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 2000-07-19 monographic deposited born digital 26 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-197 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197 P0b002ee180384685 f:rc00197 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197 RCED-00-197 Information systems Data collection Information resources management Small business assistance GSA Federal Procurement Data System SBA Servicing and Contracting System SBA Minority Enterprise Development Central Office Repository SBA 8(a) 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-00-197/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197.pdf GAO/RCED-00-197 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-197 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-197; Small Business: SBA's 8(a) Information System Is Flawed; Information systems Data collection Information resources management Small business assistance GSA Federal Procurement Data System SBA Servicing and Contracting System SBA Minority Enterprise Development Central Office Repository SBA 8(a) Program Title 15 Section 636(j)(16) 15 U.S.C. 636(j)(16)