NIH SBIR Contracts (Contract Solicitations)

NIH SBIR Contracts are the contract side of NIH SEED's small-business funding, used when an NIH Institute or Center, CDC, or FDA unit wants a specific R&D deliverable rather than an investigator-initiated grant. The route is topic-specific from the start: applicants respond to a contract topic defined by the awarding staff, and the same mechanism is not used for STTR. The submission channel is eCPS, not Grants.gov, and the record allows Phase I, Fast-Track, and Direct-to-Phase II proposals when a topic calls for them. The source's solicitation list is already full of closed opportunities, so this is a specialized procurement path that opens and closes by topic rather than a standing open call, and the latest cycle information points to a later reopening rather than an always-live competition. That structure favors small businesses that can follow a defined technical brief and deliver against agency-defined milestones. It is a better fit for companies comfortable with federal contracting terms, separate proposal handling, and topic-by-topic competition than for teams looking for a conventional grant competition or a broad investigator-driven program.

No upcoming rounds verified. Cadence: Annual.