[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 32, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 32CFR37.210]

[Page 205-206]
 
                       TITLE 32--NATIONAL DEFENSE
 
              CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
 
PART 37_TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS--Table of Contents
 
      Subpart B_Appropriate Use of Technology Investment Agreements
 
Sec.  37.210  To what types of recipients may I award a TIA?

    (a) As a matter of DoD policy, you may award a TIA only when one or 
more for-profit firms are to be involved either in the:
    (1) Performance of the research project; or
    (2) The commercial application of the research results. In that 
case, you must determine that the nonprofit performer has at least a 
tentative agreement with specific for-profit partners who plan on being 
involved when there are results to transition. You should review the 
agreement between the nonprofit and for-profit partners, because the 
for-profit partners' involvement is the basis for using a TIA rather 
than another type of assistance instrument.
    (b) Consistent with the goals of civil-military integration, TIAs 
are most appropriate when one or more commercial firms (as defined at 
Sec.  37.1250) are to be involved in the project.
    (c) You are encouraged to make awards to consortia (a consortium may 
include one or more for-profit firms, as well as State or local 
government agencies, institutions of higher education, or other 
nonprofit organizations). The reasons are that:
    (1) When multiple performers are participating as a consortium, they 
are more equal partners in the research performance than usually is the 
case

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with a prime recipient and subawards. All of them therefore are more 
likely to be directly involved in developing and revising plans for the 
research effort, reviewing technical progress, and overseeing financial 
and other business matters. That feature makes consortia well suited to 
building new relationships among performers in the defense and 
commercial sectors of the technology and industrial base, a principal 
objective for the use of TIAs.
    (2) In addition, interactions among the participants within a 
consortium potentially provide a self-governance mechanism. The 
potential for additional self-governance is particularly good when a 
consortium includes multiple for-profit participants that normally are 
competitors within an industry.
    (d) TIAs also may be used for carrying out research performed by 
single firms or multiple performers in prime award-subaward 
relationships. In awarding TIAs in those cases, however, you should 
consider providing for greater involvement of the program official or a 
way to increase self-governance (e.g., a prime award with multiple 
subawards arranged so as to give the subrecipients more insight into and 
authority and responsibility for programmatic and business aspects of 
the overall project than they usually have).