OIG audits SBA’s Boots to Business program

      The SBA didn’t manage to fill all the available seats in its Boots to Business entrepreneurship class, but it made some other improvements to the veterans training program, according to an audit by the SBA’s Office of Inspector General.

      About 22% of the Boots to Business’ Introduction to Entrepreneurship classes in fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016 did not enroll the targeted number of students, which auditors said was an inefficient use of resources.

      SBA should have reviewed how often the course was offered, and done a better job of marketing the course, OIG said.

Read more at: SBA OIG audit report: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/oig/SBA-OIG-Report-18-20.pdf

OASIS SB to expand

      The GSA is planning for a major expansion in the number of small business contractors participating in the mammoth “OASIS” professional services contract, an official said in Atlanta.

      “We are going to be dramatically increasing the size of our small business pool,” Clint McCoy, a program manager for OASIS, reportedly said at an NDIA meeting in Atlanta. “We are going to be increasing our pools by quite a large margin.”

VetBiz problems

      Users are reporting issues with the VA’s VetBiz website. On June 22, the site was updated with information on how to register in the new Vendor Information Pages (VIP) system. On July 28, VIP was down for maintenance.

      “The new system has been plagued with multiple issues,” Scott Denniston, executive director of the National Veteran Small Business Coalition, wrote in the July newsletter.

      “Most prominently, while the legacy system should have merged with the new one, many business owners are logging into their new accounts to find their VetBiz portals empty,” he wrote. VA officials were not immediately available.

348 SBIR, STTR wins

      NASA awarded funding to 304 SBIR proposals and 44 STTR proposals, totaling $44 million worth of awards.

      NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL will manage 43 SBIR and STTR awards, totaling $5 million.

Read more at: NASA press release: https://prn.to/2LEStGX

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