lanning to submit to DOD this summer? If you have not already, visit: http://www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/ and http://www.dodsbir.com/topics/Default.asp for more information on the program and to search topics. Proposals will be accepted from July 1 - August 14 at 6:00AM. 

The DOD website notes the following re: submission of questions:  "Technical Questions: Between May 1 and June 30, 2003, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses are listed within each solicitation topic above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting July 1, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation. However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes.

e previously indicated that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) FY 2004 solicitation would open on June 2, but they recently posted the following announcement on their SBIR website at http://www.reeusda.gov/sbir/

The Fiscal Year 2004 solicitation is expected to open later in June 2003. Note closing dates below. Use the Fiscal Year 2003 Program Solication as a guide in preparing a proposal for the next open soliciation as topic areas will remain the same and program guidelines will have few changes.

Click on this link (http://www.reeusda.gov/sbir/ProgramSolicitation.htm) to download the 2003 solicitation in PDF, Word, or WordPerfect format.
 
FY 2004 Closing dates -- Phase I: August 29, 2003; Phase II: February 5, 2004.

Reprinted from the SBIR Alert Newsletter