Operating posture, post-reauthorization
SBIR and STTR are reauthorized through September 30, 2031 (S. 3971). DoD 26.1 is currently open. The 2026 reauthorization added per-firm submission caps, a Strategic Breakthrough Phase II category for agencies with SBIR spend over $100M, and Phase III commercialization training for contracting officers — all of which favor focused, prepared submitters over volume-driven shops.
What you'd be partnering with
- Registered and ready — SAM.gov active, SBA small business registered, DSIP active, Research.gov (NSF) configured with PI/AOR/Admin roles.
- 14 agencies in active topic-tracking — Army, Navy, Air Force, DoD-wide, SOCOM, CDAO, NSF, DHS, DOE, NIH, NASA, NIST, FBI, USDA.
- 108 published technical analyses on federal AI/ML, SBIR mechanics, compliance, and defense-tech problem classes — public-record proof of the engineering posture, not just a list of buzzwords.
- Founder-delivered federal production work — the founder personally built and shipped these systems under federal prime engagements. Production ML at a federal health agency, federal health data platforms, multi-agency cloud migration shipped to date (delivered at Harmonia). The engineer who delivered that federal software is the engineer you’d engage.
- Kaggle Top 200 globally (out of 200,000+) — publicly verifiable at kaggle.com/bopengiowa.
- Lean overhead — SBIR budget flows to R&D, not to prime indirects.
Ways we partner
- Prime submission — for AI/ML topics where we can carry the full scope. Phase I typically $150–300K; Phase II $1–2M; Strategic Breakthrough Phase II potentially larger.
- Subcontractor on AI/ML scope — for primes who need deep AI expertise and want a SAM-registered small business with a founder who has prior federal delivery experience.
- STTR with research institutions — the statutory split is at least 40% to the small business and at least 30% to the partnering research institution; we lead the commercialization and productization work. See STTR partnerships for how we structure the university side.
- Consortium participation — joined consortia relevant to DoD, intelligence community, and DoE topics.
Agencies we actively pursue
- DoD / DSIP — Army, Navy, Air Force, DoD-wide, SOCOM, CDAO. 26.1 topics currently open.
- NSF — fully registered on Research.gov with AOR/PI/Admin roles. Ready to submit.
- DHS S&T — AI/ML topics for homeland security missions.
- DOE — grid optimization, scientific ML, computing-related topics.
- HHS / NIH — health data, clinical AI, public health topics.
- NASA — AI for space, earth observation, autonomous systems.
- USDA, NIST, FBI, CDC — opportunity-driven participation.
How to engage
If you are a prime, research institution, or principal investigator looking for an AI/ML partner on an active SBIR or STTR topic, email [email protected] with the topic number and the scope you need. We'll respond within 24 hours with a fit assessment.