Army SBIR|STTR Awardees

U.S. Army, small businesses partner to develop uniformed technology workforce

Published: 07/09/2021

The U.S. Army is awarding contracts to partner with seven small business innovators to revolutionize the Army’s selection and development of uniformed technology experts across the force. 

The companies will each receive $256,000 for a four-month period through the Army Applied Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, which releases contract opportunities for U.S.-based small companies to tackle challenges in some of the Army’s most critical modernization priorities. 

This round of awards is part of an Army effort to identify a new class of Emerging Technology Leaders (ETL), who will liaise between the Army’s operational and technical communities of scientists, engineers and technologists. 

“To have a world-class Army, we must recruit and maintain world-class talent,” said Dr. Matt Willis, Director, Army Applied SBIR and Prize Competitions in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology (DASA (R&T)). “We will work with these small businesses to develop robust analytics tools to help us make more informed decisions for skill identification in our workforce, as well as recruitment, development and distribution of technology leaders throughout the Army.”  

Congratulations to the following companies on their Phase I awards:  

  • Black Cape, Inc. 
  • Charles River Analytics Inc. 
  • Dark Wolf Solutions, LLC 
  • Intelligent Automation, Inc.
  • Kairos Research 
  • Voltera Corporation 
  • Whitespace Innovations 

More than 100 companies submitted their full proposal packages for the ETL contracts by the Jan. 12, 2021, submission deadline, and the Army released selections on March 30. 

ETL is one of the contract opportunities offered under the Army Applied SBIR Program, which helps small businesses overcome the inherent challenges they face when engaging in government research and development compared to their larger counterparts.  

“Small businesses are wheelhouses for innovation, but they could benefit from a partnership with the Army to get their technology into the hands of soldiers more quickly,” Willis said. “The SBIR Program releases contract opportunities on an ad hoc, rolling basis, which seeks to maximize the initial cash-flow for small businesses while minimizing the time to contract.”  

The Army Applied SBIR Program also offers a unique opportunity for small businesses to interact with Army Soldiers and technical and operational subject matter experts, who provide insight into Army technology needs and guide small businesses through the Army research and development ecosystem.  

The SBIR Program just announced 29 new contract opportunities in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), hypersonics, advanced materials, and network; the official submission period opens April 14 and closes May 18 at noon EST. To view these topics, and for more information about the SBIR Program, visit the DSIP Portal.

U.S. Army, small businesses partner to develop uniformed technology workforce

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