8. Terms of Agreement Under SBIR Awards
(a) Proprietary Information Contained in Proposals. The standardized SBIR Program solicitation will include provisions requiring the confidential treatment of any proprietary information to the extent permitted by law. The solicitation will require that all proprietary information be identified clearly 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. The Government, except for proposal review purposes, protects all proprietary information, regardless of type, submitted in a contract proposal or grant application for a funding agreement under the SBIR Program, from disclosure.
(b) Rights in Data Developed Under SBIR Funding Agreement. The Act
provides for ``retention by an SBC of the rights to data generated by
the concern in the performance of an SBIR award.''
(1) Each agency must refrain from disclosing SBIR technical data to
outside the Government (except reviewers) and especially 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.
(2) SBIR agencies must protect from disclosure and non-governmental
use all SBIR technical data developed from work performed under an SBIR
funding agreement for a period of not less than four years from
delivery of the last deliverable under that agreement (either Phase I,
Phase II, or Federally-funded SBIR Phase III) unless, subject to
paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the agency obtains permission to
disclose such SBIR technical data from the awardee or SBIR applicant.
Agencies are released from obligation to protect SBIR data upon
expiration of the protection period except that any such data that is
also protected and referenced under a subsequent SBIR award must remain
protected through the protection period of that subsequent SBIR award.
For example, if a Phase III award is issued within or after the Phase
II data rights protection period and the Phase III award refers to and
protects data developed and protected under the Phase II award, then
that data must continue to be protected through the Phase III
protection period. Agencies have discretion to adopt a protection
period longer than four years. The Government retains a royalty-free
license for Government use of any technical data delivered under an
SBIR award, whether patented or not. This section does not apply to
program evaluation.
(3) SBIR technical data rights apply to all SBIR awards, including
subcontracts to such awards, that fall within the statutory definition
of Phase I, II, or III of the SBIR Program, as described in section 4
of this Policy Directive. The scope and extent of the SBIR technical
data rights applicable to Federally-funded Phase III awards is
identical to the SBIR data rights applicable to Phases I and II SBIR
awards. The data rights protection period lapses only:
(i) Upon expiration of the protection period applicable to the SBIR
award; or
(ii) By agreement between the awardee and the agency.
(4) Agencies must insert the provisions of (b)(1), (2), and (3)
immediately above as SBIR data rights clauses into all SBIR Phase I,
Phase II, and Phase III awards. These data rights clauses are non-
negotiable and must not be the subject of negotiations pertaining to an
SBIR Phase III award, or diminished or removed during award
administration. An agency must not, in any way, make issuance of an
SBIR Phase III award conditional on data rights. If the SBIR awardee
wishes to transfer its SBIR data rights to the awarding agency or to a
third party, it must do so in writing under a separate agreement. A
decision by the awardee to relinquish, transfer, or modify in any way
its SBIR data rights must be made without pressure or coercion by the
agency or any other party. Following issuance of an SBIR Phase III
award, the awardee may enter into an agreement with the awarding agency
to transfer or modify the data rights contained in that SBIR Phase III
award. Such a bilateral data rights agreement must be entered into only
after the SBIR Phase III award, which includes the appropriate SBIR
data rights clause, has been signed. SBA will report to the Congress
any attempt or action by an agency to condition an SBIR award on data
rights, to exclude the appropriate data rights clause from the award,
or to diminish such rights.
(c) Title Transfer of Agency-Provided Property. Under the Act, the
Government may transfer title to property provided by the SBIR agency
to the awardee or acquired by the awardee for the purpose of fulfilling
the contract where such transfer would be more cost effective than
recovery of the property.
(d) Continued Use of Government Equipment. Agencies must allow an SBIR awardee participating in the third phase of the SBIR Program continued use, as a directed bailment, of any property transferred by the agency to the Phase II awardee or acquired by the awardee for the purpose of fulfilling the contract. The Phase II awardee may use the property for a period of not less than 2 years, beginning on the initial date of the concern's participation in the third phase of the SBIR 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 may create conflicts of interest
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) American-Made Equipment and Products. 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 American-made equipment and products,
to the extent possible, in keeping with the overall purposes of this
program. Each SBIR agency must provide to each awardee a notice of this
requirement.
(h) Certifications After Award and During Funding Agreement
Lifecycle.
(1) A Phase I funding agreement must state that the awardee shall
submit a new certification as to whether it is in compliance with
specific SBIR Program requirements at the time of final payment or
disbursement.
(2) A Phase II funding agreement must state that the awardee shall
submit a new certification as to whether it is in compliance with
specific SBIR Program requirements prior to receiving more than 50% of
the total award amount and prior to final payment or disbursement.
(3) Agencies may also require additional certifications at other
points in time during the life cycle of the funding agreement, such as
at the time of each payment or disbursement.
(i) Updating SBIR.gov. Agencies must require each Phase II awardee
to update the appropriate information on the award in the
Commercialization Database upon completion of the last deliverable
under the funding agreement. In addition, the awardee is requested to
voluntarily update the appropriate information on that award in the
database annually thereafter for a minimum period of 5 years.