Daily SBIR/STTR
briefing.

DoD SBIR/STTR components close August 19 — about 8 days out

The FY2026 DoD component solicitations released July 22 — Army SBIR/STTR, Air Force/AFWERX SBIR/STTR, and DARPA's Release 4 — close August 19, 2026 at 12:00pm ET through the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP), now roughly eight days away. These components carry the largest SBIR/STTR budgets and span computing, autonomy, aerospace/defense hardware, and energy systems, making them a broad target for New Mexico firms across three of the four priority sectors. DARPA topics in this drop include FALCON (efficient ML fused with large language models), temporal knowledge-graph forecasting from multimodal data, and rad-hard non-volatile memory for extreme environments. Verify each component's topics and instructions on DSIP now — DoD does not extend SBIR deadlines under normal circumstances.

DoD SBIR/STTR Release 5 pre-released — opens Aug 26, closes Sep 23

Under the monthly-drip model DoD has run since reauthorization — new topics on the first Wednesday of each month — Release 5 pre-released August 5, opens for submissions August 26, and closes September 23, 2026 at 12:00pm ET, a roughly four-week window. The release carries 51 topics total (44 SBIR, 7 STTR) spanning the Air Force, Navy, DARPA, DTRA, and DMEA, including next-generation microelectronics hardened against ionizing radiation and semantically-aware ISR for low-SWaP tactical platforms. Firms can review the new topics now on DSIP and line up proposals before the window opens — a fresh monthly target for New Mexico's computing, autonomy, aerospace/defense, and energy startups.

DOE FY26 “Genesis Mission” Phase I pitch due September 10 — ~40 awards

DOE opened the FY26 Phase I Genesis Mission SBIR/STTR opportunity on July 22, 2026. A short pitch application is required first and is due no later than September 10, 2026 at 2:00pm ET; only invited firms may submit a full application. The round supports an anticipated 40 awards ($10M initial, up to ~$44M across project lifecycles) across four AI-driven Genesis Mission topic areas — scaling biotechnology, quantum computing, materials design with predictable functionality, and AI-driven autonomous laboratories — a strong fit for New Mexico's energy, computing, and bioscience firms.

DOE SBIR/STTR pipeline broad and open alongside FY26 restart

Beyond Genesis Mission, DOE runs one of the deepest SBIR/STTR pipelines in government — roughly 400 Phase I and 200 Phase II awards a year on a $300M+ budget, with 60+ technical topics and 250+ subtopics. Topics span the Office of Science and applied-energy offices (EERE, Fossil Energy, Nuclear Energy, ARPA-E): clean energy, advanced nuclear, grid modernization, energy storage, carbon capture, hydrogen, fusion, high-energy-physics instrumentation, advanced computing, and critical-minerals processing. DOE publishes topics about a month before each Funding Opportunity Announcement, then gives roughly three weeks for a two-page letter of intent — a deep, recurring well for New Mexico's energy and computing firms.

NIH SBIR/STTR omnibus reopened — first receipt date September 8

After a freeze that expired every open NOFO last November and left no active omnibus this spring, NIH reissued its parent SBIR/STTR series (PA-27-100) on May 28 following April's reauthorization. The first standard receipt date is September 5, 2026, which shifts to Tuesday, September 8 because the 5th falls on a Saturday before Labor Day; later windows are January 5 and April 5, 2027. The new omnibus is “Clinical Trial Optional,” consolidating the prior tracks into one NOFO. Phase I awards run up to about $323,090 and Phase II up to about $2,153,927, with published waiver topics reaching $3M and a newly authorized Strategic Breakthrough lane up to $30M. A strong but competitive fit for New Mexico's life-science startups — firms targeting the September date should be well into drafting now.

NSF FY2026 SBIR/STTR Phase I — next full-proposal deadline November 4

NSF's most recent FY2026 full-proposal deadline passed July 27; the next windows are November 4, 2026 and March 4, 2027. Solicitation NSF 26-510 (deep technologies advancing U.S. competitiveness & security) is live through America's Seed Fund, with Phase I awards up to about $305K and no matching-funds requirement, plus a new Strategic Breakthrough tier and a pilot lane for next-generation scientific instrumentation. The deep-tech scope spans all four NM FAST sectors. A Phase I proposal requires an invited Project Pitch first (pitches reopened June 2, capped at two per company per year), so firms not already in the pipeline should start a pitch now to target the November window.

AFWERX & SpaceWERX SBIR/STTR — rolling Open Topic intake

Following reauthorization, AFWERX and SpaceWERX have reopened SBIR/STTR solicitations, including an Open Topic that accepts dual-use proposals on a rolling, out-of-cycle basis through DSIP rather than a single fixed deadline. AFWERX Phase I feasibility awards run up to about $75K, with Direct-to-Phase-II prototyping up to ~$1.5M. The rolling model suits New Mexico's aerospace, space, and defense-computing startups — check the AFWERX and SpaceWERX portals for the current release and specific topics.

NASA on a rolling BAA — PY2026 Phase I closed May 21; next appendix ahead

NASA's SBIR/STTR program has shifted to a Broad Agency Announcement model with phased appendix releases rather than one annual solicitation, letting firms propose throughout the year with proposal limits that reset per appendix. The PY2026 Phase I proposal window (Appendix A) closed May 21, 2026, so the current action is watching for the next appendix release and completing ProSAMS registration early. Phase I awards run up to about $225K.

SBIR/STTR reauthorized through September 30, 2031

The Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (S. 3971) was signed into law April 13, 2026, extending both programs through FY2031 and ending the roughly six-month lapse that began September 30, 2025. With the fiscal year ending September 30, agencies are racing to publish and close solicitations, compressing this year's deadlines closer together than usual — and agencies with FY2026 SBIR/STTR funds left over may carry them into FY2027.

Two changes matter for applicants: a new “Strategic Breakthrough” allocation letting agencies fund milestone-based Phase II awards up to $30M per company, and expanded national-security & supply-chain due diligence — including screening for foreign affiliations in countries of concern. Beginning in FY2027, agencies will also set their own caps on how many Phase I and Phase II proposals a firm may submit per solicitation or topic.