Reports

The Office of Inspector General will conduct an evaluation of SBA’s awards made to Highlight Technologies LLC to meet emerging needs related to impacts of COVID-19. Our project is part of a series of reviews of contracts SBA awarded to support CARES Act and other COVID-19 related legislation programs. Our objective is to determine if SBA issued the blanket purchase agreement and contract modifications in accordance with federal laws, regulations, and internal guidance.

The Office of Inspector General Audits Division will perform an evaluation of the Small Business Administration’s implementation of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Our objectives are to determine if SBA designed the program to (1) align with the American Rescue Plan Act requirements including whether designated groups were prioritized and (2) minimize the risk of financial loss.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this Evaluation report to notify Small Business Administration (SBA) officials of significant matters regarding its handling of complaints of identity theft in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. We recommend the Administrator to direct the Associate Administrator for the Office of Disaster Assistance, the Chief Financial Officer for the Office of Performance Management and Chief Financial Officer, and the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access to: 1. Develop a process to...

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this Management Alert regarding serious concerns with the control environment and the tracking of performance results in the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program requiring immediate attention and action. SBA should take immediate action to reduce or eliminate risks by strengthening existing controls and implementing internal controls to address potential misuse of federal funds. Strong controls will ensure the SVOG program can effectively help eligible small business owners and entities that have suffered economic injury because of the...

This report found that SBA awarded the CARES Act entrepreneurial development cooperative agreements and grants in accordance with applicable federal laws, regulations, and guidance. We found program officials established performance goals and identified performance indicators. To more effectively ensure performance goals are achieved as intended, SBA should clearly define the performance goals and set performance targets. We recommended that SBA enforce standard operating procedures requiring defined performance goals and include performance targets in all future SBDC and WBC cooperative...

On March 27, 2020, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted. To date the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education to the BIE. This report presents the DOI’s progress as of January 31, 2021, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $613,068,783, and its obligations...

Inspection Notification: SBA’s Handling of Potentially Fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program Loans

SBA OIG reviewed PPP regulations and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, in addition to guidance published in SBA’s PPP Interim Final Rules and PPP Frequently Asked Questions. We determined SBA did not always have sufficient controls in place to detect and prevent duplicate PPP loans. As a result, lenders made more than one PPP loan disbursement to 4,260 borrowers with the same tax identification number and borrowers with the same business name and address. These disbursements totaled about $692 million for PPP loans approved from April 3 through August 9, 2020. We...

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education to the BIE. This report presents the DOI’s progress as of December 31, 2020, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $600,876,882...

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted. It included $8 billion for direct payments to Indian Tribes and $522 million of direct appropriations to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) for COVID-19 response. Given this infusion of funding, we examined the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian detention system from April 1, 2020, to May 31, 2020, including the actions the BIA and the tribes have taken to respond to outbreaks of this virus, and how other longstanding challenges have affected the BIA’s response...