At SOF Week 2026, Regina “Gina” Sims, Director of the Department of War’s (DoW) Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Program Office under the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, briefed on the program’s reauthorization, structural overhaul and new funding mechanisms. She said all of these changes she said are designed to lower barriers to entry and accelerate technology transition to warfighters. But for defense-focused small businesses, her presentation provided a blueprint to secure government dollars for their innovative technologies.
What Is the DoD SBIR/STTR Program?
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are federally mandated programs, administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), that direct a portion of federal R&D spending to American small businesses.
SBIR/STTR operates in three phases: Phase I funds proof of concept, Phase II funds prototype development, and Phase III, the Department’s ultimate goal, involves transitioning the technology into operational use or commercial application.
Unlike grants, these are competitive contracts. And unlike traditional defense procurement, they are purpose-built to give small and non-traditional companies a direct path to the warfighter.
Reauthorization Signed, Topics Already Live
On April 13, President Trump signed S.3917, the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (Public Law 119-83). It reauthorized DoW SBIR/STTR authority, pilot programs, and activities for five years through September 30, 2031. The DoW published over 90 topics on the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) that very same day, which immediately reopened funding opportunities for American small business concerns (SBCs).
Going forward, new DoW SBIR/STTR topics will be published on the first Wednesday of every month through the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP). Sim said such a predictable release schedule came directly out of small business feedback at a previous SOF Week. As of the briefing, 90 topics were open for proposals and 43 were in pre-release status, a window during which companies can query topic authors directly before the competitive phase opens.
A $3.1 Billion Portfolio Across 12 Components
The DoW runs the largest SBIR/STTR program among the 11 federal agencies participating nationally. It invests approximately $3.1 billion annually across 12 components to fund small business solutions to military capability gaps for Special Operations Command (SOCOM), SOCOM, the Army, the Department of the Navy (DON), the Department of the Air Force (DAF), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA), the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) program, and the Office of Strategic Weapons (OSW).
This year the DoW also realigned under six critical technology areas to provide small businesses with a clearer investment signal. Those areas include:
- Applied Artificial Intelligence
- Biomanufacturing
- Contested Logistics Technologies
- Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance
- Scaled Directed Energy
- Hypersonics
These now serve as the Department’s stated priorities for SBIR/STTR funding. “This is your insight into what the Department of War wants to fund,” Sims explained.
Strategic Breakthrough Awards Create a New Funding Tier
The reauthorization formally established the Strategic Breakthrough Award, a new funding mechanism that scales up the transition-focused programs the Department had already been running informally across its components. Structured as a sequential Phase II, the award carries defined eligibility criteria. Companies must have already received at least one Phase II award, and total contract value cannot exceed $30 million.
SBIR funding within the award tops out at $15 million of the contract value, with a mandatory 1:1 matching requirement consisting of at least 20 percent from non-SBIR DoW program funding and no more than 80 percent from private capital sources. The period of performance cannot exceed 48 months. Strategic Breakthrough funding is capped at 0.5 percent of the extramural R&D budget. Companies must also provide market research demonstrating the technology is a viable solution and obtain written confirmation from a Program Acquisition Executive who plans to secure follow-on funding and confirming operational priority.
Sims framed the award as Congress formally endorsing what the Department had already been building. Companies interested in the award must work through their Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) and can contact the DoW Accelerated Research for Transition (ART) Program at osd.innovate@mail.mil.
Due Diligence Framework Gets Stricter and More Transparent
Reauthorization tightened the DoW’s due diligence requirements. The Department’s Common Risk Matrix is being updated to screen proposals against a wider range of security risks, including specific foreign affiliation lists and clearer parameters for Small Business Concern affiliation.
Until the updated matrix publishes, the Deputy Secretary of Defense Memorandum on the Defense SBIR/STTR Due Diligence Program, dated May 13, 2024, remains the controlling implementation policy. All proposals received after the updated matrix is published will be evaluated under the new framework.
DoW SBIR/STTR Components are now also required to notify SBCs of denial determinations, a new transparency obligation intended to give companies actionable feedback. The Government Accountability Office’s due diligence process audits have also been extended through 2031.
Sims noted the intent of this clamp down is to protect the $3 billion in annual taxpayer investment from foreign influence while ensuring small businesses understand exactly where and why they may be disqualified.
TABA Services Expand and Become Mandatory
Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) services are now mandatory for all DoW Components, and the reauthorization expanded the list of eligible uses.
TABA supports SBIR/STTR technology commercialization by helping small businesses make better technical decisions, solve problems, reduce risk, develop and commercialize new product and screen for potential foreign involvement in technology development.
The reauthorization added several new eligible uses that directly address barriers small businesses raised with Congress: cybersecurity assistance including Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), market research and validation, regulatory and manufacturing plan development, hiring and augmenting new staff and funding staff participation in training activities. A company proposes TABA as part of its overall cost-based maximum which must be built into proposals, rather than requested separately.
One Proposal Per Topic Starts in October
Beginning in Fiscal Year 2027, the first Wednesday solicitation release in October, the DoW will enforce a limit of one proposal per topic, whether conventional or open. The restriction responds to congressional concern over a surge in AI-generated proposal submissions which have flooded evaluation pipelines and diluted competition quality.
A waiver authority exists under the legislation, but Sims indicated it would not be widely used. The intended effect, she said, is to push companies toward submitting their single strongest, most competitive idea per topic rather than hedging across multiple submissions.
STTR Gains a Direct-to-Phase-II Authority
The reauthorization also created a new Direct-to-Phase-II (D2P2) pathway for the STTR program, an authority that had not previously existed in statute. The pathway allows companies partnered with a Research Institution to bypass Phase I and move directly to prototype development. This should potentially shorten timelines and increase revenue opportunity.
Sims said the Air Force is targeting its July solicitation for the first STTR D2P2 topic and that she continues to press all components to follow. For companies that have historically focused on SBIR rather than STTR, Sims used the session to make a direct case for reconsidering that calculus given the new pathway.
Reducing the Administrative Burden
Sims addressed the structural friction that discourages smaller companies from engaging with the DoW in the first place. Her office reduced SBIR/STTR solicitation instructions by 50 percent last year, from roughly 90 pages to 24, and she is now asking all 12 component leads to cut even further.
On Phase III sole-source authority, a persistent challenge in which contracting officers have historically been unfamiliar with or reluctant to use the authority, Sims announced that a congressional plus-up funded dedicated Phase III contracting training. Developed in partnership with the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and the Office of Small Business Programs, the training will be complete and available to both industry and government by calendar year 2027.
Small businesses navigating any aspect of the DoW SBIR/STTR process can access current topics at DSIP as well as free training resources. Sims recommended following her program office on LinkedIn for monthly solicitation announcements. You can also engage directly with component representatives through the DoW’s SBIR/STTR page, which lists all 12 component websites and points of contact.
For more information or to access current topics, visit the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) at its two key URLS:
- Topic search & Q&A: defensesbirsttr.mildefensesbirsttr
- Proposal submissions: dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/logindelawaresbdc