Understanding TABA Funding

How to Select TIV as Your Provider

Many of our clients initially come in with a preconception that the proposal will resemble those they may have applied for by other means, such as for a contract. However, various grant opportunities include the combination of innovation and commercialization, while ensuring alignment with specific agency needs, the approach needs to be tailored appropriately.

Selecting TIV as your TABA Provider

Many U.S. government agencies will give you additional funding on your SBIR/STTR award to select your own commercialization services provider through an option called Discretionary Technical Assistance (DTA) or Commercialization Assistance. In general, DTA allows you to select your own provider – such as TIV - and procure additional funding in the form of TABA support SBIR/STTR commercialization activities, at no cost to your project. In some instances, there will already be a TABA entity contracted with the agency to provide service for those who are interested, but in general, SBIR/STTR Awardees tend to select their own TABA provider best tailored to their needs. Accordingly, if you would like to work with TIV, we are happy to streamline the process and assist along the process!

Allowable TABA Services

Assistance with commercialization plan, product sales and go-to-market strategy

Support may include refining the commercialization plan to align technical development with customer needs, revenue models, and realistic adoption pathways. This includes identifying target customer segments, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and early commercialization milestones appropriate for SBIR/STTR-funded technologies.

Intellectual property strategy and protection planning

Services may involve assessing the intellectual property landscape to support informed decisions around patents, trade secrets, and freedom-to-operate considerations. This assistance helps ensure that commercialization pathways are supported by a defensible IP strategy consistent with long-term business and partnership goals

Market research and market validation

Market research services may include analysis of market size, growth dynamics, customer pain points, and competitive positioning. Market validation activities can support evidence-based claims by incorporating customer discovery, stakeholder interviews, and early market feedback.

Development of regulatory pathways and regulatory plans

Assistance may include identifying applicable regulatory frameworks, approval pathways, and compliance requirements relevant to the proposed product or service. This helps small businesses understand regulatory risks, timelines, and resource requirements early in the commercialization process.

Access to relevant technical and business literature via online databases

TABA support may include structured access to relevant technical, scientific, and business literature through established online databases. This enables evidence-based decision-making and supports plans grounded in current research & market intelligence.

Can you apply to more than one SBIR solicitation?

Yes! Although applicants sometimes mistakenly believe they are restricted to a single application for their technology, they may indeed apply to more than one SBIR solicitation across different agencies. However, this is provided that each application is distinct, responsive to the specific solicitation, and proposes materially different technical work. What is not allowed, however, is submitting the same or substantially overlapping projects to multiple agencies or topics, which may result in disqualification.

For example, a company may submit one SBIR proposal to the NIH focused on developing an AI model for early breast cancer detection, and a separate proposal to the NSF focused on improving the computational performance of the underlying machine-learning methods. Although both projects involve AI, the technical objectives, research aims, and deliverables are clearly distinct, making both submissions allowable.

SBIR/STTR & AI - What to Know

Non-Allowable TABA Services

TABA funds may not be used for the following activities:

Activities that the recipient can reasonably perform internally
General maintenance of, or investment in, the applicant organization, an affiliate or investor, or required subcontractors/consultants•
Contributions to the SBIR/STTR fee•Audit services
Bookkeeping or payroll management services, including general accounting
Patent costs beyond those specifically allowed under NIH SBIR/STTR guidelines
Contingency costs or costs associated with the core research and development activities.

Disclaimer: TABA approval is discretionary and solicitation-dependent, with the greatest variability occurring at Phase II (since Phase I activities orient around establishing feasibility, TABA funds are used for more preliminary analyses, as opposed to the more targeted demands in Phase II). Agencies require that TABA funds support third-party, non-R&D activities that produce clear, commercialization-relevant outcomes.

For most SBIR agencies, the following TABA funding quantities are permissible by law:

Phase I: In addition to the SBIR award amount, each Phase I Awardee is eligible for up to $6,500 in SBIR/STTR funds for TABA.

Phase II: In addition to the SBIR award amount, each Phase II Awardee is generally eligible for up to $50,000 in SBIR/STTR funds for TABA.

N.B. While the above is broadly the same for all agencies, allocation of funding and emphasis may slightly vary per agency and per call. TIV experts utilize their deep institutional knowledge to understand nuances to ensure compliance and optimal use of TABA funding.

Let’s Work Together

Get in touch so we can start working together.

Whether you are just getting started and want to better understand how TABA support can benefit you; want to identify TIV as your selected provider in your SBIR/STTR application; or have already received your TABA funding and are ready to engage our team, we would love to hear from you. Please write to us at BUSINESS@TIVINC.COM