Budget Overview
This document provides a detailed line-item budget justification for the proposed SBIR Phase I research project. The total budget request is $275,000 for a 12-month period of performance. All costs comply with 2 CFR 200 Subpart E.
Budget Summary by Category
| Cost Category | Amount | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| a. Personnel (Senior + Other) | $110,000 | 40.0% |
| b. Fringe Benefits | $33,000 | 12.0% |
| c. Equipment | $22,000 | 8.0% |
| d. Travel | $22,000 | 8.0% |
| e. Participant Support | $13,750 | 5.0% |
| f. Other Direct Costs | $19,250 | 7.0% |
| g. Contractual/Subcontracts | $27,500 | 10.0% |
| h. Indirect Costs | $27,500 | 10.0% |
| Total Budget Request | $275,000 | 100.0% |
Personnel Costs
Total: $110,000 (40%)
Personnel costs are calculated based on current salary rates and percent effort dedicated to the proposed project.
Senior Personnel
- PI / CEO — $40,000: Annual salary $80,000, 50% effort (6 person-months). Overall technical and administrative leadership.
- Co-PI / CTO — $30,000: Annual salary $75,000, 40% effort (4.8 person-months). Technical development and system architecture.
Other Personnel
- Lead Software Engineer — $21,000: Annual salary $70,000, 30% effort. Frontend/backend development and QA.
- Data Scientist — $16,250: Annual salary $65,000, 25% effort. ML model development and statistical analysis.
- Research Assistant — $2,750: Annual salary $27,500 (part-time), 10% effort. Participant recruitment and data collection.
| Position | % Effort | Annual Salary | Amount Charged |
|---|---|---|---|
| PI/CEO | 50% | $80,000 | $40,000 |
| Co-PI/CTO | 40% | $75,000 | $30,000 |
| Lead Engineer | 30% | $70,000 | $21,000 |
| Data Scientist | 25% | $65,000 | $16,250 |
| Research Assistant | 10% | $27,500 | $2,750 |
Fringe Benefits
Total: $33,000 (12%)
Composite rate of 30% of total personnel costs ($110,000 x 30% = $33,000).
Equipment
Total: $22,000 (8%)
- Cloud Computing Infrastructure — $12,000: AWS/GCP services including PostgreSQL hosting, compute instances, API gateway, CDN, and storage for 12 months.
- Testing Devices — $5,000: 5 iOS devices and 5 Android devices for cross-platform testing across the Expo React Native application.
- Development Workstations — $5,000: 2 high-performance laptops for ML model training and development.
Travel
Total: $22,000 (8%)
- Customer Discovery Trips — $10,000: 5 markets x $2,000 per trip (airfare, hotel, ground transport, meals).
- Conference Presentations — $6,000: 2 conferences x $3,000 (ACM ITS 2027, IEEE ITSC 2027).
- Program Officer Meetings — $3,000: 2 trips x $1,500 to funding agency headquarters.
- Advisory Board Meeting — $3,000: 1 annual meeting with travel support for advisors.
Participant Support
Total: $13,750 (5%)
- Driver Study Compensation — $12,500: 500 participants x $25 per study session (~3.5 hours total commitment).
- Focus Group Materials — $1,250: 10 sessions (5 markets x 2) with refreshments, printed materials, and venue costs.
Per NSF GPG Chapter II.C.2.g(v), no indirect costs are applied to participant support costs.
Other Direct Costs
Total: $19,250 (7%)
- OpenAI GPT-5.2 API Costs — $8,000: API usage for 15 endpoints serving 500 participants over 9 months.
- Google Cloud Translation API — $2,000: 12-language support for non-native English-speaking participants.
- Stripe Processing Fees — $1,000: Payment processing for driver compensation and platform transactions.
- Software Licenses — $3,000: GitHub Enterprise, Figma Pro, BrowserStack, Mixpanel, Sentry, Linear.
- Publication Fees — $2,500: Open access fees for 2 peer-reviewed journal articles.
- User Study Materials — $1,250: REDCap licensing, consent forms, data collection tools.
- Domain & Hosting — $1,500: Domain registration, SSL, email hosting, CDN for byryde.com.
Contractual / Subcontracts
Total: $27,500 (10%)
- University Research Partner — $20,000: Statistical analysis, co-authored publications, historical datasets. 2 faculty months + graduate assistant support.
- Security Audit — $5,000: Third-party penetration testing and OWASP/SOC 2 compliance audit.
- Legal Review — $2,500: CCPA/privacy law compliance review, consent forms, data sharing agreements.
Indirect Costs
Total: $27,500 (10%)
Calculated using the de minimis rate of 10% of Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) as permitted under 2 CFR 200.414(f).
Cost Sharing / Match
While cost sharing is not required for SBIR Phase I, ByRyde voluntarily provides significant in-kind contributions:
Total in-kind value: $2,039,000+ (7.4:1 cost-sharing ratio)
Compliance Statement
This budget justification has been prepared in accordance with 2 CFR 200 Subpart E and is subject to revision based on funding agency requirements, negotiated indirect cost rate agreements, and any modifications to the proposed scope of work.
Contact: investors@byryde.com | byryde.com