SBIR/STTR · Department of Defense component
Special Operations Command: SBIR/STTR odds
233 Phase I and 178 Phase II awards since 2015, to 251 firms.
The verdict for a first-time applicant
A realistic program for a prepared first-timer. 23% of Phase I awards go to new firms; 31% of Phase I awards (2015–2020 cohorts) converted to Phase II.
Median Phase I is $150K, median Phase II $1.3M. Phase II typically follows 12 months after Phase I. The 20 most frequent firms take 31% of Phase I awards.
- Phase I → Phase II
- 31%
- 2015–2020 cohorts, 3-yr window
- First-time firms
- 23%
- of Phase I awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase I
- $150K
- 87 awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase II
- $1.3M
- 85 awards, 2021–2023
- Months to Phase II
- 12
- median, Phase I award to Phase II award
- Top-20 firm share
- 31%
- 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 | 21 | 10% | 29% |
| 2016 | 7 | 43% | 67% |
| 2017 | 60 | 30% | 37% |
| 2018 | 43 | 35% | 41% |
| 2019 | 3 | 67% | 100% |
| 2020 | 12 | 42% | 55% |
| 2021open | 26 | 8% | 16% |
| 2022open | 38 | 40% | 41% |
| 2023open | 23 | 4% | 9% |
Awards by year
| Year | Phase I | Phase I $ | Phase II | Phase II $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 21 | $3.1M | 6 | $8.0M |
| 2016 | 7 | $1.0M | 9 | $10M |
| 2017 | 60 | $8.9M | 23 | $36M |
| 2018 | 43 | $6.3M | 22 | $28M |
| 2019 | 3 | $449K | 13 | $22M |
| 2020 | 12 | $1.8M | 20 | $25M |
| 2021 | 26 | $3.9M | 24 | $30M |
| 2022 | 38 | $5.7M | 35 | $54M |
| 2023 | 23 | $4.2M | 26 | $39M |
Common questions
What are the odds of a Phase II after a Special Operations Command Phase I?
31% 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 41%. About 74% of recent Phase IIs had no matching Phase I in the data, which includes Direct-to-Phase-II awards.
Does Special Operations Command fund first-time SBIR firms?
23% 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 31% 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.