Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs Phase I | USDA NIFA SBIR 010774

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA SBIR 010774

The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is offering Phase I funding through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The core purpose of this opportunity is to help small businesses turn scientific and technical advances into real products and services that have clear commercial potential and/or deliver a meaningful public benefit. In practice, this means the program is geared toward applied research and early prototype-style development that can realistically move toward the marketplace, rather than open-ended, fundamental research. The STTR track has an added emphasis on technology transfer, requiring a formal research partnership between a small business and a nonprofit research institution so that discoveries made in labs can be more directly translated into deployable innovations.

This is a discretionary grant opportunity in the agriculture funding activity category (CFDA 10.212). The funding opportunity title is "Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs Phase I" (Funding Opportunity Number: USDA NIFA SBIR 010774). Applications were originally due on 2024-09-17, and the opportunity anticipates making around 80 awards. The maximum award amount listed is $181,500 per award (award ceiling). The program is administered by USDA NIFA.

Eligibility is tightly focused on ensuring awards go only to qualified small, independent US businesses, and the solicitation makes clear that missing an eligibility requirement by the deadline can cause an application to be excluded or can prevent NIFA from making an award even if the proposal is reviewed. A key requirement is that the applicant must qualify as a Small Business Concern (SBC) and must be registered with the Small Business Administration (SBA) for research and development purposes at the time of selection, following the definitions referenced in the RFA (including Appendix III). NIFA also points new applicants to its Grants Overview resources to help navigate the federal financial assistance process, which can be important because registration, certifications, and compliance items often determine whether an otherwise strong proposal can actually be funded.

The eligibility rules described fall into three main buckets: the type of firm, ownership and control, and business size (notably, the number of employees). First, on the type of firm, the awardee must be a for-profit "business concern" and meet the federal definition in 13 C.F.R. 121.105. Nonprofit entities cannot apply as the small business applicant under SBIR or STTR, although a nonprofit can participate as the research institution partner under the STTR program. The solicitation also notes that if the applicant is structured as a joint venture, limited partnership, or involves venture capital arrangements, each participating party must independently satisfy all of the program eligibility requirements, reinforcing that the program is meant for true small business performers rather than pass-through entities.

Second, on ownership and control, the intent is to ensure funded companies are independent and primarily controlled within the United States, so that federal R&D dollars stimulate domestic innovation and economic activity. The general rule is that more than 50 percent of the companys equity must be directly owned and controlled by US citizens or permanent resident aliens, or by other for-profit small business concerns that are themselves directly owned and controlled by US citizens or permanent resident aliens, or some combination of those two categories. The solicitation also describes an additional ownership pathway involving multiple venture capital operating companies, hedge funds, and private equity firms, provided that no single one of those firms owns or controls more than 50 percent of the company. That option is tied to specific statutory authority under the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act (15 U.S.C. 638(dd)(1)) and is only available for SBIR awards from agencies using that authority.

The ownership rules extend to special cases as well. If an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) owns part or all of the company, the trustees and plan members are treated as owners for eligibility purposes. If a trust owns part or all of the concern, the trustees and beneficiaries are considered owners. For subsidiaries, the burden is on the applicant to show that any parent company also meets small business status; the parent must provide documentation supporting that status, and the RFA indicates this should be included in the application package under the R&R Other Project Information form as "Other Attachments" following Part IV instructions. Importantly, if a parent company (or one of the parents) is a nonprofit organization, the subsidiary is not eligible to submit an SBIR/STTR application, which prevents nonprofits from indirectly accessing SBIR/STTR funds through a controlled for-profit affiliate.

Overall, this Phase I USDA SBIR/STTR opportunity is designed to fund early-stage, high-impact R&D by eligible small businesses working on innovative technologies relevant to agriculture and related societal needs, with STTR specifically requiring structured collaboration with a nonprofit research institution. The main practical takeaway for applicants is that eligibility and registration details are not just administrative extras: the program treats them as gatekeeping requirements, and failing to meet them by the deadline can eliminate the application from award consideration even if the technical proposal is strong.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs Phase I" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.212.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-07-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-09-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $181,500.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 80 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA SBIR 010774

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