ARPA-H and DARPA Funding for Companies

ARPA-H and DARPA fund companies outside the SBIR and STTR programs, through solicitations that are open to any responsible source and that start with a short document rather than a full proposal. ARPA-H calls its solicitation an Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO) and asks for a solution summary first; DARPA's office-wide announcements and program solicitations ask for an abstract or executive summary first. I write the summary, the abstract and the proposal that follows, with the agency's own solicitation as the rulebook.

Who this fits and who it does not

ARPA-H's submission guidance says that all responsible sources capable of satisfying the government's needs are eligible, including academia, nonprofit organizations, for-profit entities, hospitals, community health centers, non-federal research centers, researchers and individuals, and that small businesses with the expertise to conduct innovative R&D are welcome to apply to any opportunity. DARPA's office-wide solicitations use the same formula: all responsible sources, including both US and non-US sources, may submit a proposal, with no portion set aside for small business.

• It fits a company of any size with a technical idea that matches an ARPA-H program or mission office area, or a DARPA office's interests, and the capacity to run a milestone based project.

• Foreign entities: ARPA-H can fund a foreign entity but prioritizes work conducted in the US, and makes no award to an entity organized under the laws of China, Russia, Iran or North Korea. DARPA allows non-US participation subject to nondisclosure, security and export control rules, and some program solicitations state that non-US organizations cannot participate at all.

• It does not fit federally funded research and development centers or government entities, which both agencies exclude or allow only by exception, nor a contractor currently providing support services to ARPA-H.

• Some ARPA-H solicitations narrow the field, for example to early career principal investigators within eight years of a terminal degree or to US institutions only; each ISO states its own rule.

How ARPA-H funding works

ARPA-H says it is not a grant making agency: it primarily uses other transactions and cooperative agreements for R&D, with funds typically disbursed after the performer completes milestones. Program opportunities are announced as ISOs open for a limited time, usually with a program budget shared across performers, and each mission office runs a Mission Office ISO that accepts solution summaries on a rolling basis for projects that fit ARPA-H's interests but fall outside a specific program. Most opportunities require a solution summary before a proposal; ARPA-H returns written feedback that at a minimum encourages or discourages a proposal, and it strongly recommends proposing only after an encouraged summary. Some programs replace the written proposal with a pitch package. After proposal review a proposer is told it is selected for negotiation, not selected, or partially selected. Submissions go through the ARPA-H Solutions portal and every solicitation requires a unique entity identifier.

How DARPA funding works

DARPA's primary vehicle is the Broad Agency Announcement, and each of its six technical offices (Biological Technologies, Defense Sciences, Information Processing Techniques, Multi X, Strategic Technology and Tactical Technology) maintains an office-wide solicitation, refreshed annually, for ideas that fall outside current programs. In 2026 several offices issue that solicitation as a program solicitation under other transaction authority rather than as a Broad Agency Announcement; the process is the same. A proposer must submit an abstract or executive summary first, DARPA aims to respond within a stated number of days, and a full proposal is submitted only after an invitation or an encourage letter; a proposal submitted without the preceding abstract is treated as non-conforming. Program solicitations for specific efforts follow the same abstract first pattern, sometimes with an oral proposal instead of a written one. Awards can be procurement contracts, cooperative agreements, other transactions for research or for prototypes, with cost sharing required under some prototype agreements for a traditional defense contractor that is not working with a nontraditional one.

How this differs from SBIR and STTR

Both agencies also run SBIR and STTR, and they keep those tracks separate. ARPA-H's small business program issues contracts, with eligibility limited to small businesses with no more than 500 employees, more than 50% owned by US citizens or another US small business, performing all work in the US. DARPA releases SBIR and STTR topics monthly through the Department of War's topic releases, submitted through the DSIP portal and managed by its Small Business Programs Office. The ISO and office-wide tracks differ in four ways: they are open to any size of company and to universities and nonprofits; they start with a summary or abstract rather than a full proposal; the award is usually an other transaction or cooperative agreement rather than an SBIR contract; and the budget is set by the project and the program rather than by an SBIR phase ceiling. A company that fails the SBIR ownership or size test, or that needs more than a Phase I budget, can still propose here.

My read

• The summary or abstract is the real competition. Both agencies use it to decide who is invited, so I write it as a complete argument: the problem, the technical approach, why it is different, the team and a credible first budget.

• Program fit beats novelty. An ARPA-H program ISO states the metrics it wants; a DARPA office page states its focus areas. The document has to speak that language.

• Milestones drive payment. A plan with measurable, dated milestones is both the proposal's backbone and the award's payment schedule.

• Mission Office ISOs are patient and slow; ARPA-H says it reviews program ISO submissions faster. A company with a program match should take the program route.

Open ARPA-H ISOs and DARPA office-wide solicitations

The next deadline for each solicitation is usually the solution summary or abstract.

Frequently asked questions

Can a company get an ARPA-H grant?

ARPA-H states that it does not provide grants to support research; its awards are primarily other transactions and cooperative agreements, and its small business awards are contracts.

Does DARPA set aside awards for small businesses?

Not in its office-wide solicitations, which encourage small businesses to propose but state that no portion is set aside. Set-asides exist only in DARPA's SBIR and STTR topics.

Can a US subsidiary of a foreign company apply?

Both agencies accept non-US participation under their security and export rules, with ARPA-H prioritizing work done in the US and excluding entities organized in four named countries. Individual solicitations can exclude non-US organizations outright, so the solicitation text decides.

What does the consultant do on an ARPA-H or DARPA submission?

The solution summary or abstract, the response to the agency's feedback, the full proposal or pitch package with its milestone plan and budget, and the registrations in SAM.gov and the agency portal.