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SBIR Staff
What are SBIR and STTR?
Who can participate?
How much money is set aside?
What phases are there and how do they work at DOE?
How do these programs work at DOE?
When can I apply?
How do I apply?
What are the chances of winning?
How are the Proposals Reviewed?
How are Phase 1 and Phase 2 Proposal Awards done?
What is required for Proposal Award Closeout?
What are SBIR and STTR?
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfers (STTR) are U.S. Government programs in which federal agencies with large research and development (R&D) budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only. Small businesses that win awards in these programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.
Who can participate?
A small business is one that at the time of award of Phase I (and of Phase II, if awarded):
- 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.
- 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
- 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, except in the case of a joint venture, where each entity to the venture must be 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States
- Has, including its affiliates, not more than 500 employees and meets the other regulatory requirements found in 13 CFR Part 121. Business concerns, other than investment companies licensed, or state development companies qualifying under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, 15 U.S.C. 661, et seq., are affiliates of one another when either directly or indirectly, (a) one concern controls or has the power to control the other; or (b) a third-party/parties controls or has the power to control both.
Control can be exercised through common ownership, common management, and contractual relationships. The term “affiliates” is defined in greater detail in 13 CFR 121.3-2(a). The term “number of employees” is defined in 13 CRF 121.3-2(t). Business concerns include, but are not limited to, any individual (sole proprietorship), partnership, corporation, joint venture, association, or cooperative. Further information may be obtained by contacting the Small Business Administration Size District Office at http://www.sba.gov/size/.
How much money is set aside?
Each year, the federal agencies that participate in SBIR and STTR set aside 2.5% and 0.3%, respectively, of their extramural R&D budgets.
What phases are there and how do they work at DOE?
SBIR and STTR have three distinct phases. Phase I explores the feasibility of innovative concepts with awards up to $100,000 for about 9 months. Only Phase I award winners may compete for Phase II, the principal R&D effort, with awards up to $750,000 over a two-year period. There is also a Phase III, in which non-Federal capital is used by the small business to pursue commercial applications of the R&D. Also under Phase III, Federal agencies may award non-SBIR/STTR-funded, follow-on grants or contracts for products or processes that meet the mission needs of those agencies, or for further R&D.
How do these programs work at DOE?
Each year the ASCR program manager solicits topics and subtopics for Phase 1 from the other ASCR program managers in the office, usually in the early June time frame. The SBIR program manager then reviews and coordinates any changes required with the cognizant ASCR program manager. Once agreement is reached, the topics are presented to the Associate Director for final review and then sent to the SBIR office usually by early August. The SBIR office reviews and coordinates any revisions with the ACSR program manager and, typically around the middle of September, the DOE SBIR office issues a solicitation inviting small businesses to apply for DOE SBIR/STTR Phase I grants. The DOE SBIR/STTR solicitation contains input from all DOE program offices and contains technical topics in such research areas as energy production (Fossil, Nuclear, Renewable, and Fusion Energy), Energy Use (in buildings, vehicles, and industry), fundamental energy sciences (materials, life, environmental, and computational sciences, and nuclear and high energy physics), Environmental Management, and Nuclear Nonproliferation. Grant applications submitted by small businesses MUST respond to a specific topic and subtopic during an open solicitation.
How do I apply?
Search Grants.gov for an open funding notice --
The SBIR and STTR Phase I funding notice lists all the research topics under which DOE is seeking phase I proposals, and also contains detailed information on the parameters of the SBIR and STTR programs and how to submit a proposal. DOE issues one combined SBIR and STTR funding notice each year, according to the following schedule:
Current Solicitation:
Future Solicitations:
- FY 2009 SBIR/STTR Phase II Funding Notice --To be released mid February 2009.
To resolve any questions you may have
If you have a general question about the SBIR or STTR programs, please contact the DOE SBIR/STTR program office at 301-903-1414, or send an e-mail to sbir-sttr@science.doe.gov.
If you have a technical question about a specific research topic listed in the solicitation, you may:
- Communicate by email with the topic author, whose contact information may be obtained from the solicitation after each subtopic.
What are the chances of winning?
Proposal-to-award ratios are about 5-to-1 for Phase I and 2-to-1 for Phase II.
How are the Proposals Reviewed?
For Phase 1:
Once the proposals are received by the SBIR office, usually around the third week in November, the SBIR office will conduct a preliminary check of the proposals and forward the ones that are responsive to the respective SBIR program manager in each program office. This usually occurs in early December. The ASCR SBIR program manager then solicits qualified peer reviewers from the other program managers in the office and notifies the SBIR office with the review list for each proposal minimum of 3 reviewers are required for each proposal) and has either the SBIR office send out the proposals for review or the ASCR SBIR program manager coordinates a peer review panel for the proposals. The panel review is arranged through ORISE and it is the responsibility of the ASCR SBIR program manager to ensure that ORISE has the proposals and the reviewers contact information and budget for the reviews. In addition the ASCR SBIR program manager keeps the SBIR office informed of the date of the review, location, and up to date status. All proposals reviews are usually required to be completed by the fourth week in February. Once the proposals have been reviewed and the review comments and scores are turned into the SBIR office the SBIR office will provide a scoring form for each ASCR proposal and the ASCR SBIR program manager will score them and return the score sheets to the SBIR office by the second week of March.
For Phase 2:
The SBIR office will notify the ASCR SBIR program manager in the late February time frame as to how many Phase 2 proposals can be received and the potential reviewer list (obtained from the Phase 1 proposal review). Only previous year successful Phase 1 awardees can submit a Phase 2 proposal. Phase 2 proposals will be received the middle of April. The ASCR SBIR program manager will coordinate the Phase 2 proposal review process similar to the phase 1 proposal review process. Phase2 proposal reviews and the scoring sheets are usually due to the SBIR office at the end of May.
How are Phase 1 and Phase 2 Proposal Award done?
Once the proposal scoring sheets are received from the ASCR SBIR program manager, the SBIR office will prepare the required paperwork for award and notify the ASCR program manager of the award.
What is required for Proposal Award Closeout?
Once the proposal effort is completed, the grantee completes a final report and sends it to OSTI. The SBIR office will forward a copy to the ASCR Program manager for review. The Chicago Contracts office will notify the ASCR SBIR program manager and forward a form to be signed stating that the work is acceptable and has been completed successfully. The ASCR SBIR program manager then forwards the signed form to the Chicago Contracts office and the project is closed out.
Congress established the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to stimulate technological innovation, utilize small business to meet federal research and development needs, encourage participation by minority and disadvantaged businesses in technological innovation, and increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federal R&D.
11 SBIR participating agencies
2008 SBIR/STTR National Fall Conference
The DOE SBIR Program has two solicitations issued per year. Generally, they will be issued in November and May.
Solicitation topics are developed by Program Managers in each of the Science and Technology (S&T) Divisions, and from time to time, by the Offices of Innovation and Basic Research. The annual solicitations consist of topics that are relevant to the Chemical and Biological, Borders and Maritime Security, Human Factors, Explosives, Infrastructure and Geophysical, and Command, Control and Interoperability Divisions.
Similar to the R&D programs of the S&T Directorate, the SBIR topics generally address the needs of the seven DHS Operational Units, i.e., U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Secret Service, as well as First Responders.
For the Phase II SBIR effort, the DOE SBIR Program has a Cost Match feature for SBIR projects that attract matching cash from an outside investor. The purpose is to focus SBIR funding on those projects that are most likely to be developed into viable new products that DHS and others will buy and that will thereby make a major contribution to homeland security and/or economic capabilities.
The DOE SBIR Program has several processes in place to accelerate the Phase I and Phase II award process to further satisfy operational requirements and commercial application.
- Phase I awards are typically made within 90 days of selection.
- Invited Phase II projects will be reviewed and awards will be made incrementally, as quickly as possible under the Jump Start feature, to maintain the momentum of the Phase I effort. The Phase II proposal invitation process expeditiously identifies those Phase I awardees deserving of Phase II awards.
Types of Projects
Each year, the program funds Phase I feasibility projects for approximately six months. After completion of the Phase I stage, most of these businesses can compete for Phase II awards. Phase II awards can last up to 24 months.
Additional Information
In 1982 the U.S. Congress established the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to stimulate technological innovation, utilize small business to meet federal research and development needs, and increase private sector commercialization.
SBIR is a highly competitive program that encourages small business to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the nation's R&D arena, high-tech innovation is stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it meets its specific research and development needs.
The SBIR program is structured in three phases, the first two of which are supported by SBIR funds.
Phase I. The objective of Phase I is to determine the scientific or technical merit and feasibility of the proposed R/R&D efforts. The Phase I period concentrates on the R/R&D efforts that prove the scientific or technical feasibility of the approach or concept and that which are a prerequisite for further ED support in Phase II. Phase I awards are for periods up to 6 months in amounts up to $100,000.
Phase II. The objective of Phase II is to continue the research or R&D effort initiated in Phase I with approaches that appear sufficiently promising as a result of Phase I. Phase II awards are for periods up to 2 years in amounts up to $750,000.
Phase III. An objective of the SBIR program is to increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R/R&D. During Phase III, the small business concern is to pursue commercialization with non-SBIR funds. The Department of Education does not provide funding during the Phase III period.
Background
There are 11 federal agencies which participate in this program, including: the Departments of Education (ED), Agriculture (USDA), Commerce (DOC), Defense (DOD), Energy (DOE), Health and Human Services (DHHS), Homeland Security (DHS), and Transportation (DOT); the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The program is administered similarly by each of these departments.
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