SBA Handbook for SBIR Proposal Preparation
Chapter II - Getting Started
C. Gathering Technical Information and Identifying Consultants
All aspects of the proposal must be of high scientific and technical merit. The plausibility of your technical assumptions and proposed methodology will be completely examined in the light of current scientific evidence and techniques. As we shall discuss in Chapter III, the primary reason that proposals are rejected is because reviewers disagree with technical claims, dispute the uniqueness of the effort compared to others they are aware of, or downgrade the proposal for leaving out important technical considerations.
You must demonstrate in the proposal that you are knowledgeable of the state of research or R&D in the specific project area. If you are not certain that your company is at the forefront of awareness of technical developments in the area in which you intend to submit an SBIR proposal, you should seek additional information and/or advice. The purpose of this section is to identify sources of technical information and to provide guidance in obtaining advice.
1. Technical Information Sources
If you are not up-to-date on the literature relevant to your topic, there are numerous sources you can turn to for help. In addition to local research libraries, there are governmental research and information facilities and commercially operated data bases. Also, in the solicitation, most agencies identify technical information sources which are applicable to the research areas they support.
The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is the central source for the public sale of U.S. government-sponsored research, development, and engineering reports, as well as foreign technical reports and other analyses prepared by national and local government agencies, their contractors, or grantees. It is also the source of federally generated machine-processible data files and software and licensing arrangements for government-owned patents.
The NTIS information collection consists of numerous subject titles. In addition to its centralized bibliographic data base, there is a variety of announcement and dissemination products and services. For more information, contact NTIS, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161, (703) 487-4650.
The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) collects and disseminates DOE-originated and worldwide scientific and technical literature in subjects of interest to DOE researchers. For additional information, contact:
U.S. DOE, OSTI
P.O. Box 62
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
(615) 576-8401.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) acquires and organizes worldwide scientific and technical information on aerospace. Selected documents are available from public information sources including the NASA Industrial Applications Centers, NTIS, and in many instances university technical libraries and larger public libraries. NASA's Center for Aerospace Information (CASI) maintains RECON, an on-line bibliographic search system, which provides retrieval and current awareness products and services. For more information, contact
CASI
P.O. Box 8757
Baltimore/Washington International Airport, MD 21240
(301) 621-0390.
The Defense Technical Center (DTIC) is the central source of scientific and technical information resulting from and describing R&D projects funded by the Department of Defense (DOD). DTIC searches this information for registered requesters. Reasonable quantities of paper or microfiche copies of requested documents are available for SBIR proposal preparation. DTIC also provides referrals to DOD sponsored Information Analysis Centers (IACS) where specialists in mission areas assigned to these IACs perform informational and consultive services. For more information, contact
Defense Technical Information Center
Attn: DTIC-SBIR
8725 John J Kingman Rd - Suite 0944
Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060-6218
(800) 363-7247, (703) 767-8269
e-mail mailto:sbir@dtic.mil.
Health science research literature is available at academic and health science libraries throughout the United States. Information retrieval services are available at these libraries and Regional Medical Libraries through a network supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The latter is the world's largest medical library with over 4 million items. For additional information, contact
Public Information Office
NLM
Bethesda, MD 20894,
(301) 496-6308.
Commercial sources of technical information have developed significantly in the last decade. These include large information vendors which offer access to multiple data bases, provide direct online searching access, and offer rapid turn-around time on print-outs of abstracts and data records. In addition, there is a growing number of small independent information consultants/ brokers. Many universities and states provide similar information and literature search services.
2. Technical Expertise and Consultants
The information that you need or desire may reside with consultants or sub-contractors, i.e., other individuals and organizations. There are various levels at which such advice may be useful in your SBIR participation:
Providing preliminary technical advice for planning the project;
Reviewing and critiquing the proposal before submittal;
Serving as an advisor or research performer after an award
Before you contact people or organizations in order to enhance your capacity, be clear in your own mind what you will want them to do and what you are willing to pay.
Three procedures are helpful for choosing consultants or subcontractors: literature searches, citation searches and expert panels.
Literature searches were discussed in the preceding section. Consider contacting the authors of publications closest to the research area in which you are planning to submit a proposal.
A citation search consists of consulting a data base in order to discover how many times particular authors are cited on a topic of interest to you. Those authors with the most cites are likely to be leading experts. To conduct a citation search contact your local university library, a major urban library, or a commercial data base service.
An expert panel is conducted by selecting leading individuals in a field and asking them who they believe to be the leading U.S. expert. To conduct an expert panel take the most frequently published authors in the area of your project and phone them. Another source of expert panels are the Advisory Committees used by federal R&D Agencies.
These committees commonly contain leading experts from the agency's user constituency. Sometimes it is possible to have experts review your proposal for free, with the understanding that they would be retained as a paid consultant or subcontractor if you win an award. You should emphasize your openness to constructive criticism.
If you are interested in working with a person or company, request that they send you a copy of their resume (or a company brochure and resumes of people who will be working on your project) and provide references of companies for whom they have conducted work similar to that you are requesting. Also ask them to sign a confidentiality agreement. Do not discuss proprietary details until you have received the signed confidentiality agreement. Prior to signing a contract, check the references.
You might also contact a relevant professional or trade association to determine the consultant's or subcontractor's reputation. You do not want any surprises downstream.
Hiring a consultant or subcontractor should be no different than any other business purchase. Using sound business judgment means you will be sure you are clear about what you are purchasing and what it will cost you. Make sure there is a legally binding contract, although such a contract can be very simple and avoid lawyer's jargon. The most important aspect of this contract is to tie payment to performance whenever possible. Also, any obligations you have under the contract should be contingent upon prior award of an SBIR Phase I grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.
