Small Business: SBA Could Better Focus Its 8(a) Program to Help Firms Obtain Contracts
RCED-00-196
Published: Jul 20, 2000. Publicly Released: Jul 20, 2000.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Small Business Administration's (SBA) 8(a) program's progress in developing small businesses that are owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, focusing on: (1) the extent to which firms are obtaining federal contracts; (2) how SBA tracks the training and assistance provided to firms; and (3) how firms view the program.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Small Business Administration | To better address the purpose of the 8(a) program, meet the needs and expectations of the firms in the program, and improve SBA's ability to determine how well the program is working, the Administrator, SBA, should instruct the district offices to place their highest priority on helping inform firms about contracting opportunities, assisting firms with contacts at federal agencies, and becoming more involved with firms as they seek and negotiate contracts. |
The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Government Contracting and Business Development has demonstrated its heightened emphasis on helping inform 8(a) firms about contracting opportunities, assisting them with contacts at federal agencies, and becoming more involved with the firms. For example, SBA instructed its district office personnel to host four "matchmaking" events in fiscal year 2004, make one-on-one matchmaking appointments to personally bring together representatives of 8(a) firms and procurement entities. In addition, SBA partnered with Hewlett Packard to host national matchmaking events on a larger scale. In April of 2004, SBA reported that over 4,000 firms were linked in procurement entities in 14,500 matchmaking appointments and that special events were held in seven major cities. The national events bring together local, state, federal agencies, large corporations, and 8(a) firms. Workshops at the events focus on helping the small businesses prepare to do business with government agencies or large corporations, on-site SBA counseling, procurement meetings with the government agencies and corporations. SBA is now collecting data on the number of actual contracts awarded as a result of the matchmaking events.
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| Small Business Administration | To better address the purpose of the 8(a) program, meet the needs and expectations of the firms in the program, and improve SBA's ability to determine how well the program is working, the Administrator, SBA, should periodically perform a nationwide sample survey of 8(a) firms to obtain measurable program data. At a minimum, the survey should assess whether SBA assistance is meeting the firms' expectations and needs. |
SBA drafted a plan for providing individualized business development assistance to 8(a) firms, along with an automated assessment tool--the 8(a) Business Development Assessment Tool (BDAT). A subsequent evaluation of BDAT revealed that the tool would not provide the expected outcome. Consequently, the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development launched a broader technology modernization effort in December of 2011. One of the outcomes of that effort was the conceptualization of the One Track Certification Management System (One Track CMS), which included many of the requirements from the BDAT. However, SBA experienced some delays regarding the contract for development and the ultimate implementation of the One Track CMS. SBA has subsequently decided to rely on a process that is largely manual and involves interaction with the Business Opportunity Specialist in the district office. As a result, events and conditions have changed in a way we think the recommendation is no longer valid.
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| Small Business Administration | To better address the purpose of the 8(a) program, meet the needs and expectations of the firms in the program, and improve SBA's ability to determine how well the program is working, the Administrator, SBA, should provide a method for collecting data on each firm's training needs for tracking the assistance provided. |
With the deployment of the Business Development Management Information System on July 28, 2008, along with an 8(a) Business Development Assessment Tool (BDAT)--which will entail an enhancement of SBA's Business Development Management Information System--SBA stated that it will be able to annually collect data that will be used to assess an 8(a) participant's needs for technical assistance and training. A subsequent evaluation of BDAT revealed that the tool would not provide the expected outcome. Consequently, the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development launched a broader modernization effort in December of 2011. One of the outcomes of that effort was the conceptualization of One Track Certification Management System (One Track CMS), which included many of the requirements from the BDAT. However, SBA experienced some delays regarding the contract for development and the ultimate implementation of the One Track CMS. SBA drafted a plan for providing individualized business development assistance to 8(a) firms, along with an automated assessment tool--the 8(a) Business Development Assessment Tool (BDAT). A subsequent evaluation of BDAT revealed that the automated tool would not provide the expected outcome. SBA has subsequently decided to rely on a process that is largely manual and involves interaction with the Business Opportunity Specialist in the district office. As a result, events and conditions have changed in a way we think the recommendation is no longer valid.
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| Small Business Administration | To better address the purpose of the 8(a) program, meet the needs and expectations of the firms in the program, and improve SBA's ability to determine how well the program is working, the Administrator, SBA, should revise the 8(a) program's success measure in SBA's future annual performance plans to make the measure a more meaningful assessment of the program's impact. |
In SBA's fiscal year (FY) 2000 performance and accountability report, SBA stated that its current success indicator for the 8(a) program would be replaced in future annual performance plans with a measure of the percentage of firms that graduate and are economically viable 3 years after graduation. Such a measure was used by SBA previously and would be a stronger measure of program performance. SBA has now taken this action and reported (in its fiscal year 2003 Performance and Accountability Report) these client success rates 3 years after graduation from the 8(a) program: FY 2000 65 percent; FY 2001 64 percent; FY 2002 unavailable. Its goal for FY 2003 was 70 percent, but results were not available.
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| Small Business Administration | The Administrator, SBA, should reassess the agency's use of 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program funding. The reassessment should consider whether to devote most of the 7(j) program's funding to training designed to develop the abilities of 8(a) firms to obtain contracts or to retain the current business development focus but restrict the training to firms with a demonstrated need. |
SBA assesses how 7(j) funds will be used each year; currently the funds are used for both management training and assistance in obtaining contracts. Through a contractor, SBA created a web-based Procurement Academy to provide procurement assistance to 8(a) firms via Internet training and a CD-ROM. The CDs are also distributed by SBA district offices to eligible companies. SBA surveyed its district offices to identify the training needs of businesses in their districts. As a result, SBA used some 7(j) funds to provide contract bid and proposal writing seminars for eligible businesses.
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Government contractsManagement information systemsMinority business assistancePerformance measuresProgram evaluationSmall business assistanceSmall business contractsTechnical assistanceSmall business development programsSmall business