U.S. Governement Grants, Department of Defense

U.S. Government Grants:
Department of Defense (DOD)

Department of Defense The DOD has the largest SBIR budget in the federal government.

From the DOD website: "Companies apply first for a six-month phase I award of $60,000 to $100,000 to test the scientific, technical, and commercial merit and feasibility of a particular concept. If phase I proves successful, the company may be invited to apply for a two-year phase II award of $500,000 to $750,000 to further develop the concept, usually to the prototype stage. Proposals are judged competitively on the basis of scientific, technical, and commercial merit."

Find the Department of Defense SBIR page at http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir/homepg.htm.

Air Force

Want to see what kinds of projects the Air Force supports? Check out their website at http://www.afrl.af.mil/sbir/sbirbroch.htm and http://www.afrl.af.mil/sbir/index.htm. You will notice that there is a high concentration on science and technology. Some major categories are:

Aerospace and Materials Science
Chemistry and Life Sciences
Physics and Electronics
Mathematical and Geosciences
Crew Interaction
Safety and Health

Army SBIR

Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) has made 213 Phase I awards for Fiscal Year 2000 and 8 Phase II awards. Broad topic areas included:

Directed Energy & Components
Kinetic Energy
Sensors
Technology Cost Reduction
Non-Nuclear Power and Power Conditioning
Propulsion and Logistics
Thermal Management
Survivability
Lethality and Vulnerability
Computer Architecture, Algorithms, and Models & Simulations
Structural Concepts
Electronic Materials
Superconductive Materials
And a category listed as "surprises"

Information about the projects that have received SBIR awards are available on the BMDO's website. They include information about each program, the company, the principal researcher and an abstract about the project and its anticipated benefits. (http://www.aro.army.mil/arowash/rt/sbir.htm). Other sites of interest are http://www.aro.army.mil/arowash/rt/sbirpoc.htm and http://www.winbmdo.com/

Army STTR

Points of Contact for the Army STTR program can be found at :

http://www.aro.army.mil/arowash/rt/sttr.htm

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) SBIR

DARPA has a $50 million dollar SBIR budget and solicits grant applications twice a year. DARPA is looking for projects that will advance defense technology. See further information at http://www.darpa.mil/sbir/sbir.html

DARPA STTR: http://www.darpa.mil/sbir/sttr.html

DARPA Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Program.

Socially disadvantaged individuals, as far as the government is concerned, include (but are not limited to) African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Asian Pacific Americans, Asian Indian Americans and other minorities, or any other individuals designated as an 8(a) firm by the SBA.

Find the DARPA Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Program (SADBU) at http://www.darpa.mil/sbir/sadbu.html

Department of the Navy

The Department of the Navy has SBIR grants for

Naval Air Warfare Systems Command
Marine Corps Systems Command
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command
Strategic Systems Program
Naval Sea Systems Command
Office of Naval Research
Naval Sea Systems Command
Office of Naval Research
FISC San Diego.

The Navy SBIR website has a searchable database of SBIR awards. http://www.navysbir.brtrc.com/

-Cynthia Nemeth-Johannes