Autonomous Vehicle Consultant

SBIR CONSULTANT BULLETIN – Get Ahead and Ask Early

A phone call to the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) during the open period of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation is highly recommended. You might want to pose the following questions during this call after first explaining a bit about your innovation:

1. Are multiple awards anticipated?

2. Is one permitted to bid a Phase II instead of a Phase I proposal at the outset?

3. How much innovation does the client expect (incremental improvement versus a revolutionary leap forward)?

4. When testing your innovation, what performance measures does the client desire?

5. As for clinical trials to evaluate performance measures, how many clinical participants would be needed to demonstrate a significant difference between treatment and control groups and over what period of time?

6. What would be an acceptable selling price?

7. How many devices or systems based on your innovation would be needed and when (i.e., address the manufacturing ramp up rate).

8. How urgently is your innovation needed? (i.e., a client in pain is more likely to reach for his/her checkbook).

9. Are companies owned by multiple venture capital firms, hedge funds or equity organizations allowed to bid on this SBIR topic?

10. Were there any previous SBIR contracts (or other types on contracts) on this topic and if so, what was the outcome?

Please check this link for SBIR/STTR solicitation dates.

For small companies: This may seem like an odd question, but if you win an SBIR Phase I for $150K and a Phase II at $1M, can you spend the money? This question pertains to the credibility of your SBIR R&D work plan.