Five Tips for Preparing Your SBIR/STTR Budget
A proper budget can be an effective tool in driving the project from start to finish. Here's our advice for getting it right:
 Develop your budget EARLY! And early doesn't mean six days before the deadline instead of one day before the deadline. Early means many weeks before the deadline. If you don't plan early you'll have last minute problems. Why? Because your budget must:
- Not exceed the agency specified limits
- Meet the specific mechanism (e.g., SBIR or STTR) requirements
- Support the work you are proposing as confirmed with your concise and articulate budget justification
 Make sure the direct costs component of your budget is consistent with the work proposed. No one will be impressed if you try and complete 2x the work for the budget proposed. They will instead assume you don't understand the costs associated with the work and that you can't properly manage the project.
 Make sure you request indirect costs. Without indirect costs you can't support the operations of your company which means at some point you'll cease to be a company. No agency wants to fund a successful project at an ultimately unsuccessful company.
 Make sure you request fee. Fee is the only component of the budget that is discretionary. There are a myriad number of critical project-related costs that can't be covered under direct and indirect costs. Fee can always be used for direct costs if needed. But if you adhere to tip #2 then the fee will be available to you to help support other important activities such as those related to commercialization.
 Make sure you understand the difference between direct costs, indirect costs and fee. In almost every workshop that I conduct someone has the "AHA" moment whereby they realize that although they may have successfully received an award they didn't budget properly and now their project (or even worse, their company) is in jeopardy for financial reasons. The statement "I didn't realize I could...." usually starts the conversation. Don't let that be you! Start early. Get educated. Get help.
Lisa M. Kurek
Managing Partner
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ARPA-E Wide Band Gap Opportunities
ARPA-E, a funding agency within the Dept. of Energy, has issued two funding opportunities seeking proposals for transformational advances in Wide Band Gap materials, device fabrication and device architectures, with the goal of enabling the development of high voltage, high current single die power semiconductor devices.
Two separate funding opportunities were released: 1) Non-SBIR Strategies for Wide Band Gap, Inexpensive Transistors for Controlling High Efficiency Systems -SWITCHES ( DE-FOA-0000942), which is offering approximately $10M in funds, with individual awards ranging from $250K to $10M, and 2) SWITCHES SBIR/STTR ( DE-FOA-0000941), meant to support small business in the same endeavor. The SBIR FOA is offering approximately $15M in funds, with individual awards ranging from $225K to $3.255M. Both opportunities require a Notice of Intent, due by July 8, 2013, followed by a proposal due by July 19, 2013.
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NIH Reminder: 
Matt Portnoy, the NIH SBIR/STTR Program Coordinator, sent out the following (long) list of registrations required to enable you to submit your SBIR/STTR to the NIH by August 5. This includes the
new requirement to register with the SBA Company Registry. These registrations can take up to six weeks, which is just about all the time you have if you're planning on making that deadline. If you have already completed all of your registrations, you can return to writing your proposals. If you have not, then you should address this immediately!
- System for Award Management (SAM) (formerly CCR) - Applicants must complete and maintain an active registration, which requires renewal at least annually. The renewal process may require as much time as the initial registration. SAM registration includes the assignment of a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code for domestic organizations which have not already been assigned a CAGE Code.
- SBA Company Registry - New requirement. See Section IV. Application and Submission Information, "SF424(R&R) Other Project Information Component" for instructions on how to register and how to attach proof of registration to your application package. Applicants must have a DUNS number to complete this registration. SBA Company registration is NOT required before SAM, Grants.gov or eRA Commons registration. Important note: Completing the registration is very straightforward, but be aware there is currently a temporary glitch. Once completed the message on screen tells you that a pdf with the control number has been prepared and that a password will be emailed to you to allow you access to the pdf. The glitch is - the email doesn't come. SBA is working on fixes but in the meantime - the registrant needs to contact the SBA to get the log in and password permissions. The help line is: technet@sba.gov.
- eRA Commons - Applicants must have an active DUNS number and SAM registration in order to complete the eRA Commons registration. Organizations can register with the eRA Commons as they are working through their SAM or Grants.gov registration. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.
- Grants.gov - Applicants must have an active DUNS number and SAM registration in order to complete the Grants.gov registration.
It is never too early to start the registration process, even if you are thinking about submitting for December 5, and remember that failure to complete registrations in advance of a due date is not a valid reason for a late submission. BBC clients can contact me at 734-930-9741 / kris@bbcetc.com for help through the process. Other help is available at: 1-866-504-9552 / commons@od.nih.gov
Kris Bergman
Grants and Contracts Management Consultant
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USDA FY 2014 SBIR Issued 
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has issued its Phase I SBIR Request for Applications with a deadline of Sept. 26, 2013. Topics areas include:
- Forests and Related Resources
- Plant Production & Protection: Biology
- Animal Production & Protection
- Air, Water & Soils
- Food Science and Nutrition
- Rural & Community Development
- Aquaculture
- Biofuels & Biobased Products
- Small-and Mid-Size farms
- Plant Production & Protection: Engineering
The USDA recognizes Agriculturally-related Manufacturing Technology and Energy Efficiency and Alternative and Renewable Energy as priorities with relevance to all topic areas in the solicitation, and encourages applicants, as appropriate, to address these priorities within their applications for submission to one of the topic areas.
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who we are
BBCetc is nationally recognized for its expertise in helping technology-based entrepreneurs win federal grants and contracts through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs and use it strategically to propel growth. BBCetc capabilities include:
- Technology Assessment
- Commercialization Planning
- SBIR/STTR/Other Research Grant Assistance
- Entrepreneurial Training
- Grants/Contracts Management
734-930-9741
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Onsite
The Ins and Outs of SBIR/STTR Funding
Jul 17 - Tips on Electronic Submission to NIH
Jul 18 - DoE Overview & Topic Review
Jul 28 - Tips on Electronic Submission to NIH
Jul 30 - Essentials of Commercialization
Jul 31 - Overview of DoD Topics & Components
Aug 22 - Budget Prep for DoD & DoE
A selection of BBCetc's recorded webinars
is now available for purchase.
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All about Grants Podcast Website
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research (OER) has series of talks with NIH staff members about the ins and outs of NIH funding available on their All About Grants Podcast Website. Information about the series is at:. These podcasts are designed for investigators, fellows, students, research administrators, and others just curious about the application and award process. A couple of examples:
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Non-SBIR DOD Grant Opportunity
The Defense Medical Research and Development Program (DMRDP) has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement ( W81XWH-14-DMRDP-MID-CTA) for the FY 14 "Military Infectious Diseases Clinical Trial Award". This is not an SBIR solicitation, but eligibility is unrestricted. The program goal is to accelerate the transition of medical technologies and devices into deployed products to help set new standards of care for injury prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and training systems that can be applied in theater, in clinical facilities within the Military Health System or in civilian healthcare facilities. DOD wants projects focused on testing and translating investigational interventions or devices already proven in relevant animal models and moving into advanced clinical development. Funding for this award must support a clinical trial/testing and cannot be used for preclinical research studies.
There will be four awards with total program funding to be $11.4M. There is a pre-application submission deadline of July 3, 2013. The application may be submitted starting August 2013 with the application submission deadline to be October 4, 2013.
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 "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." - Colin Powell |
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