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.

Three of the companies received approximately $2.25 million for work on blockchain-related technology.

  • BlockCypher (Redwood City, CA), Blockchain Platform for Multiple Blockchains, Applications, and Analytics
  • Digital Bazaar (Blacksburg, VA), Verifiable Claims and Fit-for-Purpose Decentralized Ledgers
  • Evernym Inc. (Herriman, UT), Decentralized Key Management using Blockchain

Each Phase II award contract received approximately $750,000 to develop a prototype based on the feasibility of the technologies demonstrated in the Phase I effort, which were completed in November 2016, according to the DHS.

“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.”

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.