SBIR / STTR Eligibility Checker
The SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs are the largest sources of early-stage federal R&D funding for small businesses — over $4 billion annually across 11 federal agencies. But eligibility rules are strict. This checker walks through the SBA's eligibility criteria — business size, ownership structure, principal investigator requirements, and agency-specific rules — so you can confirm eligibility before investing in a full proposal.
Based on your inputs, the applicant appears to meet all core SBIR eligibility criteria. This is an estimate — eligibility is self-certified and is your legal responsibility. Verify the current rules at SBIR.gov.
- Pass: For-profit U.S. small businessConfirmed as a for-profit business organized in the United States. (15 USC 638; SBA Policy Directive)
- Pass: Fewer than 500 employees (including affiliates)25 employees (including affiliates) is under the 500-employee size cap. (SBA affiliation rules, 13 CFR Part 121)
- Pass: At least 51% U.S.-owned and -controlled100% owned and controlled by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens meets the 51% threshold. (SBA Policy Directive)
- Pass: Research performed primarily in the U.S.Project R&D is performed primarily within the United States. (SBA Policy Directive)
- Pass: Principal Investigator primarily employed by the small businessFor SBIR, the PI must be primarily employed (>50% time) by the small business at award and during the project — confirmed. (SBA Policy Directive)
Estimate only — verify eligibility at SBIR.gov. Self-certification of SBIR/STTR eligibility is your legal responsibility. Not legal advice.
View the TypeScript implementation on GitHub: packages/calc/src/sbir-eligibility-checker.ts · view tests
What this means
SBIR and STTR eligibility is not a score — it is a set of gates, and a single failed gate ends the conversation no matter how strong the rest of the application is. That is why this checker reports each criterion on its own rather than rolling everything into one number: the value is knowing whichgate is the problem, because the fix for “ you have 540 employees after affiliation” is completely different from the fix for “your Principal Investigator works at a university.”
The two conditional cases are where most of the real judgment lives. In my experience, the VC-ownership question trips up more founders than any other rule: the pre-2022 reflex was “institutional majority ownership disqualifies you,” and the 2022 Extension Act quietly changed that for certain agencies under specific registrations. The tool flags it amber rather than red on purpose — it is a path that exists, not a yes. I’ve found the same is true of the STTR Principal Investigator rule: people assume the PI must be on the company payroll the way SBIR demands, when in fact STTR was designed precisely so the PI can sit at the university.
I’ve seen teams burn weeks drafting a full SBIR proposal only to discover at submission that the affiliation-adjusted headcount put them over 500, or that an offshore research subcontractor broke the “performed primarily in the U.S.” rule. None of that is prescriptive advice about what you shoulddo — it is just the order I have watched the gates actually bite, surfaced before you spend the effort.
Worked example
Start with a typical eligible SBIR applicant: a 25-person for-profit Delaware C-corp, 100% U.S.-owned, doing its R&D in the U.S., with the Principal Investigator on staff and no VC majority. Every hard gate clears — under 500 employees, well past the 51% U.S.-ownership floor, U.S.-based research, PI primarily employed by the company — so the checker returns “Likely Eligible” with five passes and zero conditionals. That is the green case: nothing left to verify except the routine self-certification.
Now take the same company after a VC raisethat left the lead fund holding a 60% majority. Toggle “majority-owned by VC” on. The five core gates still pass, but the VC criterion is now flagged amber, so the overall verdict shifts to “Conditional.”I’ve seen founders read that as a rejection — it is not. It is the checker pointing at the SBIR/STTR Extension Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-183) pathway and saying: this is verifiable at certain agencies, under specific conditions and registrations, so confirm it at SBIR.gov before you assume you are out. Push the affiliation-adjusted headcount to 540 on top of that and the verdict flips to “Not Eligible”— a hard fail outranks the conditional, no matter how promising the technology.
Frequently asked questions
The information and tools on this website are for general educational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Consult a licensed professional for decisions specific to your situation.