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Solicitations

You must respond to a funding solicitation from a particular agency, because the SBIR/STTR programs do not accept "unsolicited" proposals (a proposal that does not address a topic specified in a currently open agency SBIR/STTR solicitation). Solicitations are known by many names including Request for Proposals (RFP), Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), or simply Solicitation. No matter what it's called, this document provides the rules and guidance on how to prepare a response, also called an application or a proposal. Solicitation documents include Proposal Preparation Instructions, Application and Submission guidance, and Evaluation criteria. They typically include the specific topic areas of interest as well.

To browse through current topic areas of interest, which topics are coming up, and what topics were of interest in the past across all participating agencies, search Topic Areas. Keep in mind that some agencies have solicitations that accept proposals in broad research areas related to the agency’s mission and are not limited to a specific list of pre-determined topics.


Planner

Participating Agencies post SBIR/STTR funding opportunities on a regular periodic basis throughout the year. Some agencies have multiple solicitations throughout the year, while others may only have one solicitation release each year. Once you identify a relevant agency to target, learn more about that specific agency's process.

A visual calendar representation of the typical release schedule on upcoming funding opportunities data from the schedule table down below on this page

Agencies

While there are core parts of solicitations that are the same across the SBIR/STTR programs, solicitation guidelines are quite different at different agencies, especially between agencies that provide awards as grants and those that use contracts. The solicitations and topics listed on this site are copies from agencies to be used for general planning purposes, but they may not be the most up-to-date.

For these reasons, you should visit the agency SBIR program sites to read the official version of the solicitations and download the appropriate forms and rules.

Listings

Schedule: Phase I

* Agencies with multiple Phase I solicitations within a Fiscal Year include DOD(3), HHS(4), NSF (4), DOE(3), and DOC(2). 

* Phase I Solicitation dates with a MMM-DD-YYYY are actuals; dates with a MMM-YYYY are estimated based upon an agency's past solicitations.

 

AGENCY AGENCY FULL NAME SOLICITATION

PRE-RELEASE

(IF APPLICABLE)

OPENS CLOSES
DOD Department of Defense 24.2 and 24.B BAA Apr-17-2024 May-15-2024 Jun-12-2024
    24.3 and 24.C BAA Aug-21-2024 Sep-18-2024 Oct-16-2024
    24.4 and 24.D BAA   Multiple Dates Multiple Dates
HHS Department of Health and Human Services NIH Standard Due Dates   Multiple Dates Multiple Dates
NSF National Science Foundation Submission Windows   Jul-2024 Nov-2024
USDA Department of Agriculture Phase I   Jul-2024 Sep-2024
DOC Department of Commerce NOAA SBIR   Oct-2024 Dec-2024
    NIST-SBIR   Mar-2024 May-2024
DHS Department of Homeland Security 24.1 Nov-2023 Dec-2023 Jan-2024
ED Department of Education  SBIR Phase I RFP   Jan-2023 Mar-2024
DOE Department of Energy Phase I Release 1 Jul-2024 Aug-2024 Oct-2024
    Phase I Release 2 Nov-2023 Dec-2023 Feb-2024
    ARPA-E   Multiple Dates Multiple Dates
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration     Jan-2024 Mar-2024
DOT Department of Transportation 24SBIR1   Feb-2024 Mar-2024
EPA Environmental Protection Agency Phase I Solicitation   Jun-2024 Aug-2024

*Table last updated on 01-22-2024.

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