FY 2019 small business innovation research (SBIR) program

Each applicant must qualify as a small business concern for research or research and development (R/R & D) purposes, as defined in Section 1.7 of this NOFO, at the time of the award and at any other time set forth in the SBA's regulations at 13 CFR 121.701- 121.705.In addition, the primary employment of the principal investigator (PI) must be with the small business concern (SBC) at the time of the award and during the conduct of the proposed project. Primary employment means that more than one-half of the principal investigator's time is spent in the employ of the SBC. Primary employment with a SBC precludes full-time employment with another organization. Further, a small business may only replace the principal investigator on an SBIR Phase I award if the NOAA Grants Officer provides prior written approval.The R/R & D work must be performed in the United States. Requests for an exemption must be submitted in writing at the time of application submission. Only rare and unique circumstances will be considered for an exemption. The NOAA Grants Officer must approve each exemption and its terms in writing.For Phase I, a minimum of two-thirds of the research and/or analytical effort must be performed by the awardee. The total cost for all consultant fees, facility leases, usage fees, and other subcontract/subaward or purchase agreements may not exceed one- third of the total award. For Phase II, a minimum of one-half of the research and/or analytical effort must be performed by the awardee. The total cost for all consultant fees, facility leases, usage fees, and other subcontract/subaward or purchase agreements may not exceed one-half of the total award.NOAA has elected to not use the provision that would allow venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds or private equity firms to participate in the SBIR Program. Therefore, applications in which work would be performed by VCOCs will not be considered for award.Applications not responding to subtopics listed herein are not eligible for SBIR awards. Only proposals that are directly responsive to the subtopics as described in Section 9 will be considered.Applicants (and any affiliated individuals) may not participate in the selection of any topic or subtopic. Additionally, they may not participate in the review of proposals. All associated entities to applicants to this NOFO (including Guest Researchers, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) partners and others working with NOAA) may only submit a proposal if they:• Had no role in developing or reviewing the subtopic• Have not been the recipient of any information on the subtopic not available in the NOFO or other public means; and• Have not received any assistance from DOC in preparing the proposal for this specific NOFO (including any 'informal' reviews) prior to submission.NOAA may not enter into, or continue, an existing CRADA with an awardee under this program.Each applicant will be required to provide certain information via www.sbir.gov as well as other information required by the SBIR Policy Directive (see Appendices V-VI), found at https://www.sbir.gov/sites/default/files/sbir_pd_with_1-8-14_amendments_2-24- 14.pdf. Each Small Business Concern (SBC) applying for an award is required to update the appropriate information in SBIR.gov for any of its existing and prior SBIR awards.