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Priority Open Recommendations: Small Business Administration

GAO-21-503PR Published: Jun 02, 2021. Publicly Released: Jun 09, 2021.
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Fast Facts

Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to the recommendations where they can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.

This report outlines our 15 priority open recommendations for the Small Business Administration as of April 2021.

For example, since June 2020, we added 8 recommendations related to SBA’s COVID-19 assistance programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program.

Since our previous letter in April 2020, SBA implemented 1 of our previous 8 priority recommendations.

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Highlights

What GAO Found

In April 2020, GAO identified eight priority recommendations for the Small Business Administration (SBA). Since then, SBA has implemented one of these recommendations by developing a process for an organization-wide cybersecurity risk assessment.

In April 2021, GAO identified eight additional priority recommendations for SBA, bringing the total number to 15. These recommendations involve the following areas:

  • COVID-19 pandemic response
  • Disaster response
  • Credit elsewhere requirement
  • Export promotion

SBA's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.

Why GAO Did This Study

Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional or executive branch decision making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015, GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.

For more information, contact Daniel Garcia-Diaz at (202) 512-8678 or garciadiazd@gao.gov.

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Community investmentsCompliance oversightDisaster planningDisaster reliefDisaster responseDisastersEmergency loansExport promotionFederal assistance programsFinancial marketsHigh-risk issuesImproper paymentsInternational tradepandemicsProgram integrityPublic affairsRisk assessmentSmall businessStrategic planning