what high finds
At the request of members of Congress, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2022 allocates $83 million to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for 128 programs. The Act includes specific provisions for the amount of funds earmarked for specific recipients for specific projects. These provisions are known as “Congressional Directed Spending” in the U.S. Senate and “Community Program Funding” in the House of Representatives.
Among other things, the GAO describes information about the intended use of these funds, the recipients of the designated funds, and when the SBA expects recipients to use the funds:
Intended use of these funds Small businesses will be supported through a variety of programs, including business incubators and resource centers.
Designated recipients of these funds Mostly higher education institutions and other non-profit organizations. The remaining recipients are tribal, territorial, state and local governments. Funding ranges from $50,000 to $3 million, with most projects receiving less than $1 million in funding.
SBA plans to provide funding to all recipients by September 2022 Recipients can apply for up to 5 years to use the funds.
Why GAO did this research
The joint interpretative statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 includes a provision for GAO to review agency implementation of community program funding/congressional-directed spending.
For more information, please contact William B. Shear at (202) 512-8678 or Shearw@gao.gov.