GSA RIO- A New Contract Vehicle For Phase III’s

RIO stands for Research Innovation & Opportunities and aims to foster collaboration between the government and small businesses. 

It is a new initiative by the GSA to support innovative technology projects. It is a government wide contract vehicle that allows agencies to access solutions developed with SBIR Phase I or Phase II funding. This makes it a new contracting vehicle for Phase III’s

Who is qualified?  

Are you qualified for GSA RIO?  

The only major requirement is to have a SBIR or STTR Phase I or Phase II.  

In other words, if you have a Phase I and you can find that other customer and funding source, then you can get this whole deal set up quickly with GSA RIO.  

What does the process look like? 

Step One: Get a Phase I or a Direct to Phase II 

Step Two: Find another funding source 

Step Three: Register for this contracting vehicle  

How Much is Awarded?

This is how GSA RIO differentiates from our other tools… it is not funding It’s purely a contract vehicle, but this one removes a lot of current barriers in the field and grants contracting officers more flexibility so it might really benefit your overall federal strategy.  

We think that this can be a huge opportunity for both small businesses and the DoD.  

The only downside for small businesses is they’ve still got to find a different funding source, however, in their back pocket they have a place they can spend it in a couple of weeks.  

That’s absolutely game changing.