The Department of Defense has pre-released its 2009.A STTR Solicitation.
STTR's require a partnership with an non-profit research institute. The named research institute must contribute between 30-60% of the research effort. Multiple subcontracts may be utilized for the award, but the research institute must contribute at least 30% and the awarded company must contribute at least 40% of the research effort.
Participating Sub-Agencies and their topics:
Review the topics. You are encouraged to contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) to ask technical questions not answered in the topic. Direct contact with the TPOC can only be made between now and February 23rd.
| January 27, 2009:
| Solicitation enters pre-release
|
| February 24, 2009:
| DoD begins accepting proposals
|
| March 25, 2009:
| Deadline for receipt of proposals by 6:00 a.m. EST — plan ahead and submit early. |
The Department of Defense has Pre-Released its 2009.1 SBIR Topics. in its solicitation.
There are 140 topics from Air ForceArmy, CDB, DARPA, Navy, OSD, and SOCOM. DOD will begin accepting proposals on December 8th and must be submitted before 6:00 AM on January 14th.
It is HIGHLY recommended that companies contact the Technical Point of Contact for their topic of interest before December 8th to ask technical questions.
… if not available do not apply.
Many SBIR applicant companies make the assumption that good science is all that is needed to sell a proposal. This is an erroneous assumption. Market and commercial potential are equally as important as scientific merit.
A recent client received notice from the DoD that their proposal will not be funded due to lack of market and commercialization data. When considering re-submission they mentioned, "I guess we’ll just make something up." Don’t make it up, do your research.
Finding market and commercial data is research just like any other. Dig, dig, dig and keep digging. The internet is a good place to start, the library is also valuable. Ask us, ask a colleague, ask a sales rep. What questions should you ask?
- What is the market size? –
For your particular product, not the entire industry!
- What is your per unit manufacturing cost? (ballpark figure)
- What is your competitors sales price per unit? (How will you compete?)
And what is their share of the above market?
In addition you will need to profile a potential customer and explain your finance strategy (other than SBIR/STTR funds) needed to bring the product to market.
It’s not as daunting as it sounds. You just need to do a little research … which is what your good at, right?
The DOD Pre-Released two solicitations today:
SBIR 2008.3
STTR 2008.B
While released on the same day, they remain separate–you may only submit SBIR proposals for the SBIR topics listed in SBIR 2008.3, and you may only submit STTR proposals for the STTR topics listed in STTR 2008.B.
To easily locate an appropriate topic, utilize the DOD’s topic search engine.
Both will begin accepting proposals on August 25th and close on September 24th (at 6:00 am).
Read the solicitations for full information and the instructions from each sub-agency, as details vary among the sub-agencies.
SBIR 2003.3 Participating sub-agencies:
· Air Force
· Army
· DLA
· MDA
· Navy
· OSD
STTR 2003.B Participating sub-agencies:
· Air Force
· MDA