Washington, D.C. – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program has awarded its 1,000th SBIR contract, a milestone that highlights how a modest federal program can turn small-company ideas into real tools for national security. The 1,000th contract was one of twenty-four awarded under the FY19.1 Solicitation Phase I awards, bringing the running total of DHS SBIR contracts to 1,018.

It is a quiet milestone, but a meaningful one. Behind that number are hundreds of small U.S. businesses that took an early-stage idea and, with federal backing, built it into technology the government and private sector can actually use. SecureLogix is proud to be one of them.

What Is the DHS SBIR Program?

The federal SBIR program exists to help small businesses do something they often cannot afford to do on their own: fund high-risk, early-stage research and development. The DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate runs its own version, aimed squarely at homeland security challenges, from airport screening to critical infrastructure to emergency communications.

The program is structured in phases, so a promising idea can be tested before larger dollars are committed:

  • Phase I provides roughly $150,000 for a short feasibility study, essentially a proof of concept.
  • Phase II provides continued funding for R&D and prototype development for awardees whose Phase I work shows promise.
  • Phase III is about commercialization, moving the technology into the market or into government use, and is funded outside the SBIR program itself.

To be eligible, a company must be a for-profit U.S. small business with fewer than 500 employees. Only Phase I awardees can advance to Phase II, which keeps the program focused on ideas that have already shown they can work.

Why This Milestone Matters

A thousand contracts is more than a bookkeeping figure. Each one represents a bet on a small team solving a hard problem, and many of those bets have paid off in technology that protects people every day.

It is also a reminder of how much innovation in homeland security comes from outside the big, established players. The SBIR model gives smaller, more agile companies a seat at the table, and that mix of perspectives is exactly what keeps defenders ahead of fast-moving threats.

SecureLogix and DHS-Funded Research

At SecureLogix, this milestone hits close to home. Our research team has spent years identifying voice threats and pioneering the technology to stop them, work that has been supported by DHS and Department of Defense research funding.

Some of that work has been funded directly through the DHS SBIR program. We have received SBIR funding to:

  • Develop technology to prevent Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) attacks, in which attackers flood a voice network or phone number with robocalls to keep it from being used for legitimate calls.
  • Develop tools that support dynamic network modeling for risk management of emergency communication networks, the kind of research that matters when a TDoS attack targets a 911 center or a public safety answering point.

This is not research for its own sake. TDoS is a live threat to organizations that depend on their phones, and the stakes are highest for critical infrastructure and emergency services. In 2017, our work in this area earned the DHS S&T "Bang for the Buck" Award, recognition that the funding was producing real, practical results.

From Research to Real-World Protection

The point of programs like SBIR is to move ideas out of the lab and into the field, and that is exactly what has happened with our voice-security research.

The Call Defense™ Call Security System sits at the edge of an organization's voice network and separates good call traffic from bad in real time, blocking TDoS attacks, robocalls, scam calls, and other threats before they cause disruption. For organizations that want the technology backed by expert hands, the Call Secure™ Managed Call Security Service pairs the same platform with the most experienced call security service team in the business.

The threat is real and it is growing. Voice networks that were once an afterthought are now a favorite target for fraudsters, and the organizations that depend on their phones most, banks, hospitals, government agencies, and emergency services, are exactly the ones attackers go after.

The Takeaway

The DHS SBIR program's 1,000th contract is worth pausing on. It shows what happens when the government invests in small businesses willing to tackle problems that do not have easy answers.

For SecureLogix, that investment helped fund the research behind technology now protecting voice networks at some of the most demanding organizations in the country, including many of the largest banks, government agencies, and critical infrastructure operators. Good research, it turns out, has a long life.

Wondering whether your voice network could stand up to a TDoS attack? Speak with a Voice Security Expert and let's talk it through.