Signed Into Law: April 13, 2026
When we last updated this article in February, the Ernst-Markey compromise had just been announced and the bill had not yet had a vote. It moved fast from there. The Senate passed the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (S.3971) by unanimous consent on March 3, 2026. The House passed it 345-41 on March 17. The President signed it on April 13, and the SBIR and STTR programs are now authorized through September 30, 2031. That closed out a lapse that ran five and a half months, from October 1, 2025 to mid-April 2026, the longest shutdown in the programs' four-decade history. The question this article answered in February was when the programs would come back. The question now is what you can apply for, and the answer is below. Search open SBIR opportunities
What the Law Changed
The final law kept the structure of the February compromise. The $75 million lifetime cap is gone. Senator Ernst's original INNOVATE Act proposed capping total Phase I and Phase II funding per company at $75 million over its lifetime. The signed law dropped the lifetime cap entirely. Annual proposal caps arrive in fiscal year 2027. Instead of limiting how much a company can win, the law limits how many proposals a company may submit per fiscal year in response to Phase I and Phase II solicitations, with limits set by each agency and a waiver process for urgent needs. Companies that submit high volumes across many topics will need a selection strategy for FY2027. Foreign-risk screening expanded. Agencies must evaluate applicant security risks, including foreign ownership ties, cybersecurity, and personnel, and must tell a small business the basis for a security-based denial. Strategic Breakthrough Awards were created: post-Phase II awards up to $30 million over up to 48 months, requiring at least one prior Phase II award and substantial matching funds from non-SBIR sources. HHS has already begun implementing these provisions. NIH published policy notices covering the new HHS annual application limit (NOT-OD-26-073), foreign disclosure and risk management changes (NOT-OD-26-074), and revised Technical and Business Assistance policy (NOT-OD-26-075).
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Open Right Now: Verified Solicitations and Deadlines
The June Department of Education and July 7 Department of Transportation deadlines have passed. As of July 15, these are the clearest current pathways to verify: July 22, 2026: the remaining DARPA topic batch in the earlier restart calendar closes. Open the specific topic and the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal before relying on this date because topics can carry their own instructions and amendments. July 27, 2026: NSF solicitation 26-510 lists the next Phase I, Phase II, and Fast-Track submission deadline. NSF also lists November 4, 2026, March 4, 2027, and July 7, 2027 submission dates. The current program page states up to $305,000 for Phase I, $1.25 million for Phase II, and $1.555 million for Fast Track, with a limit of one proposal per organization per deadline. Use this current NSF page, not archived solicitations 24-579, 24-580, or 24-582. July 22 through August 19, 2026: the official SBIR topic portal lists the next major DoD cohort as opening July 22 and closing August 19. Confirm each topic's component, phase, and submission instructions. August 5, 2026 through April 6, 2027: the same official portal lists current HHS programs across the long receipt window. NIH and other HHS applicants still need to identify the correct notice and receipt date rather than treating the portal's outer window as one universal deadline. The topic inventory changes as agencies add and close records. A count captured today is not a promise that every item remains open or fits one company. Search all open SBIR and STTR opportunities and verify every shortlisted record against the issuing agency.
Agency Restart Status
The restart is uneven because each agency issues its own topics and notices on its own calendar. NSF: restarted. Solicitation 26-510 lists July 27 and November 4, 2026 deadlines, followed by March 4 and July 7, 2027. Archived NSF solicitations from the 24-57x series are not current even if an old data record still appears in a search result. DoD: restarted. The official SBIR.gov topic portal lists a July 22 through August 19, 2026 cohort, with component-specific instructions. Department of Education and Department of Transportation: restarted, but the June 29 and July 7 application windows cited in the prior version of this guide are now closed. Watch the agencies and SBIR.gov for the next cycle. HHS and NIH: active notices are returning. The topic portal lists HHS programs opening August 5, 2026 and running through April 6, 2027. Applicants must still identify the applicable funding opportunity on Grants.gov, confirm the exact receipt date, and follow the new application-limit, foreign-disclosure, and TABA policies published through NIH notices. Plan around the agency and topic you actually fit, not the program-wide headline.
How the Lapse Happened and Ended
The short version, for anyone who joined late. September 30, 2025: Senator Ernst blocked the House's clean one-year extension (H.R. 5100) on the Senate floor, demanding structural reforms aimed at high-volume awardees and foreign-influence risk. The programs lapsed at midnight, freezing new solicitations across the participating agencies. October 2025 through January 2026: agencies scrambled. NIH terminated its open SBIR/STTR funding opportunities. NSF paused America's Seed Fund pitches. Space Force officials publicly warned about stalled small-business contracts. February 25, 2026: Ernst and Markey announced the compromise. The lifetime cap dropped in favor of annual proposal limits, plus expanded security screening and the new Strategic Breakthrough Awards. March 3 and March 17, 2026: Senate passage by unanimous consent, then House passage 345-41. April 13, 2026: signed into law. Authorization runs through September 30, 2031, the longest runway the programs have had since 2022 and one that takes reauthorization risk off the table for five fiscal years.
What to Do Now
Pick a current agency topic and work backward from its official deadline. A July 27 NSF submission is only realistic for a team whose registrations and technical package are already advanced. The August 19 DoD close provides more room, but topic fit comes before calendar convenience. Fix registrations first. An active SAM.gov registration blocks many federal submissions if missing. NSF applicants also need Research.gov credentials; NIH applicants need eRA Commons. Confirm the actual lead times rather than relying on an old estimate. Plan for the FY2027 proposal caps. Starting next fiscal year, each agency limits how many proposals an organization can submit. Rank the best-fit topics instead of treating volume as a strategy. Document foreign ownership, investment, and personnel relationships before applying. Clean, supportable disclosure is better than discovering a screening issue after submission. If you hold an existing award, the new law does not cancel it. Phase III work continued through the lapse and continues now. Search open SBIR and STTR opportunities. Every shortlisted record still needs an official-source check.