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 1994-07-27 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:T-RCED-94-278 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-94-278 P0b002ee18037432b f:trc94278 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-94-278 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-94-278 T-RCED-94-278 Small business assistance Small business contractors Minority business contracts Management information systems Minority business assistance Competitive procurement Federal procurement Program evaluation Strategic information systems planning Systems design SBA 8(a) Program SBA 8(a) Program Certification Tracking System SBA 8(a) Program Servicing and Contracting System SBA 8(a) Program Management and Technical Assistance System SBA Central Office Repository System Testimony RCED Although the Small Business Administration (SBA) has improved some aspects of its 8(a) business development program, which provides federal contracts to small businesses owned by social and economically disadvantaged persons, SBA is still not in a position to evaluate the program's overall success in enabling minority businesses to compete in the commercial marketplace after they leave the program. The value of 8(a) contracts awarded competitively during fiscal year 1992 was higher than the value of contracts awarded during the preceding year, but the distribution of contracts continued to be concentrated among a very small percentage of firms. Also, SBA could not say whether its revised business plans for 8(a) firms are being reviewed annually, as required by law, or whether the firms are meeting the non-8(a) contract goals to reduce the firms' reliance on program contracts. Finally, the information SBA provided GAO shows that its failure to properly plan the redesign of the program's management information system continues to hamper the implementation of a system of providing SBA managers with basic 8(a) program information. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-94-278/html/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-94-278.htm GAO/T-RCED-94-278 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-94-278 Testimony GAO/T-RCED-94-278; Small Business: SBA Cannot Assess the Success of Its Minority Business Development Program; Small business assistance Small business contractors Minority business contracts Management information systems Minority business assistance Competitive procurement Federal procurement Program evaluation Strategic information systems planning Systems design SBA 8(a) Program SBA 8(a) Program Certification Tracking System SBA 8(a) Program Servicing and Contracting System SBA 8(a) Program Management and Technical Assistance System SBA Central Office Repository System