Which Agencies Offer SBIR? A Founder's Guide to All 11 Participating Agencies

Quick answer: Eleven federal agencies participate in the SBIR program: the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/NIH), Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Education (ED), Department of Commerce (NOAA and NIST), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Six of those eleven — DoD, HHS, DOE, NSF, NASA, and USDA — also run the sister STTR program.

If you're deciding where to submit, the agency you target matters more than the polish of your proposal. The SBIR program is legally required to look the same across the federal government, but in practice each agency runs it differently — different topics, different risk tolerances, different award sizes, different review cultures. Picking the right one is step one of a winning capture strategy.

Here's the full breakdown.

Why eleven? The rule behind the list

Federal law requires any agency with an extramural R&D budget over $100 million to run an SBIR program and set aside a percentage of that budget for small-business awards. Agencies with extramural R&D budgets over $1 billion must additionally run an STTR program. That threshold is how we get to eleven SBIR agencies and six SBIR+STTR agencies — not a political choice, a statutory floor.

Together, these eleven agencies distribute roughly $5 billion annually to small businesses, making SBIR/STTR the largest source of non-dilutive funding for R&D-driven startups in the United States. The programs were reauthorized on April 13, 2026 through the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act and now run through September 30, 2031.

The six agencies that run both SBIR and STTR

These are the largest funders, and if you have university participation in your project, these are the agencies where you have the option to apply for either program.

Department of Defense (DoD)

The largest SBIR funder by a wide margin — DoD accounts for more than half of all SBIR/STTR dollars awarded each year. DoD is a contracting agency, meaning you respond to specific topics the services publish rather than proposing your own R&D direction. Topics come from across the department: Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, DARPA, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Health Agency, SOCOM, and more. DoD is best for dual-use technologies with a clear defense application — hypersonics, microelectronics, cybersecurity, AI/autonomy, biotech, directed energy, space systems.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

The bulk of HHS SBIR flows through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but awards also come from the CDC, FDA, and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. NIH is a granting agency — investigator-initiated, so you propose the research direction yourself against broad mission areas (cancer, aging, infectious disease, mental health, diagnostics, therapeutics, devices). NIH is the right target for anything biomedical, from preclinical therapeutics to digital health to assistive technology.

Department of Energy (DOE)

A granting agency focused on clean energy, grid modernization, fusion, nuclear, advanced manufacturing, carbon management, and basic energy sciences. DOE also operates a network of national laboratories — Argonne, Oak Ridge, NREL, Sandia, Los Alamos — that frequently partner with SBIR awardees as STTR research institutions or Phase II collaborators.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Known in the community as America's Seed Fund, NSF wants high-risk, high-reward, genuinely novel technology. Of all the SBIR agencies, NSF applies the strictest innovation bar — incremental improvements don't compete. NSF also has unique PI rules: the principal investigator must be majority-employed at the small business, regardless of whether you're applying SBIR or STTR (most other agencies relax this for STTR). Strong fit for deep tech, advanced materials, quantum, AI, biotech, and climate.

NASA

Topics align with specific mission needs — lunar and Mars mission support, autonomous systems, in-space manufacturing, propulsion, Earth observation, satellite communications, extreme-environment materials. NASA is restructuring its 2026 solicitation approach around a Broad Agency Announcement with phased appendices, meaning multiple entry points throughout the year instead of one annual deadline. Good fit for space tech, robotics, advanced sensors, and aerospace systems.

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Runs its SBIR program through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Priority areas include forests and forestry, plant and animal production and protection, conservation of natural resources, food science and nutrition, rural development, aquaculture, biofuels and biobased products, and small/mid-size farms. Smaller award sizes than DoD or NIH, but less competition.

The five agencies that run SBIR only

These agencies clear the $100 million R&D threshold for SBIR but don't hit the $1 billion bar required for STTR. If you need a university partner to receive a formal sub-award, STTR is off the table at these agencies — though you can still involve a university through an SBIR sub-award, just with the 33% Phase I / 50% Phase II outsourcing cap.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

A contracting agency with topics driven by component agencies: Customs and Border Protection, TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Science and Technology Directorate. Priority areas include border security, counter-UAS, cybersecurity, biometrics, and emergency response technologies.

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Topics address aviation safety, surface transportation, autonomous and connected vehicles, infrastructure monitoring, hazardous materials, and pipeline safety across the FAA, FHWA, FRA, FMCSA, and other modal agencies.

Department of Education (ED)

ED administers its SBIR program through the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and has a very specific focus: education technology for students, teachers, and learners with disabilities. ED/IES provides up to $1.25M across two phases ($250K Phase I, $1M Phase II) and has funded AI tutors, VR/AR learning tools, data dashboards, and adaptive assessments.

Department of Commerce (NOAA + NIST)

Two distinct programs under one department. NOAA funds ocean and atmospheric science — marine ecosystems, fisheries, weather forecasting, coastal resilience, climate adaptation. NIST funds measurement science, advanced manufacturing, quantum, cybersecurity standards, and materials characterization.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Small but focused — topics address air quality, water treatment, waste management, environmental monitoring, and sustainable manufacturing. EPA awards are smaller than most other agencies but success rates are historically reasonable for the right fit.

How to choose the right agency for your technology

Picking an agency isn't just about matching your technology to their mission — it's about matching your company to how they operate. Three variables matter more than any other:

Contracting vs. granting. Contracting agencies (DoD, DHS, DOT, NASA to some degree) publish specific topics and expect responsive proposals. Granting agencies (NIH, NSF, DOE, USDA, ED, EPA, NOAA, NIST) let you propose the research direction yourself. If you have a specific technology looking for a home, contracting is faster. If you have a research program looking for funding, granting gives you more room.

Innovation bar. NSF sits at one extreme — it wants revolutionary, high-risk work. DoD often sits at the other — it'll fund incremental advances as long as they solve a specific operational need. NIH is somewhere in between and weighs scientific rigor heavily. Know where your technology falls on that spectrum before you start writing.

Fit with your commercialization path. If your end customer is the federal government itself, DoD's Phase III procurement pathway is a massive advantage — agencies can sole-source buy products developed under SBIR without recompeting. If your end customer is a hospital system, NIH is the natural fit. If it's a commercial enterprise, NSF gives you the most flexibility on how you get there.

Many companies submit to more than one agency. That's allowed — with two caveats. If two applications cover the exact same scope of work, you can only accept one award. And some agencies cap how many submissions you can make per year or per solicitation (NSF limits to one; NIH set a cap of nine post-reauthorization).

Where CovertEntity comes in

Knowing which agency participates in SBIR is the easy part. Knowing which agency will actually fund your specific technology, at a competitive level, within your company's runway — that's the harder question, and it's where most founders get stuck.

CovertEntity helps R&D-driven small businesses run that analysis rigorously: mapping your technology against current agency priorities, identifying the two or three highest-probability targets, and building a capture strategy that accounts for solicitation timing, PI employment rules, university partnerships, and Phase III transition paths. We work across all eleven agencies and don't stop at proposal writing — we build the full ecosystem around the win.

If you're trying to figure out which agency is right for your technology, get in touch. We'll tell you honestly where you have a real shot and where you don't.

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CovertEntity LLC is a federal SBIR/STTR consulting firm focused on helping innovative startups and small R&D firms win and scale through federal funding programs. This article is for informational purposes and reflects program rules as of April 2026.