NOAA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) seeks to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector, strengthen the role of small businesses in meeting federal research and development needs, increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from NOAA-supported research and development efforts, and foster and encourage participation by women-owned and socially disadvantaged small business firms in technological innovation.

Applicant Eligibility
(1) is organized for profit, with a place of business located in the United States, which operates primarily within the United States, or which makes a significant contribution to the United States economy through the payment of taxes or use of American products, materials or labor;

(2) is in the legal form of an individual proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, joint venture, association, trust or cooperative, except that where the form is a joint venture, there can be no more than 49 percent participation by foreign business entities in the joint venture;

(3) is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States, except in the case of a joint venture, where each entity in the venture must be 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in the United States; and

(4) has, including its affiliates, not more than 500 employees.

The term "affiliates" is defined in greater detail in 13 CFR 121.103. The term "number of employees" is defined in 13 CFR 121.106.

Each year, NOAA sets aside a portion of its extramural R&D budget to fund research from small science and technology-based firms. The NOAA SBIR Program supports innovative research projects that fall within NOAA’s core mission of science, service, and stewardship.

All Phase I and II proposals will be evaluated and judged on a competitive basis. A proposal will not be deemed acceptable if it represents presently available technology. Proposals will be initially screened to determine responsiveness. Proposals passing this initial screening will be technically evaluated by engineers or scientists (reviewers may be NOAA employees or outside of NOAA) to determine the most promising technical and scientific approaches. Each proposal will be judged on its own merit. NOAA is under no obligation to fund any proposal or any specific number of proposals in a given topic. It also may elect to fund several or none of the proposed approaches to the same topic or subtopic.

Final award recommendation decisions will be made by NOAA based upon rankings assigned by the selection panel and consideration of additional factors, including possible duplication of other research, the importance of the proposed research as it relates to NOAA needs, and the availability of funding. In the event of a “tie” between proposals, manufacturing-related projects as well as those regarding energy efficiency and renewable energy systems will receive priority in the award selection process. NOAA may elect to fund several or none of the proposals received on a given subtopic. Upon recommendation of a proposal for a Phase I award, NOAA reserves the right to review and negotiate, if necessary, the amount of the award.

Notice is sent to applicants for each proposal submitted stating whether it was recommended or not for award no more than 90 days after the closing date of the solicitation. Awards are issued no more than 180 days after the closing of the solicitation.