11. Responsibilities of SBA

(a) Policy.

(1) SBA will establish policy and procedures for the program by publishing and updating the SBIR Policy Directive and promulgating regulations. Policy clarification of any part or provision of the directive or regulations may be provided by SBA.

(2) It is essential that SBIR agencies do not promulgate any policy, rule, regulation, or interpretation that is inconsistent with the Act, this Policy Directive, or SBA's regulations relating to the SBIR Program. SBA's monitoring activity will include review of policies, rules, regulations, interpretations, and procedures generated to facilitate intra- and interagency SBIR Program implementation.

(3) Waivers providing limited exceptions to certain policies can be found at Sec. 10 of the directive.

SBA conducts outreach to achieve a number of objectives including:

(1) Educating the public about the SBIR Program via conferences, seminars, and presentations;

(2) Highlighting the successes achieved in the program by publishing (via press releases and www.SBIR.gov) success stories, as well as hosting awards programs;

(3) Maintaining SBIR.gov, which is an online public information resource that provides comprehensive information regarding the SBIR Program. This information includes: A listing of solicitation information on currently available SBIR opportunities, award information on all Phase I and Phase II awards, summary annual award information for the whole program, and contact information for SBA and agency program managers.

SBA collects and maintains program-wide data within the Tech-Net data system. This data includes information on all Phase I and II awards from across all SBIR agencies, as well as Fiscal Year Annual Report data. See Sec. 10 of the directive for further information about reporting and data collection requirements.

(d) Monitoring implementation of the program and annually reporting to Congress.

SBA is responsible for providing oversight and monitoring the implementation of the SBIR Program at the agency level. This monitoring includes:

(1) SBIR Funding Allocations. The magnitude and source of each SBIR agency's annual allocation reserved for SBIR awards are critical to the success of the SBIR Program. The Act defines the SBIR effort (R/R&D), the source of the funds for financing the SBIR Program (extramural budget), and the percentage of such funds to be reserved for the SBIR Program. The Act requires that SBA monitor these annual allocations.

(2) SBIR Program Solicitation and Award Status. The accomplishment of scheduled SBIR events, such as SBIR Program solicitation releases and the issuance of funding agreements is critical to meeting statutory mandates and to operating an effective, useful program. SBA monitors these and other operational features of the SBIR Program and publishes information relating to notice of and application for awards under the SBIR Program for each SBIR agency at SBIR.Gov or Tech-Net. SBA does not plan to monitor administration of the awards except in instances where SBA assistance is requested and is related to a specific SBIR project or funding agreement.

(3) Follow-on Funding Commitments. SBA will monitor whether follow- on non-Federal funding commitments obtained by Phase II awardees for Phase III were considered in the evaluation of Phase II proposals as required by the Act.

(4) Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (FWA). SBA will ensure that each SBIR agency has taken steps to maintain a FWA prevention system to minimize its impact on the program.

(5) Performance Areas, Metrics, and Goals. SBA is responsible for defining performance areas consistent with statute (e.g., reducing timelines for award, simplification) against which agencies will set goals. SBA will work with the agencies to set metrics, in order to measure an agency's accomplishments of its goals against the defined performance areas. The purpose of these metrics and goals is to assist SBA in evaluating and reporting on the progress achieved by the agencies in improving the SBIR Program. For further information on Performance Areas, Metrics and Goals see Sec. 10(i).

(e) Additional efforts to improve the performance of the program.

SBA, in its continuing effort to improve the program, will make recommendations for improvement within the framework of the Program Managers' meetings. This may include recommending a ``best practice'' currently being utilized by an agency or business, or open discussion and feedback on a potential ``best practice'' for agency adoption. This may also involve program-wide initiatives.

(f) Other.

(1) Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) Program. SBA coordinates the FAST program. SBA develops the solicitation, reviews proposals, and oversees grant awards. FAST provides awardees with funding to assist in outreach, proposal preparation, and other technical assistance to developing innovation oriented SBCs.

(2) Critical Technologies. SBA will annually obtain available information on the current critical technologies from the National Critical Technologies panel (or its successor) and the Secretary of Defense and provide such information to the SBIR agencies. SBA will request this information in June of each year. The data received will be submitted to each of the SBIR agencies and will also be published in the September issue of the SBIR Pre-Solicitation Announcement.