SMALL BUSINESS

SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES

The Space Development Agency (SDA) is recognized as DOD's constructive disruptor for space acquisition. As such, we quickly deliver needed space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter to support terrestrial missions through development, integration, fielding, and operation of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). SDA capitalizes on a unique business model that values speed and lowers costs by harnessing commercial development to achieve a proliferated architecture and enhance resilience. SDA will deliver a minimum viable product - on time, every two years- by employing spiral development methods, adding capabilities to future generations as the threat evolves.

We cannot deliver without the participation of innovative small businesses in the defense industrial base as part of the United States' efforts to maintain its technological superiority, military readiness, and warfighting advantage. SDA uses every opportunity to engage small businesses and their innovative capabilities enabling them to compete for DOD prime contracts and subcontracts, along with programs aimed specifically at small businesses. In doing so, SDA is implementing the Administration's priority to reduce barriers to access and increase opportunities for small business.

History/Background

In October 2020, SDA issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) inviting submissions of innovative research concepts supporting the advancement of our national defense space capabilities through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. In October 2021, SDA began participating in the DOD-wide SBIR and STTR Programs. These programs enable:

Leap-ahead improvements for future tranches of currently planned PWSA capability layers.
New capability layers to address other emerging or evolving Warfighters needs.

Through a competitive awards-based program, SDA's SBIR/STTR efforts enable small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from dual-use technology commercialization.

While SDA prioritizes mature technologies that can be rapidly fielded, we make pivotal investments in small business research and development activities, particularly when the return on those investments can be leveraged in future acquisitions. Our agency works with a variety of small businesses with promising technologies to "seed the ecosystem."

Since participating in SBIR/STTR, SDA has made more than 100 awards, valued at over $200 million, to 65 unique small businesses across the United States.

During fiscal year 2021, SDA:

Awarded more than $8 million to seven small businesses.
Leveraged small business efforts with Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI) to develop the POET (Prototype Onboard Experimental Testbed) for further Tranche development.
Selected a small business (York Space Systems) to serve as a prime contractor on one of our larger contracts in PWSA Tranche 0.

During fiscal year 2022, SDA:

Selected a small business (York Space Systems) to serve as a prime contractor on the Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T1DES) and Tranche 1 Transport Layer programs.
Made 31 awards to small business valued at more than $45 million.

During fiscal year 2023, SDA:

Issued a special notice to industry for the PWSA Systems, Technologies, and Emerging Capabilities (STEC) Broad Agency Announcement, received eight submissions, and awarded more than $11 million to four small businesses.
Made 29 awards to small businesses valued at over $40 million.
Made awards to small businesses for IT equipment at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, crypto key management and support services, and construction services at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.

During fiscal year 2024:

SDA participated in three DOD solicitations (23.3C,24.4D,24.2B) and leveraged the SBIR/STTR program to support the development and demonstration of capabilities including:

Free-space optical communication (FSOC) technology for optical communication terminals (OCTs)
High-bandwidth sensor processing algorithms
Advanced space mesh networking and routing systems
Antenna development for ubiquitous communication systems
Improved ground system control and monitoring
Space system digital twin development and integration
Alternate navigation, position, and timing capabilities
Precision timing and spaceborne clock technologies
Radio Frequency Space Data Transport Solutions
Machine learning (ML)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm development

In FY 2024 SDA made 54 awards to small businesses valued at more than $64 million.

SDA currently has 59 active SBIR/STTR contracts valued at more than $100 million over the course of the projects. Each of the 59 active efforts are aligned with one of SDA’s capability cells: Transport, Tracking, Ground & Launch, Custody/Emerging Capabilities, Navigation and BMC3.

Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI)

SDA further demonstrated commitment to small business in fiscal year 2024 by awarding its first Strategic Funding Increase, or STRATFI, and Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI), to help bridge the gap between early small business investment and production/fielding of key technologies and capabilities. In FY 2024, SDA made its first STRATFI awards to two innovative small businesses, Wildstar and Nooks, as well as a TACFI award for Wildstar.

SDA awarded our first STRATFI, project to Wildstar, LLC for a next generation narrowband internet of things demonstration. The Wildstar STRATFI and TACFI projects will be used to deploy a series of novel satellites into LEO. After launch, Wildstar will test the performance of their narrowband technology in various in-theatre conditions. Wildstar’s satellites may be used by the military as a testbed for future capabilities and to augment existing narrowband communication systems. Finally, their innovative manufacturing techniques could allow for rapid manufacturing and launch-on-demand to provide rapid reconstitution of capability in a conflict.

Nooks STRATFI funding will be used to launch their first four Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (ClaaS) locations as part of their effort to revolutionize how the U.S accesses classified infrastructure with a network of technology enabled remote / distributed facilities. Nooks intends to leverage the STRATFI funding to jumpstart the growth of its network to over 100 locations in the coming decade.

Systems Technologies and Emerging Capabilities (STEC)

SDA has continued to seek out opportunities for small business with the STEC BAA and made awards to five small businesses (Starfish Space Inc., SpaceWorks Enterprises Inc., Quantum Space LLC., Impulse Space Inc., and Arkisys Inc.) for the Commercial Services Disposal Study.

SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS STORIES - FISCAL YEAR 2024

SDA selected five small businesses that participated in the SBIR/STTR program (Apex, Capella Space, Cesium Astro, Muon, and Momentus) into the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (HALO) pool – an indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) other transaction authority. This provides these companies the opportunity to transition their SBIR/STTR technologies into SDA programs through rapidly awarded prototype demonstrations and experimentation in support of future tranches of Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. The HALO pool allows these performers to compete in a faster and more flexible contracting mechanism focused on rapid end to end mission demonstrations.
K2 Space Corporation received a SBIR Phase II award from SDA in FY 2023. The company was then selected in FY 2024 for its first non-SBIR contract by USSF to work on the MEO Resilient GPS constellation with the Axient team as their bus provider. That first Phase II SBIR with SDA provided the foundation for several capabilities built into the bus constellation - high power, the ability to multi-manifest, significant delta-v for maneuverability, and the ability to operate in the MEO environment.
EO Vista through a Phase II SBIR successfully worked with SDA’s Tracking cell and developed their Missile Tracking Algorithm and Wide Field of View (WFOV) Imager. EO Vista has transitioned their technology and has been selected by Lockheed Martin as a Tranche 2 Tracking supplier.

Emergent Space Technologies, under Direct to Phase 2 awards, developed an end-to-end Modeling Simulation and Analysis test bed. This technology is a key component in SDA’s Tranche 0 and Tranche 1 success. Emergent Space Technologies was acquired by York Space Systems in support of those Tranches.

The continued effort to work with these small businesses directly demonstrates SDA's commitment to advancing both technology and the domestic supply chain, enabling more secure, high-bandwidth data transport capacity for government, and technology commercialization potential.

LOOKING AHEAD

SDA anticipates awarding an additional six SBIR/STTR agreements for Solicitation 24.3C. by the end of 2024.

SDA will post updated Small Business Opportunities throughout fiscal year 2025 in partnership with AFWERX and SpaceWERX as we identify specific technical topics for industry consideration and will consider partnering with other organizations such as DARPA or Air Force Research Laboratory based on their research interests and the quality of small business proposals.

Through SDA.mil, or directly on SAM.gov, small businesses can access DOD's broad agency announcements (BAA) specific to small business and one SDA BAA for systems, technologies, and emerging warfighting capabilities to which small business can submit.

OTHER SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS STORIES

In FY 2021, SDA worked with Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI)to launch a Prototype On-orbit Experimental Testbed (POET) under a SBIR Phase 2 program award. POET, transferred to SDA from DARPA, was intended to space qualify advanced computing hardware and enable on-orbit investigations into data fusion, data analysis, and algorithm development. Under the SBIR, the company integrated a machine learning-based cloud detection app from BlackSky Technology Inc. in just four weeks from delivery through execution. POET was launched on the SpaceX Transporter 2 mission on June 30, 2021, aboard Loft Orbital's YAM-3 "satellite-as-a-service" platform. In February 2022, POET successfully completed initial on-orbit demonstrations of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled edge-based processing for SDA, and successfully demonstrated integration and deployment of new containerized software on the satellite.

As a result of the successful POET demonstrations, SSCI was selected by SAIC to support the development, implementation, and maintenance of the SDA Battle Management Command, Control, and Communications (BMC3) Application Factory and Secure Interoperability Layer (SIL). Under the contract, SSCI will provide technical leadership and software engineering support to build a secure interoperable middleware layer that will ensure BMC3 mission applications can operate on the various satellite providers' hardware, enabling real-time coordination across the PWSA. SAIC is the lead integrator of SDA's BMC3 Application Factory.

Under a SBIR Phase 2 award from SDA, E-Space conducted a test in July 2023, in collaboration with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Radio Frequency Test Facility in Crane, Indiana, to validate its VHF antenna array capability with clear line of sight, under dense foliage, underground, and under water. The demonstration from a 50-foot tower validated the satellite-to-sensor link budget and data rates. This capability could enable a new type of global connectivity to sense and track military assets across the globe while using low mass satellites.
Fibertek successfully completed its SBIR Phase 1 in FY 2023, delivering the design of an all-optical relay tailored to a free-space laser communication system in LEO. Following delivery of the prototype model, Fibertek was subsequently selected in FY 2023 for a Phase 2 SBIR award to build a space-qualified all-optical relay prototype.

"It's my opinion that when you're trying to innovate, when you're trying to be creative, the best way to do that is to open up the aperture of ideas. And I think small businesses have a tremendous role that they can play in helping provide some of those innovative creative capabilities that we can then leverage to build a full spectrum response to what our adversaries are trying to do."

U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, during his confirmation hearing for Chief of Space Operations