The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Small Business Vouchers (SBV) Program is offering U.S. small businesses in the clean-energy sector unparalleled access to the expertise and facilities of DOE’s national laboratories, including Argonne National Laboratory.

“The SBV pilot is a solution for small businesses to access the world-renowned expertise and instrumentation at DOE labs to help scale up their new clean technologies,” said Greg Morin, director of Argonne’s Office of Strategy and Innovation.

Small businesses can submit requests for technical assistance as part of Round 3 of the SBV Program. Companies have until November 10, 2016, to submit applications.

The pilot program, part of DOE  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)’s Lab Impact portfolio, aims to help small businesses bring next-generation clean energy technologies to market faster by giving them access to expertise and tools at national labs.

For this third round, EERE hopes to increase the number of small businesses collaborating with the DOE national laboratories. As such, small businesses with little to no experience working with the national laboratories are strongly encouraged to submit applications.

Businesses interested in SBV funding must be U.S.-based and U.S.-owned, with no more than 500 full-time employees worldwide. $12 million is available for vouchers in rounds 3 and 4. The deadline for applications is Nov. 10, 2016 (11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time).