DoD SBIR/STTR Umbrella Program

The DoD SBIR/STTR Umbrella Program is the Office of the Secretary of Defense level coordination layer for small-business R&D funding across 14 Department of Defense components. It organizes SBIR and STTR topics through Broad Agency Announcements and Commercial Solutions Openings, with three pre-scheduled cycles each fiscal year and additional Annual BAA topics released across the year under the monthly schedule. All proposals must be submitted through the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal and must answer an active topic; the program does not accept unsolicited proposals. The participating components include the Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA, DHA, DLA, DTRA, MDA, NGA, OSD, Space Development Agency, Space Force, USSOCOM, and the Chemical and Biological Defense office. The work is aimed at U.S. small businesses, with award terms determined at the component and topic level rather than by one umbrella ceiling. Applicants do best when they watch the pre-release calendar closely, match a specific defense need, and submit a package that is ready when the topic window opens. The annual topics are released at least 45 days before the proposal deadline, so the practical edge comes from early topic mapping and fast execution rather than broad, unsolicited pitching. For teams with a dual-use product or a defense-relevant prototype, the program is one of the most direct paths into DoD validation.

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