From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight - Director Summary Description: William Shear discusses our July 2022 report on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the opportunities to improve oversight of the program. In March 2021 Congress appropriated $28.6 billion to the Small Business Administration to help the food service industry weather the COVID-19 pandemic. About 40% of eligible applicants have received awards from the resulting Restaurant Revitalization Fund before it was depleted. Released: July 2022 [William Shear, Director, Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment, speaking to the camera] As we all know, the food and beverage industry was hit hard by the COVID 19 pandemic. Sales and employment in the restaurant industry fell by about a half. One in six restaurants closed, either temporarily or permanently. In March 2021 Congress responded by providing over $28 billion in funds for a new restaurant revitalization fund to come to the aid of the restaurant industry. The Small Business Administration oversaw running the program. Demand was high. Within two months over 250,000 businesses had applied. However, only 40% of applicants received awards before funding ran out. SBA processed applications and awarded funds quickly to help those affected so suddenly. But that can also be a risk factor for potential fraud and payment errors. SBA prevented over 30,000 suspicious applications from receiving awards, but we found that SBA is not taking timely action to address a number of award recipients flagged for potential fraud. We found that SBA could improve efforts to identify and address fraudulent and ineligible awards. Check out our full report to learn more. [End] For more info, see our report GAO-22-105442 at: GAO.gov