FWA Measures, Management Challenges, Working with OIGs SBIR Investigations Workshop January 22, 2016

Management Challenges  Significant Workload  Expanding Portfolios  Increased numbers of proposals submitted in each award cycle  Statutory Direction to Expend Increasing Percentage of Funds on SBIR/STTR Awards  Significant Number of Eligibility Criteria to Monitor, E.G.,  Primary Employment  Percentage of Work  Ownership  No overlapping funding  Reliance on Self-Certifications  Some people lie

What Program Officials Can Do to Help Protect SBIR/STTR Funds:  Ask Questions…Regularly and In writing  Best Practice: Pre-Award s and SAVE COMPANY RESPONSES  Reiterate key criteria and ask explicit questions  Request documentation supporting certifications or legal requirements  Document any conversations or guidance given  Contact other Agency Program Personnel when Funding the same SBCs  SBIR.Gov, USAspending.gov, Research.gov  Check Your Own Agency’s Databases  Other SBIR awards  Awards to Other Organizations involving the SBIR PI or other company personnel  Training of Awardees or Prospective Awardees

Pre-Award Correspondence Example

Red Flags:  Primary Employment  Company PI’s address belongs to a university  Company PI’s resume includes long standing university affiliation  Company PI’s resume does not include any mention of the company  Facility questions  Work to be done at university, but no funds requested for facilities use and/or no supporting documentation from the university  Company address appears to be a residence (Google Street View)  Personnel/Org Charts  Resumes/Bios suggest that a person likely retired  Academic, family, or other conflict-laden existing relationships between company personnel  Letters of Support/Investment  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  Budget  Duplication between proposals and reports, where it’s unclear what new work was performed  Current and Pending Support  Do they provide for all key personnel, or omit some?  Resumes/Bios  Check versus LinkedIn and Google and well as corporate webpage (if applicable)  Related Research and funding  Do they gloss over other funding and not provide enough related information?  Disclosures: Follow up  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 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  Report early with as much information as available  Program personnel are in the best position to catch problems early  Report as soon as you can  OIG in the best position to fully investigate  They have tools such as subpoenas to obtain records you would not have access to  Will close out case if no issues are substantiated  Outreach with Agency OIG is key  OIG’s can share fraud schemes identified previously, so you can identify them  Fake investment  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?