July 25, 2016
Last week the U.S. Small Business Administration released its highly anticipated online tutorials to help small businesses navigate the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The mobile-compatible site is free and allows users to learn about the programs through a combination of videos and text.
The SBA hopes that the new site will help…
April 18, 2016
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued proposed amendments to its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program Policy Directives. Specifically, the Notice of Proposed Amendments describes plans to combine the two directives into one document, clarify the data rights and Phase III preference afforded to SBIR and STTR small…
March 21, 2016
On March 11, 2016, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on a draft memorandum entitled, “Federal Source Code Policy — Achieving Efficiency, Transparency, and Innovation through Reusable and Open Source Software.’’ The notice explains that the Administration’s Second Open Government National Action Plan committed to adopting a…
October 12, 2015
Supplier-Enabled Innovation (SEI) recently has been touted in the private sector as having the potential to revolutionize procurement. But what is it?
SEI is a concept: that a procurement process can be used to dramatically increase the amount of research and development work being done on behalf of a procuring entity – by tapping into the capabilities and innovations of the entity’s…
May 18, 2015
The General Accountability Office’s recently issued report, DOD RAPID INNOVATION PROGRAM Some Technologies Have Transitioned to Military Users, but Steps Can Be Taken to Improve Program Metrics and Outcomes, highlights the long-standing challenges facing the Department of Defense in ensuring that "high value technologies are mature and available for military users" and recommends improvements to…
January 20, 2015
Just as people across the country have begun to recover from this year’s particularly nasty flu variant, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a decision involving an especially virulent form of Incumbentitis. This strain manifests as an incumbent’s touting a new and improved version of the same technology it used to perform the prior contract. However understandable…
November 11, 2014
The performance of Government contracts often requires the use of contractors’ preexisting data. Your rights in this data are frequently very valuable – sometimes even indispensable to your continued existence. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that when submitting a proposal for a government contract it is crucial that you understand and articulate your rights and those of the…
October 28, 2014
Many companies licensing software to federal agencies have been frustrated by their government customers’ apparent inability to effectively manage their licensing efforts. Too often agencies either: (i) buy more licenses that they need and later ask for rebates or concessions because they “didn’t use the software”; or (ii) purchase too few licenses and exceed licensed usage limits, triggering a…
March 11, 2013
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently announced a major new policy aimed at expanding public access to the results of unclassified, federally funded research. In a new policy memorandum, OSTP Director John Holdren has directed Federal agencies with more than $100 million in R&D expenditures to develop plans to make the published results of such research…
December 14, 2012
As detailed in a recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), federal agency efforts to address fraud, waste, and abuse in small business research and development contracts are continuing to develop into more robust programs that remain agency-specific but will increasingly reflect a common set of strategies.
The GAO prepared the report, “Small Business Research Programs:…
August 31, 2012
DoD, GSA, and NASA issued a proposed rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify that contracting officers should set aside research and development (R&D) contracts for small businesses when the market research indicates there are small businesses capable of providing the best scientific and technological approaches. Small Business Set Asides for Research and…
April 9, 2012
Last June, the United States Supreme Court made clear in Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2188 (2011), that the Bayh-Dole Act does not automatically vest ownership to an invention discovered with the aid of federal funding in the hands of a federal contractor, in that case, a university. (Click here to read Jackson…
July 25, 2016
Last week the U.S. Small Business Administration released its highly anticipated online tutorials to help small businesses navigate the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The mobile-compatible site is free and allows users to learn about the programs through a combination of videos and text.
The SBA hopes that the new site will help…
April 18, 2016
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued proposed amendments to its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program Policy Directives. Specifically, the Notice of Proposed Amendments describes plans to combine the two directives into one document, clarify the data rights and Phase III preference afforded to SBIR and STTR small…
March 21, 2016
On March 11, 2016, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on a draft memorandum entitled, “Federal Source Code Policy — Achieving Efficiency, Transparency, and Innovation through Reusable and Open Source Software.’’ The notice explains that the Administration’s Second Open Government National Action Plan committed to adopting a…
October 12, 2015
Supplier-Enabled Innovation (SEI) recently has been touted in the private sector as having the potential to revolutionize procurement. But what is it?
SEI is a concept: that a procurement process can be used to dramatically increase the amount of research and development work being done on behalf of a procuring entity – by tapping into the capabilities and innovations of the entity’s…
May 18, 2015
The General Accountability Office’s recently issued report, DOD RAPID INNOVATION PROGRAM Some Technologies Have Transitioned to Military Users, but Steps Can Be Taken to Improve Program Metrics and Outcomes, highlights the long-standing challenges facing the Department of Defense in ensuring that "high value technologies are mature and available for military users" and recommends improvements to…
January 20, 2015
Just as people across the country have begun to recover from this year’s particularly nasty flu variant, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a decision involving an especially virulent form of Incumbentitis. This strain manifests as an incumbent’s touting a new and improved version of the same technology it used to perform the prior contract. However understandable…
November 11, 2014
The performance of Government contracts often requires the use of contractors’ preexisting data. Your rights in this data are frequently very valuable – sometimes even indispensable to your continued existence. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that when submitting a proposal for a government contract it is crucial that you understand and articulate your rights and those of the…
October 28, 2014
Many companies licensing software to federal agencies have been frustrated by their government customers’ apparent inability to effectively manage their licensing efforts. Too often agencies either: (i) buy more licenses that they need and later ask for rebates or concessions because they “didn’t use the software”; or (ii) purchase too few licenses and exceed licensed usage limits, triggering a…
March 11, 2013
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently announced a major new policy aimed at expanding public access to the results of unclassified, federally funded research. In a new policy memorandum, OSTP Director John Holdren has directed Federal agencies with more than $100 million in R&D expenditures to develop plans to make the published results of such research…
December 14, 2012
As detailed in a recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), federal agency efforts to address fraud, waste, and abuse in small business research and development contracts are continuing to develop into more robust programs that remain agency-specific but will increasingly reflect a common set of strategies.
The GAO prepared the report, “Small Business Research Programs:…
August 31, 2012
DoD, GSA, and NASA issued a proposed rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify that contracting officers should set aside research and development (R&D) contracts for small businesses when the market research indicates there are small businesses capable of providing the best scientific and technological approaches. Small Business Set Asides for Research and…
April 9, 2012
Last June, the United States Supreme Court made clear in Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2188 (2011), that the Bayh-Dole Act does not automatically vest ownership to an invention discovered with the aid of federal funding in the hands of a federal contractor, in that case, a university. (Click here to read Jackson…
