SBIR Program seeks to increase portfolio Published Sept. 9, 2008 By Stephen F. Watson Air Force Research Laboratory KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico -- Since 1984, the federal government has supported small businesses that were often at a disadvantage when competing against larger corporations for federal contract opportunities. Under the Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, program, companies with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to apply and compete for funding on a variety of scientific and engineering research topics. The SBIR office at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Phillips Research Site here manages about $100 million - $45 million for the Space Vehicles Directorate, $15 million for the Directed Energy Directorate and $40 million for DOD's Missile Defense Agency. The overall AFRL SBIR budget is $330 million. "The total amount of money involved doesn't begin to explain the benefits the Air Force receives," said Danielle Lythgoe, Space Vehicles Directorate SBIR program manager. "One of our SBIR companies, CSA Engineering, developed a successful secondary payload adaptor that allows for additional spacecraft to be launched when there is additional space on the rocket. In February, the Secretary of the Air Force issued a policy memo to routinely use this adaptor ring with small payloads on our important evolved expendable launch vehicles by 2011." Recently, the Air Force started a push to increase the percentage of its contract dollars awarded to small businesses. The Air Force small business team began its "Beyond Goals" campaign to not merely meet a percentage goal of contract funds going to small companies, but to focus on providing support for small businesses that have options and solutions for the government customer. "We're making a huge effort to reach out to smaller businesses and get them involved in our SBIR program," said Cisco Tapia, SBIR team lead. Under the SBIR process, AFRL establishes a limited number of topics for each solicitation period. In 2007, there were close to 200 topics available for small companies to research. During the pre-solicitation period, interested investigators can contact Air Force technical points of contact to obtain more information. A Phase I award grants a small company up to $100,000 for a six-month period to study the potential scientific, technological, and commercial feasibility of a topic. If successful, the company can submit a proposal for a Phase II award. In Phase II, up to $750,000 can be funded for a two-year period to develop a prototype. Under the final Phase III, non-SBIR money from organizations such as the Air Force product centers is used for production. The SBIR office is managing 128 active Phase I and 278 active Phase II topics. Of these, 40 of the Phases I belong to the Directed Energy Directorate, and 88 belong to the Space Vehicles Directorate. Of the Phases II, 68 are Directed Energy's and 210 are Space Vehicles. In addition, for the current fiscal year, Directed Energy has awarded 25 Phase Is, 17 Phase IIs, and one Phase III. Space Vehicles has awarded 48 Phase Is and 46 Phase IIs for FY08. "We're very proud of our track record," said Ardeth Walker, SBIR program manager for both AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate and the Air Force service lead for the Missile Defense Agency. "Agile Optics, which operates out of Albuquerque, has completed a Phase II contract for a low-cost compact adaptive optics system that the Navy is interested in developing. And a regional company has just been funded a one million-dollar Phase III award by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate to develop a non-lethal deterrent system."