Solicitation and Topic

Also called: notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), funding opportunity announcement (FOA), parent announcement

A solicitation is an agency's formal call for proposals or applications; a topic is one numbered research need inside it, and DoW SBIR/STTR proposals must answer a posted topic.

DoW issues its SBIR and STTR programs as BAAs. The BAA instructions apply to every scheduled topic release, each release has its own open and close dates, and each component (such as Army, Navy or Air Force) adds its own instructions. Only proposals that answer a posted topic are considered.

Topics are published on the DoW SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP), where proposals must also be submitted. During pre-release, applicants can ask the topic authors listed in each topic technical questions before the topic opens.

NIH calls its solicitations notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs); it used to call them funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). NOFOs fall mainly into Program Announcements, which include parent announcements, and Requests for Applications, which seek applications in a well-defined scientific area.

Most NIH small business applications go to the SBIR and STTR parent announcements. These do not specify a topic but link to topics of interest for each participating institute or center, so applicants propose their own idea within an institute's mission.