🎓 SBIR/STTR Award Intelligence Scraper

One sbir_award_record per award in a fiscal-year cohort: award title, awarding firm (SBC), topic code, award year, and the award page URL, from the public sbir.gov award search. Distinct from an NSF-only award watch: this is a cross-agency fiscal-year cohort.

One structured funding_intelligence per record from the robots-permitted sbir.gov HTML award search (cross-agency, all participating agencies). Public, logged-out, robots-honoured.

Output is one sbir_award_record row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one funding intelligence (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.05 per funding intelligence). Source: www.sbir.gov.

No login, no API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

Who buys this

Buyers usually search for SBIR awards or STTR awards.

• Grant consultants and research-development offices tracking SBIR awards.
• Universities, nonprofits and companies watching STTR awards relevant to their field.
• Analysts and journalists following where public funding goes.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run x1T2hXc0czgOocrOb on build 0.1.19 (2026-10-02), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

award_id	award_title	firm	topic_code	award_year	award_url
217902	Blinkly ODIN (Open-Source Data Integration for Navigation of the battl	BLINKLY, INC.	N252-109	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217902
217906	Social-Cyber Modeling and Simulation	INGENIA SERVICES INC	N252-110	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217906
217907	Dynamic Scheduler for Heterogeneous Multi-Tasking	GRAF RESEARCH CORPORATION	N252-111	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217907
217910	N252-112 - Generative Artificial Intelligence for Course and Content C	DIGNITAS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC	N252-112	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217910
217912	GENESIS: Generative AI for Educational Systems and Instructional Suppo	INFERLINK CORP	N252-112	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217912
217913	Modular, Optimized Real-time Processing Harness for Edge-Unit Schedule	DATASHAPES, INC.	N252-111	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217913
217917	Cryo-Compatible Electro-Optic Modulation Using Scalable Commercial TFL	MEMQ INC	N252-113	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217917
217918	Lithium Niobate In-Phase/Quadrature Modulator for High-Bandwidth Data	DIGITAL OPTICS TECHNOLOGIES INC	N252-113	2026	https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217918

The run finished with the status message: CAPPED: delivered 10 of 303 available source rows (maxRecords=10) — a buyer bound, not an outage. billable=10 [requested_cap=10, delivered=10]

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_type (string) — e.g. sbir_award_record
• award_id (string/null) — e.g. 217902
• award_title (string/null) — e.g. Blinkly ODIN (Open-Source Data Integration for Navigation of the battlespace)
• firm (string/null) — e.g. BLINKLY, INC.
• topic_code (string/null) — e.g. N252-109
• award_year (string/null) — e.g. 2026
• award_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217902
• source (string/null) — e.g. sbir-sttr-award-intelligence
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.sbir.gov/awards
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-10-02T16:24:38Z
• terminal (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

• record_type (string) — e.g. sbir_award_record
• award_id (string/null) — e.g. 199281
• award_title (string/null) — e.g. Transportable Blood Storage System
• firm (string/null) — e.g. DELTA DEVELOPMENT TEAM, INC
• topic_code (string/null) — e.g. DHA211-011
• award_year (string/null) — e.g. 2024
• award_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.sbir.gov/awards/199281
• source (string/null) — e.g. sbir-sttr-award-intelligence
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.sbir.gov/awards
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-23T16:29:38Z
• terminal (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

• record_type (string) — e.g. sbir_award_record
• award_id (string/null) — e.g. 199281
• award_title (string/null) — e.g. Transportable Blood Storage System
• firm (string/null) — e.g. DELTA DEVELOPMENT TEAM, INC
• topic_code (string/null) — e.g. DHA211-011
• award_year (string/null) — e.g. 2024
• award_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.sbir.gov/awards/199281
• source (string/null) — e.g. sbir-sttr-award-intelligence
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.sbir.gov/awards
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-17T17:49:28Z
• terminal (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

What you get

One funding_intelligence per entity, deduplicated on the source-native id. Fields the source does not publish for a row are honest null. A run_receipt row carries the source URL, any reported total, and the delivered/duplicate counts.

Every run also writes a RUN_RECEIPT record to its key-value store with the source checks it made and the counts it charged — diagnostics never land in the paid dataset.

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "scope": "2026",
  "maxRecords": 10
}

The sample run charged exactly: 1 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 10 × $0.05 funding_intelligence = $0.52 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed. If you leave maxRecords out, the run delivers at most 300 rows (the schema default); pass a number up to 500000 for a bigger export. An explicit value is always honoured up to that maximum.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "scope": "2026",
  "maxRecords": 5
}

Caps the run at 5 rows — about $0.27 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5 × $0.05). scope narrows what the source is asked for.

3. A full-size run

{
  "scope": "2026",
  "maxRecords": 5000
}

Up to 5000 rows — about $250.02 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5000 × $0.05) if the source has that many; maxRecords goes up to 500000.

4. A filtered run

{
  "scope": "2026",
  "maxRecords": 10,
  "fieldMatch": {
    "firm": "Physical Sciences Inc"
  }
}

FY2026 awards to one firm (sbir.gov's award search narrows by company, keywords and topic code before paging); the source applies this filter before paging and before the maxRecords cap, so a match deep in the dataset is found, the reconciled count is the matched count, and only delivered matches are billed. A confirmed no-match ends EMPTY_SELECTION with nothing charged.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run x1T2hXc0czgOocrOb, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_type": "sbir_award_record",
  "award_id": "217902",
  "award_title": "Blinkly ODIN (Open-Source Data Integration for Navigation of the battlespace)",
  "firm": "BLINKLY, INC.",
  "topic_code": "N252-109",
  "award_year": "2026",
  "award_url": "https://www.sbir.gov/awards/217902",
  "source": "sbir-sttr-award-intelligence",
  "release_date": null,
  "source_url": "https://www.sbir.gov/awards",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-02T16:24:38Z"
}

🔧 How it works

Source. The actor reads www.sbir.gov — endpoints: https://www.sbir.gov/awards. Public pages and feeds only; nothing behind a login.

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. robots.txt is read first and a disallowed path is never fetched. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent. Pacing: CRAWL_DELAY=1.0.

Charging. Each funding intelligence is charged at the moment it is pushed (funding_intelligence); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

🔧 How it works

🔧 How it works

How it behaves

Scope is a fiscal-year cohort (the scope input, e.g. 2024), fetched via the public award search with a year facet; an empty or blocked cohort fails loudly (blocked-with-zero). The token-gated JSON API is not used. maxRecords caps the count. Duplicates, outages, and schema drift charge nothing.

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Funding Intelligence (funding_intelligence)	$0.05	$0.045	$0.04	$0.0335

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 8 funding intelligences: $0.02 start + 8 × $0.05 = $0.42
• 25 funding intelligences: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.05 = $1.27
• 300 funding intelligences: $0.02 start + 300 × $0.05 = $15.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 1024 MB.

Yield on the sample run: CAPPED: delivered 10 of 303 available source rows (maxRecords=10) — a buyer bound, not an outage. billable=10 [requested_cap=10, delivered=10]. maxRecords is a hard ceiling on what is delivered and billed, never a target.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by www.sbir.gov. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, keeps to the source's robots rules (checked on every run), identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (www.sbir.gov) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How many rows can one run return?
A: Up to maxRecords (default 300). Raise the cap for a bigger run; you pay per delivered row.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other grant and research-funding scrapers actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers www.sbir.gov. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source (CRAWL_DELAY=1.0) and honours its robots rules; there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Status says CAPPED → your cap (maxRecords) was reached → raise it for a bigger run.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

🔗 Related Actors

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• UK 360Giving Grant Datasets Scraper — Scrape UK 360Giving published grant datasets: publisher, dataset, grants count and publication date. Every run returns the current records as a datas…
• UK 360Giving Funder Grants Scraper — Scrape UK grants by funder from 360Giving: recipient, amount, purpose and award date. Every run returns the current records as a dataset. Optional wa…
• UK Find a Grant Opportunities Scraper — Scrape UK Find a Grant funding opportunities: funder, title, amount, eligibility and closing date. Every run returns the current records as a dataset…
• 🏢 About NexGen Watch — NexGen Watch is a catalog of more than 300 public data actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

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