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Commercial Review Panel

Information and Instructions

SBIR/STTR Program Overview

The NSF Conflict-of-Interests and Confidentiality Statement for NSF Panelists, must be read and signed. 
Please Print and sign the COI Form and bring to panel with you.

The SBIR/STTR program invites the submission of research proposals under the following four technological areas:

    1)  Advanced Materials and Manufacturing AM

    2)  Biotechnology BT

    3)  Electronics EL

    4)  Information-based Technology IT

The program uses six review criteria for commercial potential:

    1)  The Company

    2)  The Market

    3)  The Competition

    4)  Marketing and Distribution

    5)  Non-market Impact

    6)  The Finances

Suggestions for Writing Reviews

1.  Overall Rating

Please give an overall rating to the proposal:

Excellent: Outstanding proposal in all respects; deserves highest priority for support.

Very Good: High quality proposal in nearly all respects; should be supported if at all possible.

Good: A quality proposal worthy of support.

Fair: Proposal lacking in one or more critical aspects; key issues need to be addressed.

Poor: Proposal has serious deficiencies.

2.  What's in a good review?

Overall Length: May vary considerably; should add up to not less than about ˝ - 1 page.  If you feel expansive or are using a large font, writing more is welcome.  If the review is terse, it will not provide the fruitful constructive criticism and/or information that the NSF seeks as a guide in its decision-making.  For example, each of the six criterion should be addressed in a separate paragraph.

(N.B.,  SBIR/STTR INTERPRETS THE NSF CRITERIA SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY THAN THE REST OF THE FOUNDATION BECAUSE WE ARE LOOKING AT RESEARCH THAT IS CLOSE TO PRODUCING A MARKETABLE PRODUCT (i.e., "Advanced Applied Research,") NOT BASIC RESEARCH.  The science/engineering entailed in the project may be well understood; the novelty may lie in the application.)

3.  Things to remember

  • Your review will go to the PI.  Avoid being overly harsh, even if the proposal is weak, and the message that you want to send is—"Don't ever darken our door again."  PIs who get vituperative reviews sometimes come back to haunt your friendly and overworked program officer.  In short, it is important to give honest feedback, but please sandpaper your edges.
  • Intermediate gray evaluations (vs. hyperbole on either the positive or the negative end of the spectrum) may very helpful to the program officer in making decisions at the margin. 
  • Try not to under-evaluate the proposals in the areas you know best.  There is a tendency for reviewers to fall prey to two biases, of which this is one.  The temptation is great to really nail the shortcomings of proposals you know the most about.  Their shortcomings are, after all, easiest to see.  By contrast, those proposals in other fields can look very appealing on the surface – intriguing, nice puzzles, cute ideas, with shortcomings that are less apparent. 
  • In proposals that are not your exact area of expertise, you should look for those components that are most familiar to you.  Explain that those are the ones you are commenting upon.  Please, do not state that you are not an expert in the area.  Instead, you might say that in your review, you are particularly focusing on X and Y aspects.

Above all, remember that you may not share, copy, quote, or otherwise use or disclose material from this proposal.  Destroy it (or leave it at NSF), after your part of the review process is complete.

Panel Review  Package (packages will be mailed to you)

Is your package complete?  As a panelist/reviewer you should have the following documents for your information/review.  If any of these documents are missing, please contact Program Support at the telephone number listed on your email notification.

    ¨Confirmation of Receipt

    ¨Welcome Letter (with your personal codes in upper right-hand corner)

    ¨Proposal Assignment Matrix

    ¨List of Panel Members

    ¨Area Map & Selected Hotel Listings

    ¨Proposals

Submission of Commercial Reviews via FastLane can now be accommodated!

The Commercial Review form, can be web accessed and completed.  This form is a Word document, when the document is opened it can be typed in.  Please enter your review information and when finished you can simply cut and paste the entire document into FastLane.

The instructions for entering the commercial review into FastLane is as follows:

1.  Go to the NSF Home Page (www.nsf.gov) and select "FastLane" (this can be found on the left-hand side of the screen), or access FastLane directly (www.fastlane.nsf.gov)FastLane works best if you use either Netscape Navigator/Communicator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, versions 4.01 or higher.

2.  Select "Panelist Functions" from the FastLane home page.

3.  Enter the panel ID number (can be up to 10-digits), Last Name, and the Password (found on your letter or at the top of the email message sent to you).  Click "Login".

4.  The  "Panelist System Selection" screen will appear.  It will contain your Reviewer Information and Panel Information.  (you may "edit" and or "add/update" your reviewer information by selecting the appropriate buttons.)

      A.  `Panel Travel System´ link contains travel information.  You will need to enter data in all fields.  Once you have entered all data click "submit"  you will then see a confirmation screen.  Once you have reviewed the information click the "Return to Panelist System Selection" button.

      B.  `Panel Banking System´ link is where you will need to enter your financial information.  You must enter your social security number to access this link. (you will be asked to enter your SSN twice) click "continue".  The `Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Information´ screen will appear.  Please enter your personal data and then click the "submit" button.  A confirmation screen will appear, when you are finished reviewing the information click the ´Return to Panelist System Selection´ button.

      C.  `Panel Review System´ is where you can access the various proposals assigned to you for review. 

      *There are two tabs,
      **"Prepare Reviews" and "View/Download Proposals".

        * To view proposals: click the "View/Download Proposals" tab.  Highlight the proposal you want to view or the proposals you want ot download.  Click the appropriate action button. (View Proposal or Download/Save Proposal)

        * To submit reviews: click the **"Prepare Reviews" tab.  Highlight the proposal you want to prepare a review for and then click the appropriate action button. (Prepare Review or Resubmit)

 ** 1.  Prepare Commercial Review
   
*  This option allows you to insert your review information into FastLane.  (The Proposal Evaluation Criteria listed on this FastLane website is not specific to SBIR/STTR, so we have provided you with our specific criteria state above.)
    
   *  Please scroll down the page and click the "Continue" button at the bottom of the page.  This will take you to the `Proposal Review´ screen. You will see specific information pertaining to the proposal number you have entered.

   *  Scroll past the proposal information and proceed with the review process. 
        Rating Section -  make a selection
        Overall Rating - You must make a selection.  This can be done after you have entered your review information. 
 

* Important Notice!....All three boxes must have information in them for the Commercial Review purpose.

 In the first box, entitled " What is the intellecutual merit of the proposed activity?" please type"N/A"

In the second box, entitled "What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?" please cut and paste the entire Commercial Review Form into the second box. 

In the third box, entitled "Summary Statement"  please write a brief summary of the proposal. 

Please ignore the box entitled "Other Suggested Reviewer

2.  View Proposal
You can look at specific parts of the proposal or the entire proposal, as well as, print specific parts or the entire proposal.
   

3.  Download/Save Proposal
You may instruct the system to download/save a copy of the proposal to your computer.
    

     If You Encounter Technical Problems Accessing FastLane:

Please send an e-mail to fastlane@nsf.gov or call the FastLane Help Desk at (800) 673-6188.  The developers of FastLane provide technical support and advice for any problems you may encounter.If you have addition questions regarding panel participation, please contact the relevant program officer for assistance.

 

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Last updated:
05-Aug-2003

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