DSIP (Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal)

What is the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP)?

DSIP is the U.S. Department of Defense's single submission and topic-management portal for SBIR and STTR. Every DOD component — Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, DARPA, OSD, MDA, DLA, and the smaller component SBIR offices — publishes its topics and accepts proposals through DSIP. For small businesses pursuing DOD SBIR/STTR, DSIP is the operational center of gravity.

Definition

DSIP is the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal at dsip.dtic.mil, operated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It is the consolidated replacement for the older component-by-component submission sites that DOD used to run separately. Small businesses register a company profile, browse open and pre-release topics, ask topic-specific questions during the pre-release window, submit Phase I and Phase II proposals, and manage award correspondence inside DSIP.

Key Points

• One portal for all of DOD. Before DSIP consolidation, each DOD component ran its own submission site. Today, every Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, DARPA, OSD, MDA, and DLA SBIR/STTR topic flows through the same portal.
• Component-specific BAAs. While DSIP is unified, the individual components publish their own Broad Agency Announcements with their own pre-release, open, and close dates. A small business pursuing multiple components needs to track several BAA calendars in parallel.
• Pre-release and open windows. DSIP exposes the pre-release status of each topic. Pre-release is the window where direct TPOC contact is allowed. Once a topic opens, all questions move to the public Q&A inside DSIP.
• SAM.gov is a prerequisite. A small business cannot receive a DOD SBIR/STTR award without an active SAM.gov registration and a Unique Entity Identifier. Registration can take several weeks, so it must be in place well before submission deadlines.
• Direct to Phase II (D2P2). DSIP also handles DOD's Direct-to-Phase-II awards, where a company with prior non-SBIR R&D evidence can skip Phase I and propose directly into Phase II.

Practical Examples

1. Army SBIR Phase I submission. A small business targeting an Army open topic creates a DSIP account, completes the company profile, downloads the topic's BAA and instructions, drafts the Phase I proposal, uploads it through the DSIP submission flow before the deadline, and receives an automated confirmation when the package is logged.
2. Cross-component pursuit strategy. A dual-use technology company tracks Army, Navy, and DARPA pre-release windows in DSIP simultaneously. They schedule TPOC calls during each component's pre-release window and selectively submit on the two topics where the TPOC conversation revealed the strongest Phase III pull.
3. D2P2 application. A company with two prior NIH SBIR awards has built a working prototype but has never won DOD funding. They use DSIP's Direct-to-Phase-II mechanism, submit prior-work evidence, and pursue a larger first DOD award without going through Phase I first.