If I have foreign countries of concern investment or an individual working on the project team with a foreign country of concern affiliation (e.g., co-authorship, funding, etc.), is my proposal automatically denied?

No – the Army SBIR|STTR Due Diligence Team will independently assess each proposal using the standard due diligence process. For proposals exhibiting significant risk indicators, such as covered individuals with foreign countries of concern affiliations or investment, the due diligence team will conduct enhanced deep-dive due diligence reviews on the indicated risk and overall proposal. The presence of individual risk indicators will not cause the team to automatically deny a proposal. The only reason for automatic due diligence-based denial would be continuous and systemic issues within the small business concern, which raise the probability of loss or damage to the Army to an unacceptable level.