SBIR/STTR · Department of Defense component
Chemical and Biological Defense: SBIR/STTR odds
150 Phase I and 116 Phase II awards since 2015, to 113 firms.
The verdict for a first-time applicant
An insiders' program: only 5% of Phase I awards go to firms new to SBIR. Expect to compete with repeat winners.
Median Phase I is $167K, median Phase II $561K. Phase II typically follows 16 months after Phase I. The 20 most frequent firms take 51% of Phase I awards.
- Phase I → Phase II
- 64%
- 2015–2020 cohorts, 3-yr window
- First-time firms
- 5%
- of Phase I awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase I
- $167K
- 67 awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase II
- $561K
- 51 awards, 2021–2023
- Months to Phase II
- 16
- median, Phase I award to Phase II award
- Top-20 firm share
- 51%
- of Phase I awards
Open SBIR/STTR solicitations at Department of Defense
Phase I → Phase II by cohort
Share of each year's Phase I awards followed by a Phase II within three years. Cohorts after 2020 are still open, so their rates will rise.
| Phase I year | Phase I awards | Converted | Firm-level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
| 2016 | 27 | 67% | 74% |
| 2017 | 9 | 78% | 88% |
| 2018 | 15 | 80% | 87% |
| 2019 | 12 | 42% | 64% |
| 2020 | 19 | 58% | 60% |
| 2021open | 23 | 61% | 71% |
| 2022open | 25 | 56% | 63% |
| 2023open | 19 | 0% | 0% |
Awards by year
| Year | Phase I | Phase I $ | Phase II | Phase II $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1 | $150K | 3 | $2.2M |
| 2016 | 27 | $4.0M | 5 | $4.8M |
| 2017 | 9 | $1.3M | 18 | $17M |
| 2018 | 15 | $2.2M | 8 | $5.9M |
| 2019 | 12 | $1.8M | 16 | $11M |
| 2020 | 19 | $3.1M | 15 | $10M |
| 2021 | 23 | $3.8M | 14 | $8.4M |
| 2022 | 25 | $4.2M | 19 | $15M |
| 2023 | 19 | $3.5M | 18 | $10M |
Common questions
What are the odds of a Phase II after a Chemical and Biological Defense Phase I?
64% of Phase I awards in the 2015–2020 cohorts were followed by a Phase II to the same firm within three years. Counting at the firm level (any Phase II, not matched to the Phase I topic), the rate is 73%.
Does Chemical and Biological Defense fund first-time SBIR firms?
5% of Phase I awards in 2021–2023 went to firms with no prior SBIR/STTR award from any agency. The 20 most frequent winners took 51% of Phase I awards.
How current is this data?
SBIR.gov's public award export runs through 2023; the site re-computes these numbers when the export updates. Open solicitations below come from Grants.gov and are refreshed every 10 minutes.
Source: SBIR.gov award data (award_data.csv downloaded 2026-10-28; awards through 2023). overall/byCohort: share of Phase I awards followed by a Phase II to the same firm from the same agency/component with Phase II award year ≤ Y+3; each Phase II counts for at most one Phase I, matched first on identical topic code, then (for agencies whose topic code is a per-round solicitation number) to any remaining same-firm Phase II that is not Direct-to-Phase-II (firm matched on DUNS, else normalized name + state; matchedByTopicShare = share of matches made on topic code). firmLevel: share of distinct firm × Phase I-year pairs that received any Phase II from the same agency/component within 3 years (looser; inflated by multi-award firms). overall figures use cohorts 2015–2020, the cohorts whose 3-year window has closed in this data vintage; later cohorts are partial. p2WithoutMatchedP1Share5y: share of 2021+ Phase II awards with no matched Phase I (largely Direct-to-Phase-II). This section is for startups and small businesses; it is not legal or procurement advice.