Along with our proposal development assistance programs, for both Phase I (PhI) & Phase II (PhII) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding opportunities, Pennsylvania’s IPart can assist interested clients with guidance on federal agency/topic matching and alignment, communicating appropriately and directly with agency Program Managers (PMs) or Technical Points of Contact (TPOCs), proposal submission planning and timing, as well as agency registration requirements.
To get started, make sure you complete our Do I Qualify form. This will prompt an email from the IPart team, at which point you will want to respond and let them know you would like to begin working together on your Preliminary SBIR/STTR Client Assistance. If known, you would also then want to indicate what agency/agencies you have in mind and if you have it, what open funding opportunity you plan to submit to.
The initial process is dependent on which agency you are seeking to submit a proposal to, as outlined below.
For clients looking to submit their proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF), IPart can assist you through their required first step in the process – the NSF Project Pitch (PP). Because the NSF receives so many proposals, they utilize this first step as a sort of pre-screening measure to determine which companies/innovations/projects will be allowed to submit a full proposal.
Utilizing our IPart Annotated NSF Project Pitch Template (MSWord), the IPart team will work with you to prepare and refine your PP prompt responses through iterative feedback loops. The goal of this assistance, is to help prepare our clients to answer each prompt clearly, succinctly, and thoroughly, PRIOR to formally submitting the PP to the NSF, via their PP Online Form. (Clients will copy/paste each PP response from our template into the NSF’s online form – and submit it.)
Once submitted, each client will receive one of three responses from the NSF:
- An invitation to submit a full proposal.
- A letter of declination.
- Additional questions about the project to reach a decision.
For clients who receive an invitation to submit a full proposal, IPart will then begin assisting them with their Phase I (PhI) proposal submission through our Pre-Proposal Assistance program.
For clients who receive a letter of declination, the process will stop here. If the client wishes to pursue another agency/funding opportunity, we will discuss our ability to assist in that process.
If the NSF sends additional questions to determine the outcome of their PP, IPart will assist with the preparation of those responses before the client submits them to their agency contact.
The Innovation Partnership recommends clients who are seeking to submit a proposal to one of the other 10 Federal Agencies work to establish a relationship with a Project Manager (PM) or TPOC (Technical Point of Contact) within said agency, as we have seen this lead to greater chance of success. The other 10 Federal Agencies are:
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Department of Commerce (DOC)
Department of Defense (DoD)
- Which includes the Air Force, Army, Navy, etc.
Department of Energy (DOE)
Department of Education (ED)
Health & Human Services (HHS)
- Which includes the FDA, CDC, and the NIH
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
For clients interested in submitting a proposal to funding opportunities through any of these agencies, IPart has created a one-page template that will allow each client to briefly explain their company, their proposed project, and a few other relevant details. Because it is only one page in length, it is suggested that each client reach out to the agency representative associated with the open opportunity in order to request an initial conversation, attaching this document to the email request.
This process will allow the client to gain insight into what is important to their reviewers for that particular funding opportunity, whether or not their current project is well aligned, and if not, will likely provide insight into what other agency or opportunity may be a better fit for their project. Developing this relationship with the agency representative and knowing this information upfront will help the client to best invest their time and resources and provide them with the greatest chances of success.
Once the client completes the one-page Executive Summary and submits it to IPart, our team will begin a series of iterative feedback loops, providing feedback and suggested edits to strengthen the document prior to them reaching out to the agency representative. This entire process can help to put the best foot forward early on in the SBIR/STTR journey.