# SBIR/STTR Awards Scraper (`talcoe/sbir-awards`) Actor

Search SBIR and STTR small business innovation awards by agency, phase, state and keyword, sourced from SBIR.gov's official award dataset, priced per result.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/talcoe/sbir-awards.md
- **Developed by:** [M Usama](https://apify.com/talcoe) (community)
- **Categories:** Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What does SBIR/STTR Awards Scraper do?

It returns SBIR and STTR small business innovation research awards straight from SBIR.gov's official award dataset: company, award title, agency, branch, phase, program, award year and amount, dates, location, topic and solicitation numbers, principal investigator and contact details, and the full abstract. Filter by keyword, agency, phase, state and award year so you only pay for the awards you actually want. Useful for finding recently funded small businesses to sell to or partner with, tracking which agencies and topics are funding a technology area, and building a local copy of award history without downloading the entire multi hundred megabyte government export yourself.

### Data source

SBIR.gov publishes a full bulk CSV export of every SBIR/STTR award ever made, sorted newest first (`https://data.www.sbir.gov/awarddatapublic/award_data.csv`); the Actor streams a byte range from the front of that file rather than the JSON API, since SBIR.gov's own site currently flags the API as under maintenance and it returns 403 Forbidden on every request.

### Why use it?

- Lead generation: find small businesses that just won federal R\&D funding in your industry.
- Market research: see which agencies and topic codes are funding a technology area, and how award sizes trend over time.
- Competitive intelligence: track a competitor's or partner's full SBIR/STTR award history.
- Replaces manually paging through sbir.gov's search UI or writing your own CSV range fetcher against a 350+ MB file.

### How to use it

1. Open the Actor and set the filters (keywords, agency, phase, state, since year).
2. Click Start. Download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.
3. Add a Schedule and an Integration (Slack, Google Sheets, webhook) to get newly added awards automatically.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `keywords` | Space separated terms matched against the award title and abstract, case insensitive, all terms required. Blank means no keyword filter. |
| `agency` | Only return awards from this agency. Blank means any agency. |
| `state` | Two letter US state code of the awardee company, e.g. CA. Blank means all states. |
| `phase` | Phase I or Phase II. Blank means any phase. |
| `sinceYear` | Only return awards from this year or later. The dataset is scanned newest first, so this also bounds how far back the run searches. |
| `maxResults` | Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Not required: the award dataset is a public file download, not a protected page. |

Example input:

```json
{
    "keywords": "artificial intelligence",
    "agency": "",
    "state": "",
    "phase": "",
    "sinceYear": 2023,
    "maxResults": 100
}
```

### Output

Every record has the same shape:

```json
{
    "id": "24.1 DHS241-002-0076-I:70RSAT24C00000033",
    "company": "AGILE DATA DECISIONS, INC.",
    "awardTitle": "AI-DLCS: Artificial Intelligence for Data Labeling and Curation at Scale",
    "agency": "Department of Homeland Security",
    "branch": null,
    "phase": "Phase I",
    "program": "SBIR",
    "awardYear": 2024,
    "awardAmount": 171433,
    "proposalAwardDate": "2024-05-07",
    "contractEndDate": "2024-10-06",
    "agencyTrackingNumber": "24.1 DHS241-002-0076-I",
    "contract": "70RSAT24C00000033",
    "solicitationNumber": "24.1",
    "topicCode": "DHS241-002",
    "city": "Houston",
    "state": "TX",
    "companyWebsite": "http://agiledd.ai",
    "numberEmployees": 6,
    "piName": "Amit Juneja",
    "contactEmail": "amit.juneja@agiledd.com",
    "abstract": "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grapples with vast and diverse datasets collected daily...",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-09-23T08:48:52.154Z"
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `id` | Stable key (agency tracking number plus contract number, or a hash), safe for deduplication between runs |
| `company` / `companyWebsite` | Awardee small business and its site, when published |
| `awardTitle` / `abstract` | What the award funds |
| `agency` / `branch` | Awarding agency and sub branch (e.g. Department of Defense / Navy) |
| `phase` / `program` | Phase I or II; SBIR or STTR |
| `awardYear` / `awardAmount` | Year the award was made and the dollar amount |
| `proposalAwardDate` / `contractEndDate` | ISO dates |
| `solicitationNumber` / `topicCode` | Which solicitation and topic the award responds to |
| `city` / `state` / `zip` | Awardee location |
| `piName` / `contactName` / `contactEmail` | Principal investigator and business point of contact |
| `hubZoneOwned` / `womenOwned` / `sociallyEconomicallyDisadvantaged` | Ownership flags as published by SBIR.gov |

### Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee when a run starts, then a fixed price per result returned. You only pay for records that pass your filters. Set `maxResults` to cap any run.

### Limitations

- Covers awards only; SBIR.gov's open solicitations/topics API is currently down (see "Data source"), so open solicitations are not included.
- SBIR.gov does not publish a per award permalink, so there is no `url` field; use `agencyTrackingNumber` or `contract` to look an award up on sbir.gov.
- The bulk export lags live awards by weeks to months, matching SBIR.gov's own publishing schedule, not a scraping delay.

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** The Actor downloads a dataset SBIR.gov publishes for public download on its Data Resources page and stores only business information published for that purpose. You are responsible for how you use the data.

**Something is missing or broken?** Open an issue in the Issues tab; response time is usually under a day.

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

Space separated terms matched against the award title and abstract, case insensitive, all terms required. Leave blank for no keyword filter.

## `agency` (type: `string`):

Only return awards from this agency. Leave as Any agency for no filter.

## `state` (type: `string`):

Two letter US state code of the awardee company, e.g. CA. Leave blank for all states.

## `phase` (type: `string`):

Only return awards of this phase. Leave as Any phase for no filter.

## `sinceYear` (type: `integer`):

Only return awards from this year or later. The dataset is scanned newest first, so this also bounds how far back the run searches.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Not required for this Actor: the award dataset is a public file download, not a protected page.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": "artificial intelligence",
  "agency": "",
  "state": "",
  "phase": "",
  "sinceYear": 2023,
  "maxResults": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keywords": "artificial intelligence",
    "agency": "",
    "state": "",
    "phase": "",
    "sinceYear": 2023,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("talcoe/sbir-awards").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "keywords": "artificial intelligence",
    "agency": "",
    "state": "",
    "phase": "",
    "sinceYear": 2023,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("talcoe/sbir-awards").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keywords": "artificial intelligence",
  "agency": "",
  "state": "",
  "phase": "",
  "sinceYear": 2023,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call talcoe/sbir-awards --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,talcoe/sbir-awards"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/CzPVtwPpQxBudTQ1B/builds/gbSVmXLs7HI3mDD2C/openapi.json