An Assessment of the SBIR Program at the Department of Energy (2008) / Chapter Skim
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8 Program Management
8 Program Management
Pages 90-110
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From page 90... ...
In addition to SC, six other technical programs at DoE receive services from the SBIR office: Fossil Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Nuclear Energy, Environmental Management, and Nuclear Nonproliferation. SC is the largest DoE program participating in SBIR (receiving 64 percent of SBIR funds in 2002)
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From page 91... ...
The technical programs are responsible for generating technical topics for the annual solicitations, selecting reviewers for each proposal, scoring the proposals, and recommending proposals for funding. These procedures, which are overseen by the SBIR Program Manager, are performed by approximately 70 Technical Topic Managers (TTMs)
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From page 92... ...
1993 -- STTR program implemented with first solicitation. With far fewer funds in STTR, DoE limited the number of technical topics, implementing a topic rotation among its technical programs.
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From page 93... ...
was dropped and a formal process was implemented to allow the technical programs to appeal SBIR office decisions to a neutral third party. Finally, a policy was implemented to attempt to provide all technical programs with a fair return on their SBIR investment.
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From page 94... ...
Low funding levels for administration mean however that the DoE SBIR staff devotes nearly 100 percent of staff time to managing the processes for generating technical topics, and for receiving, evaluating, and selecting grant applications. This leaves little time for activities such as outreach, measuring Phase III activity, encouraging Phase III activity (both within and outside the department, including the national laboratories)
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From page 95... ...
One hundred percent of DoE SBIR awards satisfy this condition. DoE explicitly uses narrowly-defined technical topics to keep the number of applications at what the agency views to be a manageable level.
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From page 96... ...
would receive the comments from expert technical reviewers, usually from outside DoE, and would then score the proposal based on these comments. This approach resulted in tensions between the SBIR office and the technical programs.
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From page 97... ...
Second, the primary authority for award selection was shifted to the technical programs. Each program's SBIR portfolio manager is responsible for developing a process for determining which grant applications should be selected for award.
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From page 98... ...
DoE does take steps to make small businesses aware of upcoming SBIR solicitations. Historically, DoE posted its solicitation in the Commerce Business Daily and mailed out twenty thousand copies each year in order to ensure that a broad community of small business was aware of DoE SBIR program.
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From page 99... ...
102-564. • Third, as a condition of their grants, Phase II awardees are required to report Phase III information for three years after their SBIR award and voluntarily thereafter; however, not all awardees actually do so. 8.7.2 Freedom of Information Act One of the main purposes of the SBIR program, the commercialization of SBIR-developed technology, would be defeated if the results of the research were This law, P.L.
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From page 100... ...
8.8 Program Structure 8.8.1 Differences Between Agencies Most of the case study companies indicated an awareness of the differences between agencies in their administration of the program, but none indicated that they had a problem with the fact that there were differences. In fact, one company (Creare)
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From page 101... ...
However, this approach was eliminated as because the additional round of proposal reviews and scoring was seen as an added burden for the SBIR office and well as for the TTMs and TPMs in the technical program office. 8.9 Participation of DoE National Laboratories in SBIR 8.9.1 Overview of DoE National Laboratories Among the federal agencies that participate in the SBIR a program, the Department of Energy is unique with respect to its government owned-contractor operated national laboratories (GOCOs)
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From page 102... ...
However, this is not the case. Typically, less than 10 percent of DoE SBIR projects involve such partnerships.
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From page 103... ...
DoE SBIR office assists its applicants in negotiating this waiver request process, and, to this point, no request has been denied by the SBA. 8.10 Developments in Program Administration Since 2003 8.10.1 Online Capabilities and Plans The technology for administering grant applications at DoE was paper-based throughout the focal period of this study (1992-2003)
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From page 104... ...
8.10.2 Program Manager Given More Control In a recent change, DoE SBIR program managers are given more direct control over SBIR awards. With more control the program managers have taken more ownership and appear to be more engaged with the companies, resulting in positive impacts for everyone involved.
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From page 105... ...
Providing commercialization assistance services to SBIR awardees; 3. Collecting Phase III data from Phase II awardees, and 4.
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From page 106... ...
Dawnbreaker also solicits detailed feedback on CAP participation from clients through an evaluation template. CAP was formally launched in 1989 by Program Manager Samuel Barish with a $50,000 contribution spread over 11 DoE technical programs.12 At the present time, the CAP -- along with the other commercialization assistance services described in this report -- is funded from the 2.5 percent SBIR set-aside, 11Interview with Larry James, May 5, 2005.
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From page 107... ...
The agency's goal is successful commercialization of SBIR technology through licensing, subsidiary spin-off or "otherwise providing a path for the innovation to have the program manager's intended impact."14 One of these services, Technology Niche Assessments (TNA) , has been available to DoE SBIR awardees for the past 6 years.
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From page 108... ...
DoE SBIR uses both contractors' tracking results in biannual evaluations, but the data is not made publicly available -- both vendors cite client confidentiality as the reason for not making commercialization figures available for each SBIR client. 8.11.3 Collecting Phase III Data From the outset, DoE SBIR office made a concerted effort to assess SBIR commercialization outcomes.15 All DoE SBIR Phase II awardees are required to report on their Phase III activity as a condition of their grant.
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From page 109... ...
first, list all products and services that were derived from their DoE SBIR projects; (2) report on both sales and/or Phase III investment (including postSBIR funding for further development)
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From page 110... ...
A longtime DoE SBIR program manager could not recall one instance in which DoE has funded Phase III with non-SBIR funds as a follow-on to the research performed in Phases I and II.17 DoE SBIR staff report that, during the interval covered by the study, many DoE Technical Project Monitors (TPMs) were unaware that SBIR technologies can be procured through a noncompetitive process in Phase III.
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