sbir-intelligence-mcp

The $4B/year federal innovation program, searchable by AI.

LICENSE

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What Is This?

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs distribute over $4 billion per year to American small businesses doing federally-funded R&D. Every award is public record — but the official search interface is antiquated, slow, and completely unusable by AI systems.

sbir-intelligence-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) actor that exposes the full SBIR/STTR award database — sourced from USASpending.gov — as structured, AI-queryable tools. Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, or any MCP-compatible AI assistant can now search, filter, analyze, and summarize federal innovation awards in natural language.

Phase I awards (proof-of-concept, up to $275K), Phase II awards (prototype development, up to $1.85M), and Phase III (commercialization) are all searchable. Filter by agency, keyword, award amount, date range, state, or company name. Get structured JSON results you can pipe directly into analysis workflows.

This is not a scraper. All data is sourced from the official USASpending.gov public API — the same authoritative source used by federal procurement officers and Congressional oversight staff.

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Who Uses This?

User Type	Pain They Have Today	How This Solves It
GovCon BD Teams	Manual SBIR research takes hours per competitor	Search competitors' award history in seconds; identify white space
Venture Capital Firms	Deep-tech deal flow from gov R&D is invisible	Find $1M+ Phase II companies before they raise VC rounds
Grant Writers & Consultants	Benchmarking prior awards requires manual USASpending navigation	Pull 50 comparable awards in one query to calibrate proposal budgets
Investigative Journalists	Tracking federal R&D spending by agency/topic is painful	Cross-agency keyword searches with amount filtering
University Tech Transfer Offices	Finding STTR partner companies requires manual research	Filter STTR awards by technology area and institutional partner
M&A Analysts	Assessing a target company's government contract history	Pull full award history by company name or EIN
Policy Researchers	Tracking how R&D investment shifts by administration	Time-series queries across agencies and technology domains
Defense Contractors	Identifying small business subcontract candidates	Search by agency + tech area + Phase to find proven performers

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Feature Overview

Feature	Detail
Phase I Search	Awards up to $275K; proof-of-concept stage
Phase II Search	Awards up to $1.85M; prototype development stage
Phase III Search	Commercialization awards; no statutory cap
Agency Filter	All 11 participating agencies: DoD, NIH, NSF, NASA, DOE, EPA, USDA, DHS, ED, HHS, DOT
Keyword Search	Full-text search across award titles and abstracts
Amount Range	Min/max dollar filter
Date Range	Award start and end date filtering
State Filter	Filter by awardee state
Company Name Search	Exact or fuzzy company name matching
Structured Output	JSON with company name, EIN, award amount, agency, phase, abstract, DUNS
Batch Mode	Process hundreds of queries via Apify dataset input
MCP Mode	Real-time tool calls from any MCP-compatible AI assistant
Result Pagination	Up to 1,000 results per query with cursor support

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Quick Start

MCP Mode (Claude Desktop / AI Assistants)

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sbir-intelligence": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@apify/mcp-client",
        "--actor-id",
        "your-username/sbir-intelligence-mcp",
        "--token",
        "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then ask Claude:

"Find all Phase II SBIR awards from NIH related to CRISPR gene editing since 2020, show me the companies and award amounts."

Batch Mode (Apify Platform)

{
  "mode": "batch",
  "queries": [
    {
      "keyword": "machine learning autonomous systems",
      "agency": "DoD",
      "phase": "II",
      "minAmount": 500000,
      "maxAmount": 1850000,
      "dateFrom": "2022-01-01",
      "dateTo": "2024-12-31"
    }
  ]
}

API Mode

curl -X POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/your-username~sbir-intelligence-mcp/run-sync \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "search",
    "keyword": "quantum computing",
    "agency": "NSF",
    "phase": "I",
    "maxResults": 50
  }'

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MCP Tools Reference

search_sbir_awards

Search the SBIR/STTR award database with flexible filters.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
keyword	string	No	Full-text search across title and abstract
agency	string	No	Agency code: DoD, NIH, NSF, NASA, DOE, EPA, USDA, DHS, ED, HHS, DOT
phase	string	No	I, II, or III
minAmount	number	No	Minimum award amount in USD
maxAmount	number	No	Maximum award amount in USD
dateFrom	string	No	Award start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	string	No	Award end date (YYYY-MM-DD)
state	string	No	Two-letter state code (e.g., CA, TX)
companyName	string	No	Company name (partial match supported)
maxResults	integer	No	Maximum results to return (default: 50, max: 1000)

Response fields:

{
  "awards": [
    {
      "awardId": "2023-NIH-12345",
      "companyName": "Quantum Genomics Inc.",
      "ein": "84-1234567",
      "dunsNumber": "123456789",
      "state": "CA",
      "city": "San Diego",
      "agency": "NIH",
      "phase": "II",
      "awardAmount": 1750000,
      "awardDate": "2023-03-15",
      "projectEndDate": "2025-03-14",
      "title": "Novel CRISPR Delivery Mechanism for Rare Disease Targets",
      "abstract": "This Phase II award continues development of...",
      "topicCode": "NIAID-003",
      "solicitationYear": 2022,
      "programOfficer": "Dr. Jane Smith"
    }
  ],
  "totalCount": 847,
  "queryMetadata": {
    "executedAt": "2024-01-15T14:23:11Z",
    "dataSource": "USASpending.gov",
    "apiVersion": "v2"
  }
}

get_company_award_history

Retrieve complete SBIR/STTR award history for a specific company.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
companyName	string	Yes	Company name to look up
ein	string	No	EIN for exact matching
includePhases	array	No	Which phases to include (default: all)

get_agency_statistics

Get aggregate statistics for an agency's SBIR/STTR program.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
agency	string	Yes	Agency code
year	integer	No	Fiscal year (default: current)
breakdown	string	No	state, phase, topic, or size

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Use Case Recipes

Recipe 1: VC Deal Flow — Find Pre-VC Deep-Tech Companies

The insight: Phase II SBIR companies ($750K–$1.85M) have federally validated technology but are often pre-revenue and invisible to traditional VC deal flow.

Query sequence:

1. search_sbir_awards(agency="NIH", phase="II", keyword="AI diagnostics", dateFrom="2022-01-01", minAmount=1000000)
2. For each result: get_company_award_history(companyName=result.companyName)
3. Flag companies with Phase I → Phase II progression (validated tech) but no Phase III (pre-commercialization)

Claude prompt to use:

"Search for NIH Phase II SBIR awards in AI diagnostics since 2022 with awards over $1M. For the top 10 companies, pull their full award history and tell me which ones have never received Phase III funding — those are my target companies."

Recipe 2: GovCon Competitive Intelligence

The insight: Your competitors' SBIR award abstracts are public record and contain their entire technology roadmap.

Query:

search_sbir_awards(companyName="Palantir", agency="DoD", phase="II")

Claude prompt:

"Pull all DoD SBIR Phase II awards for the following companies: [list competitors]. Summarize the technology areas each is investing in and flag any overlaps with our current product roadmap."

Recipe 3: Grant Writer Budget Benchmarking

The insight: Knowing the range of prior awards for your technology area lets you calibrate your budget narrative precisely.

Query:

search_sbir_awards(keyword="autonomous underwater vehicle", phase="II", agency="DoD", dateFrom="2020-01-01")

Claude prompt:

"I'm writing a Phase II SBIR proposal for an autonomous underwater vehicle for mine detection. Pull all similar awards from DoD since 2020 and give me: the median award amount, the range, the most common budget period, and the top 3 program offices awarding in this space."

Recipe 4: Journalist — Track Federal AI Investment

Query:

search_sbir_awards(keyword="large language model", dateFrom="2022-01-01", maxResults=500)

Claude prompt:

"Search all SBIR/STTR agencies for awards mentioning 'large language model' or 'LLM' since 2022. Show me total dollars awarded by agency, year-over-year growth, and the top 10 award recipients by total dollars."

Recipe 5: University Tech Transfer — STTR Partner Discovery

Query:

search_sbir_awards(keyword="mRNA vaccine delivery", phase="I", dateFrom="2021-01-01", maxResults=100)

Claude prompt:

"Find STTR Phase I awards related to mRNA vaccine delivery. STTR requires a research institution partner — I need to find small companies actively partnering with universities in this space so I can pitch our tech transfer office as a partner."

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Claude Desktop Configuration

Full configuration block for claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sbir-intelligence": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@apify/mcp-client",
        "--actor-id",
        "your-username/sbir-intelligence-mcp",
        "--token",
        "apify_api_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
      ],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "apify_api_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verification: After restarting Claude Desktop, ask: "What SBIR tools do you have available?" Claude should list search_sbir_awards, get_company_award_history, and get_agency_statistics.

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Input Schema (Full)

{
  "mode": {
    "type": "string",
    "enum": ["search", "company_history", "agency_stats", "batch"],
    "description": "Operating mode",
    "default": "search"
  },
  "keyword": {
    "type": "string",
    "description": "Full-text search term for award title and abstract"
  },
  "agency": {
    "type": "string",
    "enum": ["DoD", "NIH", "NSF", "NASA", "DOE", "EPA", "USDA", "DHS", "ED", "HHS", "DOT"],
    "description": "Participating SBIR agency"
  },
  "phase": {
    "type": "string",
    "enum": ["I", "II", "III"],
    "description": "SBIR/STTR phase"
  },
  "minAmount": {
    "type": "number",
    "description": "Minimum award amount in USD",
    "minimum": 0
  },
  "maxAmount": {
    "type": "number",
    "description": "Maximum award amount in USD",
    "maximum": 10000000
  },
  "dateFrom": {
    "type": "string",
    "format": "date",
    "description": "Award date range start (YYYY-MM-DD)"
  },
  "dateTo": {
    "type": "string",
    "format": "date",
    "description": "Award date range end (YYYY-MM-DD)"
  },
  "state": {
    "type": "string",
    "minLength": 2,
    "maxLength": 2,
    "description": "Two-letter US state code"
  },
  "companyName": {
    "type": "string",
    "description": "Company name (partial match supported)"
  },
  "maxResults": {
    "type": "integer",
    "minimum": 1,
    "maximum": 1000,
    "default": 50,
    "description": "Maximum number of results to return"
  },
  "queries": {
    "type": "array",
    "description": "Array of query objects for batch mode",
    "items": {
      "type": "object"
    }
  }
}

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Pricing & Usage

Tier	Price	Includes
Free	$0	100 results/month
Starter	$9/month	5,000 results/month
Professional	$49/month	50,000 results/month + batch
Enterprise	$199/month	Unlimited + dedicated support

All tiers include MCP compatibility. Batch mode available on Professional and above.

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Data Source & Freshness

• Primary source: USASpending.gov Award Search API (v2)
• Data authority: US Treasury Department / FPDS
• Update frequency: Awards typically appear within 30–90 days of execution
• Historical coverage: Awards dating back to 1983
• Total awards in database: 200,000+ active and historical records

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Technical Notes

• Rate limiting: USASpending.gov enforces per-IP rate limits; this actor implements exponential backoff and request queuing automatically
• Abstract text is included for all awards where available (some older records have redacted abstracts)
• STTR awards are included in all queries unless explicitly filtered out
• The dunsNumber field is being phased out in favor of UEI (Unique Entity Identifier) by SAM.gov; both are returned where available
• SSL verification is enforced; no data is cached beyond the actor run lifetime

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Support & Issues

• GitHub Issues: github.com/your-username/sbir-intelligence-mcp
• Apify Discord: #actor-support channel
• Email: support@your-domain.com
• Response SLA: Business day replies for Professional+; best-effort for free tier

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Data sourced from USASpending.gov. Not affiliated with the US government or SBA SBIR program.