Conduct and purchase defense-relevant research and development
Conduct basic, applied and advanced research and development internally, through military departments, by contract, or by agreement with another federal agency.
Contracts & purchases
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.
At a glance
Mission goalDevelop a technology
Possible toolACQ-20 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis15 U.S.C. §638(q), (bbb)
Responsible rolesPlanning · funds · approval · execution
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.
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
- 15 U.S.C. §638(q), (bbb)Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
- P.L. 119-83, §7Enacted public law, not a pending bill.
What this research establishes
Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedThe record states funding rules and conditions; no program amount is attributed to this action.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementRole recordedRecorded executing role: Service or Defense Agency SBIR-STTR office and award officer. Use the responsible program’s process.
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).
Review scope: Original research target October 2, 2026; no record-specific last-review date supplied. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.