Home
>
Small Business
>
10 Best Practices to Consider as Your SBIR Negotations Approach Contract Signature

10 Best Practices to Consider as Your SBIR Negotations Approach Contract Signature

10 Best Practices to consider as your SBIR negotiations approach contract signature:

1. Draft your confirmation of negotiations, be sure to memorialize that this is an SBIR type contract along with the applicable data rights and SBIR related terms and conditions.

2. Firm up the actual start date. There is not time to waste, everyday counts when your program's duration is only 6 or 9 months long!

3. Get into order system entry mode. A quick entry into the system assures no loss of valuable time in job performance!

4. Get your Julian calendar out. Convert relative days (i.e. 180 days after ?) to actual dates. Don't only use your CDRL's to extract due dates, some deliverables may be embedded in the SOW, schedule or term of your contract!

5. Don't forget to inform your IP dept (or whoever keeps track of your IP) what IP arrangements were negotiated. (If your company does not already co-locate this information in one central place, start organizing it now!) Documenting the evolution of your IP is critical to maintaining data rights.

6. Work out charge numbers with your accounting/finance department.

7. If applicable, close out any pre-contract cost charge numbers so you can effectively segregate the charges. This is an unlikely occurrence in the SBIR world, but still worth noting.

8. Start your subcontracting and consulting activities immediately, especially if they are starting the work at the same time as you or shortly thereafter. The race is on to get those PO's and subcontracts issued! With a short program duration, as in the case of an SBIR, there is not much time to get subs and consultant work going.

9. Communicate any security issues with your security officer/department.

10. Start organizing the volume of paper you have piled up during the life of this proposal and negotiation. If you don't do it now, you may never!

Lisa DeMaio is the president and founder of Virtual Contract Manager, LLC, which is a one-stop "information shop" for and about the Contract Management Community and the SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) Program. Let Virtual Contract Manager coach you on how to integrate the SBIR program into your existing business. Come visit Virtual Contract Manager and get a wealth of FREE SBIR information on our Free Articles Page and to sign up for our content-rich monthly newsletter which features one article a month on the SBIR program. Let Virtual Contract Manager help you tap the federal market and help fund your research or innovative technology. http://www.virtualcontractmanager.com/

cleaning help near Mundelein ..

In The News:

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.