SBIR Phase III,
without the jargon.
Plain-English answers to the questions Phase II awardees actually ask — sole-source authority, data rights, DEC statements, and the contracting mechanics that turn innovation into a signed contract.
What Do I Do With My SBIR Phase II? A Field Guide for the Awkward In-Between
You have a Phase II SBIR award. The work is winding down. Nobody told you what comes next. Here's the honest map — what Phase III actually is, what your options are, and how to keep your technology alive.
ReadIs a Phase III SBIR Contract Competed? (No — Here's Why It's Sole Source.)
Phase III SBIR awards are not competed. The SBIR statute gives federal agencies the authority to sole-source Phase III contracts to the original Phase I/II awardee. Here's the rule and the rationale.
ReadDo You Need a J&A for a Phase III SBIR Sole Source? (No — And Here's What You Actually Need.)
Contracting officers often default to a Justification & Approval document for sole-source awards. A Phase III SBIR doesn't require one. The statutory authority is its own justification.
ReadPhase III SBIR Data Rights: Your 20-Year Protection, Explained
SBIR data rights carry forward into Phase III and last for 20 years from the date of the original Phase I/II award. The 2024 DFARS final rule clarified what this means in practice.
ReadPhase II vs. Phase III SBIR: What Actually Changes Between Them
Phase II finishes a prototype. Phase III commercializes it. The contracting mechanics are completely different — different authority, different funding source, different rules.
ReadCross-Agency Phase III SBIR: When a Different Agency Can Buy Your Technology
Any federal agency can issue a Phase III award based on prior SBIR work from another agency. This unlocks transition pathways that are not obvious to most awardees.
ReadThe SBIR Valley of Death — And How to Get Through It
Most SBIR-funded technologies never make it from Phase II to Phase III. The reasons are predictable. The way through is to line up the transition customer and the funding mechanism before Phase II ends.
ReadHow to Expand Your SBIR Portfolio: Turning One Award Into a Pipeline
A single Phase III is a transaction. A portfolio of SBIR work across agencies is a business. The expansion strategy is more about acquisition strategy than about more proposals.
ReadLessons From SBIR Transitions: What We've Learned Helping Companies Get to Phase III
Across the Phase III transitions we've supported, a small number of patterns repeat. The companies that get to a signed contract do specific things early. The ones that don't, miss the same things.
ReadWhat to Avoid in SBIR Pursuit: The Mistakes That Kill Phase III Transitions
Some Phase III pursuits die for technical reasons. Most die for procedural ones. These are the avoidable mistakes we see most often, and the cheap moves that prevent them.
ReadThe two long-form references most awardees use to brief their contracting officer.
Phase III SBIR Sole-Source Authority — The Definitive Page
The statutory basis, the contract-file documentation, the FAR/DFARS references, and the answer to "do I need a J&A?"
What the 2026 SBIR Reauthorization (S.3971) Changed for Phase III
Signed April 13, 2026. New CO training mandates, foreign-risk provisions, and the parts of Phase III that did not change.
Reading isn't a transition plan.
If you have a Phase II that's winding down, or a contracting officer who needs to be briefed, a 30-minute call gets faster than a week of reading.
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