DoD Small Business Technology Transfer Partnering Opportunities

During these financially perilous times, many of the nation’s research institutions including universities, colleges and non-profits have found their endowments greatly diminished, and budgets cut. Federal laboratories are watching closely to see how the stimulus package will affect their R&D budgets. Organizations are looking for new opportunities, some in places they haven’t been before.

The DoD has released its FY-09A STTR solicitation consisting of 67 Technical Topics from the Army and Navy. In the STTR program, a small business is the prime but must partner with a research institution (RI), with the small business having a minimum of 40% of the work and the RI a minimum of 30%, the rest is negotiable.

In STTR, a federal laboratory that is also a Federally Funded Research & Development Center (FFRDC) can be an RI partner without needing a waiver from the SBA. Most of the DOE’s National Laboratories are FFRDCs (see http://www.zyn.com/SBIR/articles/ffrdc.htm for a list of FFRDCs). Federal laboratories that are not FFRDCs will require a waiver from the SBA. Universities, colleges and non-profits do not require a waiver.

In an effort to try and foster an environment of new partnerships, I put together a system where the small business and the RI can register their partnering interests on a topic by topic basis. Although my target was the SBIR/STTR communities, a few federal laboratory folk told me they thought the FLC community may be interested as well.

The web site to check for partnering opportunities and/or to register is located at http://www.zyn.com/sbir/sttr_partnering.htm This project is free of charge with the aim to help build new partnerships for technological solutions to government needs and to stimulate the economy by the commercialization and/or transitioning of the technologies.

The DoD STTR program officially opens to accept proposals on February 24, and closes on March 25, 2009. All details on the solicitation are available directly from the DoD at http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sttr09A

Feel free to contact me at the address below if I can be of any help.

Thank you for your time and interest.

Best wishes,

Rick Shindell

SBIR Gateway

40 Alderwood Dr.

Sequim, WA 98382

Ph: 360-681-4123

rick@zyn. com

http://www.zyn.com/sbir