How to Use AI for Every Volume of Your SBIR Proposal (Without Tanking Your Win Rate)
Writing a winning SBIR proposal is tough, and only getting tougher with the onslaught of AI slop submissions proposers now have to wade through.
We experimented with one a proposal writing AI tool - and saw our win rate tank. Now we use AI in a completely different way to make us more efficient but protect the quality of our SBIR submissions.
In this guide, we break down exactly how to use (and not use) AI for each section of your SBIR proposal, so you can boost efficiency without sacrificing your win rate. These best practices apply across SBIR/STTRs, but references AFWERX SBIRs/STTRs. You can adjust these prompts for other SBIR or STTR proposals with NASA, NSF, DOE, NIH, etc with a few simple tweaks.
Get the Prompt Library file here. Don’t like reading? Listen to the podcast version on Youtube.
Step 0: Before You Start Your SBIR/STTR Proposal
Set yourself up for success with an effective AI strategy before writing a single section.
Recommended Workflow:
Choose an AI platform (NotebookLM, Claude, ChatGPT with file upload, etc.) that allows you to upload reference documents.
Build a “reference shelf” of key docs: solicitation, technical volume, company info, research, and past proposals. Don’t just prompt in a vacuum—give your AI context!
Overall Guided Principals for How to Use AI in Proposal Writing:
Use AI to organize, search, and summarize your reference materials.
Query your AI to pull relevant quotes or data from dense documents (e.g., agency strategy docs).
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t expect great results from a generic prompt without uploading your own materials.
Never rely on AI for confidential info or sensitive company data in open/public models.
Steal Our Prompts:
Get AI to help you find additional relevant documents for your data shelf: “Find relevant quotes about the significance of the problem in these agency strategy docs.”
Volume 1: Cover Sheet & Abstract
The cover sheet, or Volume 1, is the first thing reviewers see. It sets the tone and makes them want to keep reading. Make sure you grab the reviewer’s attention.
Recommended Workflow:
Even though it’s the first thing reviewers see, we always write it last to ensure we can use the proposal materials for the prompt. Trust us - write Vol 1 after finishing Vol 2.
Use your completed technical summary, objectives, and solicitation topic as your reference shelf.
How to Use AI:
Ask AI to draft a public-facing abstract based on your technical summary and solicitation.
Request a bullet list of benefits to the military and commercial applications.
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t submit the AI’s first draft—edit for clarity, tone, and excitement.
Don’t let AI generate vague or generic content; this section must hook the reviewer.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Using the following technical summary and solicitation topic, draft a compelling, public-facing abstract for this SBIR proposal. Keep it under 3,000 characters. Do not include the company name, any proprietary, or personal information.”
“List the benefits to the military customer as bullet points. Include 1–2 sentence descriptions for each. Limit response to 1500 characters”
“List the potential commercial applications as bullet points. Include 1–2 sentence descriptions for each. Limit response to 1500 characters”
Volume 2: Technical Summary
The goal in this section is to demonstrate your understanding of the technical problem your government customer wants to solve and your proposed solution’s significance to solving that problem.
Recommended Workflow:
Build your data shelf: solicitation, cited papers, government web pages, company info, relevant past projects, and agency strategy docs.
Reference these docs for every prompt.
How to Use AI:
Summarize research papers or agency strategy docs for context.
Draft the “Identification and Significance of the Problem” section, using agency docs for quotes.
Use AI to polish narrative structure. You can outline your thoughts in bullet points to start and have your AI tech of choice draft the narrative around it.
Use AI to polish for clarity. Try voice to text talking through how you think your tech/start up addresses the problem the agency is facing. Provide your AI tech with the transcript and have it craft it into a succinct, white paper style narrative.
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t ask AI to locate research citations—it will hallucinate 9 times out of 10 and you’ll spend more time vetting the content than you save.
Don’t submit unedited AI output; always humanize and check for accuracy.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Define the specific technical problem identified in this topic and address its importance to the [Government Agency]. Use the attached solicitation and strategy documents. Write in two paragraphs.”
“Find compelling quotes or relevant sections from these agency strategy docs about the significance of the problem referenced in the topic document.”
“Draft a concise and compelling technical summary for an SBIR/STTR proposal. Focus on stating the problem, our proposed innovative solution, the technical approach, and the anticipated impact. Remove conversational language, filler words, and repetition. Ensure that the summary aligns with the solicitation’s objectives detailed in the topic document, and is written in a professional tone. Highlight what makes the solution innovative and why it matters to this government agency.”
Volume 2: Work Plan
In the workplan, show your competence and clarity in executing the project. This is about how you’ll deliver, not just what you’ll do.
Recommended Workflow:
Outline your work plan and technical objectives in bullet points without AI first.
Compare your outline to the solicitation and evaluation criteria using AI to make sure you didn’t miss any requirements.
Format out one section of the workplan and provide it as input with the bulleted rough draft to have your AI tool of choice draft the remaining sections in your preferred format and tone.
Edit the output and cross reference it with any team members who will execute the work.
How to Use AI:
Have AI compare your objectives to the solicitation for alignment.
Ask AI to analyze your work plan against evaluation criteria for missing elements.
Use AI to frame your bullet points into a draft narrative (then edit for tone).
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t use AI to generate the entire work plan—AI’s output is often vague or off-tone.
Never use open models for confidential project details.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Compare these proposed scope of work objectives to the solicitation. Are any priorities missing?”
“Does this work plan clearly support the technical objectives and respond to the solicitation? Analyze for gaps.”
“Evaluate this work plan against the SBIR evaluation criteria and suggest improvements.”
Volume 2: Commercialization Plan
Here your proposal must convince reviewers your solution has real-world market potential within the government and beyond the government.
Recommended Workflow:
Identify probable customers, competitors, and differentiators using your expertise.
Provide the outputs of your first step to AI tools to check for potential customers, competitors that you may be missing.
Overall in this section AI is useful for ideation and basic market research, but always verify sources.
How to Use AI:
Ask AI to suggest potential commercial markets and customers for your technology.
Use AI to find and summarize relevant market reports (then fact-check).
Have AI help draft sections on competitors and differentiators.
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t trust AI-sourced market data blindly—always check for accuracy and recency.
Don’t let AI invent market claims or unsupported projections.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Identify potential commercial market opportunities for this technology, referencing the technical summary and solicitation.”
“Find recent, relevant market reports and data about [market/technology]. List sources.”
“List probable customers, competitors, and differentiators for this technology.”
Volume 2: Key Personnel
Showcase the expertise and relevance of your team to the project.
Recommended Workflow:
Gather resumes, LinkedIn profiles, CVs, and public bios for each team member.
Use AI to draft bios that highlight experience most relevant to the solicitation.
How to Use AI:
Feed in resumes and background info, ask AI to generate bios focused on project-relevant experience.
Review and edit bios for accuracy and tone.
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t submit bios without vetting—AI sometimes invents awards or credentials.
Avoid generic bios; make them specific and relevant to the project.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Write a bio for [Name] supporting the software engineering side of the AI model. Highlight experience training AI models, using the attached resume and background.”
“Draft a biography for [Name], emphasizing expertise most relevant to this SBIR topic.”
Volume 2: Related Work
In this section, you will need to demonstrate your track record and capability through past projects and relevant experience.
Recommended Workflow:
Gather past proposals, reports, and product specs.
Use AI to structure and summarize related work in line with the solicitation.
How to Use AI:
Provide reference docs and ask AI to draft the related work section, ensuring it matches the topic.
Use AI to organize and format the content.
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t let AI generate unrelated or random projects—always check for relevance.
Don’t skip the human review to ensure accuracy and alignment.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Write a section on related work, referencing the attached company documents and the current solicitation topic.”
“Summarize past projects that demonstrate our capability for this proposal. Reference them as evidence to show we can meet the topic objectives.”
Volume 3: Cost Volume
Provide a clear, accurate, and compliant budget that aligns with your technical volume and work plan.
Recommended Workflow:
Complete your scope of work and work plan first.
Use past projects to estimate hours and costs.
Review with key personnel and use GSA rates for accuracy.
Use a cost volume builder tool for efficiency.
How to Use AI:
Generally, we do NOT recommend using AI for cost volume creation. Instead, use specialized tools or templates. There are ways to make your cost volume creation faster - we break down our lessons learned here.
How NOT to Use AI:
Never use open models for sensitive financials.
Volume 4: Training Documents
AI can’t do this one for you. Do the training, check the box.
Volume 5: Attachments & Feasibility Studies
What goes into Volume 5 can vary wildly by cycle, so check the BAA and component instructions every time. Most of the documents here are forms that AI can’t fill out for you, or standard company documents. The place AI can help the most here is for feasibility studies, which are usually required for Direct to Phase II (D2P2) submissions.
Recommended Workflow:
Gather all supporting documents and ensure each aligns with solicitation requirements.
For topics that require feasibility studies, use AI to help organize and draft content based on your reference documents, then edit for accuracy.
How to Use AI:
Use AI to structure and draft feasibility studies using your own reference materials.
How NOT to Use AI:
Don’t forget to customize for each proposal and double-check against the BAA requirements.
Steal Our Prompts:
“Draft a feasibility study referencing the attached documents. Citing our past work, describe how we demonstrated feasibility for the innovation described in the topic document. Include project description, period of performance, and government contacts as required.”
AI can be a powerful tool for SBIR proposal writing when used wisely. Always provide context, edit for clarity, and never rely on AI alone for critical sections. Want to provide your AI tool even more context? Download one of our prior winning proposals to provide your AI tool of choice an example of what a funded technical volume looks and sounds like.
More FAQ on AI for Proposal Writing and Our Takes:
Q1: Can I use ChatGPT or other AI tools to write my SBIR proposal?
A: Yes, you can use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or NotebookLM to help organize reference material, summarize documents, and draft sections of your SBIR proposal. However, always upload your own documents for context and never rely solely on AI for critical or confidential content. Always review, humanize, and fact-check all AI-generated text before submission.
Q2: What are the risks of using AI to write government grant proposals?
A: The main risks are submitting generic, off-target content, or accidentally including hallucinated facts or citations. AI may also inadvertently expose confidential or hallucinated data if you use public models. Always use secure platforms, provide clear context, and thoroughly review all output for accuracy and compliance.
Q3: What are the best AI prompts for SBIR proposal writing?
A: The best prompts are specific and reference your uploaded materials. For example: “Summarize the main objectives of this solicitation using the uploaded documents,” or “Draft a public-facing abstract for this SBIR proposal using the technical summary and solicitation topic.” We do have a list of template prompts to get you started here.
Q4: Should I use AI for the SBIR Cost Volume section?
A: Generally, no. The Cost Volume requires precise, confidential financial data. It’s best to use specialized tools like Intrepid’s Cost Volume Builder and involve your financial team. Never upload sensitive financials to public AI models.
Q5: How do I protect sensitive company data when using AI for proposals?
A: Use private or enterprise versions of AI tools that guarantee data privacy. Never upload proprietary or classified information to public models. Always redact sensitive details and double-check your platform’s privacy policy.
Q6: What are common mistakes to avoid when using AI for SBIR proposals?
A: Submitting unedited AI drafts, relying on AI for confidential or financial sections, not providing enough context, and using AI-generated but unverified citations or market data are the most common mistakes. Always treat AI as a co-pilot, not an autopilot.
Q7: Can AI help with market research and commercialization planning for SBIR proposals?
A: Yes, AI can suggest potential markets, summarize public market reports, and help draft competitor analyses. Always verify sources and supplement with your own research to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Q8: Where can I find templates and guides for SBIR proposal writing?
A: You can find winning proposal templates, fillable cost volume builders, and strategy guides at Intrepid Gov Proposals to streamline your SBIR application process.
