SBIR Proposal Writing Basics: 3 Words That Increase Your Proposal’s Chance of Success By 10%
Gail
& Jim Greenwood,
Copyright © 2008 by
Yes,
there are actually three words that can increase your SBIR/STTR proposal’s
chances of being awarded by 10%. They
aren’t even big or obscure words, so it should be easy to grasp them:
Follow The Instructions.
Of
course, we’re referring to the instructions found in the current solicitation
(also known as a “funding opportunity announcement” or FOA among some
agencies) for the agency to which you are sending your SBIR/STTR proposal.
How can following these instructions increase of your proposal’s chance
of success? Because roughly 10% of
proposals received by agencies are thrown out because they fail to comply with
their instructions.
Too
many SBIR/STTR proposers get so focused on the innovation and technical content
of their proposals that they neglect this simple but critically important part
of the proposal preparation process. Others
assume that their great ideas and dazzling teams will cause agency reviewers to
“overlook” their failure to comply with the agency’s proposal
instructions. The fallacy with this
latter assumption is that clerical or administrative personnel, who frankly may
not understand or care about your nifty innovation, first screen your proposal
to make sure it meets minimum standards (i.e., follows the instructions) before
the proposal ever gets a review for its technical content and merit.
“Not
a problem,” you say, “because I have been submitting proposals to this
agency for years, so I know their instructions like the back of my hand.”
That’s fine, but ignores an important fact:
agencies change their instructions over time.
For example, NASA used to make the Phase I briefing chart “optional,”
whereas the new FY2008 solicitation states that it is “required.”
And what about the Department of Homeland Security?
Their Phase I award maximum was $100k, then they changed it briefly to
$99.9k, and now it is back to $100k—and all those changes occurred in less
than a year’s time!
Maybe
you feel you’re too busy to focus on such details.
Perhaps you are so familiar with the agency’s instructions that you
don’t think you’ll notice “minor” changes.
Then there’s a very simple thing you can do to help ensure that your
proposal doesn’t get tossed out because of a “nitpick.”
Give the draft proposal and the latest agency’s solicitation/FOA
instructions to someone who has not been involved in drafting the proposal, and
ask them to look for any inconsistencies between what you’ve written and what
the agency requires. Anyone who is a
stickler for detail, or who is very critical of you (maybe a teenager in your
household, or your mother-in-law), may catch something that, if not corrected,
could put your proposal in the ol’ circular file.