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The small businesses win SBIR awards (grants or contracts) 

 through a competitive process in response to solicitations from 

 each participating agency. SBA is not a participating agency and 

 does not make R&D awards to businesses, but serves as the 

 coordinator of the program. 



Under the Act the SBIR Program is a three-phase process which 

 must be followed. The three phases are: 



Phase I: Awards of approximately 6 months and up to $100,000 

 are made for research projects to evaluate the 

 scientific and technical merit and feasibility of an 

 idea . 



Phase II: As a result of Phase I, those projects with the most 

 potential are funded for one or two years up to 

 $750,000, to further develop the proposed ideas to 

 meet the agency's needs. 



Phase III: Private sector investment and support will bring an 

 innovation to the marketplace. No SBIR funds are 

 expended in Phase III. 



There are no additional appropriations to fund this work. All 

 SBIR funding is set -aside from existing R&D budgets of the 

 participating agencies. 



