Introduction to the Small Business Innovation Research SBIR Program and the "SBIR for eGov Pilots" I

1
Introduction to the Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) Program and the "SBIR for eGov
Pilots" Initiative

• September 30, 2003
• National Science Foundation, Stafford I Building,
  4201 Wilson Blvd., 12th Floor, NSF Boardroom
  (Room 1235)
• Brand Niemann, EPA, Susan Turnbull, GSA,
• and Tony Stanco, GWU
• CIO Councils Emerging Technology Subcommittee

2
Relationships

• The Federal Government has a Chief Information
  Officer (CIO) Council
• The former Chair was Mark Forman, the eGov Chief,
  and the Vice Chair is Karen Evans who is now the
  new eGov Chief!
• Karen Evans supports Semantic XML Web Services
  in her December 17, 2002, CIO Council Vision
  Statement
• We see the Councils mission as. developing
  taxonomy and XML data definitions that apply
  across government so the information we create
  can be shared and easily accessed regardless of
  its origins.

3
Relationships

• The CIO Council has an Architecture and
  Infrastructure Committee (AIC)
• The Chair is John Gilligan, Air Force CIO.
• The leadership is composed of the co-chairs of
  its three Subcommittees
• Governance John Przysucha (DOE) and Bob Haycock
  (OMB).
• Components Ren Cahoon (NARA) and Bob Haycock
  (OMB).
• Emerging Technology Mark Day (EPA) and Dawn
  Meyerriecks (DISA).
• Advertisement We need more government staff to
  help with this work!

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Relationships

• The Emerging Technology Subcommittee has three
  Working Groups that are graduating or evolving to
  become Communities of Practice or
  Collaboration
• XML Owen Ambur (DOI/FWS) and Lee Ellis (GSA).
• XML Web Services Brand Niemann (EPA).
• Collaboration Expedition Susan Turnbull (GSA).
• What we are doing here today relates closely to
  our new Charter and Leadership Direction!

A open collaboration with open standards
community that focuses on doing things that
actually can and should be put into fairly
common practice.
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Emerging Technologies
Note Our purpose is to try flatten the curve.
Visibility
Five to 10 years Less than two years
Semantic Web
Web-Services-Enabled Business Models
External Web Services Deployments
Extensible Business Reporting Language
Internal Web Services
Note Non-Web Services omitted.
Maturity
Technology Trigger
Peak of Inflated Expectations
Trough of Disillusionment
Slope of Enlightenment
Plateau of Productivity
Source Gartner as of July 2003.
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Emerging Technologies

• Hype Cycle for Government Technologies, 2003
  (Gartner Strategic Analysis Report, June 13,
  2003)
• External Web Services Deployments
• Definition The use of Web services to provide
  data interchange and noninvasive application
  integration among enterprises.
• Time to Plateau/Adoption Speed Two to 5 years.
• Justification for Hype Cycle Position/Adoption
  Speed Web services should solve application
  integration problems between enterprises. Web
  services deployment is slower than in the private
  sector because of privacy and security concerns.
• Business Impact Areas Major impact on government
  service intermediation and partnerships.
• Analysis By Whit Andrews.

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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org

• Fostering a Component Technology Marketplace for
  eGovernment with the SBIR/STTR (See September
  11th Announcement)
• http//www.componenttechnology.org/
• The SBIR for eGov Pilots Team
• Maurice Swinton, Assistant Administrator, Office
  of Technology (SBIR/STTR), US SBA, 202-205-6450,
  maurice.swinton_at_sba.gov
• Brand Niemann, Emerging Technology Subcommittee
  and US EPA, 202-566-1657, niemann.brand_at_epa.gov
• Susan Turnbull, Emerging Technology Subcommittee
  and US GSA, 202-501-6214, susan.turnbull_at_gsa.gov
• Tony Stanco, Associate Director, eGovernment,
  Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute,
  George Washington University, 202-994-5513,
  stanco_at_gwu.edu
• Dan Loague, Executive Director, National
  Association of Seed and Venture Funds,
  405-824-5549, Dan_Loague_at_nasvf.org
• More to be added.

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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org

• Inform, encourage, and assist agencies with
  eGovernment Component Technology topics that
  would be useful to their agencies and others
  starting at the SBIR Agency Meeting on September
  11th.
• Set as a goal for FY 2004 the funding of about 1
  of the SBIR/STTR projects in support of
  eGovernment Component Technology.
• Conduct the regular Emerging Components
  Conference Series starting October 20th at the
  White House Conference Center
• 2003 NASVF Conference, Presentation, November
  2-5, 2003, Baltimore, MD (http//www.nasvf.org/con
  ference).
• EGOVOS 3 Open Standards and Libre Software in
  Government, November 24-26, 2003, Paris, France
  (http//www.egovos.org/nov-2003/).
• Web-Enabled Government 2004 Conference, February
  3-5, 2004, Washington, DC. Proposed Session
  (http//www.e-gov.com).
• FOSE 2004, Emerging Component Conference within
  the FOSE Conference, March 23-25, 2004,
  Washington, DC (http//www.fose.com).

Will include vendor interoperability
demonstrations (c.f. http//www.xmethods.net/wsid/
).
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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org
Proposed Relationship to SBIR
Componenttechnology.org - A public-private
partnership

• This opens two doors for
• small businesses
• GSA Schedule, and
• Venture Capitalists.

Government (eGov/FEA)
SBIR/ STTC
Venture Capitalists (eGov/FEA)
Small Businesses (eGov/FEA)
Meets Competition and Contractual Requirements
in SBIR Phase I and II allowing for sole-source
contracts and pre-vetted Venture Capital Support
in Phase III.
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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org

• Forms
• Company/Entrepreneur Proposing eGovernment
  Solutions
• Government Agency Looking for eGovernment
  Solutions
• Venture Capital/Angel Investor Willing to Fund a
  Company/Entrepreneur Proposing eGovernment
  Solutions
• Government Agency with a SBIR Program Willing to
  fund a Company/Entrepreneur and Hand-off the SBIR
  Project to the Venture Community in Phase III
• Other Interested Party Seeking to Help

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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org

• Integrate content from FEAPMO, NASCIO, IAC,
  Agencies (Federal and State), etc. and across the
  three CIOC AIC Subcommittees.
• Add structure, interoperability (XML),
  interlinking and search.
• Standardize terminology (on way to Government
  Core Ontology and smart data) for machine EA
  tool processing.
• Include XML Schemas and structured data (forms).
• Show best practices of standards-based, reusable,
  interoperable components.

See http//web-services.gov
Governance, Components, and Emerging Technology
Subcommittees.
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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org

• Steps to Take
• Register at Componenttechnology.org.
• Ask questions and receive answers (see next
  slide).
• Participate in the regular Emerging Components
  Conference Series starting October 20th at the
  White House Conference Center (recall slide 8 and
  see http//web-services.gov).

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SBIR for eGov and Componenttechnology.org

• Are 'vendors' limited to US? I know several
  vendors that have offices abroad. As the Semantic
  Web is a global effort, US is only a sector.
• Participants in the SBIR program must be U.S.
  owned and operated and located in the U.S. Small
  businesses are allowed to perform a portion of
  the research effort outside of the country if and
  when required, but must be approved by the agency
  contracting officer.
• Are 'vendors' limited to incorporated
  organizations? More specifically, I'm thinking
  educational institutions and/or research labs.
  There is a lot of places (e.g. MIT / Stanford)
  that are doing very impressive Semantic Web work
  that I believe is applicable to the eGov
  community.
• The SBIR program affords only small businesses an
  opportunity to submit proposals to pursue
  research opportunities. Although many small
  businesses use universities and federal labs as
  subcontractors to accomplish the research effort.
  The STTR program requires small businesses to
  partner with a research institution (university,
  federal lab or non-profit research facility) to
  be eligible to participate in the program. Over
  275 universities and 30 federal labs have teamed
  with small businesses to participate in the STTR
  program.
• Note Questions from Eric Miller, Semantic Web
  Activity Lead, W3C World Wide Web Consortium and
  answers from Maurice Swinton, Assistant
  Administrator, Office of Technology (SBIR/STTR),
  US SBA.

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Perspectives

• Agency
• Federal Small Business Innovation Research.
• Dr. Kesh S. Narayanan, Director Industrial
  Innovation, National Science Foundation.
• SBIR-Fostered Company
• Image Matters LLC.
• Dr. Yaser Bishr, Chief Technology Officer, and
  Christopher Lakey, Lead Engineer
• Image Matters has been involved in an SBIR RD
  project on Semantics in general, and Geospatial
  Semantics in particular, as part of the
  Geospatial One Stop initiative preparations with
  NASA and the Open GIS Consortium. After
  completing the SBIR, we have our own technology
  currently under development and have built
  applications for Emergency Response and Situation
  Awareness. See http//www.imagemattersllc.com.