NASA SBIR/STTR Program Solicitation Details | 1. Program Description

The NASA SBIR program is carried out in three separate phases. The three phases are described in detail on the NASA SBIR/STTR website: http://sbir.nasa.gov/content/nasa-sbirsttr-basics.

Phase I

This solicitation is only for the preparation and submission of Phase I proposals. The aim of a Phase I project should be to demonstrate technical feasibility of the proposed innovation and the potential for infusion within a NASA program or mission and/or use in the commercial market.

Maximum value and period of performance for Phase I:

Phase II

Phase II proposals continue the R/R&D developed under Phase I to bring the innovation closer to infusion into a NASA program or mission and/or commercialization of the innovation in a commercial market. Phase II will require a more comprehensive proposal, outlining the proposed effort in detail and the commercialization strategy for the effort. Only prior Phase I awardees are eligible to submit a Phase II proposal at the conclusion of the Phase I contract. A separate solicitation will be published for the preparation and submission of Phase II proposals.

Post-Phase II Opportunities for Continued Technology Development

NASA recognizes that Phase I and II awards may not be sufficient in either dollars or time for the offeror to complete the total R/R&D and the commercialization activities required to make the project ready for infusion or the commercial marketplace. Therefore, NASA has several initiatives for supporting its small business partners beyond their Phase I and Phase II awards.

Please refer to http://sbir.nasa.gov/content/post-phase-ii-initiatives for eligibility, application deadlines, matching requirements and further information.

Phase III

Phase III is the commercialization of innovative technologies, products, and services resulting from either a Phase I or Phase II award. This includes further development of technologies for transition into NASA programs, other Government agencies, or the private sector. Phase III contracts are funded from sources other than the SBIR and STTR programs and may be awarded without further competition.

Please refer to https://sbir.nasa.gov/content/post-phase-ii-initiatives#Phase-III for Phase III information.

1.5.1 Small Business Concern (SBC)

Each Phase I offeror must submit a certification stating that it meets the size, ownership, and other requirements of the SBIR program at the time of a completed proposal package submission, award, and at any other time set forth in SBA’s regulations at 13 CFR §§ 121.701-121.705. Socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned SBCs are particularly encouraged to propose.

1.5.2 SBC Size 

A Phase I offeror, combined with its affiliates, must not have more than 500 employees.

1.5.3 SBIR Restrictions on Level of Small Business Participation

The offeror must be the primary performer of the proposed research effort. To be awarded an SBIR Phase I contract, a minimum of two-thirds or 67% of the research or analytical effort must be carried out by the offeror during Phase I; correspondingly, a maximum of one-third or 33% of the effort may be performed by an outside party such as consultants or subcontractors.

1.5.4 Place of Performance and American-made Products and Equipment 

All work shall be performed in the United States.  When purchasing equipment or a product under the SBIR Funding Agreement, purchase only American-made items whenever possible. However, based on a rare and unique circumstance (for example, if a supply, material, or other item or project requirement is not available in the United States), NASA may allow a particular portion of the research or work to be performed or obtained in a country outside of the United States.

Completed proposal packages must clearly indicate if any work will be performed outside the United States, including subcontractor performance, and justification must be provided by downloading and completing the “Request to Use a Foreign Vendor/Purchase of Items from a Foreign Vendor” form found at https://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/submissions/learning-support/firm-templates while completing the budget under section 3.5.

Prior to award, approval by the Contracting Officer for such specific condition(s) must be in writing.

Note: NASA will not approve purchases from or work with countries that appear on the Designated Country list. For reference, please see https://www.nasa.gov/oiir/export-control.

1.5.5 Principal Investigator (PI) Employment Requirement

Note: NASA considers full-time employment to include salaried employees and employees who regularly work a 40-hour workweek. NASA considers a 19.9-hour or more workweek elsewhere to conflict with this rule. In rare occasions, minor deviations from this requirement may be necessary; however, any minor deviation must be approved in writing prior to the award by the Contracting Officer after consultation with the NASA SBIR/STTR Program Manager.,

1.5.6 Restrictions on Venture-Capital-Owned Businesses

At the current time, small businesses owned in majority part by multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, or private equity firms are not eligible to submit a proposal package under this NASA SBIR Phase I solicitation.

1.5.7 Joint Ventures or Limited Partnerships

Both joint ventures and limited partnerships are permitted, provided the entity created qualifies as an SBC in accordance with the definition of an SBC here: http://sbir.nasa.gov/content/nasa-sbirsttr-program-definitions. A statement of how the workload will be distributed, managed, and charged should be included in the completed proposal package. See definitions for Joint Ventures along with examples at 13 CFR 121.103(h).

A copy or comprehensive summary of the joint venture agreement or partnership agreement should be included when uploading the completed proposal package.

1.5.8 Required Benchmark Transition Rate

The SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4900/text) reauthorizes through FY2025 and modifies the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, and related pilot programs.

The bill requires minimum performance standards for more experienced firms.

Progress to Phase II - Increased Performance Standards for More Experienced Firms

This new Phase I to Phase II transition standard applies to firms that have won more than 50 Phase I awards during the five fiscal years preceding the most recent year. These firms must double their transition rate. The current minimum standard applies to firms with more than 20 Phase I awards and requires a minimum transition rate of 1 Phase II award per 4 Phase I awards. Firms with more than 50 awards, as detailed above, will now be required to meet an average of at least 2 Phase II awards per 4 Phase I awards.

Progress to Phase III - Increased Performance Standards for More Experienced Firms

Tier one applies to firms that have won more than 50 Phase II awards during the ten fiscal years preceding the two most recent. The performance standard would increase by 150% and require an average of $250,000 of sales and/or investments per Phase II award received during the covered period. The current standard is an average of $100,000 for firms that have won more than 15 Phase II awards during the covered period. This Act codifies the current practice that sales and/or investments shall result from awards within the covered period.

Tier two applies to firms that have won more than 100 Phase II awards during the ten fiscal years preceding the two most recent. The standard would increase by 350% and require an average of $450,000 of sales and/or investments per Phase II award received during the covered period. The current standard is an average of $100,000 for firms that have won more than 15 Phase II awards during the covered period. This Act codifies the current practice that sales and/or investments shall result from awards within the covered period.

Consequence of Failure to Meet Standard. If a firm does meet an increased performance standard, it may not receive more than 20 Phase I or Direct to Phase II awards at each agency in the following year. An agency may implement more restrictive limitations on the number of Phase I or Direct to Phase II awards. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) limits its SBIR program to 10 proposals and 5 awards, and its STTR program to 10 proposals and 2 awards; NASA would be permitted to continue those limitations.

Patents for Increased Standards. Unlike the existing minimum performance standard that allows firms to use sales and investments or patents to meet the commercialization standard, patents may not be used under the increased commercialization standards.

Documentation. A small business that is subject to the increased minimum performance standards for progress to Phase III commercialization shall submit supporting documentation to SBA to verify reported sales associated with their SBIR and STTR awards during the covered period; the requirement relates to the covered sales that the small business reports to SBA as helping to meet the standards. The sales do not include federal transactions because those can be verified through the federal database. The small business must provide documentation for such sales going back five fiscal years.

Waiver. SBA may grant a waiver for a topic that is critical to an agency’s mission or relates to national security. For topics that receive waivers, all firms may compete and receive awards for the specific topic, including a firm that did not meet the increased performance standards and would otherwise be subject to a 20 award per agency cap.

Reporting. Not later than July 2023 and annually thereafter until the increased minimum performance standards expire, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a list of the small business concerns that do not meet the minimum performance standards or the increased performance standards and identify those that received an award because of a waiver. The list shall be confidential and exempt from section 552 of title 5, United States Code.

SBA must expand the SBIR/STTR annual report to Congress to include 1) the minimum and increased performance standards and the number of firms that have not met the transition and commercialization performance standards, and 2) the aggregate number and dollar amount of SBIR and STTR awards made pursuant to waivers for firms that did not meet the performance standards. SBA is prohibited from publishing personally identifiable information, the identity of the firm, or otherwise sensitive information.

Implementation. The Administrator (SBA) shall implement the increased minimum performance standards not later than April 1, 2023 (the Fiscal Year 2023 benchmark assessment).

NASA has partnered with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to allow Phase I awardees the opportunity to participate in the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program. Phase I Offerors are encouraged to opt into and participate in this training if selected for an award. This training is designed to lower the market risk inherent in bringing a product or innovation to market, thereby improving the chances for a viable business. The NASA I-Corps program enables small businesses, including startup firms, to increase the odds of accelerating the process of developing their SBIR technologies into a repeatable and scalable business model. The program accomplishes this by putting the firms through a version of the Lean Launchpad/I-Corps process, which includes:

• Developing their business model hypotheses using the Business Model Canvas.
• Testing those hypotheses through the Customer Development Interview process.

The intended results of I-Corps are to enable offerors to conduct customer discovery to learn their customers' needs, to obtain a better understanding of their company's value proposition as it relates to those customer needs, and to develop an outline of a business plan for moving forward. For more information on the NASA I-Corps program, see http://sbir.nasa.gov/content/I-Corps.

Offerors who are selected for Phase I contract negotiations will be provided the opportunity to participate in the NASA SBIR/STTR I-Corps program as indicated in section 3.5.3.9. I-Corps awards will be made separately with a modification with the Phase I contract.    

NASA will conduct an abbreviated competition for I-Corps after Phase I offerors are selected for Phase I SBIR contracts. NASA anticipates making approximately 25 I-Corps awards to SBIR Phase I awardees. The amount of funding is up to $10,000 to support participation in the shortened I-Corps version for SBIR awardees.

The SBA oversees the Federal SBIR and STTR programs. The SBA has resources that small businesses can take advantage of in learning about each of the programs and obtaining help in developing a completed proposal package to submit to a Federal SBIR/STTR program. Offerors are encouraged to review the information that is provided at the following links: www.sbir.gov, https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance, and at https://www.sbir.gov/resources.

Fraud is described as “any false representation about a material fact or any intentional deception designed to deprive the United States unlawfully of something of value or to secure from the United States a benefit, privilege, allowance, or consideration to which an individual or business is not entitled.”

Note: The Federal Government reserves the right to decline any completed proposal packages that include plagiarism and false claims.

Note: Knowingly and willfully making any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations may be a felony under the Federal Criminal False Statement Act (18 U.S.C., section 1001), punishable by a fine and imprisonment of up to 5 years in prison. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has full access to all completed proposal packages submitted to NASA.

Pursuant to NASA policy, any company representative who observes crime, fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement or receives an allegation of crime, fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement from a Federal employee, contractor, grantee, contractor, grantee employee, or any other source will report such observation or allegation to the OIG. NASA contractor employees and other individuals are also encouraged to report crime, fraud, waste, and mismanagement in NASA's programs to the OIG. The OIG offers several ways to report a complaint:

NASA OIG Hotline: 1-800-424-9183 (TDD: 1-800-535-8134)

NASA OIG Cyber Hotline: https://oig.nasa.gov/cyberhotline.html

Or by mail:

NASA Office of Inspector General
P.O. Box 23089
L'Enfant Plaza Station
Washington, DC 20026

1.13.1 Questions About This Solicitation and Means of Contacting NASA SBIR Program

To ensure fairness, questions relating to the intent and/or content of research subtopics in this solicitation cannot be addressed during the open solicitation period. Only questions requesting clarification of completed proposal package instructions and administrative matters will be addressed.

The cutoff date and time for receipt of Phase I solicitation questions requesting clarification of completed proposal package instructions and administrative matters is March 6, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET. 

Offerors that have questions requesting clarification of completed proposal package instructions and administrative matters should refer to the NASA SBIR/STTR website or contact the NASA SBIR/STTR helpdesk.

1. NASA SBIR/STTR Website: http://sbir.nasa.gov
2. Help Desk: The NASA SBIR/STTR Help Desk can answer any questions regarding clarification of completed proposal package instructions and any administrative matters. The Help Desk may be contacted by:

a. Email: sbir@reisystems.com

b. The requestor must provide the name and telephone number of the person to contact, the organization name and address, and the specific questions or requests.