Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

DoD’s R&D fund sponsors free online training

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The Department of Defense’s SBIR/STTR Program Office has put together an on-line training program catalogue for small businesses for the year.

Small businesses — who are pursuing projects with potential for commercialization and which match-up with specific U.S. Government research and development (R&D) needs — should look into the SBIR/STTR program.

Upcoming SBIR/STTR webinar topics are listed below, along with dates and training registration links.  All are offered free of charge.

  1. How to Use the DOD SBIR/STTR Submission Site / Important Proposal Considerations / Using SITIS – May 24, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site
  2. Managing Intellectual Property – Important Business Considerations for Commercialization – June 5, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site
  3. Understanding the Evaluation Process / What to Do with a Debrief – June 26, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site 
  4. Working with Prime Contractors – July 17, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site 
  5. The DOD Acquisition Process / Contracting – August 1, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site
  6. Commercialization Assistance Programs and Beyond Phase II Considerations – September 4, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site
  7. Manufacturing / Working with MIBP – September 18, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site
  8. Testing and Evaluation – October 9, 2018 – http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4302495/Registration-Site 
  9. Phase III Process – How to Identify Non-SBIR – October 30, 2018 – http://bit.ly/PIIIprocess 

For more information about the SBIR/STTR programs, visit https://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sttr.

SBA offers tutorials for seeking federal R&D funding

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has released Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) online tutorials to help small businesses navigate the SBIR program.

Mobile-compatible, the tutorial site represents an opportunity to learn about the federal government’s SBIR program through a combination of videos and text.

There is no registration or fee required and the courses are open to all.

The SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, also called “America’s Seed Fund,” inject $2.5 billion every year into small, innovative and nimble firms across the nation. The mission of each program is to support research and development (R&D) in technical areas that align with the federal government’s priorities.  Currently, there are 11 federal agencies that support SBIR/STTR programs.

With 52 modules housed within 10 courses, the SBA’s new tutorial platform addresses topics relevant to small businesses that are new to the SBIR/STTR programs as well as companies that have previously received SBIR funding.  Topics include:

  • Agency differences
  • Registration requirements
  • SBIR proposal preparation
  • SBIR data rights
  • Accounting requirements
  • Finding partners

Tools, resources, links and quizzes accompany each tutorial to help users navigate the process of applying for and winning federal awards.

To find out more about SBA’s Online Tutorials, or to begin your learning experience, visit www.sbir.gov/tutorials.

9 service branches and agencies invite small businesses to propose innovative solutions

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The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) are inviting small businesses to propose innovative solutions as a part of the latest Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) solicitations.

The SBIR/STTR solicitations are now open for a pre-release time period.  During the pre-release period proposing firms have an opportunity to contact topic authors by telephone or e-mail to ask technical questions about specific topics.

For the STTR offering, the Navy and the DMEA are inviting small businesses and research institutions to jointly propose cooperative research and development efforts.

The SBIR program was established by Congress in 1982 to fund research and development (R&D) by U.S. owned and operated businesses of less than 500 employees.  SBIR, the nation’s largest source of early-stage technology financing, is administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through 11 federal agencies and is funded at more than $2 billion annually. The DoD accounts for more than half of the federal government’s total SBIR/STTR program.  The STTR program enacted by Congress in 1992, similar in structure to SBIR, provides early-stage R&D funding directly to small companies working cooperatively with researchers at universities and other research institutions.

Use this link below to access the current open solicitations and search the available topics:  https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/topics.  Topic descriptions and instructions are available in HTML, PDF, and WORD formats.

IMPORTANT DATES and DEADLINES:

  • April 22, 2016:  Pre-Release solicitation opens
  • May 23, 2016:   Solicitation opens for submission of SBIR and STTR proposals.
  • June 22. 2016:  Solicitation closes to receipt of proposals at 6:00 AM ET-plan ahead and submit early.

Once DoD begins accepting proposals on May 23, no further direct contact between proposers and topic authors is allowed, but proposers may submit written questions through the SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the  questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing.

Quick Links:

MDA SBIR/STTR

DoD SBIR/STTR

SBA SBIR/STTR

White House to expand small business access to federal innovation, grants

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The Obama administration plans to help small businesses access new markets  quicker by giving them better access to technology developed in federal  laboratories, as well as by expanding grant programs.

As part of its recently updated small business cross agency priority framework, the administration says it wants agencies to take steps to streamline  the process for private-public research partnerships so that startups can access  research and development grants 50 percent faster.

Keep reading this article at: White House to expand small business access to federal innovation, grants – FierceGovernment http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/white-house-expands-small-business-access-federal-innovation-grants/2013-01-08#ixzz2Hb2FbXP6

Subscribe: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceGovernment-FierceGovernment

SBIR solicitations open until Jan. 11

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The Department of Defense’s 2012 SBIR solicitation is now open and accepting proposals until January 11, 2012..

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) is a government program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, in which 2.5 percent of the total extramural research budgets of all federal agencies with extramural research budgets in excess of $100 million are reserved for contracts or grants to small businesses. Annually, the SBIR budget represents more than $1 billion in research funds. Over half the awards are to firms with fewer than 25 people and a third to firms of fewer than 10. A fifth are minority or women-owned businesses. Historically, a quarter of the companies are first-time winners.

In addition, Congress established the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program in 1992. It is similar in structure to SBIR and funds cooperative research and development projects with small businesses in partnership with not-for profit research institutions (such as universities) to move research to the marketplace.

The SBIR/STTR Programs are structured in three phases. Phase I (project feasibility) determines the scientific, technical and commercial merit and feasibility of the ideas submitted. Phase II (project development to prototype) is the major research and development effort, funding the prototyping and demonstration of the most promising Phase I projects. Phase III (commercialization) is the ultimate goal of each SBIR/STTR effort and statute requires that Phase III work be funded by sources outside the SBIR/STTR Program.

During the solicitation period, communication between small businesses and topic authors is highly encouraged. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed during the Open period when DoD is accepting proposals for each solicitation.  However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS). In SITIS the questioner and respondent are anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS during the Open solicitation period for questions and answers and other significant information relevant to their SBIR/STTR topics of interest.

Topics Search Engine: Visit the DoD Topic Search Tool to quickly and easily find topics by keyword across all DoD components participating in this solicitation.

IMPORTANT DATES:

  • December 12, 2011 – Solicitation opens and DoD begins accepting proposals
  • January 4, 2012 – SITIS closes to new questions
  • January 11, 2012 – Solicitation closes to receipt of proposals at 6:00 AM EST

Complete details on DoD’s 2012 SBIR solicitation may be found at: http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20121/index.shtml.

To be added to the DoD SBIR List serv: sbirlist@listserv.dodsbir.net.

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