While any government contracting comes with reporting and paperwork obligations, ARRA money has its own set of requirements. For instance:

• Reporting. ARRA recipients must file quarterly reports documenting their use of stimulus funds by going to the government’s Web site at www.federalreporting.gov. All contracts contain a clause which requires the prime contractor and first-tier subcontractors to report certain information, including the amount of stimulus funds invoiced by the contractor for the reporting period, an assessment of the contractor’s progress on the contract, the number of jobs created and retained because of the contract, and the names and compensation of the five most highly paid officers of the contractor.
• Whistleblower protection. An ARRA contractor must agree to refrain from retaliating against an employee who discloses what the employee reasonably believes to be evidence of gross mismanagement, misuse or waste of ARRA funds. And contractors must post a notice concerning employees’ whistleblower protections.
• Audits. All federal contractors get audited, but the government auditing arm, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, has separate programs for tracking and auditing ARRA funds. Translation: Such funds and their use get special attention. And companies that get funds are subject to separate, stiff audits to uncover infractions of anti-discrimination rules.

Banks still aren’t lending or they way they used to  — especially when dealing with small businesses. So what’s Plan B? Familiarizing yourself with proven alternative funding sources.

Despite some recent encouraging economic signs, 75% of domestic banks said they’d tightened credit for small businesses, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey in April. That’s up from 70% in the January survey.

But more firms are finding success through these non-traditional funding options:

1. Fed-backed loans. After the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the weekly loan dollar volume on small business loans, such as 7(a) and 504 programs, jumped 40%.
   Added bonus: ARRA allows the Small Business Administration to temporarily waive a fee it charges banks — which is in turn passed on to the borrowers.
2. Credit unions and community banks. These institutions, credit unions in particular, were largely unaffected by the housing crisis and are issuing loans to small businesses as the lending outlook improves.
3. Peer-to-peer lending. These networks are experiencing a resurgence thanks to tightened credit. Examples: Virgin Money’s speciality is setting up business loans between friends, family and associates; Lending Club will only set up credit-worthy borrowers with lenders.
4. Microlenders. These lenders are more willing to take a chance on start-ups or businesses with questionable credit histories because they rely on donations from individuals and charitable organizations.
   Downside: Microloans usually carry higher interest rates than bank loans. The Small Business Administration offers microloans at interest rates of between 8% and 13%.
5. Asset-based loans. These lenders purchase a company’s accounts receivables for 80%-90% on the dollar — to lend against them. LSQ Funding is an asset-based lender that works with only small and mid-sized businesses in the U.S.