Effective SBIR/STTR Proposal Responses

1. Effective SBIR/STTR Proposal Responses How to Beat the Odds February 20, 2013

2. Why worry about winning SBIR? • Typical win rate for a Phase I is 10% • Good SBIR companies can perform at 30-70% • SBIR/STTR provides interesting work, new customer contacts and nice revenue • Phase III provides tremendous opportunities for Sole Source contracts • SBIR/STTR is getting more competitive, don’t waste precious resources by submitting a poor proposal Huntsville/North Alabama should be more competitive with California, Boston, New York, Texas and other SBIR centers of excellence

3. How to Improve Your Odds • Best Approach: Help to create a topic! • Use SBIR as a path to solve a customer problem • Next Best: Propose on topics where you know the TPOC • Past or current relationships are a huge differentiator • Must: Talk to the TPOC/Alternate • Understand the problem they are trying to solve • Understand the program they are targeting the technology for • Try to determine likely commercialization or proposal partners • Ask how many awards they are likely to make • Determine what other approaches they have tried • Provide an overview of your approach and see if they “bite” Familiarization is key to a successful proposal,technology itself rarely wins the day.

4. So You’ve Decided to Write • Solve their problem (not a problem, or your problem) • Never educate them on their problem, or tell them they are off-base • Be innovative but also practical • The proposal is a selling document, not a scientific paper • Demonstrate a clear understanding of the problem • Provide a clear, concise and compelling central idea/concept as your approach to solving the problem • Show benefits and demonstrate ability (proof) Guide the reviewer to a clear, believable solution

5. Technical Proposal Requirements • All Topics below must be covered in this order • Identification and Significance of the Problem or Opportunity • Phase I Technical Objectives • Phase I Work Plan • With Task Schedule (Separate Schedules for Base and Option, if applicable) • Related Work • Relationship with Future Research or Research and Development • Commercialization Strategy • Key Personnel • Facilities/Equipment • Subcontracts/Consultants • Prior/Current, or Pending Support of Similar Proposals or Awards • Additionally, deciBel Research requires the following: • Deliverables • Include Final Report as required in solicitation • Monthly progress reports • Other deliverables as determined by solution

6. Well Don’t Just Start Writing • USE A TEMPLATE (CORRECTLY) • Create an outline or storyboard for your concept • Outline serves as your guide for telling the reviewer your story • Create graphics/figures/tables (at least conceptually) before writing • Have a figure or table on every page (at least every other) • Use bulleted lists and call out boxes liberally • Use bold or other consistent formatting to draw attention to key words/statements • Create a schedule for your work as part of the outline • Clearly include any subcontractor efforts and ensure “flow” Writing without a plan is a recipe for failure

7. Evaluation Criteria • Soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution • The qualifications of the proposed principal/key investigators, supporting staff and consultants; Qualifications include not only the ability to perform the research and development, but also the ability to commercialize the results • Potential for commercial (Government or private sector) application and the benefits expected to accrue from this commercialization Pay attention to how your proposal will be evaluated

8. Teaming • Team to increase your chance of winning • Technical capability • Relationship • Commercialization Partner • Determine potential team members early • Get NDA and SOW done ASAP • Look at possibility of getting a letter of support vs. subcontract in Phase I, especially for large companies • Understand restrictions/requirements on work share • Be clear on expectations • If including subs, most effort should be done before writing Teaming should increase your chance of winning.

9. Requirements for Cost Proposal • Proposals are auditable by DCAA prior to award • Most awards will be Firm Fixed Price • Writer needs to provide: • Personnel required for effort • Number of hours (or LOE, % work) by person • Any special material or equipment costs with quotes as back up • Travel requirements (number of trips, number of people, number of days, location) • Subcontract POC (technical & contracts) • Subcontract Statement of Work (description, schedule, deliverables) • Dollar ceiling for subcontractor (if less than previous table) Must plan well, ODC and subs are critical drivers

10. Key Personnel • Key Personnel are critical to success • Best to have a PhD as the PI • If not, they better have great credentials • Tailor the resume/CV to the topic! • Highlight published works (books, papers, presentations, etc.) and similar research initiatives Demonstrate that the key personnel are experienced and capable

11. Commercialization • Showing clear path is critical • Use subs or letters of support to demonstrate path • Commercialization does not mean actual “commercial” application • DoD or other Government/Civil agency is valid • If possible, directly target prime integrator for the program that created the requirement • “Productization” of the idea is important • Pay attention to “ilities” • Best to indicate multiple possibilities/markets Commercialization can be difficult to write, but is a major evaluation criteria

12. Summary • SBIR/STTR is a great program that we as a community need to be more successfully exploiting • Encourage you to write a good proposal to an appropriate topic • Involve help early and often • Encourage customers to use SBIR/STTR to solve problems • Pay attention to the problem and don’t forget about key personnel and commercialization SBIR/STTR provides a perfect mechanism to do R&D and generate $