The New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) program at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories is currently soliciting proposals for leveraged projects for the calendar year 2021.  The deadline for submission is February 16, 2021. The program does not provide capital or financial investment, however, awarded businesses receive monetary value in the form of technical assistance.

The New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) Program provides New Mexico small businesses facing technical challenges access to the unique expertise and capabilities of Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. At no cost to the business, small businesses can seek assistance from lab scientists and engineers to solve challenges and overcome barriers to company success.

NMSBA leveraged projects allow multiple small businesses that share technical challenges to request assistance collectively.  Leveraged projects fund lab staff time and incidental materials at a range of $40,000 to $120,000 (the sum of the assistance for which each participating company is eligible).  Proposals must comply with NMSBA guidelines, eligibility requirements and meet the criteria outlined in the call. 

While applications for leveraged projects are accepted just once a year, individual-project requests are accepted anytime during the year and must be completed by the end of the calendar year.  Individual projects are funded at $20,000 or $40,000 depending on the county in which the company is located. Read more about individual project criteria.

Curious about how others have used the program? Here’s how entrepreneurs Greg Scantlen, Paul Saxe and Chuck Bulow worked together to increase computer processing speed. And Santa Fe’s Honeymoon Brewery perfected its kombucha with help from an individual NMSBA project.

Since 2000, the two national laboratories have provided $57.9 million in technical assistance to 2,797 businesses, enabling 7,853 jobs to be created and retained across the states’s 33 counties.