EPA opens its 2026 SBIR Phase I solicitation for environmental technology, closing 8 November

EPA opens its 2026 SBIR Phase I solicitation for environmental technology, closing 8 November

24 September 2026: The US Environmental Protection Agency opened its 2026 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I solicitation on 24 September 2026. Proposals must be submitted by 11:59pm Eastern time on 8 November 2026. EPA issues one SBIR solicitation a year, and this year's opened later than usual: the four previous Phase I calls all opened in June.

The eleven topics

EPA says proposals must respond to one of the specific topics in the solicitation:

• Clean and safe water: monitoring technologies for water reuse; treatment of PFAS in wastewater sewage sludge and biosolids; removal or destruction of PFAS in groundwater.
• Air quality: sensors to detect PFAS in environmental matrices (this topic also covers sensors for PFAS in water); technologies to monitor carbon monoxide.
• Circular economy and sustainable materials: preventing and recycling food waste; recovering critical minerals from lithium-ion batteries and safe battery recycling or reuse; reducing the impact of critical-mineral mining or extracting minerals from acid mine drainage.
• Safer chemicals: rubber anti-degradants of lower concern for health and the environment; improved lead test kits.

Money and timing

EPA's awards timeline describes Phase I as a six-month proof of concept worth $100,000, typically starting in early December. Phase II is a two-year development and commercialisation contract worth $400,000, and EPA offers a further commercialisation option of up to $100,000 in Phase II for companies that secure third-party investment. Awards are contracts, not grants.

Proposals are scored equally on technical merit, relevance to the topic and commercial potential. EPA advises against Phase I proposals that need human-subjects research, because review board approval can take 6 to 12 months.

Registration is the bottleneck

EPA warns that the registrations needed before submission can take 6 to 8 weeks, which is roughly the whole window. Applicants need an Employer Identification Number, an active SAM.gov registration set up for contracts (or all awards) with its Unique Entity Identifier, a FedConnect account (the portal EPA uses for submission) and an SBA Company Registry control ID.

What to do

• If your technology fits a topic, start the SAM.gov, FedConnect and SBA registrations this week; an existing SAM registration must be active and allow contract awards.
• Read the official solicitation on EPA's site rather than third-party copies; sbir.gov itself says its topic copies may not be the latest version.
• Map your proposal to exactly one topic and build the commercial case, which carries a third of the score.
• Submit through FedConnect before 11:59pm ET on 8 November 2026.

Sources

• US EPA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, 2026 Phase I Solicitation Now Open - 24 September 2026
• US EPA: How to Apply for an SBIR Contract (topics, registration, awards timeline; last updated 24 September 2026) - 24 September 2026
• US EPA: SBIR Funding Opportunities - 24 September 2026
• SBIR.gov: EPA topic "Air Quality", solicitation 68HERW26R0102 (open 24 September, close 8 November 2026) - 24 September 2026