Now that SBIR Reauthorization has been passed and signed by the President, many are waiting to see how these new rules will be implemented by each agency. Currently, the rules are in legislative form only, and have not been interpreted by any agency. Many small businesses are specifically interested in the VC eligibility rule, but as it stands, the agencies are only accepting applications from small businesses that comply with the original regulations. Several of the agencies have open solicitations to which you can apply. For more information, please see the links below.
- The Department of Health and Human Services has released it’s 2012 solicitation. Standard submission dates apply: Apr 5, Aug 5, Dec 5.
- The Department of Education has two solicitations available with receipt dates of Feb 13 and Feb 22.
- The Department of Defense has pre-released it’s 2012.A STTR topics. If you are interested in discussing the specific topics with a Program Officer, you must do so prior to the solicitation official release. The final solicitation will be released on Feb 27 and applications are due Mar 28.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology solicitation is available and submissions are due Mar 2.
Applications for the NIH Contract solicitation are due at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Nov. 7. The NIH Contract solicitation is released only once yearly, and contains a list of topics pertinent to each agencies mission. Unlike the grant solicitation, contracts are for specific work on a topic that has been pre-defined. Topics available in this year’s solicitation range from Wireless Telemetry for MRI to Rapid Point-of-Care tests for Fungal Diagnosis. Topics are highly specific and only proposals matching the published topics will be accepted; no investigator-initiated applications will be allowed. Budgets are also strictly enforced, and are limited to $150,000 for a Phase I and $1M for a Phase II. And, unlike other applications to the NIH, this solicitation must be submitted in paper form and received, as verified by time stamp, at the agency by the deadline above. Detailed information, including program contacts, detailed topic descriptions, and instructions for preparing proposals, are available in the solicitation.
Participating agencies, with the approximate number of contracts each expects to award:
NIH: National Cancer Institute (37); National Center for Research Resources (1-2); National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (18 – 29); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism 2-4); National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (1); National Institute on Drug Abuse (15 – 21).
Centers for Disease Control: Center for Global Health (2); National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (1); National Center for Emerging Zoonotic & Infectious Diseases (2); National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, SDT, & TB Prevention (3) ; Office of Public Health Preparedness & Response (1).
Proposals will be reviewed between February and June 2012, with award dates between July and September 2012, depending on the awarding unit (see the solicitation for details).
NASA has pre-released its 2010 SBIR and STTR solicitations. The full combined SBIR/STTR solicitation will be available on July 19th. The NASA SBIR and STTR 2010 technical topics and subtopics support the NASA Mission Directorates of Space Operations, Aeronautics Research, Science, and Exploration Systems. To write an effective proposal, be sure to understand the purpose and focus of the Mission Directorate–understand how your proposed solution will help fulfill that specific Mission.
There will be many topics and subtopics that fall within these Mission Directorates. Full list of Topics and Subtopics will be available on the 19th. Meanwhile, take a look at last years’ 2009 solicitation topics to give you an indication of projected 2010 topic areas.
All contractual and technical questions must be submitted in writing via email to Cassandra Williams, Contracting Officer (vog.asannull@1-smailliw.ardnassac), not later than August 13, 2010. NOTE: To ensure fairness, questions relating to the intent and/or content of research topics in this Solicitation will not be addressed during the Phase 1 solicitation period. Only questions requesting clarification of proposal instructions and administrative matters will be addressed.
When the solicitation opens on the 19th, it will be posted on NASA’s SBIR/STTR site.
All Phase I proposals will be due on September 4th.
The Department of Defense has released its DOD 2010.2 SBIR solicitation. There are over 400 topics in this solicitation. Not every DOD Component participates in every SBIR solicitation; the participating Components in this DOD solicitation are:
- Army
- Navy
- DARPA
- DMEA
- DTRA
- OSD
The military is looking for very specific solutions to their problems, but if you have the capabilities to solve their problems, not only could you receive up to $850,000 for Phase I and Phase II SBIR funding, you are positioned to possibly receive additional follow-on funding.
Proposals are due June 23rd at 6:00 AM, but you only have until May 19th to contact the topic’s technical point of contact to ask additional technical questions. The full solicitation contains the specific proposal details, but be sure to also read and follow the Component’s specific instructions to get a list of topics and topic descriptions.
Topics are quite diverse. Do not rule out the DOD just because your company does not have “military-related technologies.” Here is a sample of the 400+ topics found in this solicitation:
- Real-time Resource Allocation Co-Processor
- Artificial Tissue Matrices for Bone Repair
- Large Scale Graphene Synthesis Technology
- Forensic DNA Analysis Kit for Genetic Intelligence
- Shipboard Clothes Dryers, “Green Technology”
- Lithium Ion Batteries with Wide Operating Temperature Range
- Many Many MANY more!
Do a few keyword topic searches in the DOD Search Engine to see what the DOD needs–topics might surprise you!
The Department of Transportation Released its FY10.2 SBIR Solicitation. DOT is looking for technologies that address a focused list of topics:
*Driver Detecting Cell Phone Blocker System
*Global Positioning System (GPS) and Related Data Compression Algorithms
*Transportation System Performance Measurement Using Existing Loop Infrastructure
*Mobile Device Application Component
A Phase I Award for a 6-month feasibility study is $100,000. Proposals are due May 14th. See Program Solicitation for more details and topic descriptions.
For those Phase I SBIR awardees developing therapeutics targeted toward neurological disorders, and planning on submitting for a Phase II SBIR award to fund pre-clinical trials, check out the NINDS Cooperative Program in Translational Research (U44). This special funding opportunity is directed at translating basic science research into new drug candidates for neurological disorders. These awards are not intended for early stage discoveries such as high throughput screening, but will fund later stage projects. Even those sufficiently advanced that an IND or IDE application would be filed at the end of the project period.
These awards are larger than traditional Phase II awards, with allowable budgets up to $1M per year and a 3 year max. Phase I applications are not allowed, however, a FastTrack application may be submitted as long as the Phase I portion is in preparation for a Phase II to fund pre-clinical trials. If you have already received a Phase II, this mechanism can also be used to fund a competing renewal application with the same allowable budget as above.
Cooperative Agreements are an NIH funding mechanism that allows NIH programming staff to be more involved with the evolution and progress of a project. Specifically, go/no-go assessments can be made and funding halted if sufficient progress is not made. This is attractive to the NIH as it allows them to be more closely involved with large grant awards and use their funding more wisely.
For more information contact the NINDS SBIR/STTR Program Director, Dr. Randall Stewart, to discuss your project and it’s applicability to this program. Regular receipt dates (Apr 5, Aug 5, Dec 5) apply, and program staff should be contacted 10 weeks prior to submission.
The Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) currently has an open SBIR solicitation. Maximum funding for one of these 6-month Phase I research projects is $75,000. If scientific or technical merit and feasibility is demonstrated during Phase I, awardees have the potential to receive $500,000 for their Phase II research which will cover a research period of up to 24 months. Application proposals are due March 15th.
Priority topic areas for research are:
(1) Increased independence of individuals with disabilities in the workplace, recreational settings, or educational settings through the development of technology to support access and promote integration of individuals with disabilities
(2) Enhanced sensory or motor function of individuals with disabilities through the development of technology to support improved functional capacity.
(3) Enhanced workforce participation through the development of technology to support access to employment, promote sustained employment, and promote employment advancement for individuals with disabilities.
(4) Enhanced community participation and living for individuals with disabilities through the development of accessible information technology including Web access technology, software, and other systems and devices that promote access to information in educational, employment, and community settings, and voting technology that improves access for individuals with disabilities.
(5) Improved interventions and increased use of health-care resources through the development of technology to support independent access to health-care services in the community for individuals with disabilities.
Please see the solicitation for more details.
The Department of Defense announced topics in its 2010.A STTR pre-solicitation today. There are 30 Army Topics and 45 Navy Topics in this solicitation. Companies may review the topic lists found in the solicitation or utilize the DOD Topic Search engine to search specific details of a topic.
The STTR requires a partnership with a non-profit Research Institute (usually a university, but not always). The Research Institute must be subcontracted for at least 30% of the work, but not more than 60% of the work. Start early to build an appropriate relationship with the researcher and to develop a research agreement with the Research Institute.
Proposers are HIGHLY encouraged to make contact with the topic’s Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) prior to February 23rd to confidentially ask technical questions not found in the topic description (contact information for each TPOC is found in the topic description). After this date, questions may be asked publically in the DOD’s SITIS system. Final proposals are due no later than 6:00 AM on Wednesday, March 24th.
Earlier this month the NIH released several announcements associated with the Recovery Act. Of note to the SBIR community is NOT-OD-10-034.
The announcement will fund Competitive Revisions to accelerate innovation of previously funded “parent” SBIR/STTR awards in the area of basic behavioral and social science research (b-BSSR). The proposed work must significantly expand the scope or research objectives proposed in the previously funded award. Basic behavioral and social science research includes research on behavioral and social processes, interactions between biology, behavior and social processes, and/or methodology and measurement.
To qualify, the small business must have an active award, at the time of application, and propose a revision to be accomplished in one year. The work proposed in the revision must not extend beyond that of the parent award. If a no-cost extension is needed to cover the work being proposed in the revision, it must be in place prior to submission.
Up to $150,000 in direct costs may be requested with a maximum of $75,000 of those costs allocated to equipment or technology acquisition.
Letters of Intent are due February 25, 2010
Application is due March 25, 2010
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the release of its 2010 SBIR Phase I solicitation. $45,000,000 will be available for 200-300 awards. These competitive research awards will be capped at $150,000 per award. Companies must outline how they will utilize these funds to conduct a 6-month feasibility study. Companies must prepare proposals that will address subtopics found under each of these main Topics:
Successful proposers will conduct R&D on projects that provide evidence of a commercially viable product, process, device, or system AND/OR meet an important social or economic need. All projects should have High potential commercial payback and High-risk efforts.
For more details and proposal preparation instructions, refer to the NSF solicitation.
All proposals will be due before 5:00 PM on Thursday, December 3rd (the registration process, necessary before you submit your proposal, might take a few weeks–Start early!).