The orientation article said that the Small Business Administration oversees the SBIR and STTR programs while each participating agency runs its own program within that frame. This article is the map of those agencies, because the first strategic choice an applicant makes is which agency to approach, and that choice turns on matching the work to the agency whose mission and whose model fit it. The agencies differ along two axes that this article uses throughout. The first is the award vehicle, whether an agency funds the work as a grant or cooperative agreement or buys it as a procurement contract, which decides the obligations, the accounting, and the relationship. The second is the topic, whether an agency directs the work by publishing specific topics it needs solved or accepts open proposals on any idea within a broad area, which decides whether the applicant proposes a solution to a stated problem or proposes the problem as well. The usual caution applies more sharply here than anywhere, that which agencies participate, how large their programs are, which portals they use, and when they open all change, so the specifics below are current-as-of and the live solicitation, found through the official program portal, is the authority.

The Two Axes and Where the Agencies Sit

The two axes are independent, and the agencies populate the corners. The Department of Defense and NASA buy research on contract against directed topics, the mission agencies that fund work they need toward a transition into a government user. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation fund research on grants against open or broad topics, the science agencies that fund the applicant’s own idea toward a commercialization into the market. The Department of Energy sits in a third corner, funding directed topics but as grants, and the smaller agencies are scattered among the corners by their own character. The practical consequence is that the same core technology is pitched differently to different agencies, as a solution to a named military need at one and as an open scientific innovation at another, and an applicant who understands the corner an agency sits in writes a proposal that fits it.

How Many Agencies, and Why the Sizes Differ

Eleven agencies run SBIR and five of them also run STTR, the five being the largest research funders, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services through the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. The reason the programs differ so much in size is the set-aside the orientation article described, a fixed percentage of each agency’s external research budget, so an agency that funds a great deal of outside research runs a large SBIR program and one that funds little runs a small one. The Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health are by that measure the giants, together a large majority of the money, and the smaller agencies run programs that are real but modest. The map that follows treats the five largest in turn and then groups the rest.

The Department of Defense

The Department of Defense runs the largest program, and it is the archetype of the mission agency. It buys research on contract against directed topics, each topic written by a component with a specific military need, and it is organized not as one program but as many, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force with its AFWERX arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, and others each running their own topics through the common Defense SBIR and STTR Innovation Portal. Its solicitations open in cycles through the year rather than continuously, and its defining concern is transition, the carrying of a result into a program of record or an operational user, which is why a defense proposal lives or dies on a credible path to a military customer and often names a sponsor inside the service. It offers a Direct to Phase II path and commercialization pilots, and it favors dual-use technology that serves both a military and a commercial market, which is the natural home for a technology like the unmanned aircraft of the previous series, the kind of mission-critical engineering a defense customer buys. The national-security screening the orientation article noted falls most heavily here, since foreign ties and foreign ownership draw the closest scrutiny at the defense and mission agencies.

The National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, runs the largest civilian program and is the archetype of the science agency. It funds research on grants against open topics, so an applicant proposes a health innovation of its own choosing rather than answering a named need, and the proposal is reviewed for scientific and technical merit much as a research grant is, submitted through the federal grants system and the institutes’ own electronic research administration. It accepts proposals on standing receipt dates several times a year rather than in a single window, it offers a Direct to Phase II path and a commercialization readiness pilot, and it will fund above the common guideline amounts where the science justifies it. Its work is spread across many institutes and centers, each with its own priorities, and its dedicated small-business office is the entry point an applicant learns to navigate.

The National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation funds research on grants across a broad range of deep-technology areas, and it brands its program America’s Seed Fund. It is open rather than directed, accepting an applicant’s own innovation within its broad areas, but it screens differently from the others through a required short project pitch, a brief description submitted first that the foundation either invites to a full proposal or declines, which saves an applicant the effort of a full proposal that does not fit. It is grant-based and commercialization-oriented, looking for a deep-technology innovation with a path to market and a societal benefit, and it submits through its own research portal. For a company whose innovation is broad rather than tied to a single agency’s mission, the foundation is often the natural first door.

The Department of Energy

The Department of Energy sits in the mixed corner, funding directed topics but awarding them as grants. It publishes technical topics tied to its program offices, from basic energy science through applied energy to the national-security laboratories, so an applicant answers a stated technical need much as at a mission agency but under grant terms. Its deep ties to the national laboratories make it a natural home for STTR, the program that pairs a company with a research institution, since the laboratory is often the partner. Its solicitations follow an annual rhythm tied to its topic releases.

NASA

NASA is a mission agency like the Department of Defense, buying research on contract against directed subtopics, but its mission is space and aeronautics rather than defense. Its subtopics are tied to its mission directorates and its centers, and like the Department of Defense its concern is transition, the carrying of a result into a NASA mission or program, though it also presses hard on commercialization beyond the agency through its post-award commercialization support. It runs an annual solicitation, and for a technology aimed at space, aeronautics, or the instrumentation they need, it is the obvious door.

The Smaller Agencies

The remaining agencies run real but smaller programs, each shaped by its mission, and none of them runs STTR. The Department of Agriculture funds agriculture, food, forestry, and rural innovation on grants. The Department of Homeland Security buys homeland-security technology on contract against directed topics, much like a mission agency. The Department of Commerce runs two, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for oceans, weather, and climate, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology for measurement and standards. The Department of Education funds education technology, the Department of Transportation funds transportation innovation, and the Environmental Protection Agency funds environmental technology. Each is a smaller pond, which can mean less competition for a tightly matched technology, and each follows its own vehicle, topics, and cadence.

The Agencies at a Glance

The table summarizes the major agencies on the two axes and a few practical points, with the smaller agencies grouped on the last row.

Agency Vehicle Topics Runs STTR Direct to Phase II Relative size Character
Defense Contract Directed Yes Yes Largest Many components; transition to a military user
Health (NIH) Grant Open Yes Yes Largest civilian Health; standing receipt dates
Science Foundation Grant Open and broad Yes No Large America’s Seed Fund; a required project pitch
Energy Grant Directed Yes Varies Mid Energy and the national labs; a strong STTR fit
NASA Contract Directed Yes Varies Mid Space and aeronautics; transition to a NASA mission
Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, Education, Transportation, Environmental Protection Grant or contract Mixed No Varies Smaller Mission-specific programs

The Direct to Phase II and relative-size entries are themselves current-as-of, since the paths a given agency offers and the budget it commands change with each year and each reauthorization.

Choosing Where to Apply

The survey resolves into a practitioner’s decision. The applicant matches the technology to the agency by mission first, a defense or dual-use technology to the Department of Defense, a health technology to the National Institutes of Health, a broad deep-technology innovation to the National Science Foundation, an energy technology to the Department of Energy, a space or aeronautics technology to NASA, and a tightly scoped technology to whichever smaller agency owns its field. Then the applicant matches by model, writing a solution to a named topic for a directed agency and an open proposal for an open one, and budgeting for a contract’s obligations or a grant’s, points the proposal and the money articles take up. Two practical factors cut across the choice. The first is that eligibility itself can differ by agency, since the authority that lets a company majority-owned by venture, private-equity, or hedge investors compete is used by some agencies and not others, so a company eligible at one may be barred at another, a point the eligibility article takes up. The second is the calendar, since the agencies open on different schedules, the mission agencies in cycles, the National Institutes of Health on standing receipt dates, and the National Science Foundation through its pitch windows, so an applicant working several agencies tracks several calendars at once, the subject of the solicitation article. The post-award help differs too, since some agencies carry a winner further toward the market than others through their commercialization support, which the commercialization article treats. A single core technology can often be pitched to more than one agency, since a sensor or an autonomy or a material serves several missions, but each pitch is tailored to the agency it is sent to rather than sent the same to all. The orientation article framed the programs as one program in many houses, and this article is the guide to choosing which house to knock on.

Out of Scope

Several things are deliberately left aside. The current budgets, the exact dollar amounts, the precise number of solicitation cycles, and the present roster of participating components are given in general terms and as current-as-of, since they change every year and the live solicitation is the authority. The registration mechanics that differ by agency are the subject of the next article, the proposal craft is the subject of a later one, and the specific topic lists are read from the solicitations themselves. The programs of other countries are left to the dedicated analogs article, and nothing here is legal or financial advice.

Conclusion

The SBIR and STTR programs are a single program run in eleven houses, and the houses differ by mission and by model, the mission agencies buying directed research on contract toward a government user and the science agencies funding open research on grants toward the market, with the Department of Energy and the smaller agencies filling the corners between. The Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health are the giants, the National Science Foundation the open door for broad innovation, and the Department of Energy and NASA the homes for energy and for space. Choosing the right house, by the mission the technology serves and the model the agency uses, is the first strategic act of a campaign, and the articles that follow take up the registrations, the topic, and the proposal that turn the choice into an award.

References