The most important element of your response to a Department of Energy (DOE) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is the Project Narrative. Before beginning your work on this part of the application package, be sure that you are working from the most recent FOA, keeping in mind that DOE may update the FOA after its initial release. Therefore, always go back to the DOE website and download the most recent pdf. If you haven’t bookmarked the page on which this resides, then just type in “DOE SBIR FOA” in your browser and it will take you to the right location.

If you have submitted a DOE SBIR or STTR proposal in the past, don’t make the mistake of assuming that the structure of the project narrative will always be the same – as requirements are enhanced over time. To be safe, always go back to the FOA to affirm the structure, as the Funding Opportunity Announcement is the guiding document that trumps everything else. In preparing the Funding Opportunity Announcement DOE works hard to maintain consistency with the section headings. The Part that will be important to you is Part IV- Application and Submission Information, Part C – Content and Application Forms [Phase I Only]. Now that we have established the importance of the FOA, let’s explore the general sections of a responsive Project Narrative. The sections are listed in the accompanying screen shot

• Cover Page
• Proprietary Data Legend
• Identification and Significance of the Problem or Opportunity, and Technical Approach
• Anticipated Public Benefits
• Technical Objectives
• Work Plan
• Performance Schedule
• Facilities/Equipment
• Research Institution
• Other Consultants and Subcontractors
• Bibliography and References Cited

Please note that the following discussion is strictly from a proposer’s perspective and outlines an approach for developing a responsive project narrative. Proposal writing can be an exciting undertaking if you allow yourself time to be creative and to contemplate different approaches to solving the Department of Energy’s challenges. I therefore always start with the item in the preceding list called the Identification and Significance of the Problem or Opportunity and Technical Approach. In this Tutorial I will address only this section. Start with the assumption that the list of DOE topics represents areas of keen interest to the Department of Energy. Your priority at this point is therefore to assure that you learn as much as possible about that topic and why it is important to the Department of Energy. Let’s examine how you could expand your understanding of a topic and subtopic. I’m going to use a specific topic from a previous FOA as an example – Topic 13a. In looking at the topic description, I notice that DOE has provided a hyperlink to the Building Technologies Office and navigate to that page.

Sample Excerpt from FOA

Be sure explore the various sections of the Building Technologies Office or BTO website and look for documents and projects that relate to some of the metrics identified in the topic description. After having explored this site and bookmarked areas of interest, begin to search for key phrases taken from the topic description such as “BTO’s long-term goal is to reduce building’s energy use by 50%”. As it turns out this is a direct quote from the BTO website. Another strategy is to search for the topic author’s name in combination with a key word such as SSL or luminairs taken from the subtopic. More often than not this will yield one or more PowerPoint presentations given by the author. Finally, search for the technology name – in this case – SSL- in combination with the phrase “technology roadmap” and BTO. This strategy also yielded a meaningful document – the “Solid state Lighting R&D Manufacturing Roadmap”. By using this approach within less than an hour I will have found a wealth of information regarding the interests of the Department of Energy. Let’s explore how you would then use this information.