SBIR Proposal Writing Basics

SBIR Proposal Writing Basics: Allocating Pages for NIH Phase 2 Proposals

Gail & Jim Greenwood, Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

Over the past year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has implemented strict new page limits on both Phase 1 and 2 SBIR and STTR proposals. This month, we want to focus on how we think you should allocate the new Phase 2 page limit among the proposal sections that must be covered.

The new NIH format requires that you begin with a Specific Aims section, and then follow it with a Research Strategy. The Research Strategy section includes subsections on significance, the Phase 1 final report summary, and experimental/research design and methods. The Specific Aims section is mandated to be one page or less, while the subsections of the Research Strategy collectively should not exceed 12 pages.

Budgeting space for the Specific Aims section is pretty straightforward: it cannot exceed one page. It is perhaps less obvious that, if your Specific Aims section takes less than a full page, then you cannot use the rest of the page to address any other part of the proposal. Therefore, you have a tremendous incentive to use the whole page, even if it means addressing some topics in this section that you might have planned to address elsewhere.

The Research Strategy page allocation is a bit more complicated, since NIH does not have page limits on any of the mandatory subsections. We recommend the following approximate allocation:

• Significance: 2 pages

• Phase I Final Report: 4 pages

• Experimental/Research Design & Methods: 6 pages

The Significance subsection is very important, in part because you will use it to convince the reviewer that your project is so important and valuable that it simply must be a priority for funding. Yes, it’s a sales pitch (but not a used car type of pitch). But like most sales pitches, it can be more effective if it is brief and sharp, and therefore we suggest you limit it to about 2 pages.

The Phase 1 final report subsection is important, for several reasons. First, it allows the reviewer to see what was accomplished in Phase 1. Second, it (hopefully) assures the reviewer that you do high quality research, especially if this was the first SBIR/STTR project of yours that they have funded. Third, it helps set the stage for what you propose to do in Phase 2. We think this section deserves about 4 pages in your Phase 2 NIH proposal.

The Experimental/Research Design & Methods subsection is really the heart of the Research Strategy. It should describe, IN DETAIL, the tasks that must be performed to achieve the specific aims you listed and described (hopefully) in the Specific Aims section earlier in the proposal. It should clarify the relationship between those Aims and the proposed tasks so the reviewer can readily see how you expect to achieve the Specific Aims. Each task description should include discussion of what you are doing, how it will be done, who on the team is doing it, what resources are being used, any involvement by subcontractors or consultants, and any contingency measures you have planned in case you run into difficulties. A timeline also is very valuable to help the reviewer see the flow of the Phase 2 project and the timing and relationship of the various tasks. And with a Phase 2 project that covers 2 years and consumes $750,000 or more, you should have a significant number of tasks, all of which need to be described here. We think you will agree that this subsection should be the largest one in the Research Strategy, and that is why we recommend about 6 pages being dedicated to it.

Some final words of advice:

1. Don’t think that it is easier or faster to write a short proposal than a longer one. You have to cover a lot of material in the Research Strategy section of an NIH Phase 2 proposal, but now you have less space in which to do it.

2. Recognize that this severe new NIH page limit is “work in progress,” since NIH reviewers are having to adjust to the new shortened page limits just as you are. They will have to adjust their expectations on how much information is conveyed in Phase 1 or 2 proposals for SBIR or STTR funding.

3. Recognize that there are important parts of an NIH Phase 2 proposal that are not within the Specific Aims and Research Strategy sections and their new page limits. Examples include resumes, facilities and equipment, and the commercialization plan. You may want to rely on these other sections to convey some details of your proposal.

4. What we suggest here as an allocation of your Research Strategy among its subsections is meant as a guideline—you should adjust it based on your project and circumstances.