YOUR APPLICATION SHOULD NEVER BE UNSCORED
Applications are reviewed by at least three people. The applications receive a preliminary priority score. At the review meeting, applications are discussed and following the discussion they are given a final priority score by all reviewers who are present during those discussions. However, 50%-60% of applications are never discussed and therefore never receive a final score. These applications are unscored. If your application has intrinsic significance and your team is capable of achieving your specific aim, then your application should never be unscored. This is where grant writing comes into play.
WHY IS THIS PRACTICE IN PLACE?
Only 15% of Phase I applications and 30% of Phase II applications are funded. The top 5% of applications are clear standouts in terms of scoring. The next 35% contains applications that were determined to be of generally equal merit. The disucssion among reviewers will determnine which of these applications will get the best priorty scores. Applications in the bottom 50% have no chance of achieving a fundable score, no matter how much discussion takes place. Therefore, the limited time available to the review panel is focused on the applications that are competitive for funding, which means no discussion of the bottom 50%-60%. This does not mean that those ideas have no merit; it only means that in relation to the other applications, their merit was deemed to be less.
The bottom 50%-60% is arrived at using an algorithm. First the applications are divided into two separate groups: Phase I and Phase II applications. SBIRs are grouped with STTRs for this algorithm. The preliminary scores for each application are averaged. Each application now has a single average score. Applications are sorted best score to worst score. The bottom 60% of applications is put into an unscored category. Next, the score of the 10th percentile application is looked at. Any application in the unscored category that any single reviewer scored at a value equal to or better than the average score of the 10th percentile application is pulled out of the unscored category and is discussed.
At the beginning of the review meeting, any reviewer may ask for any application to be removed from the unscored category for reasons of scientific and technical merit, but not for any other reason. This happens on occasion, but not usually.
WHY SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS GET UNSCORED
In my experience, less than 5% of applications do not have significance or a team that can accomplish the stated goals. In other words, 95% of applications all have a shot at funding based on their intrinsic significance and qualifications of the research team.
I hope that you can understand what a great opportunity this is for a skilled scientist with a great idea and the desire to carry out that idea. This is relatively free and easy money if you write your application well in terms of what it takes to convey significance and probability of success to the reviewers. But this is where 90% of applications fail.
It is my experience that applicants need help finalizing their applications. If this were not the case, then the primary factor for funding would be scientific and technical merit; however, most would agree, the primary factor for funding is grantsmanship.
It is true that there is a definite roulette component to priority scores in terms of who reviews your application and in what order it is read by that reviewer; however by writing your applications better, you should be able to receive funding 70% of the time, as long as everyone else does not also write as well as you do, in terms of grantsmanship...and believe me they will not write as well as you do if you hire the right professional to help write/edit your application.
You should never hire someone to write the whole application. You should always write the first draft, at least. Then go through four or more iterations of drafts with the professional.
This process will give you an advantage over most other applicants. It is well worth the money, costing less than $1600. This is a bargain when you consider the time savings and funding that it can secure.
Remember, your friend or colleague will never put in the same effort that a professional will. The professional is trying to earn a living; your colleague is trying to be nice.
Try one or two different professionals. If I am one of them, and you believe that your money was not well spent, I will refund your money, and I will give you an additional $1000. I can offer you this because I have a 100% satisfaction rate. In fact, you can try my services for free. Send me your Project Summary (abstract), I will rewrite/edit it and then you can judge for yourself.
Remember, there is no reason to have a high percentage of your applications go unfunded and certainly no reason for your application to be unscored, as long as it has intrinsic significance and you are an expert in the field of your application.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or go to SBIR-STTRgrantshelp.com.
Click on this link to read about my E-Book: High Level SBIR/STTR Grant Writing Techniques.
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