Thursday, July 30, 2009

DOD Releases SBIR & STTR Solicitations

The Department of Defense released two solicitations for its sub-agencies: one is an SBIR solicitation and one is an STTR solicitation. SBIR proposals will be ONLY accepted from the 2009.3 solicitation topics and STTR proposals will ONLY be accepted from the 2009.B solicitation topics. For more information and proposal preparation details, please go to: http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/


The DOD will begin accepting proposals on August 24th and will close at 6:00 AM on September 23rd. Prior to August 24th you may (and are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED) to contact the matching Topic Manager for the topic that fits your technical expertise to ask additional technical questions not outlined in the topic itself. To search specifically for DOD topics, visit http://www.dodsbir.net/Topics/Default.asp.

THE 2009 NATIONAL SBIR BEYOND PHASE II CONFERENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

This Advanced SBIR Conference will take place September 21 - 24, at the Marriott World Center Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fl. This popular event is hosted by the Department of Defense with participation of other government SBIR agencies. A primary goal is to provide a forum to transition SBIR Phase II technology to government and private sector markets. Many of the DoD Prime contractors attend seeking the innovation they need in their supply chain. Get all the details at https://www.beyondphaseii.com.

SBIR SAVED FROM LAPSING BY AN 11TH HOUR CONTINUING RESOLUTION

According to the SBIR Insider, The House just passed the Senate's Continuing Resolution (CR), S.1513 that keeps the SBIR program, as well as a few other SBA programs running (as is) through September 30, 2009. Although significant progress has been made, there's still a good deal of work to be done and it was simply not possible to reconcile their views before the deadline. Look out for more information as it comes out.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Missile Defense Agency’s Announces its 5th Annual Industry Day

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will hold their 5th Annual Industry Day from August 11-12 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Long Beach, California. A primary goal of the event is to provide key information for the small business community that will enhance their ability to submit stronger, more focused Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)proposals. Representatives from small and large businesses in the high technology Research and Development sector are expected to attend the conference. Registration information is available at www.ndia.org/meetings/9160.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

DOD STTR Program Releases Presoliciation

The Department of Defense STTR solicitation 2009.B will be publicly released on the DoD SBIR/STTR Web Site (http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir) on Jul 27, 2009. The 2009.B STTR Solicitation will open for receipt of proposals on Aug 24, 2009 and will close at 6:00 AM EASTERN TIME, Sep 23, 2009. Five DoD components will participate in the STTR 2009.B solicitation - the Department of the Air Force, Department of the Navy, Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD). The complete solicitation may be accessed at http://www.dodsbir.net/solicitation.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Senate Passes Their Version of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization

Monday afternoon, July 13, 2009 the Senate put the finishing touches on their SBIR reauthorization bill, S.1233 and passed it via unanimous consent.The Senate bill, which differs from the House version, provides for an increase to the SBIR program allocation, raising it to 3.5 percent, spread out over 11 years. The SBIR allocation increase includes all agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. The bill also increases the STTR program allocation from 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent over six years. Additionally, the Senate bill would amend eligibility requirements to allow businesses owned and controlled by multiple venture capital firms to compete for a percentage of SBIR projects. To improve the diversity of the programs, the measure also reauthorizes the Federal and State Technology program and Rural Outreach Program.

The next step will be a conference of House and Senate "conferees" that will attempt to hammer the two bills into one cohesive bill (lots of work and compromising to be done). Then, if they come to agreement, the final bill gets sent to the President for his signature. If the two bodies cannot agree, we could be looking at another continuing resolution.

Learn more here.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse Announces the Third SBIR Advance Session of 2009

Mark your calendars for the third SBIR Advance session in 2009!

There have been and will be a number of changes with regards to NIH SBIR and STTR, some of which are:

- NIH Enhanced Peer Review Process
- Changes to SBIR/STTR Proposal Formats
- Status of SBIR/STTR Reauthorization

If you are pondering a (re-)submission to the NIH, this might be a good time to attend.The session will take place on August 25 and 26, 2009 and will target companies submitting applications for the December 5th NIH deadline or to other agencies in December 2009.
Since the program inception, almost $18M has been received by the PLSG SBIR Advance participants. This accounts for close to 70% of the NIH Life Sciences SBIR dollars coming to SWPA. We hope you’ll be joining these winning companies.

The deadline for applications is July 24, 2009!

To sign up contact:

Uwe Winzen, Ph.D.Director, Investment Programs
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse
(P) (412) 770-1647
(F) (412) 770-1276
Email: uwinzen@plsg.com

House Passess HR 2965 "The Enhancing Small Business Research & Innovation Act of 2009"

The U.S. House of Representatives on July 8 overwhelmingly approved legislation, HR 2965, entitled "The Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009," to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program through 2011. The bill significantly boosts the dollar value of SBIR awards but decreases their number because the overall level of available grants funds was not increased. The bill would also remove a 2003 rule barring venture capital backed firms from receiving SBIR awards. There are eligibility restrictions in the House bill. For example, the House bill prevents SBIR funding to companies that: have more than 500 employees; are majority owned by just one venture firm; or have the majority of board seats held by one venture firm.

The bill would increase the amount of Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research grants for early stage innovation to $250,000 and push SBIR Phase 2 grants to $2 million (Phase 1 grants are now $100,000; Phase 2 grants are $750,000). The House bill must now be reconciled with a Senate committee version, S.1233, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2009, that limits how much of the SBIR awards can go to venture capital backed firms (18 percent of National Institutes of Health grants and 8 percent of grants from the 10 other federal agencies that make SBIR awards.) The Senate version would also increase awards to $150,000 for Phase 1 grants and $1 million for Phase 2 grants, and cap at 50 percent how far above the recommended amounts the grants can go, as well as increase the overall SBIR appropriation.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

NASA Releases 2009 Solicitations

On July 7th, NASA released their 2009 SBIR and STTR Solicitations. Proposals must be submitted no later then 5 pm on September 3, 2009. Thier interests very widely, so be sure to check out the solicitation topics here. Also, see how we may be able to assist you with the development of your proposal at no cost at our website:
http://www.pittentrepreneur.com/sbdc/sbir_sttr.php.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Connecticut to host 2010 small business innovation research conference

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that the 2010 National Small Business Innovation Research Conference will be held in Connecticut, the second time in three years that the national conference on encouraging technology transfer and boosting start-up technology firms will be held in Connecticut's capital city. Connecticut was chosen to host the national conference April 21-23, 2010, largely because of the success of the 2008 event held last November at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. For more info check out this article.

The remaining national 2009 events include:

2009 SBIR Beyond Phase II: Conference & Expo - Orlando Florida, September 21st - 25th

National SBIR Fall 2009 Conference - Reno Nevada, November 2nd - 5th

If you are serious about your SBIR strategy then I highly recommend attending a national conference. They provide the opportunity to meet program managers face to face, learn best practices, network with other successful SBIR recipients, get to know large companies interested in partnering with SBIR winners and learn about the best assistance providers.

Friday, July 3, 2009

PA SBIR Performance

Based on data collected by the State Science & Technology Institute Pennsylvania ranked 8th last year in the US in SBIR Phase I awards. Below, is a breif breakdown of the data:
  • Awards - 129
  • Proposals - 721
  • Winning % - 17.89%

Performance stats for the State for the the 2 years previous are below:

  • 2007: Awards - 141, Proposals - 729, Winning % - 19.34%
  • 2006: Awards - 133, Proposals - 874, Winning % - 15.22%

In 2008, as a state we were most active in the following agencies:

  • DOD: Awards - 67, Proposals - 435, Winning % - 15.4%
  • NIH: Awards - 33, Proposals - 114, Winning % - 28.9%
  • NSF: Awards - 11, Proposals - 48, Winning % - 22.9%
  • NASA: Awards - 10, Proposals - 58, Winning % - 17.2%

See more data here

Stay tuned for a more detailed breakdown of the Pittsburgh region in the next couple of weeks.

NIH's Administration for Children and Families Releases Presolicitation

The NIH's Administration for Children and Families (ACF), through the Program Support Center (PSC), Division of Acquisition Management (DAM), has issued a presolicitation for their 09-233-SOL-00102 SBIR solicitation scheduled for release on or about July 7, 2009 with an estimated closing date of August 7, 2009.

This should not be confused with the larger NIH SBIR solicitations, as this one is from a small entity within NIH and is contracts based rather than grants, so submittals will not be via grants.gov. The proposed topics are:

Disaster Case Management Information System (OHSEPR-01-09)
ACF Green Business Initiative (OCS-01-09)
ACF Green Business Initiative (OCS-01-09)

The solicitation will be available on the FBO web site at www.fbo.gov/index?&s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1a37c0f687d55059dd41d3021832fa27&tab=core&tabmode=list