FWA Measures, Management
Challenges, Working with OIGs
SBIR Investigations Workshop
January 22, 2016
Management Challenges
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Significant Workload
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Expanding Portfolios
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Increased numbers of proposals submitted in each award cycle
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Statutory Direction to Expend Increasing Percentage of Funds on SBIR/STTR Awards
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Significant Number of Eligibility Criteria to Monitor, E.G.,
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Primary Employment

Percentage of Work

Ownership
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No overlapping funding
Reliance on Self-Certifications
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Some people lie
What Program Officials Can Do to Help
Protect SBIR/STTR Funds:
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Ask Questions…Regularly and In writing
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Best Practice: Pre-Award Emails and SAVE COMPANY RESPONSES
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Reiterate key criteria and ask explicit questions
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Request documentation supporting certifications or legal requirements
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Document any conversations or guidance given
Contact other Agency Program Personnel when Funding the same SBCs
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SBIR.Gov, USAspending.gov, Research.gov
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Check Your Own Agency’s Databases
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Other SBIR awards
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Awards to Other Organizations involving the SBIR PI or other company
personnel
Training of Awardees or Prospective Awardees
Pre-Award Correspondence Example
Red Flags:
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Primary Employment
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Company PI’s email address belongs to a university
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Company PI’s resume includes long standing university affiliation
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Company PI’s resume does not include any mention of the company
Facility questions
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Work to be done at university, but no funds requested for facilities use
and/or no supporting documentation from the university
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Company address appears to be a residence (Google Street View)
Personnel/Org Charts
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Resumes/Bios suggest that a person likely retired

Academic, family, or other conflict-laden existing relationships between
company personnel
Letters of Support/Investment
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Duplicate letters provided in multiple proposals, with only different date
Pre-Award Correspondence Example
More Ideas about what Program Officials Can
Do to Help Protect SBIR/STTR Funds:

Pay attention to details in key sections of proposals and reports, then follow up and SAVE
RESPONSES:

Certifications in proposals and reports
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Budget
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Duplication between proposals and reports, where it’s unclear what new work was performed
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Current and Pending Support
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Resumes/Bios
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Check versus LinkedIn and Google and well as corporate webpage (if applicable)
Related Research and funding
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Do they provide for all key personnel, or omit some?
Do they gloss over other funding and not provide enough related information?
Disclosures: Follow up
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Do they disclose overlap or other issues? If so, follow up.
Follow Up Correspondence Example
1. The company’s listed address in NSF systems is [residential address], which appears to be an
apartment complex. Are company operations being run out of this location? If so, have you obtained
the proper legal authorization? Please discuss.
2. In the proposal document and in NSF’s Fastlane system, the corporate email address is listed as
[personal gmail address]. Please discuss.
3. Please send a full capitalization table for the company, listing any options/warrants that are
outstanding.
4. Please send, as attachments to your response, the company’s incorporation documents, operating
agreement, and any other legal documents that outline the company’s legal structure, rights, and
governance.
5. Please send, with your response, copies of all documents related to the company’s ongoing DOE
SBIR project (reports and proposals, Phase I and Phase II).
Working With Our Friends at OIG
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Report early with as much information as available
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Program personnel are in the best position to catch problems early
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Report as soon as you can
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OIG in the best position to fully investigate
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They have tools such as subpoenas to obtain records you would not have
access to
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Will close out case if no issues are substantiated
Outreach with Agency OIG is key
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OIG’s can share fraud schemes identified previously, so you can identify them
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Fake investment
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Fraudulent letters of support
You can share ideas with OIG about potential fraud schemes and prevention
measures
Panel
Questions

What, if anything, do
you do differently based
on your experience as a
government witness in
trial?
What do you do if
someone discloses
overlapping awards?
How do you ensure two
agencies don’t fund the
same thing?
In your experience, how
significant or serious of
a problem is fraud,
waste and abuse in the
SBIR program?
What can be done to
improve communication
between the program
and OIG? What can OIG
do to help the program?
Have any of you gone to
OIG with suspicions or
gut feelings about a
company?