EconDefense
ACQ-20 / Research, innovation and experimentation

Pay for commercialization, IP, cybersecurity and business assistance

Authorize SBIR/STTR recipients to purchase assistance or use staff/training to improve commercialization and screen foreign involvement; qualifyingI-Corps participation can be supported.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-20 · Other statutory tools

Authority holder: Participating agency; eligible SBIR/STTR award recipient selects support

Other statutory tools

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway; award-specific appropriations, available balances, delegations, implementation and approvals not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Current SBIR/STTR award and assistance linked to eligible project/commercialization purposes.

Limits & exclusions

  • Phase I assistance up to $6,500/project; Phase II up to $50,000/project.
  • Recipient selection/staff-use option does not make program a general consultancy grant for non-awardees.

Funding conditions

  • May be included in or added to award as agency determines; applicable statutory funding sources and reviews.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • DoD/component SBIR-STTR program office and technical topic owner

Resources

  • Component extramural R&D budget owner

Approval

  • Authorized component grants/contracting official; required research-security reviewers

Execution

  • Service or Defense Agency SBIR-STTR office and award officer
    Office profile

Partners & review

  • SBA program-wide policy
  • Eligible small business; acquisition customer; research-security and counterintelligence partners

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Awardee identifies commercial/IP/cyber need → component program and award officer authorize funds → chosen provider or staff/training execution.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.

Currentness: P.L. 119-83 §7 enacted 2026-04-13 read in full; modifies 15 U.S.C. §638(q) and adds(bbb).

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.

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