Practical SBIR/STTR compliance for companies building what is next.
Clear guidance, usable tools, and implementation support for all aspects of your business, from timekeeping, allowable costs, invoicing, audit readiness, data rights, and commercialization.
SBIR Basics and Beyond
An award does not make a company compliant. SAM.gov, UEI, NAICS, and agency registrations get you in the door. What keeps the funding is what happens after: who charged time, which costs were allowable, how the invoice was built, what you own, and whether the commercialization story matches the books.
SBIR Basics is the practical side of that work. Learn the rule, use the tool, and put the process in place — with implementation support from FOCUS Resources when the company needs it done, not just explained.
Where compliance actually lives
Registrations, before the proposal. SAM.gov, UEI, entity status, NAICS, and agency-specific accounts have to be current and consistent. A lapsed or mismatched registration can stop an award, a payment, or a Phase II before the technical work is ever reviewed.
Timekeeping. Labor is usually the largest cost and the first thing an auditor tests. Contemporaneous records, by person and by project, with a process your team will actually follow.
Allowable costs. Direct versus indirect, unallowable costs kept out of the rate, consultant and subaward charges that match the agreement, and a chart of accounts that can show the difference.
Invoicing. Drawdowns and invoices that trace to the approved budget, the general ledger, and the work performed — not a spreadsheet rebuilt at the end of the month.
Audit readiness. Policies, an audit trail, and records you can produce without a reconstruction project. The goal is a review that confirms the system, not a finding that creates one.
Data rights. What the government gets, what you keep, and what has to be marked. Rights you do not assert on time are rights you may not get back.
Commercialization. Phase milestones, customer evidence, and a financial plan that connect the funded work to a product or service the company can sell after the award.
Learn. Do. Apply. Comply.
Guidance without a way to use it does not change the books. SBIR Basics is built for the person who has to run the award: founders, principal investigators, and the finance lead wearing both hats.
- Plain-language explanations of the rules that show up in real reviews
- Tools and checklists for timekeeping, cost allowability, invoicing, and audit files
- Implementation support when the company needs the system built, not another article
From day one, and every day after
Compliance is not a binder you finish at award setup. Registrations expire. People join. A subaward changes. An invoice gets questioned. A Phase II commercialization plan has to match what Phase I actually spent.
We work with innovation-driven small businesses to keep that system current — and to fix it when a desk review, site visit, or audit is already on the calendar.
Ready to put the process in place? Call 919-234-3960 or email Lea@focusresourcesinc.com.
F.O.C.U.S. Resource, Inc. - A North Carolina Corporation
