Stacy L. Chin explains the SBIR program rule: startups must do most of their R&D in the US themselves. You can work with partners, but outsourcing core R&D to vendors gets your proposal rejected. Reviewers want to see your own innovation, not a vendor's.
If most of your work is outsourced, it's not your innovation, and the SBIR program sees it that way. The program requires that the majority of the R&D happens in your startup and within the US. You can collaborate with others, but you can't offload the core work. So if your proposal reads like a network of vendors doing everything, reviewers are going to question, what does your company even do? And if you or they can't answer that question, you're disqualified and you won't get funded.
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How to Get Invited to Apply for $305K in NSF SBIR Funding || Step-by-Step Guide
