(a) The Act requires each agency participating in the SBIR Program to:
(1) Submit to SBA's Administrator, 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 reports required under 42 U.S.C. 6683, or
(ii) the Secretary of Defense in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2522.
(3) Release SBIR solicitations in accordance with the SBA master schedule.
(4) Unilaterally receive and evaluate proposals resulting from program solicitations, select awardees, issue funding agreements, and inform each awardee under such agreement, to the extent possible, of the expenses of the awardee that will be allowable under the funding agreement.
(5) Require a succinct commercialization plan with each proposal submitted for a Phase II award.
(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 policy Directive.
(7) Administer its own SBIR funding agreements or delegate such administration to another agency.
(8) Include provisions in each SBIR funding agreement setting forth the respective rights of the United States and the awardee with respect to intellectual property rights and with respect to any right to carry out follow-on research.
(9) Ensure that the rights in data developed under each Federally- funded SBIR Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III award are protected properly.
(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 SBA's Office of Technology all instances in which an agency pursued research, development, production, or any such combination of a technology developed by an 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 that concern. The report must include, at a minimum:
(i) the reasons why the follow-on funding agreement with the concern 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 required by 31 U.S.C. 1115(a) and (b) a section on its SBIR Program, and submit such section to the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and to the House Committees on Science and Small Business.

(b) The Act permits an agency that has established a Technology Development Program to review for funding under that program, in each fiscal year:
(1) any proposal to provide outreach and assistance to 1 or more SBCs interested in participating in the SBIR Program, including any proposal to make a grant or loan to a company to pay a portion or all of the cost of developing an SBIR proposal, from an entity, organization, or individual located in--
(i) a State that is eligible to participate in that technology development program; or
(ii) an Additionally Eligible State.
(2) any meritorious proposal for an SBIR Phase I award that is not funded through the SBIR Program for that fiscal year due to funding constraints, from an SBC located in a state identified in (i) or (ii) immediately above.

(c) The Act allows discretionary technical assistance to SBIR awardees.
(1) Agencies may enter into agreements with vendors to provide technical assistance to SBIR awardees, which may include access to a network of scientists and engineers engaged in a wide range of technologies or access to technical and business literature available through on-line data bases. Each agency may select a vendor for a term not to exceed 3 years. The vendor must be selected using competitive and merit-based criteria. The purpose of this technical assistance is to assist SBIR awardees in:
(i) making better technical decisions on SBIR projects;
(ii) solving technical problems that arise during SBIR projects;
(iii) minimizing technical risks associated with SBIR projects; and
(iv) commercializing the SBIR product or process.
(2) Phase I awards: Each agency may provide up to $4,000 of SBIR funds for the technical assistance described above in (c)(1). The amount will be in addition to the award and will count as part of the agency's SBIR funding.
(3) Phase II awards: Each agency may allow awardees to expend up to $4,000 of SBIR funds per year, using funds available from the SBIR award, for the technical assistance described above in (c)(1).

(d) Agencies are encouraged to develop programs to reduce the time period between the issuance of SBIR Phase I and Phase II awards. As appropriate, agencies should adopt accelerated proposal, evaluation, and selection procedures designed to address the gap in funding these competitive awards.

(e) 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 must 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 socially and economically disadvantaged SBCs to participate in the SBIR Program.

(f) Limitation of participation and use of funds.
(1) Each SBIR agency must expend 2.5 percent of its extramural budget on awards made to SBCs. Agencies may not make available for the purpose of meeting the 2.5 percent an amount of its extramural budget for basic research that exceeds 2.5 percent. Funding agreements with SBCs for R/R&D that result from competitive or single source selections other than an SBIR Program must not be considered to meet any portion of the 2.5 percent.
(2) An 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.
(3) An agency must not issue an SBIR funding agreement that includes a provision for subcontracting any portion of that agreement back to the issuing agency, to any other Federal Government agency, or to other units of the Federal Government. SBA may issue a case-by-case waiver to this provision after review of an agency's written justification that includes the following information:
(i) An explanation of why the SBIR research project requires the use of the Federal facility or personnel, including data that verifies the absence of non-federal facilities or personnel capable of supporting the research effort.
(ii) Why the Agency will not and can not fund the use of the federal facility or personnel for the SBIR project with non-SBIR money. (iii) The concurrence of the SBC's chief business official to use the federal facility or personnel.
(4) 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 on a 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.
(5) Federal agencies not otherwise qualified for the SBIR Program may participate on a voluntary basis. Federal agencies seeking to participate in the SBIR Program must first submit their written requests to SBA. Voluntary participation requires the written approval of SBA.