Kerry Pushes for Increased Lender Oversight in Wake of $76 Million Loan Fraud Scheme

Today, Sen. John Kerry [D-Mass.] pushed for more aggressive oversight of small-business lenders, and called on the Bush administration to strengthen its commitment to preventing future fraud. The hearing was prompted by $76 million in fraudulent loans originated by Business Loan Center LLC [BLX], one of the Small Business Administration’s [SBA] largest lenders. Kerry raised concerns that the SBA’s oversight had been ineffective or nonexistent due to staffing shortages, insufficient funding and a lack of other necessary resources.

“Government-backed small-business loans for minorities, women and veterans are more important than ever as we brace for the full fallout from the subprime mortgage loan crisis,” said Sen. Kerry, chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. “The Bush administration’s lax oversight of these important loan programs ultimately costs the taxpayers money. It’s crucial that the agency fixes these problems in the light of day and works to make sure that these failures don’t happen again.”

Last month, the SBA Office of Inspector General publicly released a report summarizing its audit of the SBA’s oversight of BLX. The SBA requested a large amount of the report to be redacted, including many of the Inspector General’s recommendations and the agency’s plans to respond to those recommendations. Kerry pressed SBA Administrator Steven Preston to increase transparency and make changes to the agency’s lender oversight procedures publicly.

Inspector General Eric Thorson testified that, “Whether SBA has effective safeguards, and a means of overseeing lenders that facilitates the prevention and detection of fraud, has been an area of concern and focus for my office for a number of years.

“Our audits and investigations have identified significant weaknesses in the agency’s oversight of its lenders and, since 2000, we have identified lender oversight, guaranty purchase reviews, and loan agent fraud as major management challenges facing the agency. SBA has been slow to develop its lender oversight program and, only in recent years, has the agency made progress in addressing longstanding weaknesses.”

Sens. Olympia Snowe [R-Maine] and Kerry recently introduced legislation to measure the economic outcomes and improve the oversight of SBA’s 7[a] [working capital] and 504 [fixed assets] lending programs. The Small Business Lending Oversight and Program Performance Improvements Act [S. 2288] will ensure that the SBA fully assesses the quality and performance of lender portfolios so that these loan programs remain strong and benefit small businesses to the greatest extent possible.

The National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders and the National Association of Development Companies – trade associations for the 7[a] and 504 programs, respectively – both support the bill.

GoodBiz113's take: Once again, Sen. Kerry and his colleagues are moving federal agencies -- in this case, SBA, supposedly our nation's small-biz watchdog -- closer to full accountability and transparency. Small-business owners and all U.S. citizens deserve nothing less.

SOURCES: GovTrack.us, Library of Congress, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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Sens. Kerry, Snowe Press for Fulfillment of Women’s Business Center Renewal Grants

Today, Senators John Kerry [D-Mass.] and Olympia J. Snowe [R-Maine, pictured], Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, pressed the Small Business Administration [SBA] to comply with a law to make renewal grants available to established Women’s Business Centers around the country. Kerry and Snowe secured a provision in the emergency appropriations bill signed by President Bush, in May, to ensure that a steady stream of matching funds continues to be available to the most experienced centers.

“Unless the Administration acts quickly to get funding to these Women’s Business Centers, some of them may be forced to cut key services or possibly shut down entirely,” said Kerry. “This renewal grant program will ensure our successful centers, like the Center for Women and Enterprise in Boston, remain strong so they can focus on providing women entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed when starting or expanding a business.”

Kerry created the Women's Business Center Sustainability Pilot Program in 1999. Since then, Congress has worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that centers with a proven track record of success continue to receive matching funding from the SBA. The renewal grant program builds on the pilot program.

“The purpose of these ongoing grants is to assure that women business owners, as the fastest growing segment of the U.S. business community, receive the technical assistance they need to expand their businesses and enter new markets without interruption,” explained Snowe. “The SBA needs to act quickly, so that successful centers throughout New England and the United States are not forced to close their doors because they lack the funding to continue providing women with the business counseling and technical assistance.”

Congress intended for the renewal grants program to be implemented immediately, to ensure centers would receive funding by October 1, 2007. Because that did not happen, the affected centers would wait another year for funding. So, in a letter to the SBA, Kerry and Snowe urged the agency to temporarily tailor its grant-making process, so that Women’s Business Centers could receive these critical grants by January 1, 2008. These centers help level the playing field for women entrepreneurs by providing technical and educational assistance.

Women-owned small businesses contribute nearly $2 trillion to our economy each year. In 2006, there were 10.4 million women-owned firms in the United States employing 12.8 million people, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research.

Following, is the text of the letter from Senator Kerry and Senator Snowe to the SBA:

August 17, 2007

The Honorable Steven Preston
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 Third Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20416

Dear Administrator Preston:

On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed into law the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007, which contained a provision creating a renewal grant program for the Small Business Administration’s [SBA] Women’s Business Center program. This provision enabled all Women’s Business Centers, including those which have graduated or are graduating in FY 2007 from the sustainability program, to apply for 3-year renewal grants. The legislation made the renewal grant program effective immediately, and Congress intended for new renewable grants to be disbursed to those eligible graduated and graduating centers by October 1, 2007.

The fact that these funds will not be disbursed to graduated or graduating centers by October 1, 2007, will hurt women business owners who need technical assistance. Therefore, to comply with the law and to mitigate any adverse consequences for women business owners seeking assistance, the SBA must temporarily tailor and abbreviate its up-coming grant making process so that the new renewable grants are disbursed to eligible centers by January 1, 2008. [In order to keep the grant cycle consistent, the first renewable grants should be scheduled to end on the last day of FY 2010.]

Women’s Business Centers are instrumental in supporting the growth and success of women-owned businesses, and it is very important that the Agency implement the renewal grant program as soon as possible. There are nearly 10.4 million women owned firms throughout the nation, employing more than 12.8 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales.

Despite their contribution to the economy and double-digit increases in women business ownership, women are still less likely than men to own businesses, and, if they do own businesses, their average size of business is smaller. Women’s Business Centers specifically target low-income women, and between 45 and 60 percent of economically disadvantaged individuals entering the program are no longer in poverty a year or two later.

In the past, Women’s Business Centers could only receive funding from the federal government for up to 10 years. This left established centers struggling for funds, from Massachusetts and Maine, to New Hampshire and New Mexico. Women’s Business Centers target low-income women and are therefore unable to charge more than nominal fees for their services. Consequently, ongoing federal funding is essential in order for these centers to continue their work with women entrepreneurs.

We urge the SBA to support the established centers and to implement the program in a way that would allow them to immediately apply for grants, so they can begin receiving grants as of January 1, 2008. Please let us know how the SBA plans to implement these changes, and how the Committee can be helpful to you and your staff in meeting these timelines.

Sincerely,

John F. Kerry
Olympia J. Snowe

Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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SBA Releases First-Ever Procurement Scorecard; Seven of 24 Federal Agencies Met 2006 Contracting Goals

In an effort to increase the transparency and accountability in small-business contracting, the U.S. Small Business Administration [SBA] today released its first-ever Small Business Procurement Scorecard. The Scorecard will help agencies measure their achievements and progress in making contracting opportunities available to small businesses, improve the accuracy of contracting data regarding small businesses, and provide the public the opportunity to assess agencies’ performance in meeting these goals.

Seven federal agencies -- the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, and SBA itself -- met their small-business contracting goals.

“SBA’s and the agencies’ commitment to small-business contracting results is unprecedented,” said Clay Johnson, Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget. “With clear, outcome-oriented goals, clear, realistically aggressive plans to achieve them, clearly defined accountability, and frequent tracking of performance, SBA and the agencies are saying they want to be held most publicly accountable for contracting with small business at desired levels.”

SBA’s Scorecard builds on a series of administration initiatives to improve small-business access to federal contracts. At the request of the White House’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy and SBA, federal agencies spent months reviewing 11 million contract actions from the last two years to cleanse the database of miscoded contracts.

On June 30, federal regulations were changed. Contracts awarded to small companies acquired by large corporations will no longer count towards federal agency small-business goals – even if the acquisition took place before the rule change.

“These changes – increased accuracy, transparency and accountability – provide a real window of opportunity for America’s small businesses,” said SBA Administrator Steven Preston [pictured]. “Almost $5 billion in misreported contracts have been cleaned out of the small-business database.

"To meet their goals in 2007 and beyond, federal agencies know they will have to place more new contracts with small businesses. SBA is also increasing its staff and technical assistance to help our federal partners meet their contracting needs.”

Small Business Goaling Report
After working with federal agencies to identify miscoding and anomalies in the contracting database, SBA released the annual Small Business Goaling Report for FY 2006, and revised the FY 2005 report.

The Goaling Report shows that $77.7 billion in federal contracts were awarded to small businesses in FY 2006 -- up $2.7 billion from the previous year. The revisions reduce the share of contracts awarded to small businesses in 2005; $4.6 billion from the previously reported 25.4 percent, to 23.4 percent. For 2006, the figure is 22.8 percent, just short of the small-business procurement goal established by law at 23 percent.

Administrator Preston cited the progress federal agencies have made towards meeting the five targeted sub-categories for small businesses procurement as an example of what can be accomplished when agencies track progress towards small-business goals. “While only the target for small disadvantaged business has been met so far,” he said, “SBA is encouraged by the real gains made in every category in 2006.”

In other categories, contracts to companies owned by service-disabled veterans increased by 50 percent, from $2 billion to $3 billion; contracts to women-owned businesses increased by a billion dollars; contracts to 8(a) enterprises rose by $700 million; and contracts to HUBZone firms were up $1 billion.

“We still have more to do to reach our targets,” Preston said, “but these are accomplishments that our federal partners can be proud of.”

View From the Senate
In light of SBA's new report, Sen. John Kerry [D-Mass.], chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, expressed reserved praise.

“I’m glad to see Administrator Preston has taken some steps to fix the faulty and misleading small-business contracting numbers and hold agencies accountable, but these numbers should still be viewed with caution," Kerry declared in a formal statement. "Despite the federal contracting budget increasing by at least $20 billion last year, the percentage going to small businesses decreased, and the government still isn’t counting the whole pie because of special exemptions and exclusions.

“It’s critical that we continue to improve the reporting system and count all contracts in calculations, so we know the reality on the ground. It’s not about meeting the goals for the sake of meeting a number. Doing more business with small firms is good for our economic and national security, because it diversifies our supply base. I will continue to review and analyze these numbers, and will work with Administrator Preston to ensure that the entire government is truly meeting the small business goals.”

About the Scorecard
SBA rates 24 agencies green, yellow or red -- both on whether they reached their annual small-business contracting goals, and on their progress on efforts to make contracting opportunities available to small businesses. To achieve a green rating, a federal agency has to meet its overall small-business contracting goal, as well as the goals for at least three of four subcategories. For their current status, seven agencies were rated green, five yellow, and 12 were red. In the second category, under “progress,” 12 agencies were rated green, eight were yellow, and four were red.

Each federal agency has a different small-business contracting goal, determined annually in consultation with SBA. SBA ensures that the sum total of all of the goals exceeds the 23 percent target established by law. The Scorecard will be updated every six months and is publicly available on the SBA Web site.

Sources: U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, U.S. Small Business Administration
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Sen. Kerry Calls for More Action on Initiatives to Help America’s Veterans and Reservists

Today, Sen. John Kerry [D-Mass.], chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, sent letters to the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Small Business Administration, calling on the agencies to work together to reach out to veterans and reservists to inform them about available small-business programs.

Kerry also released the following statement in reaction to the Small Business Administration’s announcement of a pilot loan program targeted to serve veterans, reservists and their spouses:

“This program is a good first step by Administrator [Steven] Preston to address the growing needs of America’s veterans and reservists who work for, or want to start, a small business. I will work with Administrator Preston to lower the interest rate and reduce loan fees for this program and, hopefully, make it a success.

“As the Administration develops a plan to reach out to veterans and reservists about this new program, it must be aggressive, comprehensive and coordinated, so our military service members and their families are aware of all the resources available to them. The Administration must provide information about the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan [MREIDL] program as part of this outreach, and work with Congress to make important fixes to it.

“The SBA needs the full weight of the White House behind them to put the money and resources necessary into this program to make it a success. However, there is more we can do -- including improving existing loan programs, creating grant programs, implementing tax incentives for small businesses that employ reservists, and enforcing the government’s federally mandated contracting goal with service-disabled, veteran-owned firms.”

Under the SBA’s new program, today a veteran or reservist would pay 10.5 to 13 percent in interest on a loan. While this is a few percentage points less than other express loans, the rate is far higher than on loans made through MREIDL, which are capped at four percent.

Kerry created the MREIDL program in 1999 for small businesses that have experienced economic hardship, due to the deployment of an owner or key employee. Unfortunately, most reservists do not know about this program, due to a lack of information provided by the Administration and lack of coordination among the relevant federal agencies.

Today, there are more than 25 million veterans in America, including more than 1.1 million men and women who have left military service since 2001. Over the last five years, more than 500,000 reservists have been called to active duty -- and they are often staying longer or serving multiple deployments.

These numbers demonstrate the need for a comprehensive, coordinated effort by the Administration to reach out to these men and women, to make sure they know about small-business loans and counseling available to: 1] Help them preserve their business while they are deployed; or 2] To start a business after their service is completed.

Senator Kerry has been a leader in the Senate to expand economic opportunities for veterans and reservists after they have served their country, and is the author of several proposals to achieve these goals.

Last Congress, Kerry introduced the Military Families Bill of Rights, a bill that provided comprehensive and direct assistance for military members and their families -- including loans, grants and tax credits for Guard and Reserve members who own their own small businesses or work for one.

This year, Kerry has taken many steps to address the concerns of veteran and reservist small-business owners and employees; e.g.:
* In January, Kerry held a hearing to examine federal small-business assistance programs for veterans and reservists.
* In January, Kerry introduced the Active Duty Military Tax Relief Act to create new tax credits that bolster small businesses and their employees.
* In March, Kerry released a report on the State of Veteran and Reservist Entrepreneurship, which outlined the challenges veterans and reservists face in starting or expanding a small business, and detailed some solutions.
* In March, Kerry introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen and improve the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, expand resources for the SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development, and create a new veteran loan program.
* In May, Kerry wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, seeking increased accountability in the agency’s contracting goals with service-disabled veteran owned firms.
* This year, Kerry also worked to expand the definition of disabled veterans eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit [WOTC]. This expansion was included in the small-business tax breaks that passed as part of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. This law extended the WOTC through August 2011.

Coming Up...
On Thursday, June 21, 2007, Sen. Kerry's committee will hold a roundtable on "SBA Reauthorization: Small Business Venture Capital Programs." The event begins at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

Sources: Peace Corps Online [photo], U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, U.S. Small Business Administration, WashingtonWatch.com, WhiteHouse.gov
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Senators Kerry and Snowe Press SBA for Action on Energy Program

Three weeks after pressing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson re EPA's inadequate allocation of resources for its ENERGY STAR for Small Business program [see GoodBiz113's "Kerry, Snowe Seek Energy Star Details from EPA" post on April 9], Senators John Kerry [D-Mass.] and Olympia Snowe [R-Maine] are now looking to the U.S. Small Business Administration for answers regarding SBA’s implementation of a federally mandated energy efficiency program.

At a hearing last month, the assistant administrator for SBA's Office of Policy testified that, although the program was created as part of the Energy Policy Act in August 2005, the program has not been implemented by the Administration.

Following, is the text of Kerry-Snowe letter to SBA Administrator Steven Preston:


April 24, 2007

The Honorable Steven Preston
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 Third Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20416

Dear Administrator Preston,

As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, we recently held a hearing to explore the ways in which small businesses can help to address the global warming crisis. We thank you for the testimony of Dan Horowitz, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Policy, on behalf of the Small Business Administration [SBA]. The purpose of this letter is to follow up on Mr. Horowitz’s testimony -- specifically, as it addressed the SBA’s responsibilities that were mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 [EPAct].

The EPAct, which President George W. Bush signed into law on August 8, 2005, requires, inter alia, that the SBA, working with several other agencies, “shall develop a governmentwide program, building on the ENERGY STAR for Small Business program,” to assist small business with:
[A] Becoming more energy-efficient;
[B] Understanding the cost savings from improved energy efficiency;
[C] Understanding and accessing Federal procurement opportunities with regard to ENERGY STAR technologies and products; and
[D] Identifying financing options for energy-efficiency upgrades.

In addition, the SBA, as part of the outreach to small businesses under the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR for Small Business program, may enter into cooperative agreements with qualified partners to establish, maintain, and promote a “Small Business Energy Clearinghouse.” This Clearinghouse would provide a centralized resource where small businesses may access, telephonically and electronically, technical information and advice to help increase energy efficiency and reduce energy costs.

We are, frankly, concerned by the lack of progress SBA has made in implementing these requirements. Twenty months have passed since the EPAct was signed into law, and SBA appears to be nowhere close to satisfying these requirements.

Mr. Horowitz addressed the Administration’s efforts to implement this program, testifying that, although this program was not yet operational, “there are several people working on it,” and that the hearing “provided a catalyst for making [the program] a priority.” Mr. Horowitz also testified that the SBA would provide to the Committee a progress report on the four mandated requirements under the Energy Policy Act.

Small business is the engine that drives the American economy, employing half of all private-sector employees, producing half of the nation’s non-farm private gross domestic product, and creating nearly three-quarters of all net new jobs each year. Some estimates project that small businesses also use approximately half of all commercial and industrial energy in this country.

Despite these statistics, and despite Mr. Horowitz’s testimony to the contrary, there is little evidence that promoting energy efficiency for small businesses is a priority within the Administration. More than a month has passed since the date of the hearing, and the Committee has received none of the information that SBA promised to supply.

We request that you provide, within 30 days of receipt of this letter, an update on all of SBA’s small business requirements under the EPAct, including:
[1] Any and all resources required to implement the program, as well as whether additional appropriations are needed for SBA to effectively implement the EPAct requirements;

[2] Any and all staff that are dedicated to implementing and administering the Small Business Energy Clearinghouse; and

[3] A timeframe that details a schedule for completion of all SBA requirements under the EPAct.

We believe that the SBA can and must play a significant role in assisting small businesses to become more energy-efficient.

Thank you for your attention to our request. Should you have any questions about the substance of the hearing, please do not hesitate to contact us directly, or to contact Brian Rice [with Senator Kerry] at [202] 224-5175 or Alex Hecht [with Senator Snowe] at [202] 224-7884.

Sincerely,

John F. Kerry
Chairman

Olympia J. Snowe
Ranking Member

GoodBiz113's take: As champions of small business and the environment, we again commend Sen. Kerry and Sen. Snowe on their collaborative and persistent efforts to promote entrepreneurship and energy efficiency. Keep fighting the good, bipartisan fight!

For grass-roots information about how we can all help halt global warming, go to StopGlobalWarming.org.
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GoodBiz113 Issues Open Memo to Leaders of Congressional Small Business Committees

TO: Sen. John Kerry [D-Mass.], Chair, and Sen. Olympia Snowe [R-Maine], Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship; and Rep. Nydia Velazquez [D-N.Y.], Chair, and Rep. Steve Chabot [R-Ohio], Ranking Member, U.S. House Committee on Small Business

FROM: Kari Larson, Editor & Publisher, GoodBiz113

SUBJECT: Striving for Enforced Compliance, Accountability and Transparency

Last Friday, President George W. Bush praised America's small-business owners and employees, and proclaimed the week of April 22-28 as a time to recognize "their important role in ensuring that America remains the economic leader of the world."

The President's proclamation was issued on the eve of the U.S. Small Business Administration's observance of National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C. [April 23-24]. The two-day conference will focus on small-business accomplishments, including disaster recovery, federal contract procurement and entrepreneurial success. The celebration honors the nation's most outstanding entrepreneurs, and culminates with the selection of the National Small Business Person of the Year for 2007 from among the 53 state small-business winners, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

"The state and regional winners who will be a part of this event personify the entrepreneurial spirit that is vital to the growth of the American economy," said SBA Administrator Steven C. Preston [pictured above]. "They are an innovative and diverse group involved in technology, manufacturing, retail, construction, professional services and a host of other industries. We are proud to have them here in Washington, and we are proud to have helped many of them achieve their business success."

View from the Small-Biz Bunker

On the face of things, that's all good. However, it's not unlike watching this weekend's Zurich Classic of New Orleans on TV, then assuming that restoration of the PGA TOUR's lush TPC Louisiana golf course reflects widespread Gulf Coast disaster-recovery efforts in the 19-month wake of Hurricane Katrina. A wide-angle look reveals some major divots in the small-biz realm.

Current small-business set-aside and subcontracting Federal Acquisition Regulations [FAR] are well-intended to engage small businesses in the potentially lucrative realm of government contracting. Unfortunately, actual enforcement of FAR standards leaves a lot to be desired in order to level the playing field for small-business owners, entrepreneurs and their employees -- "the lifeblood of cities and towns across the country," declared President Bush.

Compliance Begins With Education
As with most issues, education is key. Since registering as a woman-owned small business 10 years ago, I've found that some decision-makers in several federally funded entities -- e.g., prime contractors, public agencies, land-grant educational institutions -- are totally unaware of their organization's responsibilities to procure business from small businesses and enterprises owned by minorities, women, veterans and socially disadvantaged populations. In too many cases, even the procurement directors and/or designated small-business liaison officers [SBLOs] neither knew, nor seemed to care, that they're contractually obligated to engage small businesses.

Proposed solution: Remind all federally supported agencies, companies and organizations that they need to comply with FAR set-aside and subcontracting standards, lest their funding be drastically reduced or cut off completely. Encourage each entity to fully educate managers of their procurement requirements -- perhaps by using a carrot-and-stick approach that rewards them for complying; e.g., the University of Minnesota's AIR [Awards Incentive & Recognition] Program, which kicks off July 1, 2007.

While you're at it, please remind DoD's Procurement Technical Assistance Center [PTAC] directors that they're funded to provide free or low-cost counseling to small-business owners wading into the federal contracting waters -- especially, via the General Services Administration [GSA], that convoluted, quasi-public behemoth conceived to somehow streamline the federal procurement process.

[FYI: I met one clever counselor who worked part-time for PTAC, earning all the accompanying benefits for himself and his family, a steady paycheck, etc. He also ran his own small-business consulting enterprise that charged folks -- mostly, his PTAC clients -- $14,000-plus to prepare the 300-page GSA schedules that he strongly suggested they complete in order to help land federal contracts. Legal? I guess. Ethical? You decide.]

Hold All Funded Entities Accountable -- and Do So Transparently
As of this writing, the total U.S. cost of the invasion of Iraq approaches $420 billion. That money has to come from somewhere, and federal agencies are duking it out for their share of the financial pie. Meanwhile, companies large and small are competing for federal contracts. Too often, it seems, one can't discern how federal contracting funds are actually spent.

Proposed solution: Require that all federally funded entities -- including agencies -- publish accounts of exactly how dollars are spent, and make those frequently updated reports easily accessible by virtually anyone via the Internet.

Last year, after noticing that an agency -- one that had previously done a consistent job of communicating with its small-business vendors, their stakeholders, etc. -- hadn't published anything, online or off, in months. Deducing a possible opportunity for my seasoned communications expertise, I queried the agency's Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization [OSDBU] director. He informed me that he'd retained a small agency to do the work -- two months prior to my call.

Suffice to say, about one or two months later, that OSDBU director left his post [as did the agency's secretary], and no deliverables ever manifested. Further, as much as the new, interim OSDBU director wanted to engage my services, he couldn't, because the creative-services agency commissioned by his predecessor had sapped the communications budget.

In another instance, I had occasion to discuss my concerns about contracting practices with a U.S. Senate legislative assistant. When I asked him about discerning exactly how, if at all, defense contractors, agencies, etc., were fully complying with FAR small-business standards, he replied that it would be impossible to do without subpoenas for each entity.

Allocation of public dollars should be public information. During National Small Business Week, we celebrate the far-reaching contributions of America's 25.8 million small businesses that generally create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs, and contribute $918 billion to the U.S. economy. It would greatly benefit all concerned if your committees announced an initiative to enforce full compliance, accountability and transparency regarding FAR's small-business set-aside and subcontracting standards.

Sources: U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Census Bureau

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Senate Confirms Jovita Carranza as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration

Early on Saturday, Dec. 9, the U.S. Senate confirmed Jovita Carranza, an experienced Latina business executive, to be the U.S. Small Business Administration’s next deputy administrator. She was nominated by President George W. Bush, and had been unanimously endorsed Wednesday by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Named Hispanic Woman of the Year by Hispanic Business Magazine in 2004, Carranza said she is enthusiastic about transferring her 30 years of experience at UPS to the SBA. She drew a direct parallel between the corporate operations she directed at UPS to the infrastructure and mission at the SBA.

"Both institutions have a network whose employees are dedicated to meeting the service needs of small businesses and the communities they serve," said Carranza. "Like large corporations, small businesses expect timely assistance in the delivery of services. I will bring to the Small Business Administration a goal-oriented management philosophy with a history of successes on two continents."

SBA Administrator Steven C. Preston welcomed Carranza’s confirmation. “I look forward to working with Jovita,” he said. “Her combination of drive, insight, personnel management and business-process experience offers a tremendous value to the SBA as we work toward a higher degree of customer responsiveness and operational sophistication at the agency.”

Carranza drew praise from Sen. Olympia Snowe [R-Maine], outgoing chair of the Senate committee, and from Sen. John Kerry [D-Massachusetts], ranking member and committee chair designate. “I truly believe that Jovita Carranza is yet another outstanding example of a dedicated American making a tremendous sacrifice to serve her country by accepting this nomination to help lead the SBA -- an agency that is essential to the well-being of our nation's economic vitality,” Sen. Snowe said.

Sen. Kerry said he was anxious to get Carranza on the job at SBA, so she can transfer her private-sector experience to the SBA. “You’ve got a terrific set of credentials and background,” he told her. “It’s impressive. It’s a great story. It’s the way it should work in America.”

Carranza started at UPS in 1976 as a part-time, night-shift clerk in Los Angeles, and then worked her way up to regional manager for international relations in Miami by 2000. Most recently, she was vice president of air operations at the worldwide package shipping company at its facility in Louisville, Ky., and oversaw the cutting-edge automated package processing operation there.

While at UPS, Carranza also served as president of Latin American Operations and the Caribbean. Additionally, she has extensive experience in human resources management and workforce planning.

Carranza, a native of Chicago, earned her MBA from the University of Miami [Fla]. In addition to her professional career, Carranza has been actively involved in community service -- both in leadership and advisory capacities.

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