Federal Funding Advisory

Find the federal topics
your technology can win.

Most small businesses waste months writing proposals for topics they were never going to win. We match your technology to the right opportunities — before you write a single page.

Request an Assessment How It Works
30+
Years Dept. of
the Navy
100s
SBIR/STTR Awards
Overseen at ONR*
DoD
Dept. of Defense
Focused Expertise
*ONR — Office of Naval Research
Office of Naval Research DoW / DoD Solicitations SBIR & STTR Programs S.3971 Compliance Technology Transition
The Challenge

The right topic changes everything.

SBIR/STTR funding is highly competitive. Applying to the wrong topics — or submitting without resolving compliance issues — wastes months of effort and real money.

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Topic-technology mismatch
Most companies search by keyword and apply to topics that sound relevant but don't match their actual technology readiness or the agency's mission needs.
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Invisible compliance failures
New S.3971 requirements — foreign ownership disclosures, cybersecurity attestations, PI eligibility rules — disqualify submissions that look complete on the surface.
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No context on prior funding history
Federal award data shows who has been funded in each topic area and how often — but most applicants never look. Understanding that history shapes how you frame your proposal and whether a topic is worth pursuing.

The companies that win SBIR funding don't just write better proposals — they apply to the right topics, frame their technology for the right reviewer, and arrive at the submission portal without compliance surprises.

John Carney  ·  Vantage Federal Advisors
Our Service

The SBIR Opportunity Assessment

A structured, expert-led analysis that tells you exactly which open topics match your technology, which ones you can realistically win, and what you need to resolve before submitting.

01
Technology Intake
A structured interview — typically 40 minutes for a focused single-technology company — extracts the five dimensions needed for accurate matching: what your technology does, your actual TRL, your competitive differentiator, external validation signals, and compliance profile.
02
Topic Screening
We screen the current DoW/DoD solicitation against your technology profile using historical award data from SBIR.gov, TRL alignment, and agency mission context — combined with direct experience evaluating proposals at ONR. Not keyword search.
03
Assessment Report
You receive a written report with ranked topic matches, fit rationale, framing recommendations for each agency, prior awardee research drawn from public federal data, and a full S.3971 compliance pre-check.
What your assessment report includes

A plain-language document written for founders and technical leads — not government insiders. Every recommendation includes the reasoning behind it so you understand not just what to do, but why.

✓ Top 3–5 matched topics with fit assessment and rationale — grounded in public award data and 30 years of direct Department of the Navy proposal evaluation experience
✓ Framing recommendation per topic — how to position your technology for that agency's reviewers
✓ Prior awardee research — historical award analysis from SBIR.gov and USASpending.gov showing who has been funded in this topic area
✓ S.3971 compliance snapshot — flags to resolve before any DoW submission
✓ 30-day action plan with sequenced next steps

A note on our methodology: Our topic analysis is grounded in publicly available federal award data from SBIR.gov and USASpending.gov, combined with John's direct experience authoring SBIR and STTR topics and serving as technical point of contact on hundreds of awards at the Office of Naval Research. We tell you what the public record shows and what that experience suggests — not what no one can know. We do not claim to have proprietary intelligence about ongoing agency discussions or competitor submission plans. What we offer is an informed, honest read of the available evidence — and that is more than most applicants ever get.

Compliance Intelligence

New rules. New risks.

The Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act introduced significant new compliance requirements in 2026. Most first-time applicants are unaware of them until it's too late.

Why this matters now

With SBIR/STTR reauthorized and the first DoW solicitations now open after a six-month lapse, agencies will be processing a high volume of submissions. Compliance failures that might have been caught informally in prior cycles are now grounds for immediate disqualification.

We screen for these S.3971 requirements before you submit:

🔍 Foreign ownership disclosure — mandatory for any investor from a country of concern above 15% equity threshold
🔐 Cybersecurity attestation — new requirement for documented data handling and IP protection practices
📝 PI primary employment — Principal Investigator must be primarily employed by the applying small business
🏛️ SAM.gov & SBA registry — active registration required; common lapses cause last-minute disqualifications
⚖️ IP ownership — university licensing agreements must be in place before submission if institutional IP is involved
📊 Proposal submission caps — new per-agency limits under S.3971 that affect high-volume submitters
Vantage Federal Advisors logo
John Carney
Founder & Principal Advisor
22 Years at Office of Naval Research
30+ Years Department of Navy R&D
SBIR/STTR Topic Author, DoD
Technology Transition & Implementation
Federal Proposal Evaluation Expert
About

Insider knowledge.
Independent advice.

Vantage Federal Advisors was founded by John Carney, a 30-year veteran of Department of Navy Research and Development management with deep expertise in exactly the programs most small businesses are trying to access.

John spent his career with the Department of the Navy, including 22 years at the Office of Naval Research, where he authored dozens of SBIR and STTR topics and served as the technical point of contact on hundreds of awards. He knows what program managers write into topics, what reviewers actually look for, and — critically — which signals in a proposal indicate a company that understands the mission versus one that is guessing.

That institutional knowledge is the foundation of every assessment Vantage Federal Advisors delivers. When we tell you a topic is or isn't a strong fit for your technology, that judgment comes from someone who has been on the other side of the evaluation table — not from a keyword matching algorithm.

22
Years at ONR
30+
Years Dept. of Navy R&D
100s
SBIR/STTR Awards Overseen
ONR
Technical Point of Contact
The Vantage Difference

"I spent 30 years writing the topics that small businesses apply to, and evaluating the proposals that came back. I know what wins and what doesn't — not in theory, but from thousands of hours at the table. Combined with the public award record from SBIR.gov and USASpending.gov, that experience lets me give you an honest, grounded assessment — not promises I can't keep."

How It Works

From readiness questionnaire
to assessment in three steps.

1
Readiness Questionnaire
Complete a short online form describing your technology, development stage, team, and agency interest. This gives us everything needed to confirm fit and prepare for your intake — no introductory call required.
10 minutes
2
Technology Intake Interview
A structured deep-dive covering your technology, team, IP, prior validation, and compliance profile. Most focused single-technology companies complete this in 40 minutes. This is where we gather everything needed for accurate matching.
Typically 40 minutes
3
Assessment Delivery
You receive your written assessment report within 5–7 business days, followed by a 30-minute debrief call with John to walk through the findings, answer questions, and align on your next steps.
Report + debrief call
Get Started

Start with the
Readiness Questionnaire.

Answer six questions about your technology and goals. We'll review your responses and follow up within one business day to schedule your intake interview and confirm next steps.

✉️
⏱️
Response time
Within one business day.
Intake scheduled within the week.
📍
Location
Daytona Beach, Florida
Serving clients nationwide
Thank you — your questionnaire has been received. John will review your responses and follow up within one business day to schedule your technology intake interview and outline next steps.