Defense Health Agency SBIR/STTR

The Defense Health Agency SBIR/STTR program funds small-business R&D for military health technology. It operates inside DHA's research and engineering function, and the annual award pool is about $80 million across phases. Core priorities include trauma care, prosthetics and bionics, hearing protection and restoration, infectious disease, mental health, telemedicine, and combat casualty care. Phase I awards are about $250,000 over six months. Phase II awards can reach about $1.3 million over 24 months, with an additional $650,000 enhancement when matched by Phase III private investment. Small businesses respond to solicitation topics only, STTR requires research-institution participation, and the program moves through the DoD's three-cycle fiscal-year cadence. The strongest projects are practical medical technologies that can move from feasibility to transition inside the military health system. Teams that bring a clear clinical use case, a small-business-led plan, and evidence that the technology can be developed on schedule are usually better positioned. This route is narrower than general biomedical funding and rewards defense-specific health applications.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.