TPOC (Technical Point of Contact)

Also called: Topic Author

The Technical Point of Contact, or Topic Author, is the government technical expert named in a DoW SBIR/STTR topic whom applicants may contact with technical questions during pre-release.

Each DoW SBIR/STTR topic lists contact information for its topic authors. During the pre-release period, applicants may contact them by telephone or email to ask technical questions about that topic.

Questions should be limited to information that improves your understanding of the topic's requirements. You may not ask for advice or guidance on your solution approach, and you may not send the topic author additional material.

Once a topic opens and DoW begins accepting proposals, direct contact with topic authors ends, except when a topic author is answering a question submitted during pre-release. After that, technical questions go through Topic Q&A on DSIP.

If information a topic author gives one firm is deemed necessary for proposal preparation, it is made available to all parties through Topic Q&A.