Army selects 20 small businesses, research partners for tech development

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — The U.S. Army selected 20 small businesses and their nonprofit research institution partners to receive 22 Small Business Technology Transfer, or STTR Phase I contracts to develop technologies to address military challenges.

The $166,500, three-month contract awards will conduct feasibility studies to determine the scientific, technical and commercial merit of the concepts.

“We’re excited about the potential of these awardees to provide game-changing technologies addressing key issues for the Army,” said Michael Caccuitto, Army STTR portfolio director. “We have accelerated the STTR process so that successful projects will more quickly move on to developing a prototype and then transition to an acquisition effort to be put in the hands of the warfighter.”

The awardees provided proposals in seven categories important to the Army, including interference and jamming of high frequency radios, position navigation without GPS, phased-array antennas for extremely high-frequency satellite communications, millimeter waveforms for tactical networking, edge sensor processing, adaptable tactical communications (advanced Soldier radios) and standoff electronic denial (disrupting, disabling or destroying the electronics on a remote target).

When Phase I is complete, the Army anticipates funding one project in each of the seven topics for STTR Phase II. Phase II awardees receive a maximum of $1,100,000 for a period between six and eighteen months during which they conduct a major research and development effort, culminating in a well-defined deliverable prototype.

Congress established the STTR program in 1992 to provide small businesses and research institutions with opportunities to participate in government sponsored research and development. The program requires the small business to collaborate with a non-profit research institution, typically a university or federal laboratory.

The Army evaluated and chose the 22 winning proposals from among 88 proposals. Many of those proposals were submitted as a result of the first- Army STTR Industry Day, Sept. 10, 2019 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Friday Center.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory hosted close to 150 small businesses and research institutions and provided attendees the opportunity to learn how to participate in the Army STTR program and network for strong partnerships.

CCDC ARL scientists from the Army Research Office and active-duty Soldiers provided participants with detailed insight into the seven special topics solicited for the program.

The Army STTR program invests in all Army modernization priorities via nine participating CCDC and Army science and technology centers.

View list of awardees at https://www.armysbir.army.mil/awards/sttr_phase_I_recent. The Army selected MaXentric Technologies LLC, an advanced research, development, and consulting company in New Jersey, in three topic areas.

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