Topic Award by Other Than the Sponsoring Agency Due to specific limitations on the amount of funding and number of awards that may be awarded to a particular firm per topic using SBIR/STTR program funds (see above), Head of Agency Determinations are now required (for all awards related to topics issued in or after the SBIR 13.1/STTR 13A solicitation) before a different agency may make an award using another agency’s topic. This limitation does not apply to Phase III funding. Please contact the original sponsoring agency before submitting a Phase II proposal to an agency other than the one that sponsored the original topic. (For DON awardees, this includes other DON SYSCOMs.)