The Scalebiz guides explain what a funding programme actually requires and whether it is worth your time, using the published rules from TED, SAM.gov, Find a Tender, SEDIA, Grants.gov and UKRI. They are written for the person who has to decide, not for an administrator. To see how Scalebiz applies the same rules automatically, see how the matching engine decides eligibility or check what the Inside subscription costs.
Asking how long a market gives you to bid, rather than what the rules say? Tender response times by market and sector measures every notice published since January 2026: a US construction notice closes in a median 14 days, a French one in 41, on the same CPV code.
An overview of the funding a business can apply for across the EU, US and UK: non-repayable grants, public tenders, equity, subsidised debt and guarantee schemes, and which of them a given company is eligible for.
Read the guide to business funding in the EU, US and UK →When open grant calls close, and how much time is left to prepare an application for each of them.
Read: a calendar of grant deadlines →Which open science practices a Horizon Europe grant makes mandatory, which are only recommended, and where each obligation sits in Part 17 of the Programme Guide.
Read: open science obligations in Horizon Europe →Measured across every grant call and tender notice in the Scalebiz database on 16 September 2026: how rarely a call states the criteria an applicant must meet.
Read: what funding calls state about eligibility →The response windows public buyers give bidders, and what has to be ready before the notice is published.
Read: how long you get to answer a public tender →How equity funds supported by the European Investment Fund work, and which companies they are set up to invest in.
Read: equity funds backed by the EIF →How a state-backed guarantee lowers a lender’s risk, and what a business needs in order to use one.
Read: EU loan guarantees, and what they cover →When a subcontract is eligible, the four conditions it has to meet, and why it earns no overhead under the 25% flat rate.
Read: are subcontractor costs eligible under Horizon Europe? →Which subparts apply to grants, loans and FAR contracts, and which entities the Uniform Guidance actually binds.
Read: 2 CFR Part 200, and who it binds →What goes into the base an indirect cost rate is applied to, what it excludes, and the 15 percent de minimis rate.
Read: modified total direct costs under 2 CFR 200 →When expenditure crosses the threshold, what counts toward it, and who Subpart F leaves out.
Read: the single audit requirement, and who it reaches →Which cost categories the FAR treats as unallowable, and what that means for an indirect cost rate.
Read: unallowable costs under FAR Part 31 →Which cost principles reach which kind of contractor, and where the part stops applying.
Read: FAR Part 31, and who it binds →When a US federal buyer must close a contract to small firms only, how size is judged, and what the limits are once you win.
Read: Small business set-asides, and who qualifies →The part binds the federal buyer, not you. Which programs it creates, who decides your status, and the order they must be considered in.
Read: FAR Part 19, and which programs it sets up →Below the threshold simplified procedures are mandatory; above it they are forbidden. The three ceilings Part 13 states, and the rule against splitting a buy.
Read: When an agency may skip full competition →Labour, overheads, materials, capital usage, subcontract, travel, and everything else. What a day rate may contain, and the costs no category will take.
Read: Which project costs Innovate UK reimburses →Termination above $10,000, Davis-Bacon above $2,000, work hours and Byrd above $100,000. Which clause bites, and at what value.
Read: Which clauses Appendix II requires, and at what value →The line is the lesser of your own capitalization level or $10,000 per unit, and the cost it is measured against includes what makes the item usable.
Read: What counts as equipment, and where the threshold sits →Required before a negotiated contract, subcontract or modification above the FAR 15.403-4 threshold unless an exception at FAR 15.403-1(b) applies, and never at or below the simplified acquisition threshold.
Read: When certified cost or pricing data become due →The pass-through entity decides each agreement on substance, not on its title. Carrying out part of the federal program points to a subaward; buying goods or services for your own use points to a contract.
Read: Subaward or contract, and what each label changes →An open procedure or a competitive flexible procedure the buyer designs itself, both started by a tender notice. No competition is required only for a justified direct award or a call-off under a framework.
Read: How a UK buyer must run a competition →A 30 percent stake makes the investor a partner: you add 30 percent of its data and test the total. Venture capital funds, universities and institutional investors may hold up to 50 percent and are left out of the count.
Read: Where the 25 and 50 percent lines fall →Member States, associated countries and listed low- and middle-income countries are funded by default. A topic can narrow that to named countries, bar entities controlled from a third country, or open a country the annex does not list.
Read: Funding list first, then the topic restriction →Ask in writing within three days of the notice. A postaward debriefing must give you the winner's evaluated price and technical rating and the rationale for award, but never a point-by-point comparison of proposals.
Read: What a federal debriefing owes you, and by when →