Lessons Learned: Common Mistakes Made in Phase I & II Proposals National SBIR Conference Austin, Texas December 1-3, 2015 Jim Greenwood, GCGI, Moderator Prakash Balan, NSF Doug Deason, DOD MDA Luis Mederos, NASA

Common Phase I & II Mistakes PHASE I (8 answers, 4 speakers, 1 min/response=32 min) Proposal content – Technical Problem statement, definition Work plan Team Other – Commercialization Proposal mechanics – Writing tips, advice – Electronic submission – Omitted mandatory attachments, Other PHASE II (2 answers, 4 speakers, 2 min/response=16 min) Proposal content – Technical – Commercialization

Common Phase I & II Mistakes PHASE I Proposal content – Technical Problem statement, definition – Failure to make a compelling statement of why problem is important and must be solved – Failure to make a statement that is relevant to the agency and topic – ____________________________________________________________ Work plan – Too vague: NIH “approach” section should be 3.5 pages of 6 page research strategy, 4-6 pages in DOE 15 page project narrative – Not explaining “how” you are going to do the work – NIH: Not including preliminary research in “approach” section – ____________________________________________________________

Common Phase I & II Mistakes PHASE I Proposal content – Technical Team – Team members who don’t have academic &/or work experience in relevant areas – NIH: PI doesn’t need to be a PhD, but… – ____________________________________________________________ Other – Too much background detail – Assuming reviewers “can figure it out” rather than explaining what you want them to understand and conclude – ____________________________________________________________ – ___________________________________________________________

Common Phase I & II Mistakes PHASE I Proposal content – Commercialization – NIH: only room for 1-2 short paragraphs on commercialization in PhI proposal – DOE: MUST include 2+ page commercialization plan in Ph I proposal & MUST attach to Other Proj Info form – ____________________________________________________________ Proposal mechanics – Writing tips, advice – Write so it is easy to read; no benefit to being convoluted or using obscure terms – ____________________________________________________________ – Electronic submission – NIH, DOE, USDA, NIST: Register on grants.gov far in advance of deadline, begin upload 5 days before deadline – ____________________________________________________________ – Omitted mandatory attachments, other – DOE: MUST attach commercialization plan, and must be on Field 12 of “Other Project Information” form – ____________________________________________________________

Common Phase I & II Mistakes PHASE II Proposal content – Technical – Summarize Ph I project: Say you proved feasibility of your innovation in Ph I (& explain how); show you can do good R&D; assume reviewer won’t read any final report – Detailed work plan: you’re asking for $1-1.5 million, so justify it – ____________________________________________________________ – Commercialization – NIH: detailed commercialization plan (~12 pages) is a must – DOE: Detailed 15pp com plan with significant financial data (NPV, ROI, etc) – ____________________________________________________________