SBA’s ‘Certify’ not effective

Agency spent $30M: IG

      It’s now official: the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration has confirmed that the agency’s Certify.sba.gov online system is ineffective and has not delivered as promised despite a $30 million cost.

      The IG first reported major concerns with the Certify application at a House hearing in October 2019, indicating that the SBA was considering abandoning the system. (See Set-Aside Alert Nov. 1, 2019 issue)

      “Although SBA has spent more than $30 million on the development of Certify and it offers some improved functionality, it does not have many of the essential search, analytical, and reporting tools it was supposed to have,” the IG wrote in the July 30 report.

      “Since Certify’s introduction, SBA’s contracting programs have experienced delays in screening and approving applications, monitoring participant progress, and terminating non-compliant 8(a) firms,” the report said.

      The IG said the project lacked appropriate planning and oversight over several years. Moving forward, SBA plans to migrate Certify.sba.gov to an unspecified platform, the IG added. Details on when that would happen were not immediately available.

      The inspector general made nine recommendations and warned that unless SBA improves its oversight, the same mistakes may be repeated.

      The SBA resolved three of the recommendations but five remain unresolved, the IG wrote in the report.

More information:
IG report: https://bit.ly/3h7eqLe

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