SBA FY2020 budget update

Details on cuts, goals; $4M gift request is routine

      The Small Business Administration released its Fiscal 2020 Congressional Justification document, providing more details on budget cuts and increases for specific programs as well as several goals.

      SBA officials also clarified that the $4 million request for cash and in-kind gifts for the SBA is a routine request, included in the SBA’s budget requests since at least fiscal 2015. While it initially appeared to be unusual, that is not the case. The gift request is “consistent” with previous requests, an SBA spokeswoman told Set-Aside Alert.

      Further research indicated that SBA previously had requested up to $4 million in gifts in its proposed budgets for fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017.

      Congress gave the SBA authority to accept gifts up to $4 million, with proper approvals and a conflict-of-interest determination.

      The amount of cash actually given to the SBA has been relatively modest. As of May 2018, there was $366,459 in the SBA’s cumulative cash gift account, which can be held from year to year, according to the Office of Inspector General. OIG audits dating back to fiscal 2010 show cash gifts per year of about $23,000 to $162,000. The audits of the SBA’s cash gifts have found various irregularities over the years, including failure to conduct the conflict-of-interest reviews.

Congressional Justification FY2020

      The SBA’s congressional justification document outlines planned budget cuts for fiscal 2020. For example:

• 7j Technical Assistance would drop from $2.8 million this year to $500,000;
• Growth Accelerators would fall from $3 million this year to zero;
• Regional Innovation Clusters would go from $5 million this year to zero;
• Small Business Development Centers funding would be reduced from $131 million to $101 million.

      The justification also sets a goal to increase the number of 8(a) firms who win federal contracts by 10%, starting from a baseline of 3,421 8(a) firms that won contracts in fiscal 2017.

      The SBA also published the Fiscal 2018 Annual Performance Report, blaming “data lag” for the lack of data on whether the government met the small business procurement 23% goal that year.

8(a) participation falls under Trump; 8(a)s won $27B in FY17

SBA FY2020 budget update

NDIA is against replacing DOD set-asides with a 5% price preference

Small Biz Dashboard is gone

GAO on OTA

Column: The Impact of New DOL Proposed Rules on Government Contractors

Washington Insider: