SBIR Supporting Statement v1.5

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Small Business Innovation Research Program

(OMB No. 1640-NEW)

A. Justification

1. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program was established under the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 (P.L. 97-219), reauthorized until September 30, 2000 by the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-564), and reauthorized again until September 30, 2008 by the Small Business Innovation Research Program Reauthorization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-554). The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program was established under the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-564), reauthorized until September 30, 2001 by the Small Business Technology Transfer Program Reauthorization Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-135), and reauthorized again until September 30, 2009 by the Small Business Technology Transfer Program Reauthorization Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-50). These Public Laws are codified in 15 U.S.C. 638, a copy of which is attached.

Federal agencies with an annual extramural research and development (R&D) budget exceeding $100 million are required to participate in the SBIR Program. Similarly, Federal agencies with an extramural R&D budget exceeding $1 billion are required to participate in the STTR Program.

Federal agencies who participate in the SBIR and STTR programs must collect information from the public to:

1. Meet their reporting requirements under 15 U.S.C. 638 (b)(7), (g)(8), (i), (j)(1)(E), (j)(3)(C), (l), (o)(10), and (v)

2. Meet the requirement to maintain both a publicly accessible database of SBIR/STTR award information and a government database of SBIR/STTR award information for SBIR and STTR program evaluation under 15 U.S.C. 638 g(10, (k), (o) (9), and (o)(15)

3. Meet requirements for public outreach under 15 U.S.C. 638 (j)(2)(F), (o)(14), and (s)

2. The information collected is used by the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office to:

1. Identify members of the public who qualify for, and are interested in participating in, the DHS SBIR/STTR Program

2. Facilitate SBIR/STTR outreach to the public

3. Provide the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office necessary and sufficient information to determine that proposals submitted by the public to the DHS SBIR/STTR Program meet criteria for consideration under the program

Information is typically collected via the DHS SBIR/STTR secure website, but the public has the option of providing the information via hardcopy forms that can be either mailed or faxed to the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office.

3. Information technology will be used in the collection of this information to reduce the data gathering and records management burden. DHS S&T will provide a secure website, accessible through http://www.sbir.dhs.gov/, through which the public can propose SBIR/STTR research topics, ask SBIR/STTR-related questions, seek collaboration opportunities, apply for consideration as a proposal reviewer, and submit proposals in response to DHS SBIR/STTR solicitations. The data collection forms will standardize the collection of information that is both necessary and sufficient for the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office to meet its requirements under 15 U.S.C. 638 for outreach, reporting, and database management, to track and process SBIR/STTR proposals, and to provide timely feedback to offerors. The DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office will accept proposals via its secure website to reduce burden and improve records management by (1) allowing offerors to submit identifying information only once and then to reference that previously submitted identifying information in the submittal of proposals, (2) eliminating the cost and delay associated with the submission of proposals via non-electronic means, (3) facilitating timely review of proposals, and (4) improving the accuracy of records management for proposals.

4. The information being collected is either being submitted by the public at the voluntary initiation of the public (e.g., proposing a research topic, asking a question, seeking collaboration opportunities, applying for consideration as a proposal reviewer) or is offeror-identifying information that is necessary for the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office to consider proposals in an objective and timely manner. Since any person or organizational entity may initiate contact with the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office at any time and may submit a proposal to any open DHS SBIR/STTR solicitation, there is no other accurate, current source of this information than the offerors themselves.

5. Collection of this information via a secure website is intended to minimize burden for small businesses and other small entities, who are the sole participants in the DHS SBIR/STTR Program. Small businesses and other small entities will be able to enter identifying information and subsequently update rather than resubmit that information via the Internet. Small businesses and other small entities, which do not have access to the Internet, can request that hard copies of forms be mailed or faxed to them for completion and return to the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office.

6. The DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office collects only information that is both necessary and sufficient to comply with 15 U.S.C. 638. Failure to collect this information would result in DHS being non-compliant with 15 U.S.C. 638. Failure to allow the public to suggest research topics, ask questions, seek collaboration opportunities, and apply for consideration as a proposal evaluator at any time will diminish the ability of the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office to meet its obligations for outreach as required by 15 U.S.C. 638. Also, failure to collect/verify offeror-identifying information each time an offeror submits a proposal will prevent the DHS SBIR/STTR Program Office from (1) considering proposals in a timely manner, (2) properly attributing proposals to offerors, and (3) communicating effectively with offerors concerning their proposals.

7. Only if a respondent submits a classified proposal is he or she required to submit an original and two copies due to information security regulations.

Respondents may submit company-proprietary information. All such sensitive but unclassified material is safeguarded as outlined in Department of Homeland Security Management Directive Number 11042.1, Safeguarding Sensitive But Unclassified (For Official Use Only) Information.

8. By notice in the Federal Register on June 15, 2007 at 72 FR 33241, DHS S&T notified the public that it was requesting comments on this information collection. The notice allowed for a 60-day public comment period. No comments were received. Additionally, by notice in the Federal Register on September 6, 2007 at 72 FR 51234, DHS S&T notified the public that it was requesting comments on this information collection. The notice allowed for a 30-day public comment period. No comments were received. No consultations with people outside the agency have been conducted. No consultations with representative of those whose information we are requesting have been consulted.

9. DHS S&T does not provide payments or gifts to respondents in exchange for a benefit sought.

10. Portions of proposals that constitute trade secrets, proprietary commercial or financial information, or personal information or data, will be treated in confidence to the extent permitted by law, provided it is clearly marked in accordance with FAR Subpart 15.609. Cost information is always treated as company-proprietary information whether or not it is marked as such. A Privacy Threshold Analysis was completed and required the submission of a Privacy Impact Assessment, which was accepted as complete. They are included in the submission package.

11. There are no questions of a sensitive nature in this information collection.

12. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

Form Name	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Avg. Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Annual Burden (in hours)	Average Hourly Wage Rate	Total Annual Respondent Cost
Company Registration Form	400	1	.25	100	$100	$10,000
Research Topic Recommendation Form	120	1	.25	30	$100	$3,000
Collaboration Opportunity Form	100	1	.25	25	$100	$2,500
E-mail Mailing List Signup Form	300	1	.166	50	$100	$5,000
E-mail Mailing List Removal Form	180	1	.166	30	$100	$3,000
Submit a Question Form	150	1	.166	25	$100	$2,500
Proposal Cover Sheet Form	460	1	.5	230	$100	$23,000
Cost Proposal Form	370	1	1	370	$100	$37,000
Total	2,080			860		$86,000

Annual Reporting Burden and Respondent Cost: The total estimated ICR Public Burden in hours is 860. This figure was derived by summing the total annual burden hours from all forms. The total annual number of respondents is 2,080. This figure was derived by summing the number of respondents to each form.

13. There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this information collection.

14. Government Cost

Estimate annual cost to the federal government in relation to this information collection is $850,000. This cost includes the following:

$300,000 for government salaries

$300,000 for program office contractor support

$50,000 for supplies, printing, and travel

$200,000 for SBIR/STTR website operation and maintenance

$850,000 TOTAL

Public Cost

The total estimated annual public reporting cost is $86,000. This figure was derived by summing the estimated annual respondent costs for all forms.

15. This is a new information collection.

16. DHS S&T does not intend to employ the use of statistics or the publication thereof for this information collection.

17. DHS S&T will display the expiration date of OMB approval for this information collection.

18. DHS S&T does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.

B. Collection of Information Employment Statistical Methods

Not Applicable.

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