Gail & Jim Greenwood, Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

Copyright © 2002 by Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

The post-9/11 world in which we live demands that we come up with a number of innovations that will prevent and/or mitigate the impacts of terrorist attacks and foes who may use biological and chemical weapons. The SBIR and STTR programs are natural avenues by which small businesses, which produce most of the innovation in the USA, can propose technologies and other innovations that will help in our "new reality." This proposal writing tip focuses on where a small or start up firm can look for relevant topics in the SBIR and STTR programs.

So far, the SBIR/STTR agencies have decided to address terrorism and chem/bio defense in one of two ways. Some have chosen to develop whole new topics relative to these areas of interest. Others have decided to make their existing topics inclusive of terrorism and chem/bio defense.

Those that have developed whole new topics, and in some cases specific programs, include the Department of Defense (DOD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

DOD has a separate chemical and biological defense program. Administered by the Army, this program includes topics for the three largest DOD components, the Navy, Air Force and Army. Topics in the chem/bio defense program are included in the current DOD Phase I SBIR solicitation (FY2003.1) available on line at http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir. Proposals are due by January 15^th, and you can only speak with the topic authors through December 1^st (really November 27^th, given the Thanksgiving holiday), so you will need to jump on this opportunity ASAP if you are interested. Please note that while Army manages the program, you must comply with the Phase I proposal guidelines and instructions for the component from which your topic comes—i.e., if it is an Air Force topic, then you must comply with USAF’s Phase I proposal instructions.

DOD also has a number of terrorism and chem/bio topics scattered throughout their current 2003.1 solicitation, and we anticipate many more in the upcoming solicitations. We’ll give you a couple of search engines later on that you can use to ferret out topics of interest to you. Note also that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) within DOD has on going interests in topics related to terrorism and chem/bio and atomic threats, and they are requesting proposals as part of the current solicitation. Check http://www.dtra.mil for more information on this component of DOD.

NIH’s terrorism and chem/bio program is centered in its National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID). NIAID has a special biodefense SBIR/STTR solicitation, and is making available Phase 1 awards of up to $1 million over two years and $6 million for three year Phase 2 grants. Proposal due dates are consistent with NIH’s SBIR/STTR regular grant program, which are December 1, April 1, and August 1 of each year. To check out the bioterrorism specific solicitation, go to http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAS-02-149.html.

The new DOE solicitation contains specific topics relative to terrorism and chem./bio defense. See for example, under the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation category, topic #1, "Technologies for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Homeland Defense," topic #2, "Support Technologies for Sensors Used in National Security Applications," and topic #3 "Enhanced Proteomics Signature Analysis in Support of Pathogen Detection, Bioinformatics and Epidemiological Modeling." As the category name suggests, DOE is primarily interested in nuclear-related risks (a darn good thing to be concerned about). Note that although DOE is a granting program, they expect you to address the topic specifically and not propose peripheral ideas. Check the new solicitation at http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir for topic descriptions and other details.

EPA has announced that it will release several special SBIR solicitations in March 2003, including one specifically tied to terrorism and chem/bio defense. It will be on "Building Decontamination," and may include biological monitoring, decontamination systems, and environmental friendly cleaning agents. The regular 2003 EPA solicitation may address other subtopics found under last year’s "Environmental Bioterrorism" category, such as bioterrorism monitoring and warning systems for small drinking water systems. Check the EPA SBIR website (http://www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir) for details as they become available and for the solicitations, which should come out around March 27, 2003 with proposals due on May 23, 2003.

Agencies that are making terrorism and chem/bio defense part of their overall SBIR program but not creating new topics include National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

NSF has indicated it will entertain terrorism and chem/bio proposals that are related to civil defense and infrastructure, but will not consider any that are deemed to be counter-terrorist or military in focus. Proposals must fall within NSF’s four broad topics of electronics, biotechnology (both of which have proposals due on January 22, 2003), information technology and advanced materials and manufacturing (the latter two have proposal due dates of June 12, 2003). NSF emphasizes that these projects must be very innovative and represent "thinking outside of the box" in terms of the innovation and/or the threat being addressed. Check http://www.eng.nsf.gov/sbir.

Finally, there is concern that the cowardly actions of terrorists may impact rural America , and therefore the USDA has indicated that it will entertain terrorism and chem/bio defense related proposals in any of its broad ten topic categories. Threats to the food supply are one area of concern. Check out USDA’s SBIR website at http://www.reeusda.gov/sbir for more information about the 10 general topics and the Department of Agriculture’s spin on the terrorism and chem/bio defense focus area.

Proposers may find other opportunities to propose innovations related to terrorism and chem./bio defense throughout the 10 agencies participating in SBIR and the five in the STTR program. Two suggestions for doing this: First, use the search engines found at www.sbirworld.com or www.zyn.com to look for topics containing key words relative to your interests. Be sure to look at solicitations for which proposals are currently being requested as well as those that closed in the past year or two—the latter may give you insights into what those agencies will be asking for in their next solicitation.

Second, consider looking for topics where one or more applications of your innovation could be used to deter or mitigate terrorism or chem/bio attacks. Even if the specific topic is not related to terrorism or chem/bio defense, the research you perform might help you develop knowledge and expertise that could be applied to these important areas.

Third, for help in identifying the terrorism and chem/bio interests of a particular SBIR or STTR agency, we recommend contacting that agency’s SBIR Program Manager. These folks are very knowledgeable about their agency’s interests, and can be a good resource if those interests might be found in programs outside of SBIR or STTR.

Finally, don’t forget that most of the SBIR/STTR agencies allow you to request a category of indirect cost called "Independent Research and Development" (IR&D) as part of your cost proposal. Simply defined, IR&D is research that you want to do but for which no client is paying you. Therefore, IR&D can be used to develop innovations relative to fighting terrorism and chem./bio defense. It’s just one more reason why you always want to request an indirect rate as part of your SBIR/STTR cost proposal, but that’s the subject of another article…