As previous
reported both the Senate and House have passed bills reauthorizing both the
SBIR and STTR programs. However, there
are significant differences in the two bills.
Unlike last year, the House appears more willing to compromise with the
Senate. Reports are that “good faith”
negotiations are ongoing. Due to
procedural rules, a deal must be reached by next Tuesday, July 28th,
for the bill to obtain final approval by both the House and the Senate before
the July 31st expiration of the current Continuing Resolution. So we are down to the wire again, but hopeful
that a reasonable bill will be passed and everyone will know what the rules are
going forward. Stay tuned for the final
results!
The Senate passed S.1233 today. With the House bill that passed last week, we now have two possible bills with three possible solutions:
- The House and Senate reach a compromise and then send the bill onto the President for his signature into law
- The House and Senate do not reach a compromise before the July 31st deadline but decide to temporarily continue through a Continuing Resolution. In this case, we would start the process all over again at a future date
- The House and Senate do not reach a compromise, there is no provision for a continuing resolution, and thus, the SBIR program dies.
Let's think positive and hope that the first option happens. If not, the second option would not be ideal, but it would be a better than the 3rd option.
The senate bill was passed with some amendments, including a requirement for better metrics and reauthorizing both programs for an eight-year period.
Hopefully, in the next week or two the House and Senate will reach a compromise and with the addition of President Obama's signature, we will have a reauthorized program.
Stay tuned!
NASA just released their 2009 SBIR and STTR Solicitation.
Topics range from sensor or detector development to aviation safety. Awards in the amount of $100,000 may be requested for a Phase I SBIR or STTR and up to $600,000 for a Phase II SBIR or STTR. If you are applying for an STTR the Principle Investigator may employed by either the collaborating Research Institute or the applicant Small Business Concern.
Proposals are due on September 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 PM EDT. All applications must be submitted electronically.
If you would like assistance with your proposal contact SBIR GA!
The August 5th NIH SBIR/STTR deadline is rapidly approaching. All applications are submitted electronically through
www.grants.gov. If you intend to submit an application for this receipt date you need to have begun the online registration process. This is mandatory and the NIH will not make any exceptions. What needs to be accomplished?
- Register with grants.gov which requires
- TaxID
- DUNS Number
- CCR Registration
- Bank routing number … and other numbers and IDs.
- Register with the NIH eRA Commons
- This process is much simpler and detailed instructions have been provided by the NIH.
Registration can take up to four weeks and the NIH requires you to begin your NIH eRA Commons registration at least 2 weeks prior to the submission deadline.
Administrivia is never fun, but sometimes there is no way around it.
As reported by the
Wall Street Journal this afternoon the House Committee on Small Business unanimously passed
a bill that would reauthorize the SBIR/STTR program until 2011. The bill is controversial as it allows venture backed companies to once again participate in the program. The eligibility rules are written to allow firms owned and operated by venture operated companies to receive awards as long as the venture operated company does not employ more than 500 people or own more than 50% of the applicant organization.
Last week the Senate Committee for Small Business and Entrepreneurship also unanimously passed
a bill reauthorizing the program until 2020 and allowing venture backed companies greater access to the SBIR/STTR program but to a lesser extent. Importantly it limits the total amount of SBIR funds awarded to majority owned venture operated firms to 8%. The NIH is the exception to this rule and allowed to use 18% of SBIR funds on awards to venture operated firms. Both the Senate and House bills increase the award amount for Phase I and Phase II.
If both bills are passed by the House and Senate they will be sent to a conference committee and hopefully common ground will be found.
Congress is working hard on legislation to reauthorize the SBIR and STTR programs. However, with the program now set to expire on July 31,
2009, it seems that we are right where we were a year ago. The House Small Business Committee is working on several bills, all addressing a different aspect of the program and one that greatly expands Venture Capital (VC) access to the program. The Senate has started work on a bill that would update the program and increase VC eligibility but to a limited extent.
So the question is will the House pass a bill that expands VC access to the SBIR program and to what extent? The Biotechnology Industry Organization is still lobbying for such an expansion. And how will the House and Senate compromise? If they cannot agree on a compromise will another continuing resolution be instated? One opinion on the current process is posted at
SBIR Gateway
The House Small Business Subcommittee met yesterday to discuss proposals to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. Watch (via YouTube) as Representatives meet to discuss "Legislative Initiatives to Strengthen and Modernize the SBIR and STTR Programs". Chairman Glenn Nye (D-VA) and Ranking Member Aaron Schock (R-IL) provided opening statements followed by a list of witnesses:
-
Mr. Mark B. Leahey, President & CEO, Medical Device Manufacturers Association
-
Mr. Jack Biddle, Founding Partner of Novak Biddle Venture Partners (on behalf of the National Venture Capital Association)
-
Mr. Joe Hernandez, President & CEO, Innovative Biosensors Inc (on behalf of the Biotechnology Industry Organization)
-
Ms. Marion C. Blakey, President & CEO, Aerospace Industries Association
-
Mr. Brett Loper, SVP & Director Government Affairs, AdvaMed
The Senate Subcommittee on Small Business & Entrepreneurshipalso met yesterday to discuss the SBIR Program. Representatives from DOD, SBA, NSF, NIH, the SBDC, and business owners. Read Senator Mary Landrieu's statement.
You’ve spent time writing what you think is a pretty decent proposal and now you are ready to submit it…or so you think. Have you thought about how will you submit it? Read the solicitation and read it early (see The Basics: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (Part 1)). Each agency is different. Does the agency require a paper or electronic submission? If paper submission, did you allow time for the physical delivery of your proposal? Have you obtained all necessary data elements and completed any necessary electronic registration processes?
IMPORTANT: Electronic registration and obtaining basic data elements can take a few days, but it might take weeks (for example, NIH recommends new companies start no later than 6 weeks before proposals are due). There are several steps that MUST be completed prior to the actual registration. Each step is dependent on information generated from the previous step. Your hands are tied when waiting for each data element to be supplied/validated from its issuing organization. The length of time for the whole registration process depends on how many elements your company will need to obtain.
So how many elements will your company need? That depends on how established your company is, what you have already obtained by conducting other normal business, and if you have previously submitted a proposal. You might need to obtain some, all, or none of these basic data elements before you can submit a SBIR or STTR proposal:
-
Does your company have a Tax ID Number (also known as an EIN)? New companies will need to obtain one from the IRS. Once assigned, the EIN will need to be validated (numbers are assigned immediately, but it can take 2-5 weeks to activate a new number).
-
With activated EIN in hand, you can next apply for a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNs) Number from Dun and Bradstreet (D&B). This 9-digit number is a unique number for each physical location of your business. Once requested, a DUNs number is issued within 24-72 hours.
-
With EIN and DUNs, you are now ready to register in Central Contractor Registration (CCR). CCR is the primary registrant database for the Federal Government. Registration will not only require your EIN and DUNs, it will also require banking Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Information for payment of invoices. Your CCR registration will be processed complete after 24-48 hours. Note: If you do not have a CAGE code(Commercial and Government Entity Code), necessary for any DOD submissions, CCR will assign one.
With these basic data elements in hand, you are now ready to register with the specific agency to which you will submit your proposal–read the agency's solicitation to know which system (grants.gov, FastLane.com, eRA Commons, dodsbir.net, EHB, etc). I will cover these specific registrations in future postings…
“Well of course people want my innovation! I did a patent search, and there’s nothing else like it on the market!”
That is not always an accurate correlation, but I hear it often.
Having a patent does not prevent anyone from developing a product like yours.
A patent is a legal document which gives you the right to have a monopoly on your product. IF someone else develops and tries to sell a product that is like yours, then you have the legal right to sue them and make them stop. It doesn’t prevent them; it just gives you legal claws if they do. You will still have to proactively monitor the market to make sure no one IS infringing. If you do find something, the burden of proof and cost is on you—you must incur the time to research and the funds to bring about a potentially lengthy legal fight.
Being first to patent also does not automatically mean that you have a market—there might not be any patents because there ISN’T a market for your idea. With the rising costs of obtaining patents (U.S. as well as various international), it would be worth your time to investigate whether patents are the best protection (i.e. something like a trade secret might be more appropriate) and if there is enough market pull to actually pay for the protection.
A year ago today SBIRGA was launched. Happy Birthday!! Our goal was to have "SBIR on your mind" when you sought SBIR funding announcements, research information, and assistance–the place you go when wanting to take your high-tech concept/innovation to the next level.
Following on the footsteps of two blogs for Georgia's small tech companies, Peachseedz and GT VentureLab, SBIRGA provided news and information as well as tips and insight into the proposal preparation process. One of the major benefits for those reading and following SBIRGA was the posting of SBIR and STTR solicitations as they opened.
The mission of the SBIR Assistance Program for the State of Georgia is to:
- Educate Georgia companies and future entrepreneurs on SBIR and STTR
- Assist Georgia companies in identifying appropriate agencies and topics
- Provide tips and guidance on SBIR/STTR proposal planning and submission
- Facilitate the development of partnerships between SBIR and STTR Award recipients and research collaborators, integrators, and potential customer
Through SBIRGA, we hope we've helped clarify and educate you on SBIR and STTR. We're not finished, so keep coming back. In fact, let us know what you would like to see. Are there topics you would liked covered? Are we missing something you think is important? Let us know!
We're here for you, so we want to make sure we are assisting you in THE best way! Thanks for making it a great year! Keep on reading!
Sincerely,
The staff of the SBIR Assistance Program for the State of Georgia:
Connie Ruffner
John Mills
Julie Collins