Leveraging Phase III SBIR Sole Source Awards to Meet Fiscal Year Ends Requirements

January 01, 2024

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The ups and downs in federal government contracting revolve around what is known as the “fiscal year end” or end of a given public organization’s fiscal year. The federal year end is September 30. Tax-supported governments generally follow the classic “spend it or lose it” budgeting principle that states the unused funds remaining may end up being cut in the next budget cycle.

The seasonal cycle means that toward the end of the fiscal year, a larger number of decisions will be made about authorizing new bids or RFPs (request for proposals). They will either 1) be awarded and paid for out of the remaining annual budget, or 2) fully or partly be paid out of the following year’s budget, but the government had to wait until this point in the current fiscal year before there would be enough visibility into the finances of the coming year to justify moving forward.

Information Technology (IT) opportunities stemming from Research and Development (R&D) efforts are ideal uses of End of Fiscal year funding. For example, the federal R&D budget typically prioritizes investments for artificial intelligence, quantum information sciences, biotechnology, and advanced communication networks.

Phase III SBIR sole source contracts are ideal vehicles to enable government agencies and the DOD to redirect resources from legacy systems to priority technologies, including cybersecurity and cloud computing. Below is how we've made the process easier:

SBIR Phase III Contract Generation Tool - Our tool leverages Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models to automatically generate the paperwork needed for sole source Phase III SBIR contracts. The tool itself leverages Generative AI (GAI) and Robotic Process Automation developed under a National Science Foundation SBIR
Eight Step Process for Rapid Awards - Our proven process for initiating a new Phase III SBIR contract. Our fastest recorded award was completed in one day
Forward Edge-AI's Market Survey - The market survey is used to determine if Forward Edge-AI's Phase I/II SBIRs are eligible for a new Phase III sole source contract
Templates - No justification is required for a Phase III Sole Source contract. However, the government is required to document the findings of its market survey (above). The templates are examples of memorandums for the record used by various agencies

The fiscal year affects the planning and operations of federal government procurement at all agencies. Government customers are busier in the final few months and may have less time for engaging with firms trying to do outreach.

Finally, the beginning of the fiscal year can be useful for identifying priorities for the coming months. Knowing how these cycles work, can enable agencies to establish SBIR Phase III Blanket Purchase Agreements, Basic Ordering Agreements, and other Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type vehicles and build winning relationships between the government and their industry partners.

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