APFIT Funding for Defense Tech That Has Finished Development

What APFIT Is and What It Buys

APFIT provides $10M to $50M of procurement funding per project for innovative technology that has completed development and is ready to transition into operational use. The money goes to projects with small business or nontraditional performers, to speed up initial production and shorten the overall procurement timeline. APFIT started in Fiscal Year 2022, and news on the APFIT site describes its earlier phase as a pilot program.

A company cannot submit an APFIT package itself. A designated government organization, such as a military Service, a Combatant Command or a Defense Agency, submits the package, and APFIT awards each project in coordination with that organization. For a founder, the business-development target is a government program office that wants the capability, because APFIT has no application a company files on its own.

APFIT is run by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, OUSW(R&E), which holds a competitive down-select every year. The APFIT program page uses Department of War (DoW) naming where this site's other guides say Department of Defense. Its published evaluation criteria are impact to the warfighter, sustainment support, and applicability to the broader DoW.

Awarded APFIT projects have ranged from procurement of undersea sensors to the manufacture and launch of satellites. APFIT's stated design is to fund technology that has been validated but is stalled by budget obstacles, so the department can buy mission-ready capabilities right away.

Award Totals and Follow-On Contracts

Per the APFIT program page, capabilities arrive two years sooner on average.

The APFIT page says $935 million of FY2022 to FY2025 APFIT funding resulted in procurement contracts and commitments from other government entities, totaling more than $3.2 billion of follow-on investment. Divided out, $3.2 billion over $935 million is about 3.4 follow-on dollars for each of those APFIT dollars.

The APFIT page reports its largest single award in history at $49.7 million, just under the $50M ceiling. The same page reports an average award of over $30 million per project in its largest cohort to date.

An APFIT award is procurement money for a capability the department is interested in buying, which places it after the research awards covered in our SBIR and STTR guide.

APFIT's FY2026 Results and the FY2027 Cycle

APFIT has awarded more than $2 billion to 106 companies since the program began, according to the APFIT program page. That total updates the program page's earlier reading of over $1.4 billion to over 75 companies. In fiscal year (FY) 2026, APFIT awarded three projects valued at more than $49 million each. The FY2026 average award exceeded $25 million per project across all cycles.

The earlier average of over $30 million described one cohort, then the largest, so the two figures measure different groups of awards.

From FY2022 through FY2026, APFIT funding supported more than $6.1 billion in follow-on procurement contracts and commitments from other government organizations. The earlier $3.2 billion figure covered only the FY2022 to FY2025 window. The FY2026 cycles produced APFIT's largest number of viable proposals to date, with 161 meeting all mandatory requirements and requesting $4.43 billion in total.

The earlier count of 76 viable proposals worth $2.36 billion described the FY2026-1 call alone. Across FY2026, 40 of 146 procurement-funding proposals were selected (27%), along with 6 of 15 Budget Activity 6.8 proposals (40%). The 30% rate, 18 of 60, applied to FY2025.

The program page, which styles the department the Department of War (DoW), lists FY26-2 awards as announced in a status dated December 3, 2025. A status dated October 20, 2026 says the FY27-1 selection cycle is in final selection. That replaces a March 20, 2026 note expecting the cycle to open in early summer 2026.

No FY2027 awards or totals are published, and the program page lists aggregate totals with no names of selected companies. It refers readers to its Frequently Asked Questions for the selection process and cycle schedule.

Who Can Submit an APFIT Package

Only specified organization leads at APFIT-designated government organizations can submit an APFIT package. The APFIT page groups them into Services, Combatant Commands, and Defense Agencies and 4th Estate organizations.

• Services: Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Department of the Air Force, and U.S. Space Force.
• Combatant Commands: Africa, Central, Cyber, European, Indo-Pacific, Northern, Southern, Space, Special Operations, Strategic, and Transportation Commands.
• Defense Agencies and 4th Estate organizations: DARPA, Defense Health Agency (DHA), Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Missile Defense Agency, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
• Also in that group: the National Guard Bureau (NGB), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), OUSW(Intelligence and Security), OASW(Critical Technologies), OASW(Mission Capabilities), and OASW(Science and Technology).

The APFIT Eligibility Bars

A project qualifies for APFIT only if it clears all six bars on the APFIT page's qualification list.

• Research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) is complete, and the department is interested in procuring the capability.
• The performer is a small business or a nontraditional defense contractor.
• $10M to $50M could be used to accelerate procurement.
• An APFIT-designated submitting organization endorses the project.
• The project is past early development: Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1 to 6 is excluded.
• The project is not a contractor owned, contractor operated (COCO) item.

The Six-Step Selection Process

An APFIT package moves through six published steps, from submission by an organization lead to a public award announcement.

At the OTAP step, government points of contact brief the capability, and the APFIT page does not list the company as a briefer. Three groups then rank it: OSW, the Joint Staff, and acquisition organizations. Give the sponsor's point of contact material that covers all three published criteria: impact to the warfighter, sustainment support, and applicability to the broader DoW.

Step 3 includes requests for information from the APFIT team. Have technical and production details written up before the package goes in, so answers do not hold up the detailed review.

Proposal Volume and Selection Rates

In FY2025, viable APFIT proposals had a 30% selection rate, with 18 of 60 awarded.

The FY2026-1 call for proposals drew 76 viable proposals totaling $2.36 billion, the largest for any single call at that point. That works out to an average request of about $31 million per proposal, from $2.36 billion divided by 76.

Every one of those proposals came in through a designated organization lead, because no other route exists. Getting a sponsor is the first filter, and in FY2025, 42 of 60 sponsored, viable proposals still went unfunded. For FY2026-1 award results, read the latest announcements on the APFIT program page.

Where APFIT Sits Among the Other Programs

APFIT is procurement money for the step after development is done, which places it later than the earlier-stage programs this site covers. Two conditions would change that placement for a company: an APFIT-designated organization willing to carry the package, and RDT&E that is genuinely complete. Without them, the Technology Readiness Level 1 to 6 exclusion makes the earlier-stage programs the route.

The APFIT page describes four valleys of death between an idea and a fielded product, and says APFIT bridges the third and fourth.

The third valley runs from prototype to product, where requirements lag innovation and initial funding through the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process can take two years. The fourth runs from product to scale, as a company moves from low-rate initial production (LRIP) to full rate production (FRP).

The APFIT page gives two examples. APFIT funds let one small business expand from a small building into a warehouse ten times the size of its original facility as it moved from LRIP to FRP. A FY2024 award went to modular bridging that builds and repairs infrastructure in remote areas, at Edwards Design and Fabrication, Inc. of Meridianville, Alabama.

For earlier steps, read our guides to AFWERX and the Defense Innovation Unit. For loans and capital, see the Office of Strategic Capital, and for fielding at scale, the Replicator initiative. Our guide to how defense procurement works covers the buying process an APFIT award feeds into.

Cycle Status and Next Steps

APFIT runs in numbered selection cycles, and the APFIT page posts dated status notes for each one. A note dated December 3, 2025 said the FY26-2 cycle was closed, projects were being evaluated, and selection announcements were expected in late spring 2026.

A note dated March 20, 2026 said the FY27-1 cycle was anticipated to open in early summer 2026. Those are the APFIT page's statuses as of the dates shown. Read the live cycle status on the APFIT program page before planning a submission.

Three submission templates are posted for the FY27 cycle: a Letter of Attestation, a Quad Chart, and a Submission Briefing. All three must go in through an approved service APFIT representative.

If you run a company with a finished capability, start by naming the program office that wants to buy it. Then ask that office to take the project to its APFIT organization lead, using the qualification list on the APFIT program page as the checklist.