[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 14, Volume 5] [Revised as of January 1, 2007] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 14CFR1240.105] [Page 199-200] TITLE 14--AERONAUTICS AND SPACE CHAPTER V--NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PART 1240_INVENTIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS--Table of Contents Subpart 1_Awards for Scientific and Technical Contributions Sec. 1240.105 Special procedures--NASA and NASA contractor employees. (a) A NASA Headquarters office, a NASA field installation, or a NASA contractor may submit to the Board an application for an award identifying the originator(s) of any scientific or technical contribution conceived or developed during the performance of a NASA program or contract, and which is considered to be of value in advancing the state of knowledge in space or aeronautical activities, whether or not the contribution is the subject of a NASA Tech Brief, software approved for public release, or of a U.S. patent application. (b) The Board will recommend to the Administrator or a designee that an initial award of at least $1,000 be granted to a sole inventor, or $500 each to joint inventors, upon submittal of NASA Form 1688 by either the Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property, for an invention made and reported by a NASA Headquarters employee or an employee of a NASA Headquarters contractor, or a patent counsel at a NASA field installation for an invention made and reported by an employee of that installation or by an employee of an installation contractor, has filed a nonprovisional U.S. patent application or that a continuation-in-part or divisional patent has been issued. The Board is authorized to recommend a supplemental monetary award in an amount that will be based on the evaluation of the technical and commercial merits of the invention. No additional award will be given for a continuation patent application where an initial award was authorized for the parent application and this parent application will be or has been abandoned. In addition, initial awards will not be granted for provisional applications under 35 U.S.C. 111(b) or reissue applications under 35 U.S.C. 251. (c) When the Board receives written notice (NASA Form 1688) that a NASA Center has approved for release to qualified users a software package based on an innovation made and reported by an employee of NASA or a NASA contractor on NASA Form 1679, the Board will recommend to the Administrator or designee that an initial award of at least $1,000 be granted to a sole innovator, and an award of at least $500 will be granted to each originator of the innovation if there is more than one. The Board is authorized to recommend a supplemental monetary award in an amount that will be based on the evaluation of the technical and commercial merits of the innovation. No contribution may receive this award unless: (1) NASA has an ownership interest in the software; i.e., NASA has the unrestricted use of the software in perpetuity at no charge from any other entity; (2) The software is of commercial quality; i.e., is not in experimental or beta phases of development and includes documentation, either in paper or electronic formats, describing the software's form and function; (3) The software has been verified to perform the functions claimed in its documentation on the platform for which it was designed without harm to the systems or data contained within; and, (4) The software has been distributed to qualified users upon the written approval for release by Center management. (d) Software dissemination awards are not eligible to receive selected [[Page 200]] Tech Brief awards based upon the publication of an announcement of availability in ``NASA Tech Briefs.'' (e) When the Board receives written notice (NASA Form 1688) that a NASA Center has approved for publication a selected NASA Tech Brief based on an innovation made and reported by an employee of NASA or a NASA contractor on NASA Form 1679, the Board will recommend to the Administrator or designee that an initial award of at least $350 be granted, and an award of at least that amount will be granted to each originator of the innovation. The Board is authorized to recommend a supplemental monetary award in an amount that will be based on the evaluation of the technical and commercial merits of the innovation. (f) When a selected NASA Tech Brief has been approved for publication, and/or a NASA Center has approved the release of a software package, and/or the filing of a U.S. patent application has been authorized for the same contribution, the initial awards authorized in paragraphs (b), (c), and (e) of this section will be cumulative. (g) Initial awards authorized in paragraphs (b), (c), and (e) of this section may not exceed a total of $5,000 per category. Such cases, wherein a large number of multiple innovators are contributors, must be submitted for formal evaluation by the Board on a NASA Form 1329 or 1329A. (h) Awards authorized in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (e) of this section will not be granted to a contributor who has previously received full compensation for, or on account of, the use of such a contribution by the United States. (i) If a contribution, as first reported and evaluated, is judged not to merit a supplemental award, as provided for in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), or (e) of this section, or the contribution is later proved to be of more significant value, it may be submitted for reevaluation on NASA Form 1329A. Responsible NASA and NASA contractor officials are encouraged to periodically review such reported contributions, and to resubmit them for reconsideration through the same channels as originally reported.