Major Change to NIH SBIR/STTR Dates (Retroactive to Dec 5, 2014) (12/18/14) -
The NIH has just announced a major change to its SBIR/STTR proposal date cycle. In this case a "cycle" is synonymous with a proposal receipt date. With that in mind, here's what's happening:
The NIH is extending their current PHS 2014-02 Omnibus Solicitation (PA-14-071) from 3 cycles to 4. That means the "non-aids" topics (whose 3rd cycle ended Dec 5, 2014) now has an additional 4th cycle with a receipt date of April 5, 2015. Likewise, the aids topics (whose 3rd cycle ends Jan 7, 2015) has a 4th cycle receipt date of May 7, 2015. This includes CDC, FDA and ACF. The current PHS 2014-02 Omnibus Solicitation will expire on May 8, 2015 so there will be no August receipt date.
Here's the reason for the change. NIH, who historically released their omnibus SBIR/STTR solicitation in January, is changing the release date to June 2015. From that point forward they return to the 3 cycle solicitation with the new receipt dates for both aids and non-aids being September 5, 2015, January 5, 2016 and April 5, 2016.
So if you missed the Dec 5 receipt date, and/or if you want to make additional proposals to NIH, you are good through April 5, 2015 (non-aids) and May 7, 2015 (for aids related). Continue to follow the guidance in the original solicitation with the exception of the new receipt dates.
NIH runs a robust but complicated SBIR program. So get the information straight from the source at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-038.html
DoD Issues SBIR 2015.1 and STTR 15.A Prerelease (12/11/14) -
The DoD has issued a prerelease of their FY2015.1 SBIR solicitation with offerings from the Air Force (158 topics), Army (86 topics), Navy (80 topics), DARPA (6 topics), DHP (16 topics) and SOCOM (7 topics). Concurrently the DoD issued their prerelease of the 15.A STTR
with topics from Air Force (30), Army (18), and Navy (23).
The solicitations open and proposals will be accepted starting January 15, 2015 and closes February 4, 2015. at 6:00am EST.
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Between December 12, 2014 and January 14, 2015 you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed in each topic description page. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting January 15, 2015, when DoD begins accepting proposals for these two solicitations.
NOTE: In DoD terms this is actually a pre-release. During this period until the solicitation opens on January 15, 2015, topics may be added, modified or withdrawn. Changes are often made to topics, especially during the first week of a pre-release, so make sure to monitor the DoD for updates/changes! You can sign up with the SBIR Gateway to be alerted when changes are made to the DoD solicitation.
Do you want the Zyn SBIR Gateway to notify you when changes to the DoD FY-2015.1 SBIR and FY-2015.A STTR are made?
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The DoD SBIR solicitation can be downloaded from their site at www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20151/index.shtml
and the STTR at www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sttr2015a/index.shtml
DHS Issues FY-15.1 SBIR (12/3/14) -
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued their FY-2015.1 Phase I SBIR solicitation which will open to receive proposals on December 18, 2014 and close January 21, 2015, 2:00 p.m. ET.
This year the soliciation includes topics from both of the DHS SBIR entities, 1) The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T); and 2) The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
The solicitation contains 9 technical topics. Similar to the DoD's SBIR pre-solicitation policy, during this pre-solicitation period (December 3, 2014 - December 17, 2014) you can communicate directly with the topic technical point of contact (TPOC).
The DHS topics are:
- DNA and Latent Fingerprint Collection from Same Sample;
- Low-cost, Disposable, Tamper-Proof Bolt Seal;
- Enhanced Distributed Denial of Service Defense;
- Privacy Protecting Analytics for the Internet of Things;
- A Wearable Communications Hub Designed to Streamline and Improve First Responder Communication Capabilities;
- Total Vehicle Mobile X-Ray Scanner;
- Canine Mounted Track and Transmit Device
- Mass/Shielding Anomaly Passive Detector Module; and
- Stable Semiconductor Modules as Core Component in Pager Radiation Detectors
The DHS solicitation is contracts based and utilizes DHS's own proposal submission web site located at sbir2.st.dhs.gov You must register your company to use this system, so don't wait till the last moment to submit register and submit your proposal.
DHS provides a Portal Registration and Submissions Training Guide which can be found at sbir2.st.dhs.gov under �Reference Materials.� The Guide provides step-by-step instructions for company registration and proposal submission.
The official announcement can be found on FedBizOpps at:
https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a591b70cee17b77ebda2c70e67b144ce&tab=core&_cview=0
Dept. of Education FY-2015 SBIR (12/1/14) -
The Department of Education's (ED) has issued two SBIR solicitations opening December 1, 2014 and closing January 15, 2015.
The two solicitations share the same topics, but one is their regular phase I SBIR solicitation while the other is a Fast Track SBIR (combined phase 1 and II). The topics are:
1. Education Technology Products Used by Students or Teachers (or other Instructional Personnel) in Authentic Education Settings; or
2. Education Technology Products Used by Infants, Toddlers, or Students With or At Risk for Disabilities, or Teachers (or other Instructional Personnel, Related Services Providers, or Family Members) in Early Intervention or Special Education Settings.
The offical announcements are on FedBizOpps at:
Regular: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=bc6aadac0fbdd40b60602c8346e927b2&tab=core&_cview=0
Fast Track: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=d9b06b9b64e30dd8f9497c9fade94522&tab=core&_cview=0
NASA Opens FY-2015 SBIR/STTR (11/16/14) -
NASA has released its FY-2015 SBIR/STTR solicitations on November 14, 2014 with a closing date of January 28, 2015. NASA's updated program consists of 3 program areas under 2 separate solicitations. They are:
1. SBIR Select - For a small group of select topics that are of particular interest to NASA (In FY-2014 companies were limited to 3 proposals)
2. SBIR/STTR - This is NASA's conventional solicitation that incorporates both SBIR and STTR topics. Although this is one solicitation, the topics and some rules are separate for each program. Under the Full NASA SBIR/STTR solicitation, companies are limited to 10 proposals in the aggregate with limits to award no more than 5 SBIR contracts and 2 STTR contracts to any offeror.
NOTE: At the time of this writing (Nov 16) there is no NASA SBIR "official" listing on the FedBizOpps web site (www.fbo.gov). However, NASA has made the opening announcement and the solicitations available on their web site at http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
DOE Releases FY-2015 (R2) SBIR/STTR Topics (11/01/14) - The Department of Energy (DOE) has released the topics for their upcoming FY-2015 (R2) SBIR/STTR Solicitation scheduled to be
released November 24, 2014, and close February 03, 2015. A letter of intent is due by December 15, 2014. This is a great time to prepare yourself for a response to the topic needs of the DOE, as well as look at the
technology transfer opportunities they will be presenting.
This is NOT like the DoD's pre-solicitation period because DOE is only releasing the topics, not the overall rules and requirements for proposal submission. Topics may change prior to the official opening of the solicitation. The DOE offers their topics to be your choice of SBIR or STTR.
Complete details the DOE SBIR/STTR topics are available at http://science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities/
NASA FY-2015 SBIR/STTR Prerelease Announcement (10/31/14) -
NASA has announced that it will be releasing its FY-2015 SBIR/STTR solicitations on or about November 14, 2014 with a closing date of January 28, 2015. NASA's updated program consists of 3 entities under 2 separate solicitations. They are:
1. SBIR Select - For a small group of select topics that are of particular interest to NASA (In FY-2014 companies were limited to 3 proposals)
2. SBIR/STTR - This is NASA's conventional solicitation that incorporates both SBIR and STTR topics. Although this is one solicitation, the topics and some rules are separate for each program. (In FY-2014 companies were limited to 10 proposals to either program)
It is expected that the rules will be similar for FY-2015. The NASA address is http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and the presolicitation announcement is on FedBizOpps at https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=5c22ddcdd39236c47cb6f41fe7b31e27&tab=core&_cview=0
HHS/NIH/CDC PHS 2013-1 SBIR Contracts Solicitation (8/15/12) - The NIH & CDC has issued their 2013-1 SBIR Contracts Solicitation which opens to receive proposals on August 13 and closes on November 13, 2012.
This NIH/CDC SBIR solicitation is a separate and independent offering from NIH and is not connected to their currently open 2012-2 Omnibus SBIR/STTR Grants solicitation.
There are important differences between this NIH/CDC SBIR Contracts solicitation and the NIH's year long omnibus Grants solicitation. The contracts solicitation is much smaller, the topics are different and are much more focused, and are for SBIR only. In the NIH SBIR Contracts solicitation, proposals are only accepted if they respond specifically to a research topic, and there is only 1 receipt date.
NOTE: Because this solicitation is contracts based and not grants, it does not use the Grants.gov web site. In fact, the submission process is via hardcopy so allow ample time for proposal delivery.
The solicitation announcement is available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/sbir.htm
DOC/NOAA Opens FY-2015 SBIR (10/15/14) - The U. S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released their FY-2015 SBIR Solicitation which opens October 15, 2014 and closes January 14, 2015.
The topics and subtopics for this solicitation are:
8.1 Resilient Coastal Communities and Economies
- 8.1.1F SUBTOPIC: Improving Seed Production for Marine Shellfish Aquaculture in the United States
- 8.1.2N SUBTOPIC: Low-Cost on the Beach Brevetoxin Field Analysis Kit
8.2 TOPIC: Healthy Oceans
- 8.2.1F SUBTOPIC: Affordable Robust Nonlinear Towed Hydrophone Arrays
- 8.2.2R SUBTOPIC: New Observing Platform for Monitoring Fish Larval Trajectories
8.3 TOPIC: Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
- 8.3.1C SUBTOPIC: Probability Forecasts of Business Impact Variables from CFS2 Ensembles
- 8.3.2D SUBTOPIC: Coastal Zone Wide-Swath Airborne Topography, Surface Current and Debris Mapper
8.4 TOPIC: Weather-Ready Nation
- 8.4.2R SUBTOPIC: Ultrasonic Anemometers/Thermometers with Increased Spatial Resolution
- 8.4.3D SUBTOPIC: Accurate Nightlight for Satellite Calibration for Weather and Climate Applications
8.5 TOPIC: Stakeholder Engagement
- 8.5.1X SUBTOPIC: Innovative Public Communication Technologies And Decision Support Tools
8.6 TOPIC: Data and Observations
- 8.6.1X SUBTOPIC: Sensors for Environmental Observations and Measurements
* NOAA Topics will be included in our omnibus search soon.
NOAA's solicitation is contracts based and they only accepts proposals in hard copy format (no electronic submission). This means you must take measures to insure your submission is delivered and accepted by the NOAA Eastern Region Acquisition Division no later than 4:00 p.m. (Central Time) on January 14, 2015. Don't let the term "Eastern Region Acquisition Division" fool you because it is
actually located in Kansas City, MO!
The NOAA solicitation and all forms are available on FedBizOpps at: www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=7bf9e70eced0f04a406664d82572040f&_cview=0
NSF Releases Fall 2014 SBIR and STTR Solicitations (8/26/14) - The National Science Foundation released their 2014 Fall SBIR and STTR solicitations. Although the technical topics are shared for both solicitations, please keep in mind that NSF's SBIR and STTR
are separate offerings from NSF.
Their SBIR will open to accept proposals starting November 2, 2014 and close December 2, 2014, while the STTR opens November 5 2014 and closes December 5, 2014. Do not submit a proposal prior to the opening dates! Also the NSF discourages you from submitting the same project idea to both
SBIR and STTR programs.
The NSF is considered by many to be the most stringent of all SBIR/STTR programs. Their comfort zone is the academic environment and consequently their mindset (at least in SBIR/STTR) is closer to university than private sector. For these reasons you should always make sure
you are precisely following their rules and guidance.
Keep in mind that there is no overarching SBIR/STTR program. All the agencies have their own flavors but the NSF's is very unique. Here are a few NSF points to remember:
- A company can only submit up to 2 proposals. This is inclusive of SBIR and STTR. You can't do 2 SBIRs and 2 STTRs.
- Although the broad topic areas are the same for both solicitations, the NSF STTR encourages the commercialization of previously NSF-funded fundamental research (NSF funding lineage). It is highly desirable that the core innovation described in the submitted proposals can in some manner be linked to fundamental research funded by the NSF.
- Another dimension to the NSF SBIR/STTR is that consideration is also given to the social benefit as well as economic.
- Contrary to some previous beliefs, the NSF has decided not to exercise the option allowing the small business to be majority owned by one or more venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds or private equity firms.
The Principal Investigator (PI) MUST be primarily employed (at least 51%) by the small business at time of award. There are multiple cases pending (both civil and criminal) by the U.S. Department of Justice on this very issue under the fraud, waste & abuse statutes falling under the False Claims act. The agencies are now making this issue much more clear.
The NSF estimates it will make up to 200 SBIR awards (+/- $30 million) and 47 STTR awards (+/- $10.5 million). It's a very worthwhile program if you'll invest the time to closely follow their rules.
More information is available at:
DOC/NOAA SBIR Presolicitation Announcement (9/20/14) - The U. S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a presolicitation announcement of their upcoming FY-2015 SBIR Solicitation.
It is expected to open on or about October 15. Although no closing date was announced, we estimate that it could be on or around December 8, 2014.
The main topics for this solicitation are in the areas of:
- Weather-Ready Nation
- Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
- Healthy Oceans
- Resilient Coastal Communities and Economies
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Data and Observations
NOAA's solicitation is contracts based and will be available on FedBizOpps at: www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1a6eb562f794b0a5cd4c7df5066743af&tab=core&_cview=0
DoD Issues SBIR 2014.3 and STTR 14.B Prerelease (8/21/14) -
The DoD has issued a prerelease of their FY2014.3 SBIR solicitation with offerings from the Army (2 topics), Navy (3 topics), DARPA (6 topics), and DTRA (8 topics). Concurrently the DoD issued their prerelease of the 14.B STTR
with topics from DARPA (4), DTRA (5), and MDA (4).
The solicitations open and proposals will be accepted starting September 22, 2014 and closes October 22, 2014. at 6:00am EST.
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Between August 21 and September 21, 2014 you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed in each topic description page. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting September 22, 2014, when DoD begins accepting proposals for these two solicitations.
NOTE: In DoD terms this is actually a pre-release. During this period until the solicitation opens on September 22, 2014, topics may be added, modified or withdrawn. Changes are often made to topics, especially during the first week of a pre-release, so make sure to monitor the DoD for updates/changes! You can sign up with the SBIR Gateway to be alerted when changes are made to the DoD solicitation.
Do you want the Zyn SBIR Gateway to notify you when changes to the DoD FY-2014.3 SBIR and FY-2014.B STTR are made?
If so, please enter your email address below and you will receive an email notification.
| Email addresses will remain private and will not be shared.
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The DoD SBIR solicitation can be downloaded from their site at www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20143/index.shtml
and the STTR at www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sttr2014b/index.shtml
HHS/NIH/CDC PHS 2015-1 SBIR Contracts Solicitation (8/15/14) -
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued their 2015-1 SBIR Contracts Solicitation which opens to receive proposals on August 15, 2014 and closes November 5, 2014.
This NIH/CDC SBIR contracts solicitation is a separate and independent offering from NIH and is not connected to their 2014-2 Omnibus SBIR/STTR Grants solicitation that is open for most of the calendar year (with 3 separate receipt dates).
There are important differences between the NIH/CDC SBIR Contracts solicitation and the NIH's year long omnibus Grants solicitation. The contracts solicitation is much smaller, the topics are different and are much more focused, and are for SBIR only. In the NIH SBIR Contracts solicitation, proposals are only accepted if they respond specifically to a research topic, and there is only 1 receipt date.
Also the NIH contracts solicitation has a different set of rules and does not use grants.gov for submission or guidance. In fact, proposal submission must be done via hard copy, so allow ample time for proposal delivery.
New this year is the availability of a Direct to Phase II option (bypasses Phase I) which is only available for selected topics. NIH continues its Fast Track Initiative (combined Phase I & II) for selected topics.
Although the solicitation is available through FedBizOpps at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=76b5bbd0b287d800f3d6b030f995e6a1&_cview=0 we suggest going to the NIH site at grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-14-120.html where you can get additional information and download the solicitation in either Word or PDF formats.
DOE Releases FY-2015 (R1) SBIR/STTR Topics (7/14/14) - The Department of Energy (DOE) has released the topics for their upcoming FY-2015 (R1) SBIR/STTR Solicitation scheduled to be
released August 11, 2014, and close October 14, 2014. A letter of intent is due by September 02, 2014. This is a great time to prepare yourself for a response to the topic needs of the DOE, as well as look at the
technology transfer opportunities they will be presenting.
This is NOT like the DoD's pre-solicitation period because DOE is only releasing the topics, not the overall rules and requirements for proposal submission. There are a total of 26 topics in this release and they may change prior to the official opening of the solicitation. The DOE offers their topics to be your choice of SBIR or STTR.
DOE will offer two webinars for this solicitation. The first on July 22 for topics 1 - 16, and the second on July 23 for topics 19 - 26 (not sure why the don't include topics 17 and 18 at this time).
Also, DOE's Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) will host a two day workshop August 6 - 7, 2014 in Rosemont, IL (suburban Chicago) conveniently near O'Hare Airport.
This event will concentrate on DOE topics having to do with ASCR's SBIR topics related to computing and networking. Workshop information is available at: http://go.lbl.gov/ascr_sbir
Complete details the DOE SBIR/STTR topics are available at http://science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities/
DOT Opens 14.2 SBIR (7/14/14) - The Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation System Center, (Volpe Center) has opened their 14.2 SBIR solicitation,
on July 14, 2014 with a closing date of September 15, 2014. The DOT SBIR is a contracts based solicitation
Like the DoD, who has many components under its umbrella (i.e., Army, Navy Air Force etc.), the DOT also has many units under its umbrella but not as well known (i.e., FHWA, FMCSA, FTA etc.). Unlike the DoD, the DOT has a much smaller budget, but their solicitation is none the less important, and
the DOT utilizes their own proposal submission system which is quick and easy for the small business to utilize.
Topics for this solicitation are:
FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)
- 14.2-FA1: Commercial Space Vehicle Tracking Using 1090 MHz ADS-B
- 14.2-FA2: Management System Display to Track Emergency Response Vehicles and Mutual Aid during a crash
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration)
- 14.2-FH1: Decentralized, Public, and Mobile-Based Sidewalk Inventory Tool
- 14.2-FH2: Parking-Cruising Caused Congestion & Targeting Public Mitigation Investments
- 14.2-FH3: Modular Building Block Approach to Construction Assembly in Place Mini-Roundabouts
FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration)
- 4.2-FM1: Driver Fatigue and Distraction Monitoring and Warning System
FTA (Federal Transit Administration)
- 14.2-FT1: Technology to improve upon APC data counting that will provide better correlation to service plan
NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
- 14.2-NH1: Device to Address the Competing Needs of Ensuring Lockability of Seat Belts and Mitigating Entrapment Risk in Misuse Conditions
OST-R (Office of the Secretary of Transportation-Research and Technology)
- 14.2-OS1: Using alternative energy to reduce greenhouse gas production in the transportation sector
PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration)
- 14.2-PH1: New non-destructive evaluation methods to quantify remaining strength of line pipe steel and or pipeline fittings
Complete solicitation information is available on the DOT's SBIR web site at www.volpe.dot.gov/work-with-us/small-business-innovation-research and on
FedBizOpps at www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2a16b677725cb4f31f9cf4cd081e877e&tab=core&_cview=0
NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Opens 1 Topic SBIR (6/23/14) -
In an unusual situation for SBIR and the NIH, the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) opened a 1 topic contracts solicitation (on their own), officially titled "156 Development of a Standardized Electronic Cigarette for Clinical Research." which opened June 23, 2014 and closes September 30, 2014, 4:30PM Eastern Time.
Those of you familiar with the NIH's annual SBIR Contracts solicitation (scheduled this year for mid-August and due mid November), know that NIH's Contracts solicitation is very different from their omnibus Grants solicitation that is open all year (with 3 receipt dates).
Amongst the differences to note is the submission method for NIDA's (and the NIH's contracts solicitation). It is via hard copy only, not electronically via grants.gov and eRA commons. NOTE: Although there is no electronic submission for this SBIR opportunity, you still MUST register first with
the SBA's SBIR company registry at sbir.gov/registration.
The solicitation is available on FedBizOpps at:
www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=fdeaa13b582592c674970f2114470f76&_cview=0 or you can quickly view the topic on the our SBIR Gateway at
www.zynsys.com/sbir/sbres/sbir/hhscontracts/nih14-nida-156-exp9-14.htm
USDA Opens FY-2015 SBIR (6/25/14) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) via their National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has opened its FY-2015 SBIR solicitation (funding No. USDA-NIFA-SBIR-004553), that opened on June 20, 2014, and modified on June 25, 2014, with a closing date of October 2, 2014. This FY-2015 solicitation is very similar to last year.
The USDA SBIR program is grants based and utilizes grants.gov for the submission process.
The USDA's two program priority areas are: 1) Agriculturally-related Manufacturing Technology; 2) Energy Efficiency and Alternative and Renewable Energy.
The NIFA Societal Challenge Areas are: 1) Global Food Security and Hunger; 2) Climate Change; 3) Sustainable Bioenergy; 4) Childhood Obesity; and 5) Food Safety. Special consideration will be given to applications that address one of these priorities under the Project Narrative, item (2) under subsection 3.3.3.-Field 8, Responsiveness to USDA SBIR Program Priorities and Societal Challenge Areas.
USDA Topics Areas Are:
- 8.1-Forests and Related Resources
- 8.2-Plant Production and Protection - Biology
- 8.3-Animal Production and Protection
- 8.4-Air, Water and Soils
- 8.5-Food Science and Nutrition
- 8.6-Rural and Community Development
- 8.7-Aquaculture
- 8.8- Biofuels and Biobased Products
- 8.12-Small and Mid-Size Farms
- 8.13-Plant Production and Protection - Engineering
The USDA solicitation provides guidance to the relationship of Societal Challenge Areas to the actual Technical Topics.
The solicitation is available from the USDA SBIR web site at www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/rfas/sbir_rfa.html The funding announcement and provisions for proposal submissions are on Grants.gov
NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Opens 1 Topic SBIR (6/23/14) -
In an unusual situation for SBIR and the NIH, the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) opened a 1 topic contracts solicitation (on their own), officially titled "156 Development of a Standardized Electronic Cigarette for Clinical Research." which opened June 23, 2014 and closes September 30, 2014, 4:30PM Eastern Time.
Those of you familiar with the NIH's annual SBIR Contracts solicitation (scheduled this year for mid-August and due mid November), know that NIH's Contracts solicitation is very different from their omnibus Grants solicitation that is open all year (with 3 receipt dates).
Amongst the differences to note is the submission method for NIDA's (and the NIH's contracts solicitation). It is via hard copy only, not electronically via grants.gov and eRA commons. NOTE: Although there is no electronic submission for this SBIR opportunity, you still MUST register first with
the SBA's SBIR company registry at sbir.gov/registration.
The solicitation is available on FedBizOpps at:
www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=fdeaa13b582592c674970f2114470f76&_cview=0 or you can quickly view the topic on the our SBIR Gateway at
www.zynsys.com/sbir/sbres/sbir/hhscontracts/nih14-nida-156-exp9-14.htm
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Presolicitation Announcement (6/11/14) -
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it plans to release it's FY-15 SBIR solicitation on or about July 9, 2014 with a closing date of September 8, 2014. The topics scheduled for this solicitation will be:
- Air and Climate
- Manufacturing
- Toxic Chemicals
- Water
- Building Materials
- Food Waste
- Homeland Security.
There is something different in the air for EPA this year. EPA has been using their own SBIR web site to list the opportunities, and accepted proposals in CD and hardcopy only. This Presolicitation announcement indicates that EPA
will be using the FedConnect web portal for the solicitation and receipt of proposals.
Those of you with DOE experience will be used to FedConnect, but those of you used to EPAs hard copy method better prepare to learn some new tricks in order to submit.
To use FedConnect effectively you must register on their site
at www.fedconnect.net. We'll have more for you when the solicitation is released.
The presolicitation announcement is available on FedBizOpps at www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=00d7311d3382359f24d9cf8c185dedc6&_cview=0
DoD Issues SBIR 2014.2 Prerelease (4/23/14) -
The DoD has issued a prerelease of their FY2014.2 SBIR solicitation with offerings from the Army, Navy, DARPA, DLA, DMEA and MDA. The solicitation opens and proposals will be accepted starting May 23, 2014 and closes June 25, 2014. at 6:00am EST.
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Between April 23 and May 22 you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed in each topic description page. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 23, 2014, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.
NOTE: In DoD terms this is actually a pre-release. During this period until the solicitation opens on May 23, 2014, topics may be added, modified or withdrawn. Changes are often made to topics, especially during the first week of a pre-release, so make sure to monitor the DoD for updates/changes! You can sign up with the SBIR Gateway to be alerted when changes are made to the DoD solicitation.
Do you want the Zyn SBIR Gateway to notify you when changes to the DoD FY-2014.2 SBIR are made?
If so, please enter your email address below and you will receive an email notification.
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The DoD SBIR solicitation can be downloaded from their site at www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20142/index.shtml
DHS S&T Issues FY-14.2 SBIR (4/1/14) -
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) has issued their FY-2014.2 Phase I SBIR solicitation which will open to receive proposals on April 17, 2014 and close May 21, 2014, 2:00 p.m. ET.
The solicitation contains 6 technical topics. Similar to the DoD's SBIR pre-solicitation policy, during this pre-solicitation period (April 1 - April 16, 2014) you can communicate directly with the topic technical point of contact (TPOC) from the date of issue (April 1, 2014) until 5:00pm (EST), April 16, 2014.
During this pre-release period, potential offerors have an opportunity to contact topic authors by telephone and/or email to ask technical questions about specific technical topics attached to this pre-solicitation notice. Questions should be limited to specific information related to improving the understanding of a particular topic's requirements. General questions about the DHS SBIR program can be emailed to [email protected]
The topics are:
- H-SB014.2-001 Decontamination Technologies for Biological Agents
- H-SB014.2-002 Automatic Detection and Patching of Vulnerabilities in Embedded Systems
- H-SB014.2-003 Development of Cost-Effective Iterative Reconstruction Computing Platforms for Computed Tomography (CT)-based Explosive Detection Equipment
- H-SB014.2-004 Radiant Laser Exposure Monitoring for Nominal Hazard Zone (NHZ) Evaluation
- H-SB014.2-005 Status Indicator for Downed Power Lines
- H-SB014.2-006 Field Detection and Analysis for Fire Gases and Particulates
The DHS solicitation is contracts based and utilizes DHS's own proposal submission web site located at sbir2.st.dhs.gov You must register your company to use this system, so don't wait till the last moment to submit register and submit your proposal.
DHS provides a Portal Registration and Submissions Training Guide which can be found at sbir2.st.dhs.gov under �Reference Materials.� The Guide provides step-by-step instructions for company registration and proposal submission.
The official announcement can be found on FedBizOpps at:
https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cebf6a77c6aeab1efe1f94249c8e022f&tab=core&_cview=0
NSF Releases 2014 SBIR and STTR Solicitations (2/26/14) - The National Science Foundation has just released their 2014 SBIR and STTR solicitations. Although the technical topics are shared for both solicitations, SBIR and STTR
are separate offerings from NSF.
Their SBIR will open to accept proposals starting May 10, 2014 and close June 10, 2014, while the STTR opens May 11, 2014 and closes June 11, 2014. Do not submit a proposal prior to the opening dates! Also the NSF discourages you from submitting the same project idea to both
SBIR and STTR programs.
The NSF is considered by many to be the most stringent of all SBIR/STTR programs. Their comfort zone is the academic environment and consequently their mindset (at least in SBIR/STTR) is closer to university than private sector. For these reasons you should always make sure
you are precisely following their rules and guidance.
Keep in mind that there is no overarching SBIR/STTR program. All the agencies have their own flavors but the NSF's is very unique. Here are a few points to remember:
- A company can only submit up to 2 proposals. This is inclusive of SBIR and STTR. You can't do 2 SBIRs and 2 STTRs.
- Although the broad topic areas are the same for both solicitations, the NSF STTR encourages the commercialization of previously NSF-funded fundamental research (NSF funding lineage). It is highly desirable that the core innovation described in the submitted proposals can in some manner be linked to fundamental research funded by the NSF.
- Another dimension to the NSF SBIR/STTR is that consideration is also given to the social benefit as well as economic.
- Contrary to some previous beliefs, the NSF has decided not to exercise the option allowing the small business to be majority owned by one or more venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds or private equity firms.
The Principal Investigator (PI) MUST be primarily employed (at least 51%) by the small business at time of award. There are multiple cases pending (both civil and criminal) by the U.S. Department of Justice on this very issue under the fraud, waste & abuse statutes falling under the False Claims act. The agencies are now making this issue much more clear.
The NSF estimates it will make up to 200 SBIR awards (+/- $30 million) and 47 STTR awards (+/- $10.5 million). It's a very worthwhile program if you'll invest the time to closely follow their rules.
More information is available at:
NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology) Opens FY-2014 SBIR (2/19/14) -
The long awaited NIST SBIR solicitation, originally scheduled for October of 2013 finally opened today and closes May 2, 2014.
Even more stunning than the solicitation's delay is the fact that NIST has now changed from an SBIR "Contracts" program to a Grants program! That means those of you who have been looking for NIST's SBIR on FedBizOpps,
better change to Grants.gov! Actually the NIST arrangement is listed as a "Cooperative Agreement" There are different rules and procedures for the grants program vs contracts, so please read the solicitation closely.
In addition to NIST's traditional research style topics (-R) of which there are 14 in all, NIST also has Technology Transfer (TT) topics that are part of a system conceived by former NIST SBIR program manager and SBIR
champion Clara Asmail.
This year we find NIST departing from pre-selecting certain technologies for this TT effort. Instead they are returning to Ms. Asmail's original design which is to let you search NIST's database of technologies that
require additional research and innovation to advance them to a commercial product. You can submit your proposal on one of those technologies, receive an SBIR award to do the R&D and bring it to commercialization. If successful you must negotiate a license from NIST, presumably at favorable terms.
Now that NIST is in the "grants" mode, you can submit a proposal electronically through grants.gov or the old fashion NIST way, via hard copy. The address for the solicitation is
www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=251550. The solicitation closes May 2, 1014.
Dept. of Education IES Opens 2 SBIR Solicitations (2/6/14) -
The Department of Education's (ED) Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has opened 2 individual SBIR solicitations released on February 6, 2014, both with a closing date of March 24, 2014.
The Priorities (topic areas) and sub-topics for both solicitations are identical. The difference between the two solicitations is that one is a regular phase I, while the other is a Fast Track, a combined phase I and Phase II.
- PRIORITY 1: Education Technology Products Used by Students or Teachers (or other Instructional Personnel) in Authentic Education Settings
- PRIORITY 2: Education Technology Products Used by Infants, Toddlers, or Students With or At Risk for Disabilities, or Teachers (or other Instructional Personnel, Related Services Providers, or Family Members) in Authentic Early Intervention or Special Education Settings.
The word "authentic" in red in Priority 2 is only in the Fast Track solicitation. Other than that the words are the same.
The ED/IES regular phase I solicitation (ED-IES-14-R-0009)is available at:
www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=6a35b1e537aa553d4a69801201a55d3e&_cview=0
The ED/IES Fast Track solicitation (ED-IES-14-R-0003) is available at:
www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=36e1f64966dd592808982d6f29f1bdee&_cview=0
Department of Transportation Opens FY-2014.1 SBIR (2/04/14) -
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has opened their FY-14.1 SBIR solicitation (DTRT57-14-R-SBIR1) which starts accepting proposals on February 4, 2014 with a closing date of April 4, 2014 .
Like the DoD who has many components under its umbrella (i.e., Army, Navy Air Force etc.), the DOT also has many units under its umbrella (i.e., FHWA, FMCSA, FTA etc.). Unlike the DoD, the DOT has a much smaller budget, but their solicitation is none the less important, and
the DOT utilizes their own proposal submission system which is quick and easy for the small business to utilize.
This year's solicitation has 9 topics:.
- 14.1-FH1: Development of Prestressed Concrete Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Inspection Procedures
- 14.1-FH2: Personalized Driving Data for Insurance Discounts & Public Benefits
- 14.1-FH3: Suppressing Utility Problems - Protection via Robotic Engineering to the Sub-Surface
- 14.1-FH4: STEM Education � Increasing awareness about Intelligent Transportation Systems and Connected Vehicle Technologies for High School Students
- 14.1-FH5: Visually unobtrusive traffic monitoring for National Park Service Parkways
- 14.1-FH6: Corrosion Resistant Prestressing Strand for Prestressed Concrete Bridges
- 14.1-FR1: Lightweight, Portable System for Mid-Chord Offset Measurement of Railroad Rails
- 14.1-FR2: Wheel Load Cycle Tag for Rail
- 14.1-FR3: Easy Access to Freight Locomotives
The solicitation closes April 4, 2014. Complete solicitation information, including the submittal process is available on DOT's web site at www.volpe.dot.gov/sbir/
DoD Issues STTR 2014.A Prerelease (2/03/14) -
The DoD has issued a prerelease of their FY2014.A STTR solicitation with offerings from the Army, Navy and Air Force. The solicitation opens and proposals will be accepted starting March 5, 2014 with a closing date of April 9, 2014 at 6:00am EST.
.
The STTR program requires the small business to partner with a research institution such as universities, contractor-operated federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) or other non-profit research institutions. The small business must perform at least 40% of the project, and a minimum of 30% by the research partner. The DoD has a Model Agreement for the Allocation of Rights that can serve as a guide.
Between February 3 and March 4, 2014 you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed in each topic description page of the solicitation. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting March 5, 2014, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.
NOTE: In DoD terms this is actually a pre-release. During this period until the solicitation opens on March 5, 2014, topics may be added, modified or withdrawn. Changes are often made to topics, especially during the first week of a pre-release, so make sure to monitor the DoD for updates/changes! You can sign up with the SBIR Gateway to be alerted when changes are made to the DoD solicitation.
The DoD STTR solicitation can be downloaded from their site at www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sttr2014A/index.shtml
Dept. of Education, OSERS / NIDRR Opens FY-14 SBIR Solicitation (12/31/13) -
The Department of Education's (ED) Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), has opened it's FY-2014 (CFDA Number: 84.133S�1) solicitation on December 16, 2013 with a closing date of February 14, 2014.
This is a separate and unrelated solicitation to ED's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) SBIR solicitations. This OSERS / NIDRR solicitation is grants based and must be accessed through grants.gov. Their solicitation is listed in the December 16, 2013 Federal Register at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-12-16/pdf/2013-29824.pdf
This solicitation has 5 topics (known in NIDRR terms as "priorities"). They are:
(1) Increased independence of individuals with disabilities in community settings, including educational settings, through the development of technology to support access to these settings 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 increase access to employment, promote sustained employment, and support employment advancement for individuals with disabilities.
(4) Enhanced community living and participation for individuals with disabilities through the development of accessible information technology including cloud computing, software, 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 health-care interventions and increased use of related resources through the development of technology to support independent access to community health-care services for individuals with disabilities.
Note: This is a "grants based" solicitation which uses grants.gov as your portal for both downloading the solicitation package, and uploading of your proposal and application. Plan plenty of time to get yourself registered and familiar with the grants.gov system.
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