Set-Aside Alert news analysis:

HUBZone fraud, errors continue while participation expands

HUBZone program has grown by 1,562 firms since 2015

     The recent audit by the SBA’s Office of Inspector General, released on March 28, is the latest to uncover ineligible firms being certified into the HUBZone program, continuing a longstanding pattern of apparent fraud, errors and abuse in the program.

      The most recent audit, covering firms certified from April 2017 to April 2018, found three out of 15 randomly-selected HUBZone firms to have been improperly certified and ineligible for the program.

      That indicates a 20% rate of ineligible firms in the HUBZone program. Those three ineligible firms won $589,000 in federal contracts.

      “Ineligible firms undermine the integrity of the HUBZone program and divert HUBZone contract opportunities from eligible firms,”...more....