(a) The Small Business Technology Transfer Program Reauthorization Act of 2001, Public Law 107-50, amended section 9 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 638).

(1) The amendments:

(i)	Continue the STTR Program through September 30, 2009;
(ii)	Clarify data rights pertaining to STTR Phase I, Phase II, and Federally-funded Phase III awards.
(iii)	Establish databases--one for the public and one for government use--to collect and maintain in a common format information that is necessary to assist SBCs and assess the STTR Program.

(c) The statutory requirements establish a uniform, simplified process for the operation of the STTR Program while allowing the STTR agencies flexibility in the operation of their individual STTR Program. This Policy Directive fulfills the Congressional intent to minimize regulatory burden in the conduct of this program.

(d) Each STTR agency must establish an STTR Program by reserving, through September 30, 2003, not less than 0.15 percent of its extramural budget, and beginning October 1, 2003, reserving not less than 0.3 percent of such budget, for awards to SBCs for cooperative R/ R&D through the following uniform, three-phase process:

(1) Phases I and II: These phases help STTR agencies meet R/R&D and commercialization objectives through funding agreements.

(2) Phase III. This phase, where appropriate, helps Federal agencies participating in the STTR Program by:

(i)	Providing Federal agencies the benefits of commercial applications derived from the cooperative conduct of Government-funded R/R&D which stimulates technological innovation and enhances the national return on investment from R/R&D,
(ii)	Providing STTR awardees access to the Federal market through non-STTR funding agreements; and
(iii)	Providing STTR awardees access to private sector markets to stimulate economic growth and create jobs.

(f) 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. 251 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 STTR agencies using contracts as a STTR 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 government-wide point of entry (GPE) for access by interested sources. See FAR 5.201. The GPE, located at http://www.fedbizopps.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, no agency must 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: