The DOE defines in its Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) what it expects to see in your work plan and offers the following guidance in Part IV(c) of its Phase I FOA:

• The work plan should be a substantial portion of the overall Project Narrative
• It should specify what will be done, by whom, where, and how
• It should link all tasks to the objectives of the Phase I project (which should be specified in the preceding section of the narrative)
• It should explain how the project will be managed, which is especially important if the small company applicant is teamed with large entities and/or with subcontractors that are doing large portions of the work (e.g., up to 60% of an STTR project can be done by a university or FFRDC)

The Department of Energy expects the work plan to be detailed—the DOE FOA instructions state that you are to provide “an explicit, detailed description of the Phase I research approach and work to be performed.” Keep in mind that the work plan is one element of the Phase I Project Narrative and it is recommended that at a minimum, you devote 4-6 pages of a 15 page DOE Phase I Project Narrative to the work plan. Also keep in mind that there is a 7,500 word limit. Please note that the word limit applies to the text in the body of the Project Narrative and does not include words in tables and graphs. Also, sections such as the budget, budget justification, key personnel, and commercialization plan should not be included in the Project Narrative but attached in the appropriate fields for those forms.

To make sure you provide adequate depth and detail in your work plan, go beyond explaining “what” you plan to do in your Phase I SBIR/STTR project, by going on to thoroughly explain “how” you are going to do each task. And don’t forget to indicate “who” will perform each task and “when” it will be done in the Phase I project period.

Indicating “when” the work will be done suggests that a timeline should be included. With some agencies, a timeline is appropriate within the work plan. However, Part IV(c) of the DOE FOA suggests that the timeline should be included immediately after the work plan in your Phase I Project Narrative. You may want to include the timeline as a graphic (9 columns, 1 for each month of the Phase I, and a row for each of the tasks proposed in the work plan), and not as a narrative so the reviewer can more easily see the flow and progression of the proposed project.

While the work plan is an important component to any SBIR/STTR proposal, it is especially valuable when the applicant company is new to SBIR/STTR or at least to this agency and its reviewers. The work plan should show the applicant’s capability for performing the research. If the work plan is detailed, and the tasks and flow of work is logical to the reviewers, then they will be inclined to conclude that the applicant is able to do the work. If the work plan is vague and/or illogical, then the reviewer may question the applicant’s qualifications or ability to perform research, which may result in a low scored proposal.

Successful completion of the work plan should be measurable so that both the small business applicant and the DOE will know when the project was completed and whether the proposed innovation is a viable solution to the problem. This measurement can be made in two ways. First, along with a statement of what must be done to prove the feasibility of the innovation, the applicant should specify how success will be determined. It should be quantified, and should state (as an example) a threshold value that must be achieved to conclude the innovation provides a feasible solution. The objectives and work plan then need to lead to the generation of data, results, and conclusions that can be used to measure feasibility success. Second, successful completion of the work plan can be measured by showing that all of the specified tasks have been completed.