Sources Sought Department of Energy Office of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs Application Guidance Revamp THIS SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS IS NOT A PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE, REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP), OR AN INVITATION FOR BID, BUT A MARKET SURVEY TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to award a contract. The Government will not reimburse contractors for any costs incurred because of their participation in this survey. The purpose of this Sources Sought announcement is to assist the Department of Energy in conducting market research to identify sources of services that meet its requirements, and in accordance with FAR Part 10, to make appropriate acquisition decisions and to gain knowledge of potential qualified participants capable of providing the described online application guide. Description The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of SBIR/STTR Programs is requesting information to identify qualified businesses and suggested approaches for developing an online application guide to assist small businesses during the SBIR/STTR application process. The DOE anticipates a firm fixed price award to a Small Business, under NAICS 511210-Software Publishers, with a size standard of $41.5M. Background The DOE Office of SBIR and STTR are U.S. Government programs in which federal agencies with large research and development (R&D) budgets set aside a small percentage of their funding for competitions that are limited to small businesses. Generally, small businesses that win awards in these programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology. Each year the DOE SBIR/STTR Programs Office issues two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) inviting small businesses to apply for its Phase I SBIR and STTR grants. These FOA's contain topics and subtopics in the following three broad research areas: 1. Clean Energy: fossil, nuclear, and renewable energy, including energy production and use in buildings, vehicles, and industry and electricity delivery and reliability of the Nation’s electricity grid. 2. Basic Science and Engineering: fundamental energy sciences, including materials, life, environmental, and computational sciences, and fusion energy, high energy and nuclear physics. 3. Nuclear Security: environmental management and nuclear nonproliferation. Scope The DOE Office of SBIR/STTR Programs is soliciting input on approaches to revamp our Phase I application guidance. The objective of the newly developed resources will be to improve the experience of the DOE SBIR/STTR Phase I applicant, particularly first-time applicants that do not enroll in our Phase 0 application assistance program (https://doephase0.dawnbreaker.com/). A major challenge for applicants is that the application process is lengthy and complex, requiring a time commitment of approximately 100 to 150 hours for a first-time applicant. The DOE SBIR/STTR application guide plus the Funding Opportunity Announcement are in excess of 150 pages. Currently, the relevant application guidance consists of the following resources: Instructions for Completing a Phase I DOE SBIR/STTR application (https://science.osti.gov/-/media/sbir/pdf/Application_Resources/2021/ApplicationGuide-v-1121.pdf) DOE SBIR/STTR Learning Site (https://science.osti.gov/SBIRLearning) Website pages, most significantly: https://science.osti.gov/sbir/Applicant-Resources and https://science.osti.gov/sbir/Applicant-Resources/Grant-Application DOE SBIR/STTR application checklist, available on https://science.osti.gov/sbir/Applicant-Resources/Grant-Application ) The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), available on https://science.osti.gov/sbir/Funding-Opportunities The revamp effort will involve creating an online version of the “Instructions for Completing a Phase I DOE SBIR/STTR Application”. Objectives for this new application guide include but are not limited to: Improve the overall experience of the DOE SBIR/STTR applicant Reduce confusion and common misconceptions about the application process Reduce errors that result in administrative declinations or require applicants to resubmit portions of their application, and A resource that is visually appealing, structured, and user-friendly, providing a step-by-step approach to the application process. The DOE SBIR/STTR application is submitted via Grants.gov and understanding this process will be key to improving the applicant experience. In addition to Grants.gov, there are three other system registrations required to submit the application. The electronic content to be developed will reside on our website. It should leverage, where applicable, other existing resources, such as the slide content and podcasts on the learning site. Request for Information The government requests responses for all interested businesses who may be able to meet the requirements. Submission requirements: Page limit – ten (10) 10 point minimum font size To be received no later than April 1, 2022 Submissions must be e-mailed to
[email protected] with a subject line of “DOE SBIR/STTR Application Guide Revamp RFI” Include in your response the answers to the following questions and information: What is the suggested approach to evaluating applicant ‘pain points’ to provide a solution that mitigates current common negative experiences? What is the suggested software platform for this effort and why? Please describe any technical specifications that are considered relevant for implementation. What suggestions do you have for presentations of the application guide as a step-by-step process (use of graphics in this response is encouraged)? What organizational suggestions do you have for allowing the user to find detailed information easily within the guide? How could the application guide be designed to guide to the applicant through the Grants.gov submission? Responses are requested where creative solutions are described. Multi-media approaches are encouraged to support different learning styles, where feasible. Information about software environments to be used and mobile compatibility should be included. Please do not be restricted by the above topics in your response. We are looking for innovative ways to re-create our application guidance. The proposed solution (if implemented) is required to be compliant with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Standard, Section 508. All interested parties must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to be eligible for an award of Government contracts. Any proprietary information contained in response to this request will be properly protected from unauthorized disclosure and will not be used to establish the requirements for any future system acquisition to not inadvertently restrict competition. Any evaluation conducted for market research purposes shall not apply in any way to the evaluation of the proposal submitted to a solicitation if a solicitation is issued.