US Army Contract
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Phacil is the prime contractor on the US Army’s SBIR Program

Overview
Phacil is the prime contractor on the US Army’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Each year, Phacil facilitates more than $265 million of Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation. We also develop, distribute and track program and budgetary guidance for over 30 organizations (laboratories, programs, and acquisition and research centers) across the Department of Defense. Phacil provides technical and IT support to the program, including the program infrastructure, off-site WAN links and server administration, acquisition program integration, science and technology support, helpdesk operation, technology transfer, and project engineering.  

The Challenge
Congress created the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program in 1983 to foster the involvement of U.S. based small businesses in Federal research and development. The intent of the Army SBIR program was to give small, high-tech businesses the opportunity to provide innovative research and development solutions in response to critical Army needs. The ultimate objective of each particular SBIR project is to develop technologies and products that a small business may market to the Government or private sector, resulting in revenues from non-SBIR sources. The Army needed a contractor able to manage core elements of this program flawlessly.

Services Provided and Technologies Supported
Phacil provides Army Research and Development Command (RDECOM) support in planning, managing, coordinating, and executing several related programs: the Army SBIR program, the Joint Chemical Biological Defense (CBD) SBIR program, the Army Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and the Director, Defense Research & Engineering DDR&E managed Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) SBIR programs. Phacil provides the key interface between business and government that makes the program work. A small business may first become interested in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program when they attend a conference and study the displays and materials prepared by Phacil. When the business decides to participate in the Army’s SBIR program, they use a Phacil-designed web portal, hosted on servers maintained by Phacil. When they call to get advice and help, they talk to Phacil employees. When they decide to submit a proposal, a Phacil employee guides them through the process. After they submit their proposal, Phacil administers it through the process, and coordinates government reviews. If their proposal is accepted, a Phacil employee contacts them. When they complete the final process, Phacil publishes their success.

Phacil developed state-of-the-art web based tools to support life cycle programs, topic development, source selection, and a secure data repository. Phacil utilizes Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 2 practices. The Army SBIR IT requirements are exacting in that they fully integrate with US Army Enterprise Services (e.g., messaging, single sign-on, knowledge management, device authentication), while also having public facing pages for access and separate security roles/profiles for acquisition-based information. Our engineers provide system development and enhancement (e.g., mobile device display); Tier 3 helpdesk; Service Level Agreements (SLA) monitoring; Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) transition and security accreditation maintenance (e.g., policy, audits, Information Assurance & Vulnerability Assessment); Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring; remote access administration (e.g., Internet Information Services and Citrix combination for Army Knowledge Online integration); network administration and maintenance (VPN, WAN and LAN); and ATM and perimeter security (router, firewall, Intrusion Detection Software/ Intrusion Prevention Systems). In addition to our engineers assisting at a Tier 3 level, Phacil’s help desk (Tier 1 & 2) provides support to all small businesses working in the SBIR enterprise environment (currently over 9000).

Phacil subject matter experts evaluate technology in support of Army investments in the SBIR program. Phacil engineers and scientists evaluate technology readiness levels to ensure development is appropriate for integration with Army programs. Our people work directly at the Program Executive Office (PEO) on integration timing, milestone tracking, Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) input for new technologies, risk management, and portfolio management. Our people also support feasibility studies; provide accurate terms of technology studies for sustainment and flexibility; perform research and testing; and assist with modeling and development.

In addition to the Army SBIR program, Phacil provides Research, Development & Engineering Command (RDECOM) support. Phacil employees plan, manage, coordinate, and execute the Joint Chemical Biological Defense (CBD) SBIR program. As part of the same contract, they also support the Army Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program and Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), which is the principal staff advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for SBIR programs.

Benefits Thus Far
As part of the Army SBIR mission, Phacil employs Technical Assistance Advocates (TAAs) across the Army to proactively engage in discretionary Technical Assistance with PEOs and Program Managers (PMs). Despite TAAs being a brand new SBIR mission and without a predecessor to follow, Phacil established TAAs at five regions across the Army earlier than contract milestone requirements. The Phacil TAA Team has already helped with accelerating the transition of technology and commercialization to participating organizations, which has thereby accelerated the fielding of a full spectrum of capabilities to Soldiers. In addition, the commercialization success has benefited the nation through stimulated technological innovation, improved manufacturing capability, and increased competition, productivity and economic growth. There has been greater participation and enthusiasm from both the small business and the Army Acquisition community in the SBIR program.

Phacil also built and implemented an Army SBIR Communications Campaign Plan that addresses the program’s four primary customers (the Soldier, Army programs, small businesses, and SBIR participating organizations); these primary customers have already benefited from the new and aggressive multi-faceted, multi-media outreach program, as measured by greater participation and enthusiasm.

Further Information
The Army SBIR program was featured in the April-June 2008 issue of Army AL&T Magazine. The article was co-written by the Army SBIR Program Manager and a Phacil employee on the contract.  View the Article

Army SBIR website: www.armysbir.army.mil

For further information on this or other projects, please contact us directly at 703-562-4250 or by email at