Missile Defense Agency SBIR and STTR Programs
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs issue solicitations once per year. MDA participates within the Department of Defense (DoD) .3 and .B solicitation, which is issued simultaneously in the August timeframe. MDA makes SBIR/STTR Phase I awards up to $100k and the nominal Phase II award amount is $1.0M. Previous SBIR and STTR topics, including the most recent SBIR 08.3 and STTR 08.B topics, are available on the DoD SBIR/STTR website.

The goal of the MDA SBIR/STTR Program is to prioritize projects at the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) level, address BMDS gaps or foster new BMDS capabilities and to increase award amounts on projects based upon increased relevance to the BMDS.

The MDA SBIR program also issues one Phase II Transition (P2T) solicitation per year. The purpose of the P2T program is to encourage the transition of SBIR projects into the BMDS. Only firms with active DoD SBIR Phase II contracts are eligible to participate in the P2T program. Learn more about the P2T program in the SBIR Phase II Transition section of this website.

Fall National SBIR Conference 2008 – Hartford, CT
The MDA SBIR/STTR Program Management Office will have a display if you would like to visit or receive additional information on our program. The conference will take place 12-14 November. For more information or to register for the conference, please visit the conference website.

• Upcoming events are shown below.
• Presentations from past events may also be available.
• DoD SBIR/STTR also maintains an outreach site and the National Science Foundation sponsors a website where local workshops and national conferences are listed.
• Past Presentations

MDA Mission
To develop and field an integrated, layered, ballistic missile defense system to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends against all ranges of enemy ballistic missiles in all phases of flight.

MDA's Goals

• Retain, recruit, and develop a high-performing and accountable workforce.
• Deliver near-term additional defensive capability in a structured Block approach to close gaps and improve the BMDS.
• Establish partnerships with the Services to enable their operations and support of the BMDS components for the Combatant Commanders.
• Substantially improve and demonstrate the military utility of the BMDS through increased system integration and testing.
• Execute a robust BMDS technology and development program to address the challenges of the evolving threat through the use of key knowledge points.
• Expand international cooperation through a comprehensive strategy to support our mutual security interests in missile defense.
• Maximize mission assurance and cost effectiveness of MDA's management and operations through continuous process improvement.

The statutory purpose of the SBIR Program is to strengthen the role of innovative small business concerns (SBCs) in Federally-funded research or research and development (R/R&D). Specific program purposes are to: (1) stimulate technological innovation; (2) use small business to meet Federal R/R&D needs; (3) foster and encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged SBCs, and by SBCs that are 51 percent owned and controlled by women, in technological innovation; and (4) increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R/R&D, thereby increasing competition, productivity and economic growth.

The purpose of DoD's SBIR and STTR programs is to harness the innovative talents of our nation's small technology companies for U.S. military and economic strength.

DoD's SBIR program funds early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies -- projects which serve a DoD need and have the potential for commercialization in private sector and/or military markets. The program, funded at approximately $1.164 billion in FY 2006, is part of a larger ($2.3 billion) federal SBIR program administered by ten federal agencies.

The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, like SBIR, is a government-wide program, mandated by the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992, PL102-564. STTR was established in FY94 as a three-year pilot program and has been reauthorized to the year 2009. The STTR budget is determined by a set-aside of 0.3% (vs. 2.5% for the SBIR program) of MDA’s extramural R&D budget. STTR was established as a companion program to the SBIR program, and is executed in essentially the same manner; however, there are distinct differences.

While STTR has the same objectives as SBIR regarding the involvement of small businesses in federal R&D and the commercialization of their innovative technologies, the STTR program requires participation by universities, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), and other non-profit research institutions.

Each STTR proposal must be submitted by a team, which includes a small business (as the prime contractor for contracting purposes) and at least one research institution. The project must be divided such that the small business performs at least 40% of the work and the research institution(s) performs at least 30% of the work. The remainder of the work may be performed by either party or a third party.