MEMORANDUM FOR CONTRACTING, TECHNICAL AND PROGRAM PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM

SUBJECT: Payment of SBIR Contractors

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) advises that the following procedures may be used to expedite payment of SBIR contractors. These procedures were developed by DFAS in collaboration with Phillips Laboratory, and have greatly expedited the payment process for Phillips Lab’s SBIR contractors. We are hopeful that the process will also expedite the payment process for SBIR contractors across the Department.

Procedures for expediting payment:

(1) An SBIR contractor may submit its payment vouchers by fax to the DoD organization sponsoring its SBIR project (or, depending on the terms of the contract, to the appropriate Defense Contract Management Command (DCMC) office). The contractor should identify on the voucher that it is an "SBIR" invoice and list its own fax number on the voucher. The contractor should also send a hard copy of the voucher by mail with an annotation referencing the voucher or corrected voucher that was previously submitted by fax.

(2) The sponsoring DoD organization (or DCMC office), after obtaining the appropriate signatures on the faxed voucher, may then send it, by fax, to DFAS, with the hard copy to follow. It is DFAS policy to process the faxed voucher upon receipt.

(3) If DFAS discovers one or more errors in the contractor’s completion of the voucher, it will note the errors on the voucher and fax it to the contractor for revision or execution of required certifications. It is DFAS policy to do this as soon as the errors are discovered. The contractor may then revise the voucher and fax it back to DFAS for continued processing. The contractor should contact DFAS to verify receipt of the fax. Once the corrective action is conveyed to the contractor, the contractor is expected to make process changes to preclude recurrence of the same errors.

If you or the SBIR contractors that you work with have any questions or experience further difficulty obtaining payment, please call DFAS customer service, at 1-800-756-4571. If you have suggestions for further improvement in the SBIR contracting and/or payment process, please call the DoD SBIR/STTR Help Desk, at 866-724-7457.

     Ken Sweitzer                            Michael Caccuitto
        Director, Contract Pay, DFAS            DoD SBIR/STTR Program Manager