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SBIR/STTR Data Dictionary

This document describes the fields available on the SBIR/STTR API endpoints (/api/sbir/topics/, /api/sbir/solicitations/). For filtering, ordering, and pagination, see the SBIR API Reference.

Overview

The SBIR/STTR endpoints cover Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer topics across every participating agency (DoD, NIH, NSF, NASA, DOE, DOT and more), and the DoD DSIP solicitation cycles those topics belong to. Topics link to the parent that funds them — a DSIP cycle, a SAM.gov notice, or a Grants.gov announcement. Solicitations are DoD (DSIP) only.

Note: The full field set is available via the shape query parameter. See Response Shaping for details.

Lifecycle: activity

Both resources expose a derived activity field. On topics it is open, closed, or unknown (no usable date roster). On solicitations it is open or closed, derived from the cycle end_date. activity is computed at query time; solicitation_status is the source's own raw status string and is exposed separately.

Topic fields (/api/sbir/topics/)

Detail lookup is by topic_id.

Field Type Description Source
topic_id String Primary key; natural key minted by Tango (sbir-topic-<hash>). Tango
topic_node_id String Source node id (e.g. Drupal 12835). sbir.gov
topic_url String Link to the topic on the source site. sbir.gov
title String Topic title. sbir.gov
agency String Raw agency text (e.g. DOD, NIH, NSF); not org-resolved. sbir.gov
year Integer Solicitation year. sbir.gov
topic_number String Topic number. sbir.gov
solicitation_number String Parent BAA number; joins to the parent solicitation. sbir.gov
official_solicitation_url String Link to the official solicitation. sbir.gov
doc_source String Document source: grants_gov, dsip, sam_gov, other, none. Tango
description String Topic description (detail default). sbir.gov
release_date Date Topic release date. sbir.gov
open_date Date Topic open date. sbir.gov
close_date Date Topic close date — reflects the topic's own schedule and outranks the parent BAA window. sbir.gov
due_dates_text String Raw Due Date(s) cell; may list several (detail default). sbir.gov
solicitation_status String sbir.gov's own Open/Closed string (source data, not derived). sbir.gov
listed_open Boolean On sbir.gov's open listing at the last complete crawl? False = withdrawn; null = no usable roster (detail default). Tango
source_last_updated DateTime Feed scrape timestamp (detail default). Tango
activity String Computed lifecycle: open, closed, or unknown. Tango
solicitation Object Parent DoD DSIP cycle (expand). Tango
opportunity Object Parent SAM.gov notice (expand). Tango
grant Object Parent Grants.gov announcement (expand). Tango

Topic expansions (via shape)

  • solicitation(*) → solicitation_id, solicitation_number, title, program, cycle_name, year, start_date, end_date, out_of_cycle, solicitation_status
  • opportunity(*) → opportunity_id, title, solicitation_number, response_deadline
  • grant(*) → grant_id, opportunity_number, title, response_date

A topic links to at most one parent, resolved in priority order (solicitation → opportunity → grant). A non-DoD topic with no DSIP parent returns solicitation: null.

Solicitation fields (/api/sbir/solicitations/)

Detail lookup is by solicitation_id. DoD (DSIP) only.

Field Type Description Source
solicitation_id String Primary key; natural key minted by Tango (dsip-solicitation-<hash>). Tango
solicitation_number String Solicitation number. DSIP
title String Solicitation title. DSIP
program String Program: SBIR or STTR. DSIP
cycle String Cycle identifier (detail default). DSIP
cycle_name String Cycle directory name; joins the PDF inventory to this cycle. DSIP
solicitation_cycle_id Integer Source cycle id (detail default). DSIP
out_of_cycle Boolean Whether the solicitation is out of cycle. DSIP
year Integer Solicitation year. DSIP
start_date Date Cycle start date. DSIP
end_date Date Cycle end date. Drives activity. DSIP
solicitation_status String Raw feed status token (active, etc.). DSIP
sol_download_url String Link to download the solicitation. DSIP
source_last_updated DateTime Feed scrape timestamp (detail default). Tango
activity String Computed lifecycle: open or closed. Tango
topics Object[] Topics on this cycle (expand). Tango
documents Object[] BAA PDF inventory (expand). Tango

Solicitation expansions (via shape)

  • documents(*) → document_id, filename, cycle_name, s3_key, file_size, extraction_status, n_pages, n_chars
  • topics(*) → topic_id, title, agency, topic_number, close_date, topic_url (a reduced view; the full topic shape lives at /api/sbir/topics/)

Data Sources

  • sbir.gov — topic listings across participating agencies.
  • DSIP — DoD's Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal solicitation cycles and BAA PDFs.
  • Tango — natural keys, the derived activity, and the resolved parent links (solicitation, opportunity, grant).

Not exposed

Producer-internal columns are not part of the API: row_hash, search_vector, the raw solicitation_cycle_json blob, and downstream document-extraction text. Document extraction_status / n_pages / n_chars are surfaced, but extracted text is not.

Usage Notes

  • Follow a topic to its funding — expand solicitation(*), opportunity(*), or grant(*) to reach the DSIP cycle, SAM.gov notice, or Grants.gov announcement behind it.
  • Program lives on the solicitation — there is no program field or filter on topics; query /api/sbir/solicitations/?program=STTR or expand solicitation(program).
  • BAA PDFs — expand documents(*) on a solicitation for the BAA document inventory.
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