APPENDIX B:
Administration to the SBIR Program
In Appendix B
Management of
the EPA SBIR
Program................... B-1
How the SBIR
Program is Funded......................B-1
The SBIR Solicitation
Process.....................B-1
SBIR Program
Phases......................B-2
The SBIR Proposal
Peer Review
Process.....................B-2
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MANAGEMENT OF THE EPA
SBIR PROGRAM
The Small Business Innovation Development Act July 22, 1982, emphasized the benefits of technological innovation and the ability of small businesses to transform research and development results into new products. The Act noted that, while small business is the principal source of significant innovation in the nation, the vast majority of federally funded R&D is conducted by large business, universities, and government laboratories. According to a Bureau of the Census survey, small firms receive only 11 percent of their R&D funds from the federal government, as compared to the 26 percent received by large companies. The SBIR Program is designed to redirect some of this federal funding to the small business community.
The basic purpose of the Act was to strengthen the role of small enterprises in federally funded R&D and thus help the nation develop a stronger base for technical innovation and wider commercialization of the ideas generated in the laboratories, research facilities, and factory floors of small hi-tech companies.
In 1992 Congress enacted the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act (Public Law 102-564), which extended the SBIR Program through October 1, 2000.
How the SBIR Program is Funded
Under the SBIR Program, each federal agency with an annual extramural budget in excess of $100 million must establish an SBIR Program. The Program is funded by setting aside a specific percentage of each participating agency’s extramural research budget every fiscal year (FY). In FY1982, this set-aside was 1.25 percent. The Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992 incrementally increased
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this percentage from 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent in FY1993, increasing to 2 percent in FY1995, and then rising to 2.5 percent in FY1997 and continuing at that percentage until FY2000. The Act also raised the maximum funding for Phase I SBIR awards from $50,000 to $100,000 and the limit for Phase II awards from $500,000 to $750,000.
The SBIR Solicitation Process
The SBA publishes a Pre-Solicitation Announcement (PSA) each quarter, which provides interested small businesses information about the timing and topics of upcoming solicitations. Each federal agency with an SBIR Program is unilaterally responsible for targeting research areas and administering its own SBIR funding agreements. These agreements include any contract, grant, or cooperative agreement entered into between a federal agency and any small business for the performance of experimental, developmental, or research work funded in whole or in part by the federal government.
The Small Business Innovation Development Act requires participating agencies to issue a solicitation that sets the SBIR process in motion. The solicitation lists and describes the research topics to be addressed in the proposals and invites companies to submit their proposals for consideration. Each of the 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR Program publishes annual solicitations for Phase I and Phase II. EPA issues its Phase I solicitation in October/November, with proposals due into the Agency by mid-January. This solicitation, which is available electronically on the Internet and in hardcopy by mail, identifies the relevant research topics that should be addressed by companies responding to the request for proposals. The proposed research must address a single research topic, or an important segment of the topic, described in the EPA SBIR solicitation.
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