United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-07-20 monographic deposited born digital 50 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-196 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196 P0b002ee1803a2fc2 f:rc00196 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196 RCED-00-196 Small business assistance Performance measures Minority business assistance Program evaluation Small business contracts Management information systems Government contracts Technical assistance SBA 8(a) Program SBA 7(j) Management Assistance Program SBA Business Assessment Tool Program SBA 8(a) Business Development Mentor Protege Program Letter Report RCED The Small Business Administration's 8(a) program--the federal government's primary vehicle for developing small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged persons--is not meeting client expectations. First, SBA's efforts are not aligned with the needs or expectations of 8(a) firms. Firms want SBA to provide more assistance that will help them obtain contracts. SBA has stressed business management skills, even though most firms joined the program to obtain 8(a) contracts. This misalignment of SBA efforts and 8(a) firms' needs has been further compounded by the fact that most 8(a) contract dollars go to a small number of firms. Second, SBA has no way to tell how well the 8(a) program is working or know the full extent of business development assistance provided to firms. SBA is unable to measure the 8(a) program's performance in such basic areas as the level of training provided, whether such training matched firms' needs, or even the amount of 8(a) contracts the firms obtained. GAO summarized these two reports in testimony before Congress; see: Small Business: Expectations of Firms in SBA's 8(a) Program Are Not Being Met, by Stanley J. Czerwinski, Associate Director for Housing and Community Development Issues, before the Senate Committee on Small Business. GAO/T-RCED-00-261, July 20 (15 pages). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196.pdf GAO/RCED-00-196 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-196 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-196; Small Business: SBA Could Better Focus Its 8(a) Program to; Small business assistance Performance measures Minority business assistance Program evaluation Small business contracts Management information systems Government contracts Technical assistance SBA 8(a) Program SBA 7(j) Management Assistance Program SBA Business Assessment Tool Program SBA 8(a) Business Development Mentor Protege Program