SBIR Proposal Writing Basics

SBIR Proposal Writing Basics: Funding Your RAPID Response to the Gulf Oil Disaster

Gail & Jim Greenwood, Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

Many of us are disheartened as we watch the oil continue to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, and its environmental and economic impacts. Some of us are perhaps also frustrated, because we have nifty innovations that could help stop the flow, or clean up the mess. The SBIR and STTR programs are natural candidates for getting funding for those innovations, but NSF has gone one step further: through its RAPID program, it is possible for small firms to submit abbreviated proposals to NSF for innovations that could have an immediate or very near term impact on the Gulf oil crisis.

The RAPID program is something that NSF uses periodically when a major issue demands short term solutions or mitigating measures. The NSF senior leadership recently announced a RAPID program for the Gulf oil mess (see www.nsf.gov/pubs/2010/nsf10060/nsf10060.pdf), which was followed by an invitation from the head of NSF’s SBIR/STTR programs for small companies (see http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/2010_ann_rapid_oil_response.pdf).

Basically, a RAPID proposal requires that you first contact NSF to discuss your innovation and get their concurrence that your idea meets the immediate/near term goal and addresses the problem. You will then prepare a brief proposal (the meat is only 2-5 pages long), and submit it to NSF via their FastLane electronic submission process. Your proposal will be reviewed only internally by NSF staff (to expedite the review process), and if awarded you will receive up to $200,000 for a one year effort. The deadline for proposals for the Gulf oil RAPID proposals is September 30, 2010. More on the RAPID program and proposal instructions are found at www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf10_1/gpg_2.jsp#IID1.

In addition to those instructions, we’d like to offer the following tips for your NSF RAPID proposal:

1. Even though the deadline for RAPID proposals for the Gulf oil situation is September 30, 2010, proposals will be reviewed (and, if favorably received, funded) as they are received. This is different than a typical SBIR/STTR solicitation in which there is no advantage to submitting before the deadline because the agency holds all proposals until that final submission date.

2. Recognize the program is intended for very quick responses to some aspect of the Gulf oil disaster. Do not propose basic research projects, or even traditional SBIR/STTR proposals with very risky technology. NSF is not looking for studies of long term impact of this massive oil spill, but ways to mitigate its impact in the very near term. Your proposal should reflect an urgency in the project and its implementation in the Gulf, so don’t take the full year if not absolutely necessary, and show tasks being done in parallel rather than in sequence, for example.. Tout your small firm’s ability to move quickly to finish the project and get into implementation without delay. You might want to check out http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/progSearch.do?SearchType=progSearch&page=2&QueryText=&ProgOrganization=&ProgOfficer=&ProgEleCode=&BooleanElement=false&ProgRefCode=5987&BooleanRef=false&ProgProgram=&ProgFoaCode=&Restriction=2&Search=Search#results to see what types of projects have been funded thus far under this RAPID response (note most are to universities and non-profits, so we need to see some SBIR/STTR company participation!).

3. Have a clearly identified path to commercialization/implementation. Who would implement your innovation? Have you talked with them, and better yet have them on board with using your innovation if it is finalized under the RAPID program? Do you have letters of support from them as part of this proposal? Do you have a track record of rapidly implementing other innovative solutions to problems? Have you identified a path that emphasizes quick implementation (e.g., partnering with an existing supplier of boom materials, rather than trying to become a material supplier yourself)?

4. Get letters of support from partners, suppliers, and those already involved in the clean up. Those of you who work with NSF know they LOVE letters of commitment and support from commercialization partners, including potential funders, customers and strategic partners (i.e., someone who will license the technology from you). Such letters can be particularly important in your RAPID proposal, as NSF looks for evidence that you can quickly implement your innovation. And such letters will demonstrate that you are able to move quickly yourself, and that your partners (who have to provide these letters quickly to include them in your proposal) are on the same page in terms of rapid response.

5. Make sure to contact the NSF RAPID staff before deciding to submit, but after you have your ducks in a row. These are the gatekeepers who determine whether a proposal meets the RAPID program criteria, and is credible enough for NSF to review. Talk to them early in the process of developing your proposal, but after you have spent some quality time thinking through your project and how it can quickly respond to a critical need of the Gulf oil disaster--the latter is necessary so that you can sound intelligent and credible in that conversation.

6. Once you’ve talked to the NSF RAPID staff and secured their concurrence that your proposal is appropriate for the program, you also should contact the NSF SBIR/STTR program manager who is over the topical area closest to your project. Check the current NSF SBIR solicitation, and their most recent STTR solicitation, at http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13371&org=IIP&from=home, to see the broad topic areas and the NSF program managers over each one. The program manager with whom you speak may be the primary reviewer of your proposal, so take advantage of this conversation and heed their advice about proposal content and format. By the way, NSF has indicated it will consider proposals in almost any topical area, so just seek out a program manager in a related or relevant topical area.

7. Recognize a serious limitation, which is the lack of NSF follow on money to the $200k RAPID award. A standard NSF SBIR/STTR funded project, with enhancement funding, can exceed $1 million with the Phase 1 and 2 efforts. Therefore, save the RAPID program for projects where you can complete the development and implementation work within a more modest $200k amount.

8. With such a short page limit on the Project Description portion of the proposal, you will need to be extremely efficient in your writing. Those of you who are preparing NIH proposals under their new 6 page limit on the research strategy know what we’re talking about here--just because it has to be short doesn’t mean it is easy to write. More than ever, you need to stay focused, be concise, avoid “interesting” tangents, and make every word count.

GCGI applauds NSF for encouraging quick response proposals to help mitigate the Gulf oil disaster. And as residents of the Florida Gulf Coast, we are particularly interested in seeing solutions to the problems caused by this oil pollution (thanks to all of you who have asked about and expressed concern about our portion of the coast--it’s OK so far). Therefore, anyone who is preparing a RAPID response proposal to NSF in response to the Gulf oil crisis can get our review of their draft proposal before its submission, subject to our availability, at no cost. If interested in this offer, please contact us ASAP at gail-jim@g-jgreenwood.com so that we can get you into ou r proposal review schedule.