Common Mistakes to Avoid When Submitting an SBIR/STTR Proposal
Are you about to hit certify on your SBIR or STTR proposal? Consider this your final checklist to ensure your proposal does immediately get disqualified and maximize your chance of winning some equity-free cash.
Formatting Requirements in the BAA
The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) has a section with detailed requirements on margin size, font type, font size, page limit, etc. Evaluators have more proposals to review than time to review them, so while it’s easy to prevent, proposal can be thrown out for not meeting formatting requirements. With a single document being collaborated on usually amongst multiple individuals in a proposing team, it’s always a good idea to have one last pass through the documents for each formatting requirement before exporting and uploading to DISP. Reminder that the BAA changes so building off of a prior proposal does not guarantee that your current document meets the latest requirements.
2. Proposing Firm, PI & RI Labor Percentages
Different agencies and cycles can have different requirements for how much dedicated capacity is expected and/or allowable from the Principal Investigator (PI), the Research Institution (RI) or any subcontractors. Typically, the proposing small business needs to be doing 2/3rd of the R&D and the PI needs to be dedicating at least 30% of their time. Double check your math and ensure the hours in the work plan align to the rules in the BAA and line up to your cost volume. Pro tip: We’ve seen feedback letters where even though the PI’s capacity was above the minimum required the proposal was rejected, anything less than 49% might be downgraded. Max your PI hours if you can, or articulate clearly in the work plan what work they are doing compared to other key personnel.
3. Required Forms in Volume V
Volume 5, or Vol V, is basically a bucket for ‘all other forms’. Some are optional, some as applicable, and some required. Make sure you read the Volume V section of the BAA covering your topic to see what needs to go in here. Generally, a Contractor Certification about the prohibit use of Chinese telecomm equipment is required at minimum. For Direct to Phase IIs some kind of feasibility study or commercialization plan is also required in Vol 5, but this is only identified in the BAA. DSIP will not stop you from submitting an incomplete Vol V like it will with the other volumes.
4. Funding Caps and Period of Performance
DSIP isn’t supposed to let you submit a proposal that exceeds the funding cap for the topic, but sometimes the system will let you through if you have extra line items like TABA that allow you to exceed the given funding limit. For this reason it’s important to take a final pass at the Cost Volume (Vol III) and make sure that you’re numbers are under the funding cap and that the hours match up with the work plan in your proposal. DSIP also requires you to indicate the Period of Performance (PoP) or the duration of your proposed work in Volume I. The BAA will state the maximum allowable period of performance (generally 90 days to six months for Phase Is and 15-24 months for Phase IIs). Make sure that the number you enter in Volume I is a) within the allowable period of performance and b) reflects the actual proposed duration of your proposed work. Do not just list the max by default.
5. Review the Evaluation Criteria
There are two sets of evaluation criteria: one set in the solicitation and one in the BAA. While both should align, they don’t always. Reviewers grade against the rubric from the BAA first so before you hit “Certify”, make sure to review the “Superior” descriptions for all the evaluation criteria and ensure that your proposal addresses those requirements. You can often identify an area of your technical volume where you can be more specific and increase your chances of getting that highest rating.
