SBIR and STTR registrations: which ones an applicant needs besides SAM.gov, and in what order the agencies describe them

SBA keeps a registry of SBIR and STTR applicants, separate from SAM.gov. SBIR.gov's questions and answers say all applicants to the SBIR or STTR programs must register on the SBIR/STTR Company Registry, in addition to registering on SAM. A registered company is given an SBIR/STTR identifier to use when it applies to any agency's SBIR or STTR solicitation. NIH's page calls it an SBC Control ID, which goes in the SBIR/STTR information section of a grant application. NIH says registration in the registry is required to take part in the programs. DOE's page says applicants provide proof of the SBA company registration with the application. The registration needs the business's Unique Entity ID, so the SAM registration is begun before it.

The registry is where the programs' own eligibility rules come in. Whether a business qualifies for SBIR or STTR turns on size and ownership rules that SBA sets. That is a question for the owner with a free counselor or an attorney, not for this guide: the card just below this guide lists them.

NIH's page names two more systems. eRA Commons is NIH's own system, required to do business with NIH and some agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services. A business officer with the authority to legally bind the company does its registration. The credentials it issues are also used in ASSIST, NIH's system for preparing and submitting applications. Grants.gov is the government-wide portal that every grant application to NIH flows through, so a Grants.gov registration is required to submit. The page says the company's information goes from SAM to Grants.gov on its own once the SAM registration is active. It says the Electronic Business Point of Contact named in the SAM registration assigns the Grants.gov roles. NIH's order is SAM first. Then come eRA Commons and the SBA registry once the Unique Entity ID is assigned. Grants.gov comes last, once the full SAM registration is active.

NSF's page lists three registrations, in the order it recommends. The first is SAM.gov. The second is Research.gov, where a company registers with NSF before applying, and only then can it begin preparing a proposal. The SAM registration is completed first. The third is the SBIR Company Registry, whose Business Concern Control ID goes in the Research.gov application. DOE's page lists three too: SAM, the SBA Company Registry, and the DOE SBIR/STTR Application Hub, where applicants register to submit their applications. DOE says all three must be completed before the application can be submitted, and that each system serves a different function in the process.

Other agencies run their own portals, and this guide names only the pages it read. The agency's solicitation, or its applicant page, is where the list for a particular program lives. That is what How to register in SAM.gov means when it says an SBIR applicant confirms the other registrations with the funding agency.

Grants.gov's own page says an organization applying for a federal grant registers as an entity with SAM.gov first. It chooses a main contact, called the Electronic Business Point of Contact in SAM.gov and the EBiz POC in Grants.gov. It gets a Unique Entity ID that then appears in its applications, and it renews the SAM.gov registration every year. An organization cannot start applying in Grants.gov until it is registered in SAM.gov. After that, the main contact creates a Grants.gov account with the same email used for the Electronic Business Point of Contact in SAM.gov. The contact adds an organization applicant profile with the Unique Entity ID, and can then give other people access to help with applications. The page also says there is nothing to pay to register.

Put together, the pages read for this guide describe the order like this, and each agency's own instructions govern:

1. SAM.gov first, with the purpose the agency's program uses, because the Unique Entity ID it issues is what every other registration takes.
2. SBA's SBIR/STTR Company Registry once the Unique Entity ID is assigned, which gives the SBC Control ID the application asks for.
3. The agency's own system, such as NIH's eRA Commons, NSF's Research.gov or DOE's SBIR/STTR Application Hub, in the place the agency gives it. NIH puts eRA Commons beside the SBA registry, and NSF puts Research.gov before the registry.
4. Grants.gov where the agency uses it, which NIH's page puts last, after the full SAM registration is active.

This guide gives no time for any of them. Each page carries its own estimate, and the agency's own page is the one that has it. The free counselors in Free help that exists help with these programs at no charge.

Firmenza's copilot asks SAM.gov's questions one at a time for either purpose. A Firmenza specialist reviews your application. SBA's registry, the agency's own system and Grants.gov are SBA's and the agency's own registrations, and this guide describes them and nothing more.

This guide cannot say whether your business is eligible for SBIR or STTR, which program or topic fits it, what a particular solicitation requires, or how long any registration takes. The agency's own instructions govern the order and the systems. Eligibility is a size and ownership question for the owner with a free counselor or an attorney.