SBIR_2016_Year_in_Review-FINAL-WEB-with_links-PACleared

AN
OVERVIEW OF 2016
The Air Force program operates on a congressionally
mandated percentage of the Air Force’s extramural
Research/Research & Development (R/R&D) budget as
established by the SBIR and STTR policy directives. This
amounted to roughly $338M for FY 2016.
The Air Force SBIR/STTR program office continued
several new initiatives to improve operations and
outreach due to an influx from the new SBIR/STTR
Administration Pilot funds. In FY 2012, Congress
authorized an additional three percent in administrative
funding for SBIR federal agencies to increase
participation in its programs by small disadvantaged
businesses, women-owned small businesses, veteranowned
businesses and small businesses in states
currently considered “underserved” by the SBA in
terms of SBIR contracts awards. In FY16 the Air Force
program office utilized these funds to implement several
new initiatives to improve operations and outreach.
Therefore, the Air Force continued to use these funds in
FY 2016 for the following:
• Outreach
• Streamlining and simplifying processes
• Reporting (administrative, congressional and interagency)
• Commercialization
• Prevention and detection of fraud, waste and abuse
• Administration and implementation of the SBIR policy
directive
The Air Force’s plan for the SBIR Administration Pilot
funding included:
• Increasing emphasis on detecting and preventing fraud, waste
and abuse in SBIR/STTR contracts
• Supporting technology demonstrations (Tech Warrior)
• Commercializing intellectual property through SBIR
• Improving manufacturing technology through SBIR
• Modernizing the Air Force SBIR/STTR program’s information
technology infrastructure
• Placing CRP SBIR Acquisition R&D Technical Analysts at AFRL
Technology Directorates
• Increasing marketing and outreach efforts to underserved
communities
FISCAL YEAR 2016
There are three phases to SBIR and STTR; Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. The time frame for a Phase I contract is less
than a year and Phase II contracts are for two years. The Air Force SBIR/STTR budget includes Phase I and Phase II
contracts as well as extensions or enhancements to current Phase II efforts.
Phase III contracts are not part of the annual budget since, by law, they must be funded with non-SBIR dollars. The goal
for the Phase III contracts is to find external mission dollars, whether from the Air Force or other federal agencies, as
well as funding from private sources, such as MDCs.
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