SBIR and STTR Grants

Review and response

The NIH strives to make recommendations on a proposal, affirmative or negative, within six months of submission, but in practice it can take longer to receive the actual funding.

About 80% of SBIR/STTR proposals are reviewed at the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR), and the rest are reviewed at the specific NIH institute (i.e., National Cancer Institute (NCI)) as appropriate. Updates on the proposal will be posted to the eRA Commons page. The top 50% of all proposals will be discussed and receive a quantitative score. Scores range from 10 to 90; lower scores are better, thus 10 is the best score. In general, higher (worse) scores are not discussed, and if an application is not discussed, no formal score is provided (applications in the lower 50% are considered triaged). Regardless of the score, the submitter will receive reviewer feedback.

If a proposal is rejected, it is not eligible for resubmission until the next call for submissions. However, a resubmission must be made within 37 months of the rejection. Approximately one-third of all successful applications had a resubmission. Notably, resubmissions are ordinarily not permitted if the initial proposal was made in response to a request for applications (RFA) that has expired, but investigators are advised to check the details of the RFA; it may be possible to submit as a "new" application under the Omnibus SBIR/STTR solicitation or a different RFA. Before a resubmission, applicants are highly encouraged to contact the NIH to receive additional feedback.