Minority Business: Awarding of Cooperative Agreement To Operate Development Centers

In response to a congressional request, GAO: (1) reviewed the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency's (MBDA) procedures in awarding cooperative agreements to operate Minority Business Development Centers; (2) reviewed the Southeastern Michigan Business Development Center's (SMBDC) allegations concerning the MBDA award of the 1986 cooperative agreement to operate the Detroit Center; and (3) determined whether there is a nationwide trend in which MBDA takes these agreements away from minority and community-based organizations and awards them to national accounting firms and other non-community-based organizations.