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TRP Update 
April 26, 1995 
Sender: owner-trp@trp.ida.org 
Precedence: bulk 
 
The Technology Reinvestment Project gives the Department of Defense more 
access to affordable, leading-edge technology by leveraging commercial 
know-how, investments, and markets for military use. 
 
Additional TRP information is available via the World Wide Web at 
http://trp.ida.org/trp.html or via email by sending "subscribe trp" to 
majordomo@trp.ida.org. 
 
Director's Message 
 
As you may recall, the TRP put its FY 1995 Competition on hold because it 
became uncertain how much money would actually be available once proposals 
were selected.  Early this month, the Congress passed and the President signed 
the Defense Supplemental Appropriation.  This bill reduced the funds available 
to TRP by $300 million in order to help pay for recent military operations in 
the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Rwanda and Haiti. 
 
While the bad news is that some of TRP's funding is gone, the good news is 
that the uncertainty is over.  We are now able to move out on the FY 1995 
competition.  As described below, the funding cut has required us to make some 
hard choices and reduce the scope of what the TRP will do this year.  
 
I know that the delay and reshaping of this competition has been frustrating 
and disappointing to many people.  But now that we are ready to issue the 
solicitation, I want to encourage everyone with strong concepts in the 
remaining portions of the competition to propose.  We are now back on track to 
continue the important work we began two years ago.  Thank you for your 
patience 
		  -- Lee Buchanan 
		 
Major Changes in the Upcoming TRP Competition 
 
The basic principle in restructuring the FY 1995 competition was to 
concentrate on areas with the most potential to produce direct, immediate 
benefits to the Department of Defense.  The changes to the competition are 
described below. 
 
New Schedule 
 
TRP plans to release the formal solicitation for the upcoming competition on 
May 12, 1995. You will automatically get a copy in the mail.  Potential 
proposers may continue discussing their concepts with government officials 
until the release date. The TRP plans to have the proposals due on June 29, 
1995.  TRP hopes to announce the selections in September and have most of the 
negotiations completed by December. 
 
Technology Development 
 
The total funds available for the Technology Development competition are now 
$160 million, instead of the $250 million shown in the Fall 1994 Program 
Information Package. (PIP) 
 
The following technology focus areas are still being competed: 
o Affordable Advanced Controls 
o Affordable Polymer Matrix Composites 
o Biological Sensors and Multiorgan... 
o Digital Wireless Communications 
o Operations Other Than War 
o Small Precision Optics Manufacturing 
o Microelectromechanical Systems 
plus "Other" technology.  
 
Regrettably, because of the reduced funding, the following 5 technology focus 
areas have been eliminated: 
o Ceramic Materials Applications 
o Cryogenic Coolers 
o Electric and Hybrid Vehicles 
o Low Cost Specialty Metals 
o Millimeter Wave Products 
 
If you were planning to submit a Technology Development proposal in one of 
these 5 focus areas, you may still submit it as an "Other" technology.  
However, please remember that the reason these 5 focus areas were eliminated 
is that funds are now much more limited.  Therefore, we expect the "Other" 
category to be very competitive, with only a few proposals selected for 
negotiation.  Please consider this carefully before submitting a proposal in 
the "Other" technology category.  
 
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 
 
TRP's SBIR technology focus or "topic" areas are identical to those for 
Technology Development. Therefore, the same 5 technology focus areas listed 
above have also been eliminated for the SBIR competition.  Once again, if you 
were planning to submit an SBIR proposal under one of those 5 topics you may 
still submit it as an "Other" technology, but the "Other" category will be 
extremely competitive.   Finally, the total funds available for all TRP Phase 
I SBIR proposals will be around $10 million.  
 
Regional Technology Alliances (RTA) Canceled 
 
This competition area has been canceled.  Please do not submit any RTA 
proposals to the TRP. Currently, there are no plans for rescheduling this 
competition. 
 
If you were working on a RTA concept that was in one of the 7 remaining 
Technology Development focus areas (see above) you may want to consider 
recasting it as a Technology Development proposal.  (The concept papers showed 
that some RTA ideas might have this potential.)  However, before you take the 
time to write a Technology Development proposal, you should carefully consider 
the following: 
o Technology Development has different selection criteria than RTA's 
o Technology Development requires at least 2 eligible firms on every proposal. 
 
 
Manufacturing Education and Training (MET) Canceled 
 
This competition area has also been canceled.  Please do not submit MET 
proposals to the TRP.  Currently, there are no plans for rescheduling this 
competition.