Today is the NIH omnibus receipt date: 5:00pm applicant-organization local time
NIH’s FY2026 parent SBIR and STTR solicitations reopened August 5 after the five-month freeze, and the September 5 standard date rolled to today, Tuesday, September 8, 2026, because the 5th fell on a Saturday and Monday was Labor Day. The date covers Phase I, Phase II, Fast-Track and Direct-to-Phase II, with Phase I budgets up to $323,090 and Phase II up to $2,153,927 (higher on published waiver topics) plus the new Phase IIB Strategic Breakthrough lane up to $30M. HHS now caps each small business at 9 SBIR/STTR submissions per fiscal year and runs mandatory due diligence on every application. Missed it? The next standard dates are January 5 and April 5, 2027.
Granted AI — NIH September 8 receipt dateDOE Genesis Mission Phase I: 700-word pitch due Thursday, Sep 10 at 2:00pm ET
DOE’s first pitch-first SBIR/STTR opportunity, run through the Office of Technology Commercialization and its intermediary ConnectWerx, closes September 10. Four AI-centered topics — scaling biotechnology and biomanufacturing, AI for quantum computing and networking, materials inverse design, and autonomous laboratories — will fund roughly 40 Phase I awards of up to $250K from a $10M pool. Only applicants invited after pitch review may submit a full proposal, so the pitch is the whole game this week. DOE’s traditional two-release FOA cycle (August/November) has not yet posted an FY2027 Release 1; watch science.osti.gov/sbir.
MNSBIR — DOE Genesis Mission pitch-first processARPA-H SBIR/STTR proposal packages due Friday, Sep 11 at noon ET
ARPA-H’s SBIR/STTR solicitation covers seven health-technology topics. Teams invited after the July 10 Solution Summary stage must submit the technical oral presentation (pitch), cost proposal and task description document by September 11, 2026 at 12:00pm ET for Topics 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7; the Topic 5 date is still TBD. ARPA-H notes these dates are estimates — confirm against the live solicitation.
ARPA-H — For Small BusinessesDoW SBIR/STTR FY26 Release 5 closes Wednesday, Sep 23 at noon ET
Release 5 opened for proposals August 26 and closes September 23, 2026 at 12:00pm ET on DSIP, with 51 SBIR and STTR topics across the Air Force, Navy, DARPA, DTRA and DMEA. DARPA’s slate includes underwater 3D concrete printing, semantically-aware ISR, a species-agnostic cell culture platform and open-architecture autonomous underwater vehicles. Two weeks is tight for a first-time DSIP submission; get SAM.gov and DSIP registrations verified now.
BW&CO — DoW SBIR/STTR Release 5SpaceWERX Specific Topic 26.BX (Release 5): rad-hard high-voltage power switches, D2P2, due Sep 23
SpaceWERX’s open Specific Topic 26.BX in Release 5 is a Direct-to-Phase II opportunity seeking high-voltage, radiation-hardened power switches for space power and propulsion — a fit for New Mexico’s space-power and wide-bandgap semiconductor companies. Proposals are due September 23 through DSIP. AFWERX has replaced its propose-anything Open Topic with mission-driven “Focused Open Topics” released on a rolling basis; SpaceWERX priorities include on-orbit logistics, defensive cyber, cis-lunar space domain awareness and novel sensing.
SpaceWERXDARPA Release 6 in pre-release: 7 SBIR topics, five from the Biological Technologies Office
DARPA pre-released FY26 Release 6 on September 2; topics open September 23 and close October 21, 2026 on DSIP. Five of the seven SBIR topics come from BTO, four of them on keeping a casualty alive with no surgeon, imaging or evacuation (occult hemorrhage detection, casualty prediction, autonomous triage, ICU-in-a-Box). Computing teams should look at DPA26BZ06-DV026, an auction-style simulated market used as a testbed to measure AI systems’ latent behavioral preferences; it is one of only two Release 6 topics accepting both Phase I and Direct-to-Phase II. Pre-release is the window to ask TPOC questions on DSIP.
DARPA — SBIR/STTR topicsNCI SBIR Innovative Concept Phase I contract solicitation closes September 21
Separate from the NIH grant omnibus, NCI runs its Innovative Concept Phase I award program as a contract solicitation posted on SAM.gov rather than through eRA Commons, with proposals due September 21, 2026. Companies that missed today’s grant date can consider this contract track if their technology fits NCI’s published topics.
Granted AI — 2026 SBIR/STTR deadline calendarDOE $147M Phase II opportunity for prior DOE awardees closes Sep 25 at noon ET
Alongside the Genesis Mission pitch, DOE opened a separate Phase II opportunity worth up to $147,394,250 for eligible prior DOE Phase I, Phase II or follow-on awardees, due September 25, 2026 at 12:00pm ET. It is not an open competition for new entrants; eligibility depends on the fiscal year and topic of the prior award. New Mexico companies holding DOE Phase I awards frozen by the lapse should check whether their award qualifies.
MNSBIR — DOE FY2026 Phase I & Phase IINSF SBIR/STTR: Project Pitches rolling, next full-proposal window November 4
NSF restarted America’s Seed Fund with roughly $250M under NSF 26-510 (deep technologies for U.S. competitiveness and security) and NSF 26-511 (scientific instrumentation pilot). Project Pitches reopened June 2, are accepted continuously and are capped at two per company per year; only invited pitches may submit a full proposal (up to $305K Phase I, $1.25M Phase II). Full-proposal deadlines are November 4, 2026 and March 4, 2027. Submit the pitch now to leave time for an invitation before November.
NSF 26-510 solicitationNASA rolling BAA: 2026A/B selections pending, watch for the next appendix
NASA’s SBIR/STTR BAA (released April 17, 2026, valid through September 30, 2027) replaced the single annual solicitation with phased appendices so NASA can solicit both known and emergent technology needs throughout the year. The 2026A/2026B Phase I appendices closed May 21 and Phase I awards rose to $225K. No new appendix has been announced yet; complete ProSAMS registration now so a short-window appendix is not missed.
NASA — Program Year 2026 Information HubFiscal year-end watch: unspent FY2026 SBIR/STTR funds carry into FY2027; agency proposal caps start next year
The Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (signed April 13, 2026) extends SBIR/STTR through September 30, 2031 and lets agencies with SBIR/STTR funds left at the end of FY2026 use them in FY2027 — important after a lapse that compressed the year’s obligations into five months. Beginning in FY2027 (October 1), agencies will set their own per-company, per-solicitation or per-topic proposal caps, and every application faces expanded foreign-risk screening. Expect an unusually heavy end-of-September award push and new caps in the first FY2027 solicitations.
Crowell & Moring — SBIR/STTR reauthorizedThis briefing is compiled automatically each morning for New Mexico's four priority sectors. Dates and amounts are drawn from agency portals and reputable sources; always confirm specifics on the official solicitation before submitting. Questions? Talk to NM FAST.