Today, May 15, 2024 the US Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) opened up the submissions for the SBIR 24.2 Program Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). This means that the DOD begins accepting proposals today until June 12, 2024 which is the deadline for receipt of the proposals no later than 12:00pm EST.
The participating DOD components are:
- Department of Navy (Navy)
- Department of Air Force (Air Force)
- Defense Health Agency (DHA)
- Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
- Office of the Secretary of Defense – National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (OSD-NGA)
For more information on the specific topics that are available per each agency you can go to their website here.
More specifically, I wanted to discuss today, the Program on Innovation Open Topics which was codified into law in Section 7 of the SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022.
This section, requires the DoD to establish innovation open topic activities in order to:
(A) increase the transition of commercial technology to the DoD;
(B) expand the small business nontraditional industrial base;
(C) increase commercialization derived from investments of the Department of Defense; and
(D) expand the ability for qualifying small business concerns to propose technology solutions to meet DoD needs.
According to the DoD SBIR 24.2 BAA, “unlike conventional topics, which specify the desired technical objective and output, open topics can use generalized mission requirements or specific technology areas to adapt commercial products or solutions to close capability gaps, improve performance, or provide technological advancements in existing capabilities.”
A small business concern may only submit one (1) proposal to each open topic.
It is worth spending some time reviewing the open topics available in the DoD SBIR websites which include in this cycle: BAA 24.4, AFX246-DPCSO1 (Air Force) and AFX246-DPCSO2 (Space Force).
For example, in the BAA 24.4 more recently, the US ARMY is the latest unit of the DoD to have caught the Open Topic bug. In this case specifically, the US Army published it’s topics, sponsored by the xTech program which is the US Army’s new initiative serving as an innovation hub. The xTech initiative includes in this BAA 24.4 the following open topics:
A244-P001: xTech Search 8 SBIR Finalist Open Topic Competition
and the
A244-P019: Open Topic for Persistent Experimentation
For example, the A244-P001: xTech Search 8 SBIR Finalist Open Topic Competition, includes the following TECHNOLOGY AREAS electronics, human systems and sensors. In addition, the MODERNIZATION PRIORITIES include: advanced infrastructure & advanced manufacturing, integrated network systems-of-systems, integrated sensing and cyber, and trusted AI and autonomy.
In this case, the PHASE I project is asking companies to complete a feasibility study that demonstrates the firm’s competitive technical advantage relative to other commercial products and develop concept plans for how the company’s technology can be applied to Army modernization priority areas. At the end of Phase I, the company will be required to provide a concept demonstration of their technology to demonstrate a high probability that continued design and development will result in a Phase II mature product.
For the PHASE II, the company is expected to produce prototype solutions that will be easy to operate by a Soldier. These products will be provided to select Army units for further evaluation by the soldiers. In addition, companies will provide a technology transition and commercialization plan for DOD and commercial markets.
In the case of the A244-P019: Open Topic for Persistent Experimentation, the TECHNOLOGY AREAS include: Electronics and Ground Sea. The MODERNIZATION PRIORITIES include Human-Machine Interfaces. Other KEYWORDS include: Human-Machine Integration (HMI); Human-Machine Teaming (HMT); autonomy; artificial intelligence; AI/ML; logistics; ground systems; air systems; robotics; UAS; RAS; sensors; persistent sensing; zero trust; common controller; common architecture; Electromagnetic Warfare (EW).
As part of the OBJECTIVE of this funding opportunity, the US ARMY states that there are multiple Army experimentation/demonstration events throughout each year. It indicates, that the Army Futures Command (AFC) has developed this single SBIR topic to streamline and facilitate path forward opportunities for small businesses participating in these events.
This specific opportunity also notes that as it relates to Prime Collaborations, Partnerships or teaming with a technology integrator is permitted and encouraged where it leverages complimentary resources to bring forward innovative technology solutions for experimentation and to streamline follow-on transition paths.
As it relates to Dual-Use Collaborations this topic area states that advanced partnership or teaming with a commercial and/or private capital entity is permitted and encouraged where it leverages complimentary resources to bring forward innovative technology solutions for experimentation and/or scaling via commercial markets to streamline follow-on transition.
PHASE I: Only Direct to Phase II (DP2) proposals will be accepted for this solicitation. DP2 proposals must provide documentation to substantiate/validate that the scientific and technical merit and feasibility are met, and the proposals must describe potential commercial applications of the solution. DP2 proposals should clearly indicate how a validated proof-of-concept design, as typically shown in Phase I awards, will be refined/advanced to an initial prototype/model/system under a DP2 award. If prior participation and/or technical reviews exist for an applicable government experimentation/demonstration event, please include as substantiating documentation.
PHASE II: Direct to Phase II (DP2) awards are expected to produce a prototype solution ready for initial field demonstration, testing and/or operation by a Soldier (see Appendices for technical focus areas associated with this topic). Final DP2 prototypes should be capable of or have a plan for integration with existing Army systems and/or newly developed systems. Companies are strongly encouraged to demonstrate prototype solutions in conjunction with one/or more experimentation/demonstration events validated by the Government team. These events are intended to provide government stakeholder and/or user/Soldier feedback.
For more detail read the Open Topic solicitation.
In addition, the following topics even though are not fully open topics behave in a similar fashion, but with an artificial intelligence focus:
and
We will address these other open topics in a future post.
Our company, REOFTech has successful experience with DoD open topics. Should you have any questions, and/or require any support in navigating the DoD landscape feel free to reach out to one of our consultants.
To get us started, please fill out this form and select a time that suits you best from our Calendly. You can also email us directly at asosa@reoftech.com.