NGA SBIR OSW26BZ06-DV033: Agentic AI Based Cognitive Radar for GEOINT Mission
Quick Answer
OSW26BZ06-DV033 is a Direct to Phase II SBIR topic from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency under the 2026 SBIR Broad Agency Announcement, Release 6. Phase I proposals are not accepted. NGA wants a radar that senses its own operating environment and decides, without a human in the loop, what waveform to transmit: which frequency, which bandwidth, which pulse repetition frequency. The point is resilience, keeping GEOINT collection working when an adversary is actively trying to deny it. The award must not exceed $1,500,000 for up to a 24-month period of performance, and the technical volume runs to 40 pages. The topic opens September 23, 2026 and closes October 21, 2026 through the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal.
Before anything technical, understand what makes an NGA SBIR different from every other component in this cycle. NGA is a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community, and this work is classified. The instructions state that all contractor personnel shall possess a current Top Secret personnel security clearance and be eligible for favorable NGA adjudication for Sensitive Compartmented Information access. Contractors are subject to counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination. Your Key Personnel section must list the clearance level held by each person. Your Facilities section must state your Facility Clearance Level, safeguarding level, CAGE code, and physical addresses. And NGA adds an evaluation criterion beyond the standard ones: your ability to perform controlled work, meaning CUI and classified, is part of your technical evaluation score.
If your company does not hold a facility clearance and cleared staff, or does not have a credible plan and a sponsor for getting them, this topic is not accessible to you regardless of how good your radar work is. That is the honest first filter.
Two other structural notes. The offeror shall not propose option periods. And the technical volume is 40 pages, twenty for feasibility and twenty for the Phase II proposal, which is by far the most generous page allowance in the 2026 cycle and the largest feasibility allowance of any component.
Topic At a Glance
Topic number: OSW26BZ06-DV033
Title: Agentic AI Based Cognitive Radar for GEOINT Mission
Agency: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a Department of War combat support agency and a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community
Solicitation: NGA 2026 SBIR Broad Agency Announcement, Release 6, Proposal Submission Instructions
Program type: Direct to Phase II only. This topic is accepting Direct to Phase II proposals only
Award: must not exceed $1,500,000
Period of performance: up to 24 months
Options: the offeror shall not propose option periods
Technical volume: 40 pages maximum, consisting of Part 1 Phase I Justification at 20 pages maximum and Part 2 Phase II Technical Proposal at 20 pages maximum. Pages in excess will not be considered. Number all pages consecutively
Component Technology Priority Areas: Integrated Sensing and Cyber, Trusted AI and Autonomy, Integrated Network Systems-of-Systems
Projected CMMC level requirement: Level 2 (Self)
Export control status: no topic-level ITAR or EAR restriction paragraph appears on this topic. Note that the work itself is classified, which imposes far stricter personnel and facility requirements than an ITAR notice would
Clearance environment: all contractor personnel shall possess a current Top Secret personnel security clearance and be eligible for favorable NGA adjudication for SCI access. Contractors are subject to counterintelligence-scope polygraph as requested
Added evaluation criterion: NGA will evaluate a vendor's ability to perform controlled work, meaning CUI and classified, as part of the technical evaluation score
Section 508: the Commercialization Strategy shall address Section 508 compliance per NGA Instruction 8400.4 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, with an outline of how compliance will be achieved
Company Commercialization Report: information contained in the CCR will not be considered by NGA during proposal evaluations
Percentage of Work: NGA will not accept any deviation to the POW requirements
Technical and Business Assistance: up to $50,000 per Phase II project, in addition to the cost ceiling and not subject to profit or fee, using the mandatory SBIR/STTR TABA Request Form in Volume 5
Contract type: NGA typically provides a firm fixed price contract within 180 days of the proposal due date, at the discretion of the Contracting Officer
Topic open date: September 23, 2026
Proposal deadline: October 21, 2026
Submission portal: DSIP at dodsbirsttr.mil
Keywords: agentic AI, cognitive radar, synthetic aperture radar
The Feasibility Bar, Which Is the First Thing to Check
This topic is accepting Direct to Phase II proposals only. To qualify for a Phase II award, proposers must submit Feasibility Documentation showing a developed concept for agentic AI based cognitive radar systems, and provide details on the components of the systems and subsystems.
The performer must demonstrate capability of the agentic AI based radar system with the detection of interference signals and mitigating these by transmitting a different signal.
Two quantitative improvements are stated. The signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio should improve from below 70 percent to 95 percent. And after mitigation, image quality and resolution should improve from below 70 percent detection and classification to 95 percent detection and classification.
Reading the stated metrics carefully
The second metric is unambiguous and it is the one to build your evidence around. Detection and classification performance rising from below 70 percent to 95 percent after interference mitigation is a clean, measurable claim: run your system against an interference scenario without mitigation, measure detection and classification rates, then run it with the agentic mitigation loop engaged and measure again.
The first metric is worded in a way that deserves a question. Signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio is conventionally expressed in decibels, not as a percentage, and "SINR below 70 percent to 95 percent" does not map onto standard usage. It may be intended as a normalized or relative improvement figure, or as a percentage of some reference SINR, or the percentage may be a drafting artifact carried from the detection and classification metric that follows it.
Send that question to DSIP Topic Q&A before it closes on October 7, and in the meantime report your SINR results in decibels with the interference conditions fully specified, alongside whatever normalized figure best corresponds to the stated 70 to 95 range. Stating both, and saying plainly why, is the defensible approach. Do not silently reinterpret the requirement.
The three things your feasibility documentation must establish
A developed concept for an agentic AI based cognitive radar system. Not a research proposal, a concept that exists.
Details on the components of the systems and subsystems. This is a request for architecture: what senses the environment, what performs the cognition, what synthesizes and transmits the waveform, and how they connect.
Demonstrated capability detecting interference and mitigating it by transmitting a different signal. This is the closed loop, and it is the part that separates cognitive radar from adaptive signal processing. Sense, decide, change what you transmit, measure the improvement.
The restriction that will disqualify some proposers
NGA applies the same hard constraint several other components use in this cycle, and it is stated in the Direct to Phase II guidelines rather than in the topic.
Feasibility documentation cannot be based upon or logically extend from any prior or ongoing federally funded SBIR or STTR work. Work submitted within the feasibility documentation must have been substantially performed by the proposer or the principal investigator. If technology in the feasibility documentation is subject to intellectual property, the proposer must either own the IP or must have obtained license rights to such technology prior to proposal submission, to enable it and its subcontractors to legally carry out the proposed work.
This is a real risk on a cognitive radar topic, because much of the U.S. work in this area has been funded through SBIR and STTR programs across the services. Audit the provenance of every result you intend to cite. Internally funded work, privately funded work, non-SBIR government contract work, and your own published academic work under other funding are cleaner ground.
If the proposer fails to demonstrate technical merit and feasibility equivalent to the Phase I level as described in the associated topic, the related Phase II proposal will not be evaluated.
Twenty pages is a lot of room, so use it
Most components in this cycle allow five pages of feasibility justification. NGA allows twenty. That changes the nature of the document: you can present measured data with full experimental conditions, architecture diagrams at the subsystem level, the interference scenarios you tested against, the decision logic of your cognition layer, and the before-and-after performance comparisons in detail. A five-page summary submitted into a twenty-page allowance reads as though you did not have the material.
What NGA Is Actually Looking For
The objective
Develop an agentic AI based cognitive radar system for automatic selection of radar parameters, waveforms, and exploitation for resilient GEOINT applications.
Note the third item. Parameters and waveforms are the transmit side. Exploitation is the processing side. The topic is asking for automatic selection across both, which means the cognition loop extends past waveform choice into how the returns are processed.
The concept, in NGA's words
Agentic AI enables autonomous control of expert systems for desired information gathering or completing a task. Compared to general AI systems, an agentic AI system can make its decision by sensing the environment autonomously without relying on human input. Hence agentic AI is desired for many expert systems such as self-driving cars and many other systems.
In this research, NGA is seeking development of an agentic AI based cognitive radar system for a next generation, resilient radar system.
Once initiated, an agentic AI enabled radar will sense the environment for operating conditions such as interference, clutter, and signal-to-noise ratio. Based on this information, the system will learn, meaning the cognition process, to transmit optimum waveforms with desired frequency, bandwidth, pulse repetition frequency, and other critical parameters.
This will enable future GEOINT capabilities to be resilient in the presence of asymmetric operating environments that adversaries may impose to significantly reduce our GEOINT mission.
What the description tells you to address
Three environmental conditions are named explicitly: interference, clutter, and signal-to-noise ratio. Your sensing layer should address all three, not just interference, even though interference is what the feasibility metric measures.
Four transmit parameters are named: frequency, bandwidth, pulse repetition frequency, and other critical parameters. Say which parameters your system controls and which it does not, and why.
The phrase "once initiated" is worth noticing. It implies human initiation followed by autonomous operation, which is a specific autonomy boundary. Define it: what does a human set up, what does the system decide thereafter, and what does the system do when conditions exceed its competence.
"Asymmetric operating environments that adversaries may impose" is the threat framing. This is a contested-spectrum problem, not a general radar optimization problem. An adversary observes what you transmit and responds. That adversarial dynamic is what makes a learning system valuable and it is also what makes it exploitable, so address the counter-adaptation question: what happens when the adversary learns your adaptation policy.
The GEOINT context, which shapes the application
NGA describes GEOINT as the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth, consisting of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. NGA manages the National System for Geospatial-Intelligence.
NGA Research supports the NSG and the National Security Strategy in three broad areas: Foundational GEOINT, Advanced Phenomenologies, and Analytic Technologies. A cognitive radar topic sits naturally in Advanced Phenomenologies.
The keyword list for this topic includes synthetic aperture radar, and the feasibility metric refers to image quality and resolution, so the imaging application is where NGA's interest lies. Frame your work in imaging terms, meaning resolution, image quality, and detection and classification performance on imagery, rather than purely in tracking or detection-range terms.
Phase II Scope
Prototype the agentic AI based cognitive radar system in a modeling and simulation environment. Develop software systems to select various parameters of the radar systems and operating environment. Analyze performance of the system in a testing environment.
What this scope does and does not include
Phase II is modeling, simulation, and software. There is no hardware build, no field demonstration, and no over-the-air requirement. Phase III is where the hardware happens: develop and build the hardware for the agentic AI based cognitive radar system for technology transition.
That is an unusually software-focused Phase II for a radar topic and it has consequences worth understanding.
It lowers the capital cost substantially. No radio frequency front end, no antenna, no anechoic chamber or range time. Your $1,500,000 goes almost entirely to labor, computing, and software.
It raises the burden on fidelity. If your only evidence is simulation, the credibility of your results rests entirely on whether the simulation environment is believable. What clutter model, what interference model, what channel model, what platform geometry, what validation of the simulation against measured data. A reviewer at NGA Research will probe this, and a proposal that presents impressive numbers from an unvalidated simulator is weaker than one presenting modest numbers from a simulator anchored to real measurements.
It makes the "testing environment" of the third sentence important. The topic distinguishes the modeling and simulation environment where you prototype from the testing environment where you analyze performance. Say what each is and how they differ, because that distinction is where independent evaluation of your system happens.
Three things worth proposing beyond the literal scope
The software system that selects parameters is named as a deliverable, and it is the artifact that transitions. Treat it as a product with an interface, a configuration model, and documentation, not as research code.
Explainability is not mentioned in the topic but is implied by the Trusted AI and Autonomy Component Technology Priority Area. An autonomous system choosing transmit parameters in a contested environment needs to be able to say why it chose them, both for operator trust and for post-mission analysis. Addressing it is a differentiator.
Competence boundaries and failure behavior. Define what the system does when the environment is outside its training distribution, when its own performance estimate degrades, or when its adaptation makes things worse. In an intelligence collection context, a system that recognizes it is failing and says so is more valuable than one that confidently continues.
The Security Requirements, Which Govern Everything
This is the longest section of the NGA instructions and it is the part that most determines who can actually win. Treat it as a scoped, costed part of your proposal rather than a compliance appendix, because NGA has made it a scored evaluation factor.
The added evaluation criterion
In addition to the DoW Program evaluation criteria, NGA will evaluate a vendor's ability to perform controlled work, meaning CUI and classified, as part of their technical evaluation score.
Read that plainly. Your security posture is scored technical content. Two proposals with identical radar approaches will separate on this.
Note also that NGA may use Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance support to assist with the programmatics of executing the evaluation process, but will not use SETA support to evaluate proposals.
Personnel security
All Contractor personnel shall possess a current Top Secret Personnel Security Clearance and be eligible for favorable NGA adjudication for SCI access. The government will be responsible for verifying security clearances and SCI eligibility in accordance with SEAD 7 on reciprocity of background investigations and national security adjudications. If needed, NGA will sponsor SCI accesses at its sole discretion.
Contractor personnel performing Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information work on the contract are required to have active TS/SCI clearances for access to TS/SCI facilities, when performing duties within TS/SCI environments, and for access to TS/SCI computer systems.
Contractors are subject to a counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination as requested by NGA. As a condition of employment and assignment, contractors who have not successfully completed polygraph testing within the last five years must immediately schedule a polygraph examination and must complete the process, in no more than three test sessions, within 90 days.
Cleared Contractor personnel will be enrolled into the Director of National Intelligence Continuous Evaluation System throughout the lifecycle of the contract while at NGA, in accordance with SEAD 6. They must self-report security issues, foreign contacts, and other applicable information in accordance with SEAD 3 and NGA Instruction 5205.3. Cleared contractors will also be required to submit electronic fingerprints and be enrolled into NGA's Report of Arrest and Prosecution Background program, which supports continuous evaluation.
Cleared Contractor personnel designated as Tier 3 Privileged Users, or holding enhanced access through a Special Access Program or Controlled Access Program, will be required to participate in NGA's annual Security Financial Disclosure Program.
Some personnel may need to obtain access to Special Access Program, Controlled Access Program, or Alternate Compensatory Control Measures information as required for the execution of NGA's sensitive program missions. Access will not be granted without written permission from the Contracting Officer's Representative.
Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency remains the Cognizant Security Agency for individuals performing work with collateral Secret or Top Secret clearances, and SEAD 3 reporting continues through the contractor's Facility Security Officer to DCSA via the Defense Information Security System.
What that means practically for a small business
The polygraph provision is the one most likely to surprise a first-time NGA bidder. Anyone not polygraphed in the last five years must schedule immediately and complete within 90 days, in no more than three sessions. That is a real constraint on staffing a project team, and it applies to people you may currently consider cleared.
The Top Secret requirement applies to "all Contractor personnel," which is broader than "personnel accessing classified material." Read together with the unclassified provisions below, there is a path for uncleared staff on the unclassified portion of the work, but it requires written COR approval.
Your Key Personnel section must list the clearance level held by each person, because, as the instructions put it, we will be operating in a classified environment. Do not omit this. A Key Personnel section without clearance levels is a visible gap on a scored criterion.
Physical security and facilities
All classified work performed at a non-NGA facility must be approved by the COR. Any classified work performed at contractor sites must be performed in either an NGA accredited Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, an Other Government Agency SCIF, or an approved secure collateral space that has a Memorandum of Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, Joint Use Agreement, or Co-Use Agreement with NGA for this contract. SCIF or secure facility accreditation shall be at least the level commensurate with the level of safeguarding required by the contract DD Form 254.
Accreditation follows the IC Technical Specifications for Construction and Management of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities Version 1.5.1, the IC Tech Specs for ICD and ICS 705. The NGA accrediting official or designee conducts periodic security inspections and reviews based on threat, facility modifications, sensitivity of programs, past security performance, or at least every five years. Technical Surveillance Countermeasures activities in NGA accredited SCIFs will only be conducted by NGA TSCM teams.
Contractor personnel are forbidden from bringing prohibited or unauthorized items into any NGA installation or other secure facility covered under this contract. These items include weapons, cell phones, cameras, two-way pagers, laptops, recording devices of any kind, flash drives, or any other removable media. Exceptions may be granted by NGA Security upon request, and personnel must bring documentation showing approval prior to entering with the items. Violations may subject the contractor and its personnel to civil or criminal liability.
Your Facilities and Equipment section must identify your Facility Clearance Level, the safeguarding level for each facility, the CAGE code for each facility, and the associated physical addresses. It must also identify how Controlled Unclassified Information will be protected in accordance with NIST SP 800-171 and provide your Supplier Performance Risk System score.
That SPRS score requirement is worth flagging. It is a number a reviewer can look at immediately, and a low or absent score is a visible weakness on the scored controlled-work criterion. Check your SPRS entry before you submit.
The unclassified path, which matters for team building
If applicable, and after discussion with the COR and written COR approval, uncleared Contractor personnel are authorized to work on this contract at the unclassified level, with access up to DoD Controlled Unclassified Information at the contractor site without the requirement of a security clearance.
Any Contractor personnel working with CUI information must receive a favorable HSPD-12 or HSPD-12 Tier 1 adjudication prior to accessing CUI. Personnel requiring access to CUI for 60 days or less must receive a favorable HSPD-12 adjudication. Personnel requiring CUI access for more than 60 days must receive a favorable HSPD-12 Tier 1 adjudication. NGA will sponsor the HSPD-12 and HSPD-12 Tier 1 background investigation for contractor personnel as needed.
Uncleared Contractor personnel visiting NGA facilities or other sites may receive an appropriate visitor badge and be escorted as appropriate, returning the badge at the end of each visit day.
This is the provision that makes a mixed team possible. Your machine learning engineers may be able to work the unclassified algorithm development while cleared staff handle anything requiring access to classified data or environments. But note the gating: written COR approval, and HSPD-12 adjudication before CUI access.
Foreign nationals
Foreign nationals are not permitted to perform unclassified work under the terms of this contract without prior written approval from the Contracting Officer or the COR. Should NGA identify the use of unauthorized personnel, the CO may direct the contractor, at its own expense, to remove and replace any unauthorized contractors, subcontractors, or other personnel performing on the contract, at NGA's discretion and without prejudice to its rights under any other contract provision, including termination for default.
Note the scope. This prohibition applies to unclassified work, which is stricter than most ITAR-restricted topics, where foreign national participation is disclosed and evaluated case by case. Here the default is not permitted, and approval must be obtained in writing in advance. If your machine learning team includes foreign nationals, resolve this before you propose.
Information security and cybersecurity
NGA has sole authority to determine whether and to what extent protected information will be provided. Access to classified information will be pursuant to the security requirements in the DD254. The contractor shall not access, download, print, or further disseminate any classified information outside the execution of defined contract requirements without written COR permission.
The contractor will comply with all applicable NGA, DoD, and IC information security policies, including the Consolidated NGA Security Classification Guide, for marking, handling, processing, storing, and safeguarding classified and unclassified material, and will give document markings the lowest possible security classification to maximize dissemination while maintaining confidentiality and integrity.
Access to CUI will be pursuant to DFARS clause 252.204-7012, which the prime shall include, including paragraph (m), in subcontracts for operationally critical support or involving covered defense information, without alteration except to identify the parties. FAR clause 52.204-21 must similarly flow down.
Contractor personnel shall not release any unclassified information pertaining to any part of this contract or any related program, in any medium, unless the COR has given prior written approval or in performance of a project scoped and negotiated by NGA. That constrains publication and marketing, and it is worth understanding before you plan a commercialization campaign around this work.
At minimum the contractor must implement 10 U.S.C. Sections 391 and 393 along with NIST SP 800-171. If using an external cloud service provider to store, process, or transmit covered defense information, the contractor shall require and ensure the provider meets security requirements equivalent to the FedRAMP Moderate baseline.
On discovering a cyber incident affecting a covered contractor information system or covered defense information, the contractor shall notify the DoD Cyber Crime Center and the COR in writing within 72 hours of incident discovery, and conduct a review for evidence of compromise. If malicious software is discovered and isolated, the contractor shall submit it to DC3 per COR instructions, and shall not send it to the COR.
For a machine learning program, the FedRAMP Moderate cloud requirement is the provision most likely to affect your technical plan and your budget. If your training pipeline assumes a commercial cloud environment, confirm that environment meets the equivalence standard, because retrofitting compute infrastructure mid-program is expensive.
Insider threat
The contractor will establish and maintain an insider threat program to gather, integrate, and report relevant and available information indicative of a potential or actual insider threat, consistent with Executive Order 13587 and the Presidential Memorandum on National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs.
As soon as practicable, the contractor shall report to the COR events that may affect the eligibility of the entity or an employee for access to classified information, events indicating an insider threat, events affecting proper safeguarding, and events indicating classified information has been or is suspected to be lost or compromised.
Contract clauses to be aware of
The instructions reproduce or reference a set of clauses that will apply. FAR 52.204-7 System for Award Management, requiring registration at offer and continuously through final payment. FAR 52.204-27 Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application, meaning TikTok and successor applications.
NGA-specific clauses include 5X52.209-9003 Protection of Information and Nondisclosure Agreements, 5X52.227-9000 Unauthorized Use of NGA Name, Seal and Initials, 5X52.237-9001 Contractor Identification, 5X52.37-9000 Contractor Employee Data for Access to NGA Facilities or Sensitive Systems, which requires initial and timely updates to NGA's Human Capital Management System for all personnel with access to NGA facilities or sensitive systems and requires all employees to attend in-processing and out-processing briefings, and 5X52.246-9000 Contractor Compliance with all applicable NGA and U.S. Government installation regulations, directives, instructions, rules, policies and procedures.
The Unauthorized Use of NGA Name, Seal and Initials clause is worth reading before you plan any marketing around an award. So is the prohibition on releasing unclassified information about the contract without written COR approval. Together they substantially constrain how you can talk publicly about this work, which is a real consideration for a company whose commercialization strategy depends on visibility.
There is also an Inspector General cooperation requirement. The contractor must report to the NGA Inspector General, DoD IG, or Intelligence Community IG any and all possible violations of federal law or illegal intelligence activities related to the contract by individuals charging directly or indirectly to it. The IG has access to any such individual whose testimony is needed and direct access to all related records. Failure to cooperate is grounds for administrative action. Contractors must make employees aware of the NGA IG Hotline, and the requirement is supported by FAR 52.203-13 and NGA Instruction 7410.1.
Badging is governed too. NGA IC badges will only be issued to contractors providing direct charge support on an active TS/SCI NGA contract, even when seated at corporate locations outside NGA facilities. Badges must be used at least once during a one-month period at an NGA government facility or may be suspended or terminated for lack of activity, and they expire at the end of the supported contract. Badges will not be issued to contractors who do not need facility access. On departure, the contractor must return all NGA badges, Common Access Cards, hangtags, and other government furnished property no later than four business days from the date of departure.
Section 508 Compliance, Which Is a Proposal Requirement
This requirement is easy to miss because it sits inside the Commercialization Strategy instruction, and it is unusual among the components in this cycle.
The contractor shall ensure that all systems, hardware, software, software engineering, and information technology associated with this effort is made in a manner that is accessible for people with disabilities as directed in NGA Instruction 8400.4 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in 1998.
Specifically, all Information and Communications Technology associated with this contract may use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 to comply with Section 508, or use alternative designs or technologies which result in substantially equivalent or greater access to and use of the product for people with disabilities.
Furthermore, the contractor shall pursue human centered design and usability guidelines to ensure that all services associated with this topic area are accessible by as many users as possible and to drive modernization, innovation, and enhance mission support.
As part of the proposal, the offeror should include an outline of specifically how Section 508 compliance will be achieved in the design of the ICT product. The Phase II proposal should provide an explicit, detailed description of the approach, indicate what is planned, how and where the work will be carried out, a schedule of major events, how the solution will be Section 508 compliant, and the final product to be delivered. If a determination is made that a Section 508 exception request is justified, the rationale for the exception request must be made and submitted as part of the proposal.
How to handle it on this topic
A cognitive radar control system is mostly autonomous software, but the Phase II deliverable includes software systems to select radar parameters and to analyze performance, which implies an operator or analyst interface. Any interface is Information and Communications Technology and falls within scope.
The practical answer is short and specific: name WCAG 2.1 as your standard, describe how your interface elements will conform, whether keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, contrast, and non-color-dependent status indication, and say when in the schedule accessibility review happens. If some component genuinely cannot comply, the instructions give you an exception path but require the rationale in the proposal, so use it deliberately rather than staying silent.
Silence is the failure mode here. The instructions say the offeror should include an outline of specifically how compliance will be achieved, and this is a requirement other components in this cycle do not impose, so it is exactly the kind of thing a proposal reused from another agency will omit.
Funding, Cost Structure, and NGA Mechanics
The award
The Phase II amount must not exceed $1,500,000 for up to a 24-month period of performance. Costs must be separated and clearly identified on the Proposal Cover Sheet in Volume 1 and in Volume 3.
Unless otherwise stated in the individual topic announcement, NGA Phase II awards are capped at $1,500,000 each over a maximum 24-month period of performance, and Phase I awards are capped at $150,000 each over a maximum six-month period of performance.
NGA caps sequential Phase II contracts, meaning those proposed near the completion of the initial Phase II or Direct to Phase II contract, at the then-current Small Business Administration "without seeking SBA approval" ceiling over a maximum 24-month period of performance.
No option periods
The offeror shall not propose option periods.
That is a flat prohibition and it distinguishes NGA from most components in this cycle, several of which structure awards as a base plus options. Build a single 24-month effort. Do not carry an option structure over from another agency's proposal.
Contract type and timing
NGA typically provides a firm fixed price contract for its awards within 180 days of the proposal due date. The type of contract is at the discretion of the Contracting Officer.
One hundred eighty days from October 21, 2026 is roughly mid-April 2027. Plan your cash flow and staffing accordingly, and note that firm fixed price on a research effort means your cost estimate needs margin for the simulation fidelity work, which is the least predictable part of this scope.
Percentage of Work, with no exceptions
Review the updated Percentage of Work calculation details included in the DoW Program. NGA will not accept any deviation to the POW requirements.
On this topic the temptation is to subcontract the radar modeling to a specialist firm or the machine learning to a university. Model your POW before you assemble the team, and remember that every subcontractor also inherits the security requirements and the DFARS 252.204-7012 and FAR 52.204-21 flow-downs.
Technical and Business Assistance
Phase II awardees may request up to $50,000 per Phase II project. TABA funding is in addition to the Phase II cost ceiling and is not subject to profit or fee.
All requests for TABA must be completed using the SBIR/STTR TABA Request Form, and the completed form must be included in Volume 5 of the proposal submission in DSIP. OSW will not accept requests for TABA that do not utilize the form or that are not included as a submission document in Volume 5.
For an NGA topic, security and facility clearance consulting is the standout use if you are building that posture, followed by accessibility and Section 508 consulting, which is a stated proposal and performance requirement here and not one most small businesses staff internally.
The Company Commercialization Report is not evaluated
Completion of the CCR as Volume 4 is required, but information contained in the CCR will not be considered by NGA during proposal evaluations.
That differs from several other components in this cycle, where the CCR is explicitly scored. Complete it because it is required, but your effort belongs in the Commercialization Strategy inside the technical volume, which is where NGA actually reads your transition thinking and where the Section 508 requirement lives.
The technical volume structure
The technical volume consists of two parts, described in one place as Part A Feasibility Documentation and Part B Technical Proposal and in the volume list as Part 1 Phase I Justification and Part 2 Phase II Technical Proposal. Either way the structure is the same: each part is not to exceed twenty pages, for a technical volume maximum page count of 40 pages. The Government will not consider pages in excess of these limitations. Number all pages consecutively and follow the formatting requirements provided in the DoW SBIR Program.
The content of the technical volume follows the Technical Proposal Template provided in the DoW Program, with the additional items NGA specifies: Section 508 compliance in the Commercialization Strategy, clearance levels in Key Personnel, and CUI protection with SPRS score plus facility clearance level, safeguarding level, CAGE code, and addresses in Facilities and Equipment.
Evaluation, selection, and protests
All proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria listed in the DoW Program Solicitation, plus the controlled-work criterion described above.
Proposing firms will be notified of selection or non-selection status within 90 days of the closing date of the topic, via email. Note that the NGA text says "for a Phase I award," which appears to be residual language given that this topic issues no Phase I award. Ninety days from October 21, 2026 is approximately January 19, 2027.
Refer to the DoW Program Solicitation for procedures to protest the announcement. As prescribed in FAR 33.106(b) and FAR 52.233-3, protests after award should be submitted to Patricia Hill at Patricia.D.Hill@nga.mil.
Questions
Specific questions pertaining to the administration of the NGA SBIR/STTR Program and these proposal preparation instructions should be directed to sbir@nga.mil.
The NGA instructions do not state that DSIP Topic Q&A is unavailable, so the standard DoW SBIR Program BAA Topic Q&A process applies and Topic Q&A closes to new questions two weeks before the topic closes, on October 7, 2026. Use it for the SINR metric question above all.
The References
Three, and unlike several components in this cycle they are substantive and well chosen. Together they define the intellectual lineage NGA expects you to know.
Haykin, "New generation of radar systems enabled with cognition," IEEE International Radar Conference, Arlington, 2010. This is the foundational cognitive radar paper. Haykin framed cognitive radar as a closed perception-action cycle with memory and attention, and if your architecture does not map onto that framing you should explain why.
Guerci, "Cognitive Radar: The Knowledge-Aided Fully Adaptive Approach," Artech House, 2010. This is the book, and its central idea, knowledge-aided fully adaptive processing, is the practical engineering realization of the concept. It is also the reference most directly relevant to the "exploitation" half of the objective, since knowledge-aided processing operates on the receive side.
Bell, Johnson, Smith, Baker, and Rangaswamy, "Cognitive radar for target tracking using a software defined radar system," 2015 IEEE Radar Conference. This is the experimental demonstration, on software defined radar hardware, and it is the closest of the three to what a Phase III hardware effort would look like.
The set tells you something. NGA cited the concept, the engineering framework, and the hardware demonstration, all from the pre-deep-learning era of cognitive radar. Your contribution is the agentic AI layer on top of that lineage, so position it explicitly: what does an agentic AI decision layer do that knowledge-aided fully adaptive processing did not, and why is that the right addition now. A proposal that reinvents cognitive radar without engaging Haykin and Guerci will look uninformed to a reviewer who chose those references.
Bring your own literature too, on the agentic side. The topic gives you no citations for agentic AI, reinforcement learning for waveform selection, or adversarial machine learning in contested spectrum, and the DoW Technical Proposal Template requires you to demonstrate awareness of the state of the art.
Timeline and What to Do When
The dates
Topic opens: September 23, 2026
DSIP Topic Q&A closes: October 7, 2026, two weeks before the topic closes, per the DoW SBIR Program BAA
Proposal deadline: October 21, 2026
Selection notification: within 90 days of the closing date, approximately January 19, 2027, via email
Contract award: NGA typically provides a firm fixed price contract within 180 days of the proposal due date, approximately mid-April 2027
Period of performance: up to 24 months
A working backward plan
Before September 23. Confirm your security posture honestly, because it is a scored criterion and a gating one. Facility Clearance Level, safeguarding level for each facility, CAGE codes, physical addresses, SPRS score, and NIST SP 800-171 status. Identify which personnel hold current Top Secret clearances and who has been polygraphed within five years, since anyone who has not must complete a polygraph in no more than three sessions within 90 days. Resolve any foreign national participation, remembering the prohibition extends to unclassified work absent prior written approval. Audit the funding provenance of every feasibility result, since work based upon or logically extending from prior federally funded SBIR or STTR work is excluded. Resolve intellectual property ownership or license rights. Confirm your compute environment meets FedRAMP Moderate equivalence if you will use a cloud provider for covered defense information. Read Haykin, Guerci, and Bell. Model your Percentage of Work before assembling a team. Send your SINR metric question to Topic Q&A early.
September 23 through October 5. Draft the 20-page feasibility documentation. Use the space: measured interference detection and mitigation results with full experimental conditions, the before-and-after detection and classification figures against the 70 to 95 percent target, SINR reported in decibels alongside any normalized figure, subsystem-level architecture, and the decision logic of your cognition layer. Draft the 20-page Phase II technical proposal against the DoW Technical Proposal Template, covering the modeling and simulation environment and its fidelity basis, the parameter selection software as a product, the testing environment and how it differs from the simulation environment, explainability, and competence boundaries. Include the Section 508 outline in the Commercialization Strategy, clearance levels in Key Personnel, and the full facility and CUI detail in Facilities and Equipment. Do not propose option periods.
October 6 through October 7. Submit remaining questions through DSIP Topic Q&A before it closes. The essential one is the SINR percentage metric. Administrative questions go to sbir@nga.mil.
October 8 through October 14. Build the cost volume, with costs separated and clearly identified on the Proposal Cover Sheet and in Volume 3, against the $1,500,000 and 24-month ceiling with no options. Price the simulation environment development and validation, the machine learning development and compute, any secure compute or facility costs, security administration including HSPD-12 sponsorship coordination and insider threat program maintenance, accessibility work, and the software productization effort. Remember firm fixed price is typical, so carry margin on the simulation fidelity work. Complete the SBIR/STTR TABA Request Form and place it in Volume 5.
October 15 through October 18. Complete Volume 4, the Company Commercialization Report, which is required though not evaluated by NGA. Assemble Volume 5 with the TABA form and any supporting documentation. Complete Volume 6 training and the Volume 7 foreign affiliations webform, remembering it must be the webform and will not be accepted as a PDF in Volume 5, and that no previous versions should be uploaded there. Run compliance: 20 plus 20 pages, consecutively numbered, no option periods proposed, clearance levels listed, SPRS score and facility details provided, Section 508 outline present.
October 19 through October 20. Submit and certify in DSIP.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is NGA SBIR topic OSW26BZ06-DV033?
OSW26BZ06-DV033 is a Direct to Phase II SBIR topic titled "Agentic AI Based Cognitive Radar for GEOINT Mission," released under the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 2026 SBIR Broad Agency Announcement, Release 6. The objective is to develop an agentic AI based cognitive radar system for automatic selection of radar parameters, waveforms, and exploitation for resilient GEOINT applications.
How much funding is available?
The Phase II amount must not exceed $1,500,000 for up to a 24-month period of performance. Phase II awardees may also request up to $50,000 in Technical and Business Assistance, in addition to the cost ceiling and not subject to profit or fee, using the mandatory SBIR/STTR TABA Request Form in Volume 5.
When is the proposal deadline?
The topic opens September 23, 2026 and proposals are due October 21, 2026 through the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal at dodsbirsttr.mil.
Can I submit a Phase I proposal?
No. This topic is accepting Direct to Phase II proposals only.
Can I propose option periods?
No. The NGA instructions state that the offeror shall not propose option periods. Build a single effort within the 24-month ceiling.
How long can my technical volume be?
Forty pages total, consisting of a feasibility documentation part at 20 pages maximum and a technical proposal part at 20 pages maximum. Pages in excess will not be considered. Number all pages consecutively and follow the DoW SBIR Program formatting requirements. This is the most generous page allowance among the components in this cycle.
What must my feasibility documentation show?
A developed concept for an agentic AI based cognitive radar system, with details on the components of the systems and subsystems, and demonstrated capability detecting interference signals and mitigating them by transmitting a different signal. Two quantitative improvements are stated: signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio improving from below 70 percent to 95 percent, and image quality and resolution improving from below 70 percent detection and classification to 95 percent detection and classification after mitigation.
The SINR metric is expressed as a percentage. Is that right?
It is what the topic says, but signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio is conventionally expressed in decibels rather than as a percentage, so the stated "below 70 percent to 95 percent" does not map onto standard usage. Raise it through DSIP Topic Q&A before it closes on October 7. In the meantime report SINR in decibels with interference conditions fully specified, alongside whatever normalized figure corresponds to the stated range, and say why you are presenting both.
Can my feasibility evidence come from a prior SBIR award?
No. The NGA Direct to Phase II guidelines state that feasibility documentation cannot be based upon or logically extend from any prior or ongoing federally funded SBIR or STTR work, and that the work must have been substantially performed by the proposer or the Principal Investigator. This is a real risk on a cognitive radar topic, since much U.S. work in the area has been SBIR and STTR funded.
What happens if my feasibility documentation is inadequate?
If the proposer fails to demonstrate technical merit and feasibility equivalent to the Phase I level as described in the associated topic, the related Phase II proposal will not be evaluated.
Do I need a security clearance?
Yes. The instructions state that all Contractor personnel shall possess a current Top Secret Personnel Security Clearance and be eligible for favorable NGA adjudication for SCI access. Personnel performing TS/SCI work require active TS/SCI clearances for access to TS/SCI facilities, environments, and computer systems. NGA will sponsor SCI accesses at its sole discretion if needed.
Is a polygraph required?
Contractors are subject to a counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination as requested by NGA. As a condition of employment and assignment, contractors who have not successfully completed polygraph testing within the last five years must immediately schedule an examination and complete the process, in no more than three test sessions, within 90 days.
Can uncleared people work on this contract?
Yes, in a limited way. After discussion with the COR and with written COR approval, uncleared contractor personnel are authorized to work at the unclassified level with access up to DoD Controlled Unclassified Information at the contractor site without a security clearance. Personnel working with CUI must receive favorable HSPD-12 adjudication for access of 60 days or less, or HSPD-12 Tier 1 adjudication for more than 60 days. NGA will sponsor those investigations as needed.
Can foreign nationals work on this contract?
Not without prior written approval from the Contracting Officer or the COR, and that prohibition applies to unclassified work. If NGA identifies unauthorized personnel, the CO may direct the contractor at its own expense to remove and replace them, without prejudice to other remedies including termination for default. This is stricter than the case-by-case disclosure approach used on ITAR-restricted topics elsewhere in this cycle.
Do I need a facility clearance and a SCIF?
Any classified work performed at contractor sites must be performed in an NGA accredited SCIF, an Other Government Agency SCIF, or an approved secure collateral space with a Memorandum of Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, Joint Use Agreement, or Co-Use Agreement with NGA for this contract, and all classified work at a non-NGA facility must be COR approved. Accreditation must be at least commensurate with the safeguarding level required by the DD254.
What must my Key Personnel section include?
In addition to the standard content, list the clearance level held by each of the personnel, because, as NGA puts it, we will be operating in a classified environment.
What must my Facilities and Equipment section include?
How Controlled Unclassified Information will be protected in accordance with NIST SP 800-171, your Supplier Performance Risk System score, and, since the work requires a classified environment, your Facility Clearance Level, the safeguarding level for each facility, the CAGE code for each facility, and the associated physical addresses.
Is my security posture actually scored?
Yes. In addition to the DoW Program evaluation criteria, NGA will evaluate a vendor's ability to perform controlled work, meaning CUI and classified, as part of their technical evaluation score. Note also that NGA may use SETA support for the programmatics of executing the evaluation but will not use SETA support to evaluate proposals.
What is the Section 508 requirement?
The Commercialization Strategy must address Section 508 compliance. All systems, hardware, software, software engineering, and information technology associated with the effort must be accessible for people with disabilities per NGA Instruction 8400.4 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in 1998. Information and Communications Technology may use WCAG 2.1 to comply, or alternative designs achieving substantially equivalent or greater access. The proposal should include an outline of specifically how compliance will be achieved, and if an exception is justified the rationale must be submitted as part of the proposal.
What are the cybersecurity requirements?
At minimum, implement 10 U.S.C. Sections 391 and 393 along with NIST SP 800-171. If using an external cloud service provider to store, process, or transmit covered defense information, ensure the provider meets security requirements equivalent to the FedRAMP Moderate baseline. On discovering a cyber incident, notify the DoD Cyber Crime Center and the COR in writing within 72 hours and conduct a compromise review. Isolated malicious software goes to DC3 per COR instructions, not to the COR.
Do I need an insider threat program?
Yes. The contractor will establish and maintain an insider threat program consistent with Executive Order 13587 and the Presidential Memorandum on National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards, and report to the COR events affecting clearance eligibility, indicating insider threat, affecting safeguarding, or indicating classified information has been or is suspected lost or compromised.
What does Phase II actually build?
Software, not hardware. Prototype the agentic AI based cognitive radar system in a modeling and simulation environment, develop software systems to select various parameters of the radar systems and operating environment, and analyze performance of the system in a testing environment. Hardware is Phase III: develop and build the hardware for technology transition.
If Phase II is simulation only, what does credibility rest on?
The fidelity of your simulation environment. With no over-the-air evidence, a reviewer will scrutinize your clutter model, interference model, channel model, platform geometry, and any validation of the simulator against measured data. Modest results from a simulator anchored to real measurements are more persuasive than impressive results from an unvalidated one.
What environmental conditions must the system sense?
The topic names three: interference, clutter, and signal-to-noise ratio. Address all three even though the feasibility metric measures interference.
What transmit parameters must the system control?
The topic names frequency, bandwidth, pulse repetition frequency, and other critical parameters. Say which your system controls and which it does not, and why.
What CMMC level applies?
The projected requirement for this topic is CMMC Level 2 with self-assessment. Note separately that the classified nature of the work imposes personnel and facility requirements well beyond CMMC.
Is this topic ITAR restricted?
No topic-level ITAR or EAR restriction paragraph appears on OSW26BZ06-DV033. The classified environment and the foreign national prohibition impose stricter constraints than an ITAR notice would.
Is the Company Commercialization Report evaluated?
No. Completion of the CCR as Volume 4 is required, but information contained in the CCR will not be considered by NGA during proposal evaluations. That differs from several other components in this cycle. Put your effort into the Commercialization Strategy inside the technical volume instead.
Are there Percentage of Work restrictions?
Yes. NGA will not accept any deviation to the Percentage of Work requirements described in the DoW Program. Note also that subcontractors inherit the security requirements and the DFARS 252.204-7012 and FAR 52.204-21 flow-downs.
What contract type should I expect, and when?
NGA typically provides a firm fixed price contract within 180 days of the proposal due date, roughly mid-April 2027 for this cycle, with contract type at the discretion of the Contracting Officer.
Can I publicize an award?
Only carefully. Contractor personnel shall not release any unclassified information, in any medium, pertaining to any part of the contract or any related program unless the COR has given prior written approval or in performance of a project scoped and negotiated by NGA. The NGA clause on unauthorized use of the NGA name, seal, and initials also applies. Plan your commercialization narrative with those constraints in mind.
When will I hear back?
Within 90 days of the closing date of the topic, approximately January 19, 2027, via email. Note that the NGA text says notification "for a Phase I award," which appears to be residual language given that this topic issues no Phase I award.
Who do I contact with questions?
Technical questions about the topic go through DSIP Topic Q&A, which closes October 7, 2026. Administrative questions about the NGA SBIR/STTR Program and these proposal preparation instructions go to sbir@nga.mil. Protests after award go to Patricia Hill at Patricia.D.Hill@nga.mil.
Positioning Advice for Companies Considering This Topic
Answer the security question before the radar question. Your ability to perform controlled work is a scored technical criterion, all personnel must hold Top Secret clearances with SCI eligibility, and classified work needs an accredited SCIF or an approved arrangement with NGA. If you cannot state a Facility Clearance Level, safeguarding level, CAGE codes, addresses, and an SPRS score, that gap is visible on page one of your Facilities section. Fix it, partner for it, or choose a different topic.
Check your SPRS score today. It is a specific number NGA asks for, a reviewer can look at it immediately, and it takes weeks to improve. An absent or low score on a scored controlled-work criterion is an unforced error.
Deal with the polygraph timeline now. Anyone not polygraphed in five years must schedule immediately and complete within 90 days in no more than three sessions. That constrains who you can actually put on a project team starting in spring 2027, and it is worth mapping before you name Key Personnel.
Use all twenty feasibility pages. NGA gives four times the feasibility allowance most components allow. Full experimental conditions, subsystem architecture, the interference scenarios, the decision logic, and complete before-and-after data all fit. A five-page feasibility section in a twenty-page allowance reads as thin evidence rather than efficient writing.
Ask about the SINR percentage, and report decibels regardless. A percentage SINR is not standard, and how NGA intends it changes what you must show. Ask in Topic Q&A, then report in decibels with conditions specified plus a normalized figure covering the stated range, and explain the choice. Silently reinterpreting a stated requirement is riskier than transparently addressing an ambiguity.
Make the simulation environment a first-class part of the proposal. Phase II is modeling, simulation, and software, so your simulator is your evidence base. Describe the clutter, interference, and channel models, the platform geometry, the validation against any measured data you have, and the separation between the environment where you develop and the testing environment where you evaluate. This is where a strong proposal separates from a plausible one.
Engage Haykin and Guerci explicitly. NGA cited the founding concept paper, the knowledge-aided fully adaptive book, and a software defined radar demonstration. Position your agentic AI layer against that lineage: what does an agentic decision layer add over knowledge-aided fully adaptive processing, and why now. Reinventing cognitive radar without naming that work signals you have not read the references.
Do not skip exploitation. The objective names parameters, waveforms, and exploitation. Most proposals will focus on transmit-side adaptation and treat processing as fixed. A system that adapts both what it sends and how it processes what comes back answers the objective as written, and Guerci's knowledge-aided approach is the reference that supports it.
Address the adversary's adaptation. The threat framing is asymmetric operating environments that adversaries impose. An adversary observing your adaptation policy can exploit it. Saying how your system avoids becoming predictable, and what happens when it is countered, is a differentiator on a resilience topic and most proposals will not raise it.
Define the autonomy boundary and the failure behavior. "Once initiated" implies a human starts it and the system runs. Say exactly what a human sets, what the system decides, what it does outside its training distribution, and how it signals degraded confidence. In an intelligence collection context, a system that knows it is failing is worth more than one that confidently continues.
Write the Section 508 outline. It is a stated proposal requirement, it sits inside the Commercialization Strategy, and it is precisely the item a proposal reused from another agency will omit. Name WCAG 2.1, describe the conformance approach for your operator interface, put accessibility review in the schedule, and use the exception path with rationale if something genuinely cannot comply.
Do not propose options. NGA prohibits it flatly, and an option structure carried over from another component's proposal is an immediate signal that you did not read the instructions.
Price for firm fixed price. NGA typically awards FFP within 180 days. Simulation fidelity work is the least predictable part of this scope, so carry margin there rather than discovering the gap after award.
Confirm your compute environment meets FedRAMP Moderate equivalence. A machine learning program on a commercial cloud that does not meet the standard for covered defense information is an expensive mid-program discovery.
Plan your commercialization story around the publication constraints. You cannot release unclassified information about the contract without written COR approval, and the NGA name and seal are protected. A commercialization strategy that depends on public visibility needs to account for that, and the honest version is more persuasive than one that ignores it.
Budget security administration as real work. HSPD-12 sponsorship coordination, insider threat program maintenance, HCMS data updates, badging and in-processing and out-processing, continuous evaluation enrollment, and departure property returns within four business days are all recurring administrative obligations. Companies new to IC work routinely underprice them.
