The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has just released the 2015 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Omnibus Grant Solicitations! These solicitations will be used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Note STTR is only available at NIH. You can read more in NOT-OD-15-101.
The HHS SBIR/STTR Omnibus Solicitations permit researcher-initiated topics to be submitted for funding consideration as long as they fall within the mission of HHS. The 2015 Program Descriptions and Research Topics document explains priority research areas for the agencies, and Appendix A includes the list of SBA approved topics for budgets that exceed the hard caps. With any specific idea, you should speak directly with the appropriate HHS SBIR/STTR Program Manager to gauge their interest.
The 2015 SBIR/STTR Omnibus solicitations and accompanying resources can be found below:
- SBIR: PA-15-269
- STTR: PA-15-270
- 2015 Program Descriptions and Research Topics, and Appendix A (SBA approved topics for budget waivers)
- SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide for SBIR/STTR Grant Applications
- Annotated SF424 SBIR/STTR Form Set
Standard Application Due Dates: September 5, 2015; January 5, 2016; and April 5, 2016.
Please note that HHS recently changed the Standard Due Dates for ALL HHS SBIR/STTR grant applications. This change affects all SBIR/STTR Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) using Standard Due Dates, including these Omnibus FOAs. Applications for Request for Applications (RFAs) and Program Announcements (PAs, PARs, PASs) with special receipt dates continue to be due on the specified dates listed in the FOA.
Additionally effective September 5, 2015, HHS SBIR/STTR grant applications will no longer be accepted on AIDS and AIDS-related Due Dates (May 7, September 7, and January 7), as two of the three new standard due dates are 2 days prior to the current AIDS due dates. Accordingly, any AIDS or AIDS-related HHS SBIR/STTR grant applications must also follow the new Standard Due Dates. Please see NOT-OD-15-038 >>
With this issuance, small business concerns that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds and/or private equity firms ARE NOW ELIGIBLE to apply to the CDC SBIR program and compete for up to 15% of CDC’s SBIR set-aside. This option is still available to applicants of the NIH SBIR program as well.