The Department of Defense is the largest agency participating in the SBIR program with an annual fund exceeding $1 billion. Their third SBIR solicitation, 2011.3, was preleased on July 28th. Technologies outlined in this solicitation range from Controlled Released Anti-Microbials to Advanced Propellants. Importantly, all applications must address a specific topic as laid out in the solicitation. No investigator-initiated applications are accepted. Potential applicants can discuss topics with program officers until Aug. 28, and proposals will be accepted from Aug. 29 through Sept. 28.
The solicitation consists of the main set of instructions and a document from each participating DoD component (the Army, Navy, DARPA, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense). Each document discusses the topics as well as any specific submission requirements of the participating DoD component. The specific requirements supersede the general requirements, so be sure to read all carefully. For example, the Army limits the technical proposal to 20 pages rather than the 25 pages called for in the overall solicitation. Anything over 20 pages submitted to the Army will be considered non-compliant and will not be evaluated.
In addition to reading the documents carefully, we suggest you subscribe to the listserv (link at the bottom of the main solicitation page) to get information on any updates issued.