SBIR/STTR · agency
Department of Health and Human Services: SBIR/STTR odds
8,402 Phase I and 4,316 Phase II awards since 2015, to 4,726 firms.
The verdict for a first-time applicant
A realistic program for a prepared first-timer. 37% of Phase I awards go to new firms; 38% of Phase I awards (2015–2020 cohorts) converted to Phase II.
Median Phase I is $300K, median Phase II $1.6M. Phase II typically follows 19 months after Phase I. The 20 most frequent firms take 6% of Phase I awards.
- Phase I → Phase II
- 38%
- 2015–2020 cohorts, 3-yr window
- First-time firms
- 37%
- of Phase I awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase I
- $300K
- 2,586 awards, 2021–2023
- Median Phase II
- $1.6M
- 1,530 awards, 2021–2023
- Months to Phase II
- 19
- median, Phase I award to Phase II award
- Top-20 firm share
- 6%
- of Phase I awards
Open SBIR/STTR solicitations at Department of Health and Human Services
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 | 834 | 46% | 55% |
| 2016 | 898 | 43% | 55% |
| 2017 | 918 | 37% | 52% |
| 2018 | 1,152 | 37% | 51% |
| 2019 | 1,158 | 34% | 51% |
| 2020 | 856 | 33% | 49% |
| 2021open | 867 | 25% | 41% |
| 2022open | 868 | 13% | 28% |
| 2023open | 851 | 2% | 13% |
Awards by year
| Year | Phase I | Phase I $ | Phase II | Phase II $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 834 | $243M | 404 | $581M |
| 2016 | 898 | $256M | 452 | $695M |
| 2017 | 918 | $249M | 490 | $799M |
| 2018 | 1,152 | $322M | 417 | $710M |
| 2019 | 1,158 | $344M | 483 | $864M |
| 2020 | 856 | $278M | 540 | $1.0B |
| 2021 | 867 | $300M | 480 | $932M |
| 2022 | 868 | $302M | 513 | $911M |
| 2023 | 851 | $280M | 537 | $596M |
By topic prefix
Topic codes group solicitations by office. Conversion is shown where enough Phase IIs matched a Phase I topic.
| Prefix | Phase I | Phase II | Phase I→II |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIAID | 966 | 431 | 36% |
| NHLBI | 802 | 404 | 38% |
| NIA | 490 | 276 | 50% |
| NIDA | 369 | 165 | 43% |
| NICHD | 361 | 199 | 47% |
| NCI | 280 | 192 | 28% |
| R | 242 | 181 | 34% |
| NIAMS | 214 | 85 | 32% |
| NIBIB | 143 | 50 | 39% |
| NIEHS | 135 | 49 | 33% |
| N | 135 | 62 | 31% |
| NEI | 109 | 63 | 27% |
| NINDS | 108 | 37 | 30% |
| NIDCD | 92 | 55 | 48% |
| NIDCR | 77 | 55 | 35% |
| NIDDK | 57 | 22 | 34% |
| ODCDC | 43 | 12 | 37% |
| FDA | 42 | 9 | 29% |
| NIDILRR | 40 | 17 | — |
| CDC | 40 | 8 | — |
Most frequent winners
Firms with 20 or more Phase I awards from Department of Health and Human Services since 2015. Know who you're up against.
| Firm | State | Phase I | Phase II |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC. | MA | 35 | 25 |
| Minnesota HealthSolutions Corporation | MN | 32 | 19 |
| LYNNTECH INC. | TX | 31 | 6 |
| Epicypher, Inc. | NC | 30 | 26 |
| ELECTRONIC BIOSCIENCES, INC. | CA | 30 | 3 |
| LARIX BIOSCIENCE LLC | CA | 25 | 1 |
| OREGON RESEARCH BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION STRATEGIES, INC. | OR | 24 | 11 |
| GINER INC | MA | 24 | 9 |
| CELDARA MEDICAL, LLC | NH | 23 | 13 |
| CFD RESEARCH CORPORATION | AL | 23 | 8 |
| MICROBIOTIX, INC. | MA | 23 | 7 |
Common questions
What are the odds of a Phase II after a Department of Health and Human Services Phase I?
38% 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 52%. About 40% of recent Phase IIs had no matching Phase I in the data, which includes Direct-to-Phase-II awards.
Does Department of Health and Human Services fund first-time SBIR firms?
37% 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 6% 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.