DOE ITO SBIR/STTR Phase I

DOE ITO SBIR/STTR Phase II

Funds U.S. small businesses with a prior DOE ITO Phase I award to carry out expanded R&D through a two-year cooperative agreement of up to $1,100,000.

DOE ITO SBIR/STTR Phase II is a federal grant (cooperative agreement) administered by the U.S. Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Office (ITO). It sits under the DOE-wide Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program, which Congress mandates agencies above a spending threshold to run each fiscal year. ITO participates by submitting technical topics and managing projects selected through Release 2 funding opportunity announcements (FOAs).

Phase II awards are capped at $1,100,000 per project over two years. The source page does not publish an annual pool total or a per-project minimum. There is no cost-share requirement stated in the source; the instrument is a grant / cooperative agreement with no equity taken.

Only companies that have already received a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant from DOE ITO may respond to Phase II FOAs. Eligible applicants are U.S. for-profit small business concerns (standard SBA size definition applies across all federal SBIR programs). Non-profits, universities, and individuals are not eligible as lead applicants; STTR rules do permit a university subcontract partner for STTR tracks. No specific revenue ceiling is stated beyond the standard SBA small-business size standard.

Phase II FOAs are released on an annual cycle as Release 2 of the DOE SBIR/STTR program. At the time of fact-capture (June 2026) no open Phase II FOA deadline was listed on the ITO page; the most recent Phase I Release 2 closed May 27, 2025. Applicants should monitor the DOE Golden field office SBIR/STTR portal (sbir.doe.gov) for the next Phase II solicitation. Proposals are evaluated by DOE program managers and technical reviewers against feasibility, innovation, and commercialization potential criteria consistent with the DOE-wide SBIR merit review framework.

Practical caveats: Phase II is invitation-only — a Phase I award from ITO is a prerequisite; you cannot apply cold. No specific FOA URLs, guidelines links, or apply-portal links were published on the source page at capture time. DOE ITO submits topics through Release 2 FOAs only (not Release 1). Past awardees and selectees are published separately; those pages are not active funding opportunities.