2. Summary of Statutory Provisions

(a) The Small Business Innovation Research Program is codified at section 9 of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 638. The SBIR Program is authorized until September 30, 2017, or as otherwise provided in law subsequent to that date.

(b) Each Federal agency with an extramural budget for R/R&D in excess of $100,000,000 must participate in the SBIR Program and reserve the following minimum percentages of their extramural R/R&D budgets for awards to small business concerns for extramural R/R&D:

(1) Not less than 2.5% of such budget in each of fiscal years 1997 through 2011;
(2) Not less than 2.6% of such budget in fiscal year 2012;
(3) Not less than 2.7% of such budget in fiscal year 2013;
(4) Not less than 2.8% of such budget in fiscal year 2014;
(5) Not less than 2.9% of such budget in fiscal year 2015;
(6) Not less than 3.0% of such budget in fiscal year 2016; and
(7) Not less than 3.2% of such budget in fiscal year 2017 and each fiscal year after.

(c) In general, each SBIR agency must make these awards for R/R&D through the following uniform, three-phase process:

(1) Phase I awards to determine, insofar as possible, the scientific and technical merit and feasibility of ideas that appear to have commercial potential.

(2) Phase II awards to further develop work from Phase I that meets particular program needs and exhibits potential for commercial application.

(3) Phase III awards where commercial applications of SBIR-funded R/R&D are funded by non-Federal sources of capital; or where products, services or further research intended for use by the Federal Government are funded by follow-on non-SBIR Federal Funding Agreements.

(e) The Act explains that agencies are authorized and directed to cooperate with SBA in order to carry out and accomplish the purpose of the SBIR Program. As a result, each SBIR agency shall provide information to SBA in order for SBA to monitor and analyze each agency's SBIR Program and to report these findings annually to the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and to the House Committees on Science and Small Business. For more information on the agency's reporting requirements, including the frequency for specific reporting requirements, see section 10 of the Policy Directive.

(f) SBA establishes databases to collect and maintain, in a common format, information that is necessary to assist SBCs and assess the SBIR Program.

(g) SBA implements the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program to strengthen the technological competitiveness of SBCs, to the extent that FAST is authorized by law.

(h) 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. 3101, 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 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 https://www.fbo.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. In addition, an agency must not issue its solicitation for at least 15 days from the date of the publication of the GPE. 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.

(2) The contracting officer must generally make available through the GPE those 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.

(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 that official makes a written determination, after consulting with 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.

unofficial copy annotated by Zyn Systems