Oct. 4, 2006 David E. Steitz/Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1730/1761 RELEASE: 06-325 NASA SELECTS 120 SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH PROJECTS NASA has selected 120 proposals for negotiation of phase 2 contract awards in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The selected projects have a total value of approximately $72 million. The contracts will be awarded to 103 small high technology firms in 27 states. The program is a competitive, three-phase award system. It provides qualified small businesses, including women-owned and disadvantaged firms, with opportunities to propose innovative ideas that meet specific research and development needs of the federal government. Phase 1 is a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of an idea. Awards are for up to six months in amounts up to $70,000. Phase 2 expands on the results on the development of phase 1. Awards are for up to two years in amounts up to $600,000. Phase 3 is for the commercialization of the results of phase 2 and requires the use of private sector or non-SBIR federal funding. These NASA awards are for the second-phase in this competitive process. Participating contractors submitted 280 phase 2 proposals. The criteria used to select the winning proposals included technical merit and innovation, phase 1 results, value to NASA, commercial potential, and company capabilities. The program is managed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., with executive oversight by NASA Headquarters. Individual projects are managed by NASA's 10 field installations. For a list of selected companies, visit: http://sbir.nasa.gov -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
