The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded $9.7 million to 12 small businesses for 13 Phase II contracts through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
Initiated in 2004, the DHS S&T SBIR Program is a competitive contract awards program designed to increase the participation of innovative and creative U.S. small businesses in federal research and development initiatives and to increase private sector commercialization of SBIR-funded solutions.
The awards are based on the feasibility of technologies demonstrated in Phase 1, which completed in 2016. During the first phase, small businesses presented proposals of their technologies and any relevant testing. Each Phase II awardee received approximately $750,000 to develop a prototype.
Those awarded will develop technologies within a few key areas including blockchain, cybersecurity, IoT, and resiliency networks.
“Small businesses play a key role in developing effective and innovative solutions to pressing homeland security challenges,” said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology (Acting) Dr. Robert Griffin. “The SBIR program enables us to capture some of the best scientific thinking to find solutions to apply in the current threat landscape.”
The Phase II contracts were awarded to:
• BlockCypher (Redwood City, CA), Blockchain Platform for Multiple Blockchains, Applications, and Analytics
• BlueRISC Inc. (Amherst, MA), Cyber Attack Prediction for Situational Understanding and Preemptive Cyber Defense
• Card Smart Technologies (Basking Ridge, NJ), Composite Identity for High Assurance Remote Identity Proofing
• Digital Bazaar (Blacksburg, VA), Verifiable Claims and Fit-for-Purpose Decentralized Ledgers
• Evernym Inc. (Herriman, UT), Decentralized Key Management using Blockchain
• Evigia Systems, Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI), Wide-Area Flood Alert Sensor Network
• Inferlink Corp. (El Segundo, CA), OpenWatch: An Architecture for Scalable Resiliency Assessment
• McQ Inc. (Fredericksburg, VA), MEGASCOP: Multi Interface Secure Audio/Video Rebroadcasting (SAVR) System
• Oceanit Laboratories (Honolulu, HI), FIND (First responder INdoor Determination)
• Physical Optics Corp. (Torrance, CA), Real-time Flood Forecasting and Reporting
• Physical Optics Corp. (Torrance, CA), Real-time Information Contextual Correlation and Analysis Software System
• Progeny Systems Corp. (Manassas, VA), Internet of Things (IoT) Low-Cost Flood Inundation Sensor
• Red Balloon Security (New York, NY), Hybrid Prediction for Embedded Malware
