a day or 40 hours a week unless the

employee is compensated accordingly (e.g.,

overtime pay).

(8) Equal Opportunity. The awardee will

not discriminate against any employee or

applicant for employment because of race,

color, religion, sex, or national origin.

(9) Affirmative Action for Veterans. The

awardee will not discriminate against any

employee or application for employment

because he or she is a disabled veteran or

veteran of the Vietnam era.

(10) Affirmative Action for Handicapped.

The awardee will not discriminate against

any employee or applicant for employment

because he or she is physically or mentally

handicapped.

(11) Officials Not To Benefit. No

Government official shall benefit personally

from the SBIR funding agreement.

(12) Covenant Against Contingent Fees. No

person or agency has been employed to

solicit or secure the funding agreement upon

an understanding for compensation except

bonafide employees or commercial agencies

maintained by the awardee for the purpose

of securing business.

(13) Gratuities. The funding agreement may

be terminated by the Government if any

gratuities have been offered to any

representative of the Government to secure

the contract.

(14) Patent Infringement. The awardee

shall report each notice or claim of patent

infringement based on the performance of the

funding agreement.

(15) American Made Equipment and

Products. When purchasing equipment or a

product under the SBIR funding agreement,

purchase only American-made items

whenever possible.

(k) Additional Information. Information

pertinent to an understanding of the

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices 27737

administration requirements of SBIR

proposals and funding agreements not

included elsewhere shall be included in this

section. As a minimum, statements

essentially as follows shall be included under

‘‘Additional Information’’ in SBIR Program

solicitations:

(1) This program solicitation is intended

for informational purposes and reflects

current planning. If there is any

inconsistency between the information

contained herein and the terms of any

resulting SBIR funding agreement, the terms

of the funding agreement are controlling.

(2) Before award of an SBIR funding

agreement, the Government may request the

applicant to submit certain organizational,

management, personnel, and financial

information to assure responsibility of the

applicant.

(3) The Government is not responsible for

any monies expended by the applicant before

award of any funding agreement.

(4) This program solicitation is not an offer

by the Government and does not obligate the

Government to make any specific number of

awards. Also, awards under the SBIR

Program are contingent upon the availability

of funds.

(5) The SBIR Program is not a substitute for

existing unsolicited proposal mechanisms.

Unsolicited proposals shall not be accepted

under the SBIR Program in either Phase I or

Phase II.

(6) If an award is made pursuant to a

proposal submitted under this SBIR Program

solicitation, the contractor or grantee or party

to a cooperative agreement will be required

to certify that he or she has not previously

been, nor is currently being, paid for

essentially equivalent work by any agency of

the Federal Government.

6. Submission of Proposals

(a) This section shall clearly specify the

closing date on which all proposals are due

to be received.

(b) This section shall specify the number

of copies of the proposal that are to be

submitted.

(c) This section shall clearly set forth the

complete mailing and/or delivery address(es)

where proposals are to be submitted.

(d) This section may include other

instructions such as the following:

(1) Bindings. Please do not use special

bindings or covers. Staple the pages in the

upper left corner of the cover sheet of each

proposal.

(2) Packaging. All copies of a proposal

should be sent in the same package.

7. Scientific and Technical Information

Sources

Wherever descriptions of research topics or

subtopics include reference to publications,

information on where such publications will

normally be available shall be included in a

separate section of the solicitation entitled

‘‘Scientific and Technical Information

Sources.’’

8. Research Topics

Describe the research or R&D topics and

subtopics for which proposals are being

solicited sufficiently to inform the applicant

of technical details of what is desired while

leaving sufficient flexibility in order to obtain

the greatest degree of creativity and

innovation consistent with the overall

objectives of the SBIR Programs.

9. Submission Forms and Certifications

Multiple copies of proposal preparation

forms necessary to the contracting and

granting process may be required. This

section may include Proposal Summary,

Proposal Cover, Budget, Checklist, and other

forms the sole purpose of which is to meet

the mandate of law or regulation and

simplify the submission of proposals. This

section may also include certifying forms

required by legislation, regulation or

standard operating procedures, to be

submitted by the applicant to the contracting

or granting agency. This would include

certifying forms such as those for the

protection of human and animal subjects.

Appendix II: Tech-Net Data Fields For

Public Database

Following are the data fields pertaining to

the Public Tech-Net DataBase described in

Section 11.e.1. of this proposed policy

directive.

(a) For all Agency SBIR/STTR Annual Data

Submissions to the SBA

Field name Type Width Description

Program Identification ........ Numeric ........ 1 SBIR/STTR Award Program Identifier* (see below)

Company ............................ Char ............. 80 Company Name.*

Street1 ................................ Char ............. 80 Street Address 1.*

Street2 ................................ Char ............. 80 Street Address 2.

City ..................................... Char ............. 40 City.*

State ................................... Char ............. 2 State.*

Zip ....................................... Numeric ........ 5 Zip.*

Zip4 ..................................... Numeric ........ 4 Zip + 4.

Minority Code ..................... Numeric ........ 1 Minority code indicator 0 = yes 1 = no. *

Women ............................... Numeric ........ 1 Women-owned company indicator 0=yes 1=no.*

Contact First ....................... Char ............. 40 Company Official contact first name.

Contact Last ....................... Char ............. 40 Contact last name.

Contact Middle Init ............. Char ............. 1 Contact middle initial.

Contact Title ....................... Char ............. 40 Contact Official title.

Contact Phone .................... Char ............. 10 Contact Official phone.

Contact Email Address ....... Char ............. 50 Contact email address.

Employees .......................... Numeric ........ 5 Number of employees.

Agency Code ...................... Numeric ........ 2 Awarding agency name (ex. DOD) * (see below).

Branch ................................ Number ........ 1 Awarding DOD branch name (ex. Navy) (see below).

Phase ................................. Numeric ........ 1 Phase number 1 or 2.*

Award Year ......................... Numeric ........ 4 Phase award year.*

Award Amount .................... Numeric ........ 10 Phase award amount.*

PI First ................................ Char ............. 40 Principal Investigator First Name.*

PI Last ................................ Char ............. 40 Principal Investigator Last Name.*

PI Middle Init ...................... Char ............. 1 Principal Investigator middle initial.

PI Title ................................ Char ............. 40 Principal Investigator Title.

PI Phone ............................. Char ............. 10 Principal Investigator phone.

PI Email Address ................ Char ............. 50 Principal Investigator email address.

Topic Code ......................... Char ............. 15 Agency Solicitation Topic Number.*

RI TYPE ............................. Numeric ........ 1 Type of research institution(see below).

RI Name ............................. Char ............. 80 Research institution.

RI Street 1 .......................... Char ............. 80 Research institution address.

RI Street 2 .......................... Char ............. 80 Research institution address.

RI City ................................. Char ............. 40 Research institution city.

RI State .............................. Char ............. 2 Research institution State.

RI Zip .................................. Numeric ........ 5 Research institution Zip.

RI Zip4 ................................ Numeric ........ 4 Research institution Zip + 4.

27738 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2001 / Notices

Field name Type Width Description

RI Official First .................... Char ............. 40 Research institution Official First Name.

RI Official Last .................... Char ............. 40 Research institution Official Last Name.

RI Official Initial .................. Char ............. 1 Research institution Official Middle Initial.

RI Official Phone ................ Char ............. 10

Tracking Number ................ Char ............. 20 Agency key identifier

(Internal number scheme).*

TIN/EIN ............................... Char ............. 10 Taxpayer/Employer Identification number, * Prefix with 1 for EIN 2 for Social Security

Number.

Contract/Grant Number ...... Char ............. 20 Agency award contract/grant number.

Solicitation Number ............ Char ............. 20 Solicitation Number.

Solicitation Year ................. Numeric ........ 4 Year

of the

Solicitation.

Title ..................................... Char ............. 800 Title of research project. *

Tracking Number ................ Char ............. 20 Agency key identifier (Internal number scheme).*

Abstract .............................. Char ............. 1500 Technical abstract (500 words).

Tracking Number ................ Char ............. 20 Agency key identifier (Internal number scheme).*

Abstract SeqNmb ............... Numeric ........ 1

Results ................................ Char ............. 1000 —Project anticipated results.

Tracking Number ................ Char ............. 20 Agency key identifier (Internal number scheme).*

Comments .......................... Char ............. 1000 —Project comments.

Tracking Number ................ Char ............. 20 Agency key identifier (Internal number scheme).*

Industry Share Amount ...... Numeric ........ 10 ATP Program Cost Share Amount.

Cost Share Tracking # ....... Char ............. 20 ATP Cost Share Tracking Number.

Note: Those fields denoted with an asterisk

are deemed mandatory in all agency

submissions. It is understood that all

agencies will not have data for each data field

listed above. Each agency must ensure that

data submissions to the SBA include all of

the data fields above, even if they are empty.

Code Research Institution Types

1 ...... Nonprofit college or university.

2 ...... Domestic nonprofit research organization.

3 ...... Federally funded research and development center (FFDRC).

(b) Codes

(1) Program Identification Code

0–STTR (Small Business Technology

Transfer)

1–SBIR (Small Business Innovation

Research)

2–ATP (Advanced Technology Program)

(2) Agency Codes 1 DOD (Department of

Defense)

2–DOE (Department of Energy)

3–NASA (National Aeronautics and Space

Administration)

4–HHS (Health and Human Services)

5–NSF (National Science Foundation)

6–DOT (Department of Transportation)

7–EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

8–ED (Department of Education)

9–DOA (Department of Agriculture)

10–DOC (Department of Commerce)

11–NIST (National Institute of Standards

and Technology)

(3) Branch Codes

1–AF (Department of the Air Force)

2–ARMY (Department of the Army)

3–BMDO (Ballistic Missile Defense

Organization)

4–DARP (Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency)

5–DSWA (Defense Special Weapons

Agency)

6–NAVY (Department of the Navy)

7–OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense)

8–SOCO (Special Operations Command)

9–NIMA (National Imaging and Mapping

Agency)

(4) If any new codes, please advise the Office

of Technology.

[FR Doc. 01–12583 Filed 5–17–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Statement of Organization, Functions

of Delegations of Authority

This statement amends Part S of the

Statement of the Organization,

Functions and Delegations of Authority

which covers the Social Security

Administration (SSA). Chapter S4

covers the Deputy Commissioner for

Systems. Notice is given that

Subchapter S4H, the Office of Systems

Requirements (OSR), is being deleted.

Notice is further given that a new

Subchapter S4P, the Office of Systems

Analysis (OSA), is being established.

The new material and changes are as

follows:

Section S4.10 The Office of the

Deputy Commissioner, Systems—

(Organization)

Delete

F. The Office of Systems

Requirements (S4H).

Establish

F. The Office of Systems Analysis

(S4P).

Section S4.20 The Office of the

Deputy Commissioner, Systems—

(Functions)

Delete In Its Entirety

F. The Office of Systems

Requirements (OSR) (S4H).

Establish

F. The Office of Systems Analysis

(OSA) (S4P) directs, develops and

coordinates information technology

requirements for new systems and

modifications to existing systems in

direct support of SSA programs. It is

responsible for long-range planning and

analyses to define new and improved

systems processes in support of agency

requirements and maintains a

comprehensive, updated and integrated

set of system requirement specifications.

The office directs validation of

computer programs against user-defined

requirements and performance criteria,

and approves the resulting system for

operational acceptance. It directs the

development of procedures and

instructions to support user needs in

effective implementation of all systems.

It determines automation solutions for

user needs, develops software systems

specifications, analyzes existing

computer applications, prepares

recommendations including costs and

benefits of alternatives, tests and

validates systems, documenting

systems, accepting systems on behalf of

SSA’s user community and conducting

post-installation evaluation. The office

develops security standards and ensures

implementation of the standards within

OSA. It provides system support of the

Agency’s programmatic systems