Department of Education Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct to Phase II 2022

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) anticipates the release of the 2022 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program – Direct to Phase II solicitation on or about December 1, 2021.

The purpose of the SBIR program is to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector, strengthen the role of small businesses in meeting the Department research/research and development (R/R&D) needs, increase the commercial potential of the Department-supported research results, and improve the return on investment from Federally-funded research for economic and social benefits to the Nation.

The 2019 Small Business Administration (SBA) SBIR Policy Directive provides authorization to three agencies to make Direct to Phase II awards, including the Department of Education. Direct to Phase II awards bypass the requirement that offerors receive an award for the Phase I ED/IES SBIR award to develop and test a prototype of a new education technology product. Projects should be ready, existing evidence-based educational technology products and innovations for use at scale in education and special education settings and have a plan for commercialization. Projects funded through this solicitation are intended to result in the successful transition of existing evidence-supported innovations to practice through the dissemination of scalable education technology products that are sustainable over time.

Phase II is the principal R/R&D effort. It requires a more comprehensive plan that outlines the effort in detail and describes the commercial potential of the product or tool. Awards are for periods up to two (2) years in amounts up to $1,000,000. Firms with strong R/R&D capabilities in education technology products in the priority areas listed are encouraged to participate. The 2022 priority area is:

Projects to Develop New Education Technology Products to Ready Existing Evidence-Based Innovations for Use at Scale in Education or Special Education Settings, and to Plan for Commercialization.

CRITICAL NOTE: Proposals in response to this Direct to Phase II solicitation are only permitted for projects that focus on readying existing evidence-based innovations for scale that were originally created by researchers at universities (or academic institutions) or researchers at non-profit education research organizations.

Proposals for projects to ready existing evidence-based innovations for use at scale originally created by developers at small businesses are not permitted in response to this solicitation. Such projects may be appropriate for submission under ED/IES SBIR’s 2022 Phase I solicitation #91990022R0001.

Note: This solicitation notice is not for eligible small business firms who received a 2021 Phase I award From the Department’s SBIR Program. Those 2021 Phase I award winners will be contacted directly to apply for a 2022 Phase II award under a different solicitation.

This notice is a request for proposals at this time. Interested parties should continue to monitor this posting for updates.

For more information about the Department’s SBIR program, please see: www.ies.ed.gov/sbir.

Please note that due to an office transition, the primary means of communication with Department personnel should be via email. The listed phone numbers may not be active or may change in the future.