(1) Unilaterally determine the categories of projects to be
included in its STTR 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.
(2) Release STTR solicitations in accordance with the SBA master
schedule.
(3) 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.
(4) Require a succinct commercialization plan with each proposal
submitted for a Phase II award.
(5) 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.
(6) Administer its own STTR funding agreements or delegate such
administration to another agency.
(7) Include provisions in each STTR 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.
(8) Ensure that the rights in data developed under each Federally-
funded STTR Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III award are protected
properly.
(9) Make payments to awardees of STTR 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.
(10) Provide an annual report on the STTR Program to SBA. See
section 10 of this Policy Directive.
(11) 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 STTR Program of that
agency, where the agency determined that it was not practicable to
enter into a follow-on non-STTR Program funding agreement with that
concern. The report shall 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.
(12) Include in its annual performance plan required by 31 U.S.C.
1115(a) and (b) a section on its STTR Program, and submit such section
to the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and to
the House Committees on Science and Small Business.
(13) Adopt the model agreement to be developed by SBA for use in
the STTR Program that allocates between SBCs and research institutions
intellectual property rights and rights, if any, to carry out follow-on
research, development, or commercialization.
(14) Develop, in consultation with the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy and the Office of Government Ethics, procedures to
ensure that Federally-funded research and development centers that
participate in STTR agreements:
(i) Are free from organizational conflicts of interests relative to
the STTR Program;
(ii) Do not use privileged information gained through work
performed for an STTR agency or private access to STTR agency personnel
in the development of an STTR proposal; and
(iii) Use outside peer review as appropriate.
(15) Implement an outreach program to research institutions and
SBCs for the purpose of enhancing its STTR Program, in conjunction with
any such outreach done for purposes of the Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) Program.
(1) Joint funding. An STTR 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 STTR 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 STTR project, agencies shall promptly search the Tech-Net
Database System for awards for essentially equivalent work. Discussion
among agencies receiving similar proposals is strongly encouraged
before an STTR award is made.
(4) Participation by women-owned SBCs and socially and economically
disadvantaged SBCs in the STTR 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 STTR Program information system. These SBCs will be required to
compete for STTR 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 STTR Program.
(1) An agency must not use any of its STTR budget for the purpose
of funding administrative costs of the program, including costs
associated with program operations, employee salaries, and other
associated expenses, or, in the case of a SBC or a research
institution, costs associated with employee salaries and other
associated expenses, including administrative overhead (other than
those direct or indirect costs allowable under guidelines of the Office
of Management and Budget and the Federal Acquisition Regulation).
(2) A Federal agency must not issue an STTR 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 STTR 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 STTR project with non-STTR money.
(iii) The concurrence of the SBC's chief business official to use
the Federal facility or personnel.
(3) No agency, at its own discretion, may unilaterally cease
participation in the STTR Program. R/R&D agency budgets may cause
fluctuations and trends that must be reviewed in light of STTR Program
purposes. An agency may be considered by SBA for a phased withdrawal
from participation in the STTR 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 STTR Federal participating agency from the STTR
Program will be accomplished in a standardized and orderly manner in
compliance with these statutorily mandated procedures.
(4) Federal agencies not otherwise qualified for the STTR Program
may participate on a voluntary basis. Federal agencies seeking to
participate in the STTR Program must first submit their written
requests to SBA. Voluntary participation requires the written approval
of SBA.
(5) Agencies may not make available, for the purpose of meeting the
required percentage of expenditure on SBCs for the STTR Program (see
section 2(d) of this Policy Directive) an amount of its extramural
budget for basic research that exceeds those percentages.
(6) Funding agreements with SBCs for R/R&D that result from
competitive or single source selections other than an STTR Program
shall not be considered to meet any portion of the percentage
requirements of section 2(d) set forth in this Policy Directive.