48004 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 159 / Friday, August 15, 2008 / Notices 

EIDL Loan Application Deadline Date: 

05/01/2009. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

Processing and Disbursement Center, 

14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 

76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: M. 

Mitravich, Office of Disaster Assistance, 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

409 3rd Street, SW., Suite 6050, 

Washington, DC 20416. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice 

of the President’s major disaster 

declaration for the State of Texas, dated 

07/31/2008 is hereby amended to 

establish the incident period for this 

disaster as beginning 07/22/2008 and 

continuing through 08/01/2008. 

All other information in the original 

declaration remains unchanged. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Numbers 59002 and 59008) 

Herbert L. Mitchell, 

Associate Administrator for Disaster 

Assistance. 

[FR Doc. E8–18916 Filed 8–14–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration # 11288 and # 11289] 

Wisconsin Disaster Number WI–00013 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Amendment 8. 

SUMMARY: This is an amendment of the 

Presidential declaration of a major 

disaster for the State of Wisconsin 

(FEMA–1768–DR), dated 06/14/2008. 

Incident: Severe Storms, Tornadoes, 

and Flooding. 

Incident Period: 06/05/2008 through 

07/25/2008. 

Effective Date: 07/29/2008. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 09/15/2008. 

EIDL Loan Application Deadline Date: 

03/13/2009. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: U.S. Small Business 

Administration, Processing and 

Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport 

Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A. 

Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance, 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

409 3rd Street, SW., Suite 6050, 

Washington, DC 20416. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice 

of the President’s major disaster 

declaration for the State of Wisconsin, 

dated 06/14/2008 is hereby amended to 

extend the deadline for filing 

applications for physical damages as a 

result of this disaster to 09/15/2008. 

All other information in the original 

declaration remains unchanged. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Numbers 59002 and 59008) 

Herbert L. Mitchell, 

Associate Administrator for Disaster 

Assistance. 

[FR Doc. E8–18797 Filed 8–14–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8025–01–M 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

RIN 3245–AF61 

Small Business Innovation Research 

Program Policy Directive 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed amendments 

to Policy Directive. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) proposes to adjust 

the Small Business Innovation Research 

(SBIR) Program award threshold 

amounts to offset the effect of inflation 

that has occurred since the amounts 

were last set in 1992. Current threshold 

amounts were set by Congress in 1992 

at $100,000 for Phase I awards and 

$750,000 for Phase II awards. SBA is 

authorized by statute to adjust the 

award amounts once every 5 years to 

reflect economic adjustments and 

programmatic considerations. SBA 

proposes to increase the award amounts 

to $150,000 and $1,000,000, 

respectively, to account for increases in 

the costs of performing research and 

development. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before September 15, 2008. SBA 

intends to make these comments 

available to the public. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 3245–AF61 by any of 

the following methods: (1) Federal 

Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov, follow the 

instructions for submitting comments; 

(2) Mail: Office of Technology, 409 

Third Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20416; or (3) Hand Delivery/Courier: 

Edsel Brown, Assistant Director, Office 

of Technology, 409 Third Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20416. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Edsel Brown, Assistant Director, Office 

of Technology, at (202) 205–7343. You 

may also e-mail questions to 

technology@sba.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

The statutory purpose of the SBIR 

program is to stimulate innovation in 

the economy through a stronger role for 

innovative small business concerns in 

Federally-funded research and research 

and development (R/R&D). The SBIR 

program is a competitive program 

wherein agencies offer solicitations for 

proposals and award-phased funding 

agreements for R/R&D to meet stated 

agency needs or missions. Phase I and 

Phase II agreements are funded through 

the portion of agency budgets reserved 

by statute for the program. Phase III 

funding comes from other Federal or 

non-federal sources. 

At the inception of the SBIR program 

in 1982, award guideline, or threshold, 

amounts were established at $50,000 for 

Phase I and $500,000 for Phase II. SBA’s 

first SBIR policy directive required 

agencies to notify SBA within 30 days 

after award of any funding agreement 

exceeding these amounts, and to justify 

the award. 48 FR 38794, 38802 (Aug. 26, 

1983). In the program’s 1992 

reauthorization legislation, Congress 

established award thresholds of up to 

$100,000 for Phase I and up to $750,000 

for Phase II. SBA has statutory authority 

to increase these award amounts to 

adjust for inflation or other economic or 

programmatic considerations once every 

five years. 15 U.S.C. 638(j)(2)(D). 

The regulatory guideline for the SBIR 

award amounts can be found in § 7(h)(1) 

of the SBIR Policy Directive. 67 FR 

60072, 60088 (Sept. 24, 2002). 

Participating agencies are to keep the 

majority of their awards close to these 

amounts; however, they may exceed 

them occasionally, provided they 

submit to SBA a written justification for 

doing so. SBIR Policy Directive, 

§ 7(h)(2), 67 FR 60088. In addition, 

agencies have the flexibility to make 

awards at levels below these amounts. 

As the costs of conducting R&D have 

increased over time, along with general 

price level increases and increases in 

wages and salaries, the real value of a 

typical, guideline amount, SBIR award 

has declined. Since 1992, the general 

price level has increased by almost 39 

percent. SBA has determined that to 

restore the average economic value of 

the SBIR awards, the award threshold 

amounts should be increased at this 

time. SBA’s analysis is explained in 

further detail below. 

B. Proposed Amendments 

SBA proposes to amend Sections 7(h) 

and 10(b) of the current SBIR Policy 

Directive to raise SBIR Phase I award 

threshold amounts from $100,000 to 

$150,000, and Phase II award threshold 

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