Army STTR 101

What is STTR?

The Army Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program encourages small, high-tech U.S. businesses (fewer than 500 employees) in partnership with research institutions to provide innovative research and development solutions in response to critical Army needs. By capturing the tremendous and varied talents of the U.S. small business community and research institutions, the STTR program benefits the Department of Defense (DoD), the private sector, and our national economy.

The STTR program benefits the nation by stimulating technological innovation, improving manufacturing capability, and increasing competition, productivity, and economic growth.

The Broad Agency Announcement

Each year, the Army STTR program develops a set of research topics that represent the Army's current and anticipated warfighting technology needs. These topics are included in the Army portion of the DoD SBIR/STTR Broad Agency Announcements (BAA). Proposals for the topics are developed by a small business in partnership with a nonprofit research institution. Proposals must respond to a specific topic in the BAA. The Army STTR program does not accept unsolicited proposals or have open topics.

Small Business/Research Institution Partnership

Only United States small businesses and research institutions are eligible to participate in the STTR program.

The business must be organized for profit with a place of business located in the United States, must be at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States, and must have no more than 500 employees, including affiliates.

The research institution must be defined as either a US nonprofit college or university, a domestic nonprofit research organization, or a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC).

The small business and its partnering research institution are required to establish an intellectual property agreement detailing the allocation of intellectual property rights and rights to carry out follow-on research, development, or commercialization activities.

The small business must perform at least 40% of the topic work, and the single partnering research institution must perform at least 30%. The remaining 30% can be performed by either the small business, the research institution, a third-party contractor, or a combination thereof.

Why Pursue STTR Funding?

What is the benefit of STTR funding, as opposed to other forms of funding? To begin, STTR funding is non-diluted, which means, unlike other forms of funding, such as from a venture capitalist, the business and owners retains full controlling interest. Second, control of any intellectual property is split with the research institution partner only, and not given to the Army. Third, with STTR funding, the Army provides critical guidance on the research topics so that every party has a clear understanding of the goals and process, benefiting everyone.

In addition, the Research institution also gains the benefit of any spin-off technology that might result from the STTR funding and provides opportunities for students within the research institution for valuable hands-on experience with the Dod, US Army, and Federal Government.

Phase I

Please note that this is general information about proposals and is not meant to replace the guidance in the official DoD BAA. The DoD SBIR/STTR Proposal Submission system provides instructions and tutorials for preparation and submission of your proposal.

In Phase I, the company and partner research institution must prove the feasibility of its concept within six months. Proposals are evaluated and selected for award. The maximum Phase I award is $204,000 over a period of 6 months. Awards will be made on the basis of technical evaluations using the criteria described in the DoD 23.B BAA and availability of Army STTR funds.

Teams which successfully complete Phase I may submit a Phase II proposal. In Army STTR there are no direct to Phase II proposals, at this time.

Phase II

Phase II spans two years. This phase takes the topic and proposal from Phase I and matures it into a prototype product or service meeting the requirements of the original topic. The prototype must be viable for dual-use in both DoD and commercial applications. The maximum Phase II award is $1,300,000.

Phase III

The goal of the STTR program is for projects to reach Phase III: commercialization. The company should now be prepared to market the products or services developed in Phase II, either to the government or in the commercial sector. No STTR funds can be used during this phase.

In some cases, topics and proposals may receive additional R&D funding from other, non STTR programs for further development prior to commercialization. This is on a case-by-case basis, and dependent on the small businesses’ ability to locate willing federal partners interested in the potential and further development of their solutions.

Proposal and Submission

All Army SBIR/STTR Proposals must be submitted through the DoD Submission site. There are several components that make up the proposal.

The Army requires your entire proposal to be submitted electronically through the DoD-wide SBIR/STTR Proposal Submission website.

STTR Proposals consist of six volumes: Proposal Cover Sheet (Vol. 1), Technical Volume (Vol. 2), Cost Volume (Vol. 3) and Company Commercialization Report (Vol. 4), Supporting Documents (Vol. 5) to include Contractor Certification Regarding Provision of Prohibited Video Surveillance and Telecommunications Services and Equipment and Foreign Disclosure Addendum, Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Training (Vol. 6). Please note that Volume 5 (Supporting Documents) and Volume 6 (Fraud, Waste and Abuse) are now required as noted at the DoD SBIR/STTR website for Phase I proposals. Proposals not conforming to the terms of the DoD 21.C BAA will not be considered, no exceptions.

All proposals must be submitted in compliance with above documentation by the end of the BAA deadline. There are no exceptions for late proposals, even due to technology errors.

Once a proposal is selected, the small business is notified and the award process begins. After the award, the project enters Phase I of the STTR program. Note that Phase I is the entry point to the program and cannot be bypassed. During this time, small businesses and research institutions will work closely with their Army PM to advance their work with the goal of continuing onto Phase II and beyond.

Army STTR 101

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