Support

Is a Letter of Intent from a proposing team required before submission?

No, a Letter of Intent is not required before a proposal submission.

Are there specific Army FFRDCs?

We have no preferences on who a Small Business Concern (SBC) chooses to partner with as a Research Institutes (RI). For the most comprehensive list of official Federally Funded Research & Development Centers (FFRDCs), visit: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/#ffrdc

Can you clarify who can submit? Can an RI be the lead or must the company?

An Army STTR proposal must be submitted by a Small Business Concern (SBC), who is considered the primary contractor, and the Research Institute (RI) partner must be listed as a subcontractor on the proposal. An RI may serve as the Primary Investigator (PI) on the project, and does not have to be an employee of the SBC.

What if the topic of my technology is not listed? How can the topic be added for a future SBIR/STTR?

The Army STTR program does accept Topic Suggestions from interested firms at https://www.armysbir.army.mil/contact-us/. Suggestions will be reviewed by our Program Manager, who will forward promising topics to our participating organization’s scientists and engineers to garner interest. There is no guarantee that suggested topics will be offered on an Army STTR BAA.

How do we know who the TPOC is for each solicitation?

The Topic Point of Contact’s (TPOCs) name and contact information were released during the official DoD BAA Pre-release period. Please visit https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login to access this information. The TPOCs will also be available for questions on Virtual Industry Day Event. Register here: https://www.armysttr.com/events

Does the Army STTR program ever have open topics?

The STTR program is still reviewing how best to implement an open topic solicitation in accordance with the SBIR/STTR reauthorization. The SBIR program has open topics available periodically. Please check https://www.armysbir.army.mil/topics/ occasionally for updates.

Will STTR applicants be able to contact the topic author directly, or must they be contacted strictly through SITIS?

You will be able to interact directly with topic author once the pre-release is available, however, once the Broad Agency Announcement has opened, all questions to topic authors must go through SITIS.

If the topic is restricted under ITAR, does that mean the participants of the projects are limited to people with certain citizenship?

Yes. If the research being performed by the research institution is classified as fundamental research, there is a little bit more latitude, but that is at the discretion of the reviewers. More specific answers may be available by topic author.

What do you suggest for new companies that don't have much commercialization experience but have good ideas?

If your company might require additional insight into commercialization, we suggest requesting Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) funding as part of your proposal. are available to help with commercialization. For more information visit https://www.armysttr.com/sttr-process

Can a Research Institution lead a STTR project?

The lead researcher of a STTR project can belong to the Research Institution, however, the contract will always be awarded to the Small Business.

Is there any consideration to transitioning a STTR project to SBIR in Phase 2?

It is possible to switch from STTR to SBIR, however, the topic author and SBIR program manager must be willing to make this switch.

Who has access to see a STTR proposal once submitted?

All proposals are only accessible to government evaluators, and all evaluators sign non-disclosure agreements prior to reviewing proposals.

Is the army looking for technology that is already developed, or is it interested in supporting something from the ground up?

The Army is looking for both. The SBIR program typically looks at proposals at a higher tech level (~TRL 3) than STTR, which expects proposals at the TRL ~1.5-2.

For other Frequently Asked Questions, please visit any of the following sites:

Army FAQ: https://www.armysbir.army.mil/faq-resources/

DoD FAQ:  https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/learning-support/faqs

SBIR.gov FAQ:https://www.sbir.gov/faqs

ITAR FAQ: https://www.sbir.gov/tutorials/itar/