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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Obama seeks $719 million for SBAPresident asks for less than 1% boost in discretionary programsIn keeping with the recent budget deal, President Obama is seeking a less than 1% increase in discretionary funding for the Small Business Administration in his fiscal 2017 proposed budget. The SBA would get $719 million in discretionary funds, up from $712 million enacted in fiscal 2016. That is a 0.96% increase. The small bump in funding aligns with the president’s request of 1%-or- less funding hikes for discretionary budgets at most other agencies. The total allocation sought for the SBA, including money appropriated for disaster loans, would go to $895 million, a slight drop from $896 million this fiscal year. Government contracting Government Contracting and Business Development programs would rise slightly to $105.1 million, under the president’s proposed budget. That reflects about a two-tenths of 1% increase. Funding for the small business contracting programs would remain essentially flat, with the 8(a) Business Development Program budgeted at $58 million, Prime Contracting Assistance at $19 million, HUBZone program at $16 million, Subcontracting Program at $6 million, 7(j) assistance at $5 million and Women-Owned Small Business Program at $1 million. In justifying the proposed budget for the contracting programs to Congress, SBA officials noted that the Obama administration has met the 23% small business contracting goal two years in a row and is likely to have met it for the third time in fiscal 2015. Official figures for fiscal 2015 have not yet been released. SBA officials also reported that while small business contracting percentages have risen, the dollars spent on administration have fallen each year. Those costs totaled $29 million in fiscal 2010 and had steadily dropped nearly each year, to reach $19 million in fiscal 2015. The fiscal 2017 request also is for $19 million. Entrepreneurial programs The SBA’s budget for entrepreneurial programs would drop by about $2.5 million, down to $183 million in fiscal 2017. Most of the reduction is in cuts to Small Business Development Centers, which would lose $2 million in funding, bringing their budget down to $122 million. The centers trained and advised 570,000 clients in fiscal 2015; however, the SBA said it aims to reduce the number of clients it serves to 460,000 so that it can offer more in-depth training. “The SBA decreased the target for SBDC clients trained in fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017 to place greater priority in development of its quality of services in terms of hours served and enhanced export training,” SBA said. Other SBA programs for entrepreneurs also would get flat funding in Obama’s budget for fiscal 2017: Women’s Business Ownership, $25 million; SCORE volunteer mentoring program, $16 million; Entrepreneurship Education, $16 million; and Native American Outreach, $5 million. Growth Accelerators The Obama Administration initiated the Growth Accelerators program in fiscal 2014 with $1 million in funding. The idea was to help universities and other organizations establish support systems for entrepreneurs. In fiscal 2017, the program would get $5 million. “The SBA will provide funds to either scale existing successful growth accelerators or provide funds to university and private sector accelerators to start a new accelerator program or entrepreneurship ecosystem (based on successful models) via a competition,” the SBA said.
More information: SBA budget justification
https://goo.gl/oY0juW
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