Small Business Management and Technical
Assistance Training Programs
Robert Jay Dilger
Senior Specialist in American National Government
February 27, 2013
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R41352
CRS Report for Congress
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epared for Members and Committees of Congress

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Small Business Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs

Summary
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has provided “technical and managerial aides to small-
business concerns, by advising and counseling on matters in connection with government
procurement and on policies, principles and practices of good management” since it began
operations in 1953. Initially, the SBA provided its own small business management and technical
assistance training programs. Over time, the SBA has relied increasingly on third parties to
provide that training.
The SBA’s management and technical assistance training programs have been appropriated a
projected $165.9 million for FY2013. These programs fund about “14,000 resource partners,”
including more than 900 small business development centers, 101 women’s business centers, and
368 chapters of the mentoring program, SCORE. The SBA reports that more than 1 million
aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners receive training from an SBA-supported
resource partner each year. The SBA argues that these programs contribute “to the long-term
success of these businesses and their ability to grow and create jobs.”
The Department of Commerce also provides management and technical assistance training for
small businesses. For example, its Minority Business Development Agency provides training to
minority business owners to assist them in obtaining contracts and financial awards.
A recurring theme at congressional hearings concerning the SBA’s management and technical
assistance training programs has been the perceived need to improve program efficiency by
eliminating duplication of services and/or increasing cooperation and coordination both within
and among SCORE, women’s business centers (WBCs), and small business development centers
(SBDCs). For example, the House Committee on Small Business has argued that the SBA’s
various management and technical assistance training programs should be “folded into the
mission of the SBDC program or their responsibilities should be taken over by other agencies”
because they “overlap each other and duplicate the educational services provided by other
agencies.” Congress has also explored ways to improve the SBA’s measurement of the programs’
effectiveness and to address the impact of national economic conditions on WBC and SBDC
finances and their capacity to maintain client service levels and meet federal matching
requirements.
This report examines the historical development of federal small business management and
technical assistance training programs; describes their current structures, operations, and budgets;
and assesses their administration and oversight, the measures used to determine their
effectiveness, and WBC and SBDC finances and their capacity to maintain client service levels
and meet federal matching requirements.
This report also discusses P.L. 111-240, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which provided
SBDCs $50 million in additional funds; waived the non-federal matching requirement for these
funds; and authorized the SBA to temporarily waive, in whole or in part, for successive fiscal
years, the non-federal share matching requirement relating to “technical assistance and
counseling” for WBCs. It also discusses several bills introduced during the 111th and 112th
Congresses that would have authorized changes to the SBA’s management and technical
assistance training programs in an effort to improve their performance and oversight, including S.
3442, the SUCCESS Act of 2012, and S. 3572, the Restoring Tax and Regulatory Certainty to
Small Businesses Act of 2012.
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Small Business Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs

Contents
Federal Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs ................................................ 1
SBA Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs .................................................... 3
Small Business Development Centers ....................................................................................... 3
Women’s Business Centers ........................................................................................................ 7
Microloan Technical Assistance Program ................................................................................. 9
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)....................................................................... 11
Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs ..................................................................... 13
Veterans Business Development Programs ............................................................................. 15
7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program .............................................................. 18
Native American Outreach Program ........................................................................................ 19
Department of Commerce Small Business Management and Technical Assistance
Training Programs ...................................................................................................................... 20
The Minority Business Development Agency ......................................................................... 21
The EDA Local Technical Assistance Program ....................................................................... 21
Congressional Issues ...................................................................................................................... 22
Program Administration .......................................................................................................... 23
Program Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 26
Concluding Observations ............................................................................................................... 27

Tables
Table 1. SBA Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs Funding,
FY2013 ......................................................................................................................................... 1
Table A-1. Brief Descriptions of SBA Management and Technical Assistance Training
Programs ..................................................................................................................................... 30

Appendixes
Appendix. Brief Descriptions of SBA Management and Technical Assistance Training
Programs ..................................................................................................................................... 30

Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 32

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Federal Management and Technical Assistance
Training Programs
The Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several programs to support small
businesses, including loan guaranty programs to enhance small business access to capital;
programs to increase small business opportunities in federal contracting; direct loans for
businesses, homeowners, and renters to assist their recovery from natural disasters; and access to
entrepreneurial education to assist with business formation and expansion. The SBA has provided
“technical and managerial aides to small-business concerns, by advising and counseling on
matters in connection with government procurement and on policies, principles and practices of
good management” since it began operations in 1953.1
Initially, the SBA provided its own management and technical assistance training programs. Over
time, the SBA has relied increasingly on third parties to provide that training. As shown in Table
1, the SBA’s nine largest management and technical assistance training programs have been
appropriated a projected $165.9 million for FY2013. The SBA reports that more than 1 million
aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners receive training from an SBA-supported
resource partner each year.2
Table 1. SBA Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs Funding,
FY2013
Training Program
FY2013
Small Business Development Center Grants Program
$113,189,000
Microloan Technical Assistance Program
$20,122,000
Women’s Business Center Grants Program
$14,086,000
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
$7,043,000
PRIME Technical Assistance Program
$3,521,000
7(j) Technical Assistance Program
$3,119,000
Veterans Business Development Program
$2,515,000
Native American Outreach Program
$1,258,000
National Women’s Business Council
$1,004,000
Total $165,857,000
Source: H.Rept. 112-331, report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012; P.L. 112-175, the
Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
Notes: P.L. 112-175 provides appropriations through March 27, 2013. Also, funding for the SBA’s management
and technical assistance programs are subject to sequestration.
The SBA has argued that its support of management and technical assistance training for small
businesses has contributed “to the long-term success of these businesses and their ability to grow

1 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, Extension of the Small Business Act of 1953, report to
accompany S. 2127, 84th Cong., 1st sess., July 22, 1955, S.Rept. 84-1350 (Washington: GPO, 1955), p. 17.
2 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” pp. 1, 3, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
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and create jobs.”3 It currently provides financial support to about “14,000 resource partners,”
including more than 900 small business development centers (SBDCs), 101 women’s business
centers (WBCs), and 368 chapters of the mentoring program, SCORE.4
The Department of Commerce also provides management and technical assistance training for
small businesses. For example, the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development
Agency provides training to minority business owners to assist them in obtaining contracts and
financial awards.5 In addition, the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development
Administration’s Local Technical Assistance Program promotes efforts to build and expand local
organizational capacity in economically distressed areas. As part of that effort, it funds projects
that focus on technical or market feasibility studies of economic development projects or
programs, which often include consultation with small businesses.6
For many years, a recurring theme at congressional hearings concerning the SBA’s management
and technical assistance training programs has been the perceived need to improve program
efficiency by eliminating duplication of services and increasing cooperation and coordination
both within and among its training resource partners. For example, the Obama Administration
recommended in its FY2012 and FY2103 budget recommendations that funding for the PRIME
technical assistance program be ended, arguing that it overlaps and duplicates “the technical
assistance provided by SBA’s microlending intermediaries.”7 Also, the House Committee on
Small Business has argued that the SBA’s various management and technical assistance training
programs should be “folded into the mission of the SBDC program or their responsibilities should
be taken over by other agencies” because they “overlap each other and duplicate the educational
services provided by other agencies.”8 Congress has also explored ways to improve the SBA’s
measurement of these programs’ effectiveness.

3 U.S. Small Business Administration, “Fiscal Year 2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual
Performance Report,” p. 4, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/
FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
4 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 3, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf; and
U.S. Small Business Administration, “Women’s Business Centers Directory,” at http://www.sba.gov/about-offices-
content/1/2895/resources/13729.
5 U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency, “Annual Performance Report, Fiscal Year
2011; America: Built to Last,” p. 76, at http://www.mbda.gov/sites/default/files/APR2011.pdf.
6 13 C.F.R. §306.
7 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 4, at http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-
performance-report.
8 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, “Views and Estimates of the Committee on Small Business on
Matters to be set forth in the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY2014,” communication to the Chairman,
House Committee on the Budget, 113th Cong., 1st sess., February 27, 2013, at http://smallbusiness.house.gov/
uploadedfiles/revised_2014_views_and_estimates_document.pdf. Previously, the House Committee on Small Business
had recommended that funding for Women Business Centers, PRIME technical assistance, HUBZone outreach, and the
Offices of Native American Affairs and International Trade be eliminated; and funding for 7(j) technical assistance,
Microloan technical assistance, and the National Women’s Business Council be reduced. See U.S. Congress, House
Committee on Small Business, “Views and Estimates of the Committee on Small Business on Matters to be set forth in
the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY2013,” communication to the Chairman, House Committee on the
Budget, 112th Cong., 2nd sess., March 7, 2012, at http://smallbusiness.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
views_and_estimates_fy_2013.pdf.
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This report examines the historical development of federal small business management and
technical assistance training programs; describes their current structures, operations, and budgets;
and assesses their administration and oversight, including the measures used to determine their
effectiveness.
This report discusses P.L. 111-240, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The act authorized $50
million in additional funds for SBDCs to provide targeted technical assistance to small businesses
for various specified activities, such as seeking access to capital or credit, federal procurement
opportunities, and opportunities to export products. It also guaranteed each state not less than
$325,000 of these additional funds and waived the non-federal matching requirement for these
additional funds.
This report also discusses several bills introduced during the 111th and 112th Congresses that
would have authorized changes to the SBA’s management and technical assistance training
programs in an effort to improve their performance and oversight, including S. 3442, the
SUCCESS Act of 2012, and S. 3572, the Restoring Tax and Regulatory Certainty to Small
Businesses Act of 2012.
SBA Management and Technical Assistance
Training Programs
The SBA supports a number of management and technical assistance training programs, including
the
• Small Business Development Center Grants Program,
• Women’s Business Center Grants Program,
• Microloan Technical Assistance Program,
• SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives),
• PRIME Technical Assistance Program,
• Veterans Business Development Programs,
• 7(j) Technical Assistance Program, and
• Native American Outreach Program.
The legislative history and current operating structures, functions, and budget for each of these
programs is presented in this report. In addition, if the data are available, their performance based
on outcome-based measures, such as their effect on small business formation, survivability, and
expansion, and on job creation and retention, is also presented. Also, a brief description of each of
these programs is provided in the Appendix.
Small Business Development Centers
In 1976, the SBA created the University Business Development Center pilot program to establish
small business centers within universities to provide counseling and training for small businesses.
The first center was founded at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona in December,
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1976. Seven more centers were funded over the next six months at universities in seven different
states. By 1979, 16 SBDCs received SBA funding and were providing management and technical
training assistance to small businesses.9
The SBDC program was given statutory authorization by P.L. 96-302, the Small Business
Development Center Act of 1980.10 SBDCs were to “rely on the private sector primarily, and the
university community, in partnership with the SBA and its other programs, to fill gaps in making
quality management assistance available to the small business owner.”11 Although most SBDCs
continued to be affiliated with universities, the legislation authorized the SBA to provide funding
to any State government or any agency thereof, any regional entity, any State-chartered
development, credit or finance corporation, any public or private institution of higher
education, including but not limited to any land-grant college or university, any college or
school of business, engineering, commerce, or agriculture, community college or junior
college, or to any entity formed by two or more of the above entities.12
SBDC funding is allocated on a pro rata basis among the states (defined to include the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa)
by a statutory formula “based on the percentage of the population of each State, as compared to
the population of the United States.”13 If, as is currently the case, SBDC funding exceeds $90
million, the minimum funding level is “the sum of $500,000, plus a percentage of $500,000 equal
to the percentage amount by which the amount made available exceeds $90 million.”14
In 1984, P.L. 98-395, the Small Business Development Center Improvement Act of 1984,
required SBDCs, as a condition of receiving SBA funding, to contribute a matching amount equal
to the grant amount, and that the match must be provided by non-federal sources and be
comprised of not less than 50% cash and not more than 50% of indirect costs and in-kind
contributions.15 It also required SBDCs to have an advisory board and a full-time director who
has authority to make expenditures under the center’s budget. It also required the SBA to
implement a program of onsite evaluations for each SBDC and to make those evaluations at least
once every two years.

9 Association of Small Business Development Centers, “A Brief History of America’s Small Business Development
Center Network,” Burke, VA, at http://www.asbdc-us.org/About_Us/aboutus_history.html.
10 Ibid.; and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business, Oversight of the Small Business Administration’s
Small Business Development Center Program, 98th Cong., 1st sess., February 8, 1983, S.Hrg. 98-31 (Washington: GPO,
1983), p. 2.
11 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business, Oversight of the Small Business Administration’s Small
Business Development Center Program, 98th Cong., 1st sess., February 8, 1983, S.Hrg. 98-31 (Washington: GPO,
1983), p. 2.
12 Ibid., p. 4.
13 15 U.S.C. 648(a)(4)(C).
14 Ibid.; and P.L. 106-554, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001.
15 For American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the SBA is required to waive the matching requirements
on awards less than $200,000 and has discretion to waive the match for awards exceeding $200,000. See 48 U.S.C.
Section 1469a. Also, there is one exception to the disallowance of federal funds as a cash match. Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds received from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are
allowed when: (1) the SBDC activities are consistent with the authorized CDBG activities for which the funds were
granted; and (2) the CDBG activities are identified in the Consolidated Plan of the CDBG grantee or in the agreement
between the CDBG grantee and the subrecipient of the funds.
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Today, the SBA provides grants to SBDCs that are “hosted by leading universities, colleges, and
state economic development agencies” to deliver management and technical assistance training
“to small businesses and nascent entrepreneurs (pre-venture) in order to promote growth,
expansion, innovation, increased productivity and management improvement.”16 These services
are delivered, in most instances, on a non-fee, one-on-one confidential counseling basis and are
administered by 63 lead service centers, one located in each state (four in Texas and six in
California), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American
Samoa.17 These lead centers manage more than 900 service centers located throughout the United
States and the territories.18
The SBDC program assisted approximately 210,000 small business owners (102,000) and
prospective owners (108,000) in FY2011.19 It received an appropriation of $113.0 million for
both FY2010 and FY2011, $112.5 million for FY2012, and a projected appropriation of $113.2
million for FY2013.20 In addition, P.L. 111-240, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010,
appropriated $50 million in additional funds for SBDCs to provide targeted technical assistance
to small businesses for various specified activities, such as seeking access to capital or credit,
federal procurement opportunities, and opportunities to export products. The act guaranteed each
state not less than $325,000 of these additional funds and waived the non-federal matching
requirement for these additional funds.21 About $16.2 million of these funds were awarded to
SBDCs in FY2010, and the remainder was awarded to SBDCs during FY2011.22
Special areas of emphasis for the SBDC program in FY2012 included “facilitating innovation and
high-growth companies small business innovation research (SBIR) grants, commercialization and
technology transfer services, and export tools and guidance.”23 In FY2011, more than 13,600 new
businesses were formed with assistance from SBDC counselors.24

16 U.S. Small Business Administration, “Small Business Development Center Fy/Cy 2011 Program Announcement for
Renewal of the Cooperative Agreement for Current Recipient Organizations,” p. 3, at http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/
public/documents/sba_program_office/sbdc_2011_prgm_announce.pdf.
17 Ibid.
18 Association of Small Business Development Centers, “Welcome,” Burke, Virginia, at http://www.asbdc-us.org/; and
U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” pp. 3, 44, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
19 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 44, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
20 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
21 P.L. 111-240, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, Section 1402. Grants for SBDCs. In addition, not less than 80%
of the funding shall be used for counseling of small business concerns and not more than 20% may be used for classes
and seminars. Total funding for SBDCs was $130 million in FY2010.
22 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 21, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/Congressional_Budget_Justification.pdf; U.S. Small Business
Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance Report,” pp. 25, 47, at
http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-performance-report; and
U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 45, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
23 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 45, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
24 Ibid., p. 44.
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As part of its legislative mandate to evaluate each SBDC, in 2003, the SBA’s Office of
Entrepreneurial Development designed “a multi-year time series study to assess the impact of the
programs it offers to small businesses.”25 The survey has been administered annually by a private
firm. The latest survey findings were completed in September 2012, and released in February
2013.
The latest survey was sent to 43,417 SBDC clients in March and April 2012 to “measure the
performance of [SBDC] face-to-face counseling … and the impact they have on growing and
sustaining small business clients”26 A total of 8,263 surveys (19.0% return rate) were completed
either by telephone or the Internet.27
The 2012 survey of SBDC clients indicated that
• 81% of SBDC nascent clients (individuals who have taken one or more steps to
start a business), 81% of SBDC start-up clients (individuals who have been in
business one year or less), and 76% of SBDC in-business clients (individuals
who have been in business more than one year and their business was classified
as small by the SBA) reported that their counseling was useful or very useful.
Overall, 79% of SBDC clients reported that the information they received from
counselors was useful or very useful;28
• 56% of SBDC start-up clients and 60% of SBDC in-business clients reported that
they changed their management practices/strategies as a result of the assistance
they received;29
• 30% of SBDC start-up clients and 32% of SBDC in-business clients reported that
the counseling they received had a positive impact on their profit margin; 14% of
SBDC start-up clients and 26% of SBDC in-business clients reported that the
counseling they received had a positive impact on their ability to retain current
staff; 13% of SBDC start-up clients and 20% of SBDC in-business clients
reported that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their ability to
hire new staff; and 34% of SBDC start-up clients and 41% of SBDC in-business
clients reported that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their
sales;30 and
• SBDC clients who received five or more hours of counseling perceived greater
impact of assistance on profits, retaining and hiring staff, and sales than SBDC
clients who received less than five hours of counseling.31

25 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial
Development Resources,” September 10, 2009, p. 2, at http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/
sba_program_office/ed_finalreport_2009.pdf.
26 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial
Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” September 2012, p.
1, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/SBA_Converted_2012_d.pdf.
27 Ibid., p. 9.
28 Ibid., p. 38.
29 Ibid., p. 40.
30 Ibid., p. 42.
31 Ibid., p. 43.
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Women’s Business Centers
The Women’s Business Center (WBC) Renewable Grant Program was initially established by
P.L. 100-533, the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988, as the Women’s Business
Demonstration Pilot Program. The act directed the SBA to provide financial assistance to private,
nonprofit organizations to conduct demonstration projects giving financial, management, and
marketing assistance to small businesses, including start-up businesses, owned and controlled by
women. Since its inception, the program has targeted the needs of socially and economically
disadvantaged women.32 The WBC program was expanded and provided permanent legislative
status by P.L. 109-108, the Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2006.
Since the program’s inception, the SBA has awarded WBCs a grant of up to $150,000 per year.
Initially, the grant was awarded for one year, with the possibility of being renewed twice, for a
total of up to three years. Also, as a condition of the receipt of funds, the WBC was required to
raise at least one non-federal dollar for each two federal dollars during the grant’s first year (1:2),
one non-federal dollar for each federal dollar during year two (1:1), and two non-federal dollars
for each federal dollar during year three (2:1).33 Over the years, Congress has extended the length
of the WBC program’s grant award and reduced the program’s matching requirement.
Today, WBC initial grants are awarded for up to five years, consisting of a base period of 12
months from the date of the award and four 12-month option periods.34 The SBA determines if
the option periods are exercised and makes that determination subject to the continuation of
program authority, the availability of funds, and the recipient organization’s compliance with
federal law, SBA regulations, and the terms and conditions specified in a cooperative agreement.
WBCs that successfully complete the initial five-year grant period may apply for an unlimited
number of three-year funding intervals.35
During their initial five-year grant period, WBCs are now required to provide a non-federal match
of one non-federal dollar for each two federal dollars in years one and two (1:2), and one non-
federal dollar for each federal dollar in years three, four and five (1:1).36 After the initial five-year

32 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Review of Women’s Business Center Program, 106th Cong.,
February 11, 1999, Serial No. 106-2 (Washington: GPO, 1999), p. 4.
33 Matching contributions must come from non-federal sources such as state and local governments, private individuals,
corporations and foundations, and program income. Community Development Block Grant funds, when permissible
under the terms of that program, may also be used as a match. At least half of the non-federal match must be in the
form of cash. U.S. Small Business Administration, “Women’s Business Center (Initial Grant), FY2011” at
http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/Program%20Announcement%20OWBO-2011-01-1%20-
%20New%20WBC%20in%20Idaho.pdf.
34 P.L. 105-135, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, authorized the SBA to award grants to WBCs for up
to five years—one base year and four option years. P.L. 106-165, the Women’s Business Centers Sustainability Act of
1999, provided WBCs that had completed the initial five-year grant an opportunity to apply for an additional five-year
sustainability grant. Thus, the act allowed successful WBCs to receive SBA funding for a total of 10 years. Because the
program has permitted permanent three-year funding intervals since 2007, the sustainability grants will be phased out
by FY2012, leaving the initial five-year grants with the continuous three-year option. See U.S. Small Business
Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance Report,” p. 49, at
http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-performance-report.
35 P.L. 110-28, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations
Act, 2007, allowed WBCs that successfully completed the initial five-year grant to apply for an unlimited number of
three-year funding renewals.
36 P.L. 105-135, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, reduced the program’s matching to one non-federal
(continued...)
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grant period, the matching requirement in subsequent three-year funding intervals is not more
than 50% of federal funding (1:1).37 The non-federal match may consist of cash, in-kind and
program income.38
Today, there are 101 WBCs located throughout most of the United States and the territories.39 In
FY2011, they assisted 138,923 small business owners.40 They also assisted in the formation of
more than 500 new businesses in FY2011.41 The WBC program received a $14.0 million
appropriation for FY2010, $14.0 million for FY2011, $14.0 million for FY2012, and a projected
appropriation of $14.086 million for FY2013.42
P.L. 105-135, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, required the SBA to “develop and
implement an annual programmatic and financial examination of each” WBC.43 As part of its
legislative mandate to implement an annual programmatic and financial examination of each
WBC, the SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development includes WBCs in its previously
mentioned multi-year time series study of its programs.
The firm administering the 2012 survey of SBA management and training clients contacted 2,322
WBC clients and received 340 completed surveys (14.6% return rate).44 The survey indicated that
• 75% of WBC nascent clients (individuals who have taken one or more steps to
start a business), 84% of WBC start-up clients (individuals who have been in
business one year or less), and 78% of WBC in-business clients (individuals who
have been in business more than one year and are classified as small by the SBA)
reported their counseling was useful or very useful. Overall, 79% of WBC clients

(...continued)
dollar for each two federal dollars in years one through three rather than just during the first year (1:2), one non-federal
dollar for each federal dollar in year four rather than during year two (1:1), and two non-federal dollars for each federal
dollar in year five rather than in year three (2:1). P.L. 106-17, the Women’s Business Center Amendments Act of 1999,
reduced the program’s matching requirement to one non-federal dollar for each two federal dollars in years one and two
(1:2), and one non-federal dollar for each federal dollar in years three, four and five (1:1).
37 P.L. 110-28, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations
Act, 2007, reduced the federal share to not more than 50% for all grant years (1:1) following the initial five-year grant.
38 P.L. 105-135, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, specified that not more than one-half of the non-
federal sector matching assistance may be in the form of in-kind contributions that are budget line items only, including
office equipment and office space.
39 U.S. Small Business Administration, “Women’s Business Centers Directory,” at http://www.sba.gov/about-offices-
content/1/2895/resources/13729.
40 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 47, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
41 Ibid.
42 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
43 P.L. 105-135, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, Section 29. Women’s Business Center Program.
44 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial
Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” September 2012, p.
9, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/SBA_Converted_2012_d.pdf.
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reported that the information they received from counselors was useful or very
useful;45
• 75% of WBC start-up clients and 59% of WBC in-business clients reported that
they changed their management practices/strategies as a result of the assistance
they received;46
• 31% of WBC start-up clients and 34% of WBC in-business clients reported that
the counseling they received had a positive impact on their profit margin; 12% of
WBC start-up clients and 22% of WBC in-business clients reported that the
counseling they received had a positive impact on their ability to retain current
staff, 10% of WBC start-up clients and 15% of WBC in-business clients reported
that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their ability to hire
new staff; and 37% of WBC start-up clients and 39% of WBC in-business clients
reported that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their sales;47
and
• WBC clients who received more than three hours of counseling perceived greater
impact of WBC assistance on profits, retaining and hiring staff, and sales than
WBC clients who received less than three hours of counseling.48
Microloan Technical Assistance Program
Congress authorized the SBA’s Microloan lending program in 1991 (P.L. 102-140, the
Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1992) to address the perceived disadvantages faced by women, low-income,
and minority entrepreneurs and business owners gaining access to capital for starting or
expanding their business. The program became operational in 1992. Its stated purpose is
to assist women, low-income, veteran ... and minority entrepreneurs and business owners and
other individuals possessing the capability to operate successful business concerns; to assist
small business concerns in those areas suffering from a lack of credit due to economic
downturns; ... to make loans to eligible intermediaries to enable such intermediaries to
provide small-scale loans, particularly loans in amounts averaging not more than $10,000, to
start-up, newly established, or growing small business concerns for working capital or the
acquisition of materials, supplies, or equipment; [and] to make grants to eligible
intermediaries that, together with non-Federal matching funds, will enable such
intermediaries to provide intensive marketing, management, and technical assistance to
microloan borrowers.49
Initially, the SBA’s Microloan program was authorized as a five-year demonstration project. It
was made permanent, subject to reauthorization, by P.L. 105-135.
The SBA’s Microloan Technical Assistance Program, which is part of the SBA’s Microloan
program but receives a separate appropriation, provides grants to Microloan intermediaries to

45 Ibid., p. 62.
46 Ibid., p. 64.
47 Ibid., p. 66.
48 Ibid., p. 67.
49 15 U.S.C. §636 7(m)(1)(A).
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provide management and technical training assistance to Microloan program borrowers and
prospective borrowers.50 There are 180 intermediaries participating in the program, located in 48
states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.51
Intermediaries are eligible to receive a Microloan technical assistance grant “of not more than
25% of the total outstanding balance of loans made to it” under the Microloan program.52 Grant
funds may be used only to provide marketing, management, and technical assistance to Microloan
borrowers, except that up to 25% of the funds may be used to provide such assistance to
prospective Microloan borrowers. Grant funds may also be used to attend training required by the
SBA.53
In most instances, intermediaries must contribute, solely from non-federal sources, an amount
equal to 25% of the grant amount.54 In addition to cash or other direct funding, the contribution
may include indirect costs or in-kind contributions paid for under non-federal programs.55
Intermediaries that make at least 50% of their loans to small businesses located in or owned by
residents of an Economically Distressed Area are not subject to the 25% contribution
requirement.56 Intermediaries may expend no more than 25% of the grant funds on third-party
contracts for the provision of management and technical assistance.57
The SBA does not require Microloan borrowers to participate in the Microloan Technical
Assistance Program. However, intermediaries typically require Microloan borrowers to
participate in the training program as a condition of the receipt of a microloan. Combining loan
and intensive management and technical assistance training is one of the Microloan program’s
distinguishing features.58

50 For further analysis of the SBA’s Microloan program see CRS Report R41057, Small Business Administration
Microloan Program, by Robert Jay Dilger.
51 There are no Microloan intermediaries located in Alaska and Utah. U.S. Small Business Administration, “Microloan
Program: Partner Identification & Management System Participating Intermediary Microlenders Report,” October
2012, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/Microloan%20Intermediary%20Listing%2020121031.pdf. An
intermediary may not operate in more than one state unless the SBA determines that it would be in the best interests of
the small business community for it to operate across state lines. For example, the microloan intermediary located in
Washington, Pennsylvania is allowed to service ten West Virginia counties due to its proximity to these counties and
the distance to the only other intermediary serving West Virginia, which is located in Charleston, West Virginia. Also,
a microloan intermediary located in Laguna Niguel, California, which focuses on the capital needs of disabled veteran-
owned businesses, serves many jurisdictions throughout the nation that lack a participating intermediary.
52 15 U.S.C. §636(m)(4)(A).
53 13 C.F.R §120.712.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid. Intermediaries may not borrow their contribution.
56 An economically distressed area is a county or equivalent division of local government which, according to the most
recent available data from the United States Bureau of the Census, 40% or more of the residents have an annual income
that is at or below the poverty level. See 13 C.F.R §120.701.
57 13 C.F.R §120.712.
58 Intermediaries that make at least 25% of their loans to small businesses located in or owned by residents of an
Economically Distressed Area (defined as having 40% or more of its residents with an annual income that is at or
below the poverty level), or have a portfolio of loans made under the program that averages not more than $10,000
during the period of the intermediary’s participation in the program are eligible to receive an additional training grant
equal to 5% of the total outstanding balance of loans made to the intermediary. Intermediaries are not required to make
a matching contribution as a condition of receiving these additional grant funds. See 13 C.F.R §120.712; and 15 U.S.C.
§636(m)(4)(C)(i).
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The Microloan technical assistance program provided counseling services to 15,900 small
businesses in FY2011.59 The program was appropriated $46.0 million for FY2010, including
$24.0 million in additional temporary funding provided by P.L. 111-5, the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It received a $22.0 million appropriation for FY2011, $20.0
million for FY2012, and a projected appropriation of $20.1 million for FY2013.60
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
The SBA has partnered with various voluntary business and professional service organizations to
provide management and technical assistance training to small businesses since the 1950s. On
October 5, 1964, using authority under the Small Business Act to provide “technical and
managerial aids to small business concerns” in cooperation with “educational and other nonprofit
organizations, associations, and institutions,” then-SBA Administrator Eugene P. Foley officially
launched SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) as a national, volunteer organization
with 2,000 members, uniting over 50 independent nonprofit organizations into a single, national
nonprofit organization.61 Since then, the SBA has provided financial assistance to SCORE to
provide training to small business owners and prospective owners.62
Over the years, Congress has authorized the SBA to take certain actions relating to SCORE. For
example, P.L. 89-754, the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966,
authorized the SBA to permit members of nonprofit organizations use of the SBA’s office
facilities and services. P.L. 90-104, the Small Business Act Amendments of 1967, added the
authority to pay travel and subsistence expenses “incurred at the request of the Administration in
connection with travel to a point more than fifty miles distant from the home of that individual in
providing gratuitous services to small businessmen” or “in connection with attendance at
meetings sponsored by the Administration.”63 P.L. 93-113, the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of
1973, was the first statute to mention SCORE directly, providing the Director of ACTION
authority to work with SCORE to “expand the application of their expertise beyond Small
Business Administration clients.”64 P.L. 95-510, a bill to amend the Small Business Act, provided

59 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 34, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
60 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
61 P.L. 83-163, the Small Business Act of 1953; and U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Small Business, Small
Business Administration - 1965, 89th Cong., 1st sess., May 19, 1965 (Washington: GPO, 1965), pp. 21, 45; and SCORE
(Service Corps of Retired Executives), “Milestones in SCORE History,” Washington, DC, at http://www.score.org/
node/147953.
62 U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Small Business and House Select Committee on Small Business, 1966
Federal Handbook for Small Business: A Survey of Small Business Programs in the Federal Government Agencies,
committee print, 89th Cong., 3rd sess., January 31, 1966 (Washington: GPO, 1966), p. 5; and U.S. Congress, House
Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship, and Trade, Subcommittee
Hearing on Legislative Initiatives to Modernize SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs, 111th Cong., 1st sess.,
April 2, 2009 (Washington: GPO, 2009), p. 6.
63 U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Small Business, Small Business Act, 90th Cong., 1st sess., November 22,
1967 (Washington: GPO, 1967), pp. 13, 14.
64 P.L. 93-113, the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Section 302. Authority to Establish, Coordinate, and
Operate Programs. ACTION was created on July 1, 1971, by President Richard M. Nixon (Reorganization Plan
Number One and Executive Order 11603) to oversee several federal volunteer agencies, including the Peace Corps,
(continued...)
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the SBA explicit statutory authorization to work with SCORE (Section 8(b)(1)(A)). P.L. 106-554,
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001 (Section 1(a)(9)—the Small Business Reauthorization
Act of 2000) authorized SCORE to solicit cash and in-kind contributions from the private sector
to be used to carry out its functions.
The SBA currently provides grants to SCORE to provide in-person mentoring, online training,
and “nearly 9,000 local training workshops annually” to small businesses.65 SCORE’s 368
chapters and more than 800 branch offices are located throughout the United States and partner
with more than 12,000 volunteer counselors, who are working or retired business owners,
executives and corporate leaders, to provide management and training assistance to small
businesses “at no charge or at very low cost.”66
SCORE assisted 356,837 small business owners and prospective entrepreneurs in FY2011.67 In
FY2011, 816 new businesses were formed with assistance from SCORE counselors.68 SCORE
received a $7.0 million appropriation for FY2010, $7.0 million for FY2011, $7.0 million for
FY2012, and a projected appropriation of $7.04 million for FY2013.69
W. Kenneth Yancey, Jr., SCORE’s chief executive officer, provided the following description at a
congressional hearing of SCORE’s efforts to assist small businesses as they deal with the nation’s
current economic environment:
SCORE volunteers know things that only experience can teach. All across the country,
SCORE is helping clients navigate the credit crunch. SCORE can mentor an aspiring
entrepreneur through the business plan process to get them through the start-up phase. For
in-business clients, SCORE can provide advice on handling cash flow problems and
marketing to drive leads and sales. Many SCORE chapters offer team counseling, where a
group of volunteers examine various aspects of the client’s business and make
recommendations.70
The SBA Office of Entrepreneurial Development includes SCORE in its multi-year time series
study to assess its programs’ effectiveness. The firm administering the 2012 survey of SBA

(...continued)
VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America); and SCORE. P.L. 103-82, the National and Community Service Trust Act
of 1993, directed that ACTION be merged with the Commission on National and Community Service to form the
Corporation for National and Community Service, which became operational in 1994. See Corporation for National
and Community Service, “National Service Timeline,” Washington, DC, at http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/
role_impact/history_timeline.asp.
65 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 45, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
66 SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), “About SCORE,” Washington, DC, at http://www.score.org/about-
score.
67 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 46, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
68 Ibid.
69 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
70 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on Legislation to Reauthorize and
Modernize SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs, 111th Cong., 1st sess., May 6, 2009 (Washington: GPO,
2009), p. 53.
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management and training clients contacted 45,339 SCORE clients and received 7,217 completed
surveys (15.9% return rate).71 The survey indicated that
• 67% of SCORE nascent clients (individuals who have taken one or more steps to
start a business), 72% of SCORE start-up clients (individuals who have been in
business one year or less), and 71% of SCORE in-business clients (individuals
who have been in business more than one year and are classified as small by the
SBA) reported their counseling was useful or very useful. Overall, 76% of
SCORE clients reported that the information they received from counselors was
useful or very useful;72
• 57% of SCORE start-up clients and 61% of SCORE in-business clients reported
that they changed their management practices/strategies as a result of the
assistance they received;73
• 24% of SCORE start-up clients and 28% of SCORE in-business clients reported
that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their profit margin;
11% of SCORE start-up clients and 19% of SCORE in-business clients reported
that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their ability to retain
current staff, 10% of SCORE start-up clients and 16% of SCORE in-business
clients reported that the counseling they received had a positive impact on their
ability to hire new staff; and 28% of SCORE start-up clients and 32% of SCORE
in-business clients reported that the counseling they received had a positive
impact on their sales;74 and
• SCORE clients who received more than three hours of counseling perceived
greater impact of SCORE assistance on profits, retaining and hiring staff, and
sales than SCORE clients who received less than three hours of counseling.75
Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs
P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (of 1999) (Subtitle C—Microenterprise Technical
Assistance and Capacity Building Program) amended P.L. 103-325, the Riegle Community
Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994, to authorize the SBA to “establish a
microenterprise technical assistance and capacity building grant program.”76 The program was to
“provide assistance from the Administration in the form of grants” to
nonprofit microenterprise development organizations or programs (or a group or
collaborative thereof) that has a demonstrated record of delivering microenterprise services
to disadvantaged entrepreneurs; an intermediary; a microenterprise development
organization or program that is accountable to a local community, working in conjunction
with a state or local government or Indian tribe; or an Indian tribe acting on its own, if the

71 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial
Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” September 2012, p.
9, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/SBA_Converted_2012_d.pdf.
72 Ibid., p 50.
73 Ibid., p. 52.
74 Ibid., p. 54.
75 Ibid., p. 55.
76 P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Section 173. Establishment of Program.
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Indian tribe can certify that no private organization or program referred to in this paragraph
exists within its jurisdiction.”77
The SBA was directed “to ensure that not less than 50% of the grants … are used to benefit very
low-income persons, including those residing on Indian reservations.”78 It was also directed to
(1) provide training and technical assistance to disadvantaged entrepreneurs; (2) provide
training and capacity building services to microenterprise development organizations and
programs and groups of such organizations to assist such organizations and programs in
developing microenterprise training and services; (3) aid in researching and developing the
best practices in the field of microenterprise and technical assistance programs for
disadvantaged entrepreneurs; and (4) for such other activities as the Administrator
determines are consistent with the purposes of this subtitle.79
The SBA’s Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME) was designed to meet these
legislative requirements by providing “assistance to organizations that help low-income
entrepreneurs who lack sufficient training and education to gain access to capital to establish and
expand their small businesses.”80 The program offers four types of grants:
• Technical Assistance Grants support training and technical assistance to
disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs,
• Capacity Building Grants support training and capacity building services to
micro-enterprise development organizations and programs to assist them in
developing micro-enterprise training and services,
• Research and Development Grants support the development and sharing of best
practices in the field of micro-enterprise development and technical assistance
programs for disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs, and
• Discretionary Grants support other activities determined to be consistent with
these purposes.81
Grants are awarded on an annual basis. Applicants may be approved for option year funding for
up to four subsequent years. Award amounts vary depending on the availability of funds.
However, no single grantee may receive more than $250,000 or 10% of the total funds made
available for the program in a single fiscal year, whichever is less.82
Recipients must match 50% of the funding from non-federal sources. Revenue from fees, grants,
and gifts; income from loan sources; and in-kind resources from non-federal public or private

77 P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Section 173. Establishment of Program and Section 175. Qualified
Organizations.
78 P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Section 176. Allocation of Assistance; Subgrants.
79 P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Section 174. Uses of Assistance.
80 U.S. Small Business Administration, “PRIME Program,” at http://www.sba.gov/content/prime-program-0.
81 Ibid.
82 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Financial Assistance, “Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs
Act (“PRIME”): Microenterprise and Technical Assistance Programs to Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs, Fiscal Year
2010,” June 2010, p. 2, at http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/
serv_fa_2010_primetrack123.pdf.
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sources may be used to comply with the matching requirement.83 SBA regulations indicate that
“applicants or grantees with severe constraints on available sources of matching funds may
request that the Administrator or designee reduce or eliminate the matching requirements.”84 Any
reductions or eliminations must not exceed 10% of the aggregate of all PRIME grant funds made
available by SBA in any fiscal year.85
The SBA awarded 67 PRIME grants amounting to just over $3.07 million to management and
technical assistance service providers in FY2012, ranging from $20,200 to $227,000.86 The
number of clients served by this program is unavailable. The PRIME program received an $8.0
million appropriation for FY2010, $8.0 million for FY2011, $3.5 million for FY2012, and a
projected appropriation of $3.52 million for FY2013.87 As mentioned previously, the Obama
Administration recommended in its FY2012 and FY2013 budget requests that funding for the
PRIME program be eliminated, arguing that it overlaps and duplicates the SBA’s Microloan
Technical Assistance Program.88
Veterans Business Development Programs
The SBA has supported management and technical assistance training for veteran-owned small
businesses since its formation as an agency. However, during the 1990s, some in Congress noted
that a direct loan program for veterans was eliminated by the SBA in 1995 and that the “training
and counseling for veterans dropped from 38,775 total counseling sessions for veterans in 1993 to
29,821 sessions in 1998.”89 Concerned that “the needs of veterans have been diminished
systematically at the SBA,” Congress adopted P.L. 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and
Small Business Development Act of 1999.90 It authorized the establishment of the National
Veterans Business Development Corporation (now also known as The Veterans Corporation)91 to
(1) expand the provision of and improve access to technical assistance regarding
entrepreneurship for the Nation’s veterans; and (2) to assist veterans, including service-
disabled veterans, with the formation and expansion of small business concerns by working

83 Ibid., pp. 2, 8.
84 13 C.F.R §119.8.
85 Ibid.
86 USASpending.gov, search terms: CFDA number 59.050 and FY2012.
87 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
88 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 4, at http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-
performance-report; and U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and
FY2011 Annual Performance Report,” pp. 8, 15, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/
FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
8989 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development
Act of 1999, report to accompany H.R. 1568, 106th Cong., 1st sess., June 29, 1999, H.Rept. 106-206 (Washington: GPO,
1999), pp. 14, 15.
90 Ibid.
91 The National Veterans Business Development Corporation was initially provided a federal charter. The
organization’s federal charter was statutorily removed by P.L. 112-239, the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2013.
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with and organizing public and private resources, including those of the Small Business
Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, the
Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Service Corps of Retired
Executives …, the Small Business Development Centers …, and the business development
staffs of each department and agency of the United States.92
The act re-emphasized the SBA’s responsibility “to reach out to and include veterans in its
programs providing financial and technical assistance.”93 It also included veterans as a target
group for the SBA’s 7(a), 504/CDC, and Microloan programs. It also required the SBA to enter
into a memorandum of understanding with SCORE to, among other things, establish “a program
to coordinate counseling and training regarding entrepreneurship to veterans through the chapters
of SCORE throughout the United States.”94 It also directed the SBA to enter into a memorandum
of understanding with small business development centers, the Department of Veteran Affairs,
and the National Veterans Business Development Corporation “with respect to entrepreneurial
assistance to veterans, including service-disabled veterans.”95 The act specified that the following
services were to be provided:
(1) Conducting of studies and research, and the distribution of information generated by such
studies and research, on the formation, management, financing, marketing, and operation of
small business concerns by veterans.
(2) Provision of training and counseling to veterans concerning the formation, management,
financing, marketing, and operation of small business concerns.
(3) Provision of management and technical assistance to the owners and operators of small
business concerns regarding international markets, the promotion of exports, and the transfer
of technology.
(4) Provision of assistance and information to veterans regarding procurement opportunities
with Federal, State, and local agencies, especially such agencies funded in whole or in part
with Federal funds.
(5) Establishment of an information clearinghouse to collect and distribute information,
including by electronic means, on the assistance programs of Federal, State, and local
governments, and of the private sector, including information on office locations, key
personnel, telephone numbers, mail and electronic addresses, and contracting and
subcontracting opportunities.
(6) Provision of Internet or other distance learning academic instruction for veterans in
business subjects, including accounting, marketing, and business fundamentals.
(7) Compilation of a list of small business concerns owned and controlled by service-
disabled veterans that provide products or services that could be procured by the United

92 P.L. 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999, Section 33. National
Veterans Business Development Corporation.
93 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development
Act of 1999, report to accompany H.R. 1568, 106th Cong., 1st sess., June 29, 1999, H.Rept. 106-206 (Washington: GPO,
1999), p. 14.
94 P.L. 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999, Section 301. Score
Program.
95 Ibid., Section 302. Entrepreneurial Assistance.
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States and delivery of such list to each department and agency of the United States. Such list
shall be delivered in hard copy and electronic form and shall include the name and address of
each such small business concern and the products or services that it provides.96
The SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) was established to address these
statutory requirements by promoting “veterans’ small business ownership by conducting
comprehensive outreach, through program and policy development and implementation,
ombudsman support, coordinated Agency initiatives, and direct assistance to veterans, service-
disabled veterans, Reserve and National Guard members, and discharging active duty service
members and their families.”97
The OVBD provided, or supported third-parties to provide, management and technical assistance
training services to 137,011 veterans during FY2011. These services were provided “through
funded SBA district office outreach; OVBD-developed and distributed materials; websites;
partnering with DOD [Department of Defense], DOL [Department of Labor] and universities;
agreements with regional veterans business outreach centers; direct guidance, training and
assistance to Agency veteran customers; and through enhancements to intra-agency programs
used by the military and veteran communities.”98
In FY2012, the OVBD launched the “Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup”
initiative, “a comprehensive veteran entrepreneurship initiative for transitioning service
members.”99 It also plans to continue its efforts to strengthen its outreach to women veterans and
veterans with disabilities.100
The SBA received an appropriation of $2.5 million for FY2010, $2.5 million for FY2011, $2.5
million for FY2012, and a projected appropriation of $2.51 million for FY2013 to support veteran
management and training activities.101 The Obama Administration also recommended in its
FY2013 budget request an additional appropriation of $7.0 million for the National Veterans
Entrepreneurial Training (VET) Program initiative, Operation Boots to Business: From Service to
Startup, “with the goal of ensuring robust, coordinated, and focused assistance for transitioning
military members who are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship and/or business ownership.”102
The OVBD’s Veterans Business Outreach Centers Program is one of its larger and better known
third-party provider management and technical assistance training programs. It was established
by the SBA under the authority in Section 8(b)(17) of the Small Business Act. It is to “provide

96 Ibid.
97 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 62, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
98 Ibid.
99 Ibid., p. 62; and U.S. Small Business Administration, “Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup,” at
http://www.sba.gov/bootstobusiness.
100 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” pp. 62, 63, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
101 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
102 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” pp. 3, 15, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
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outreach, assessment, long term counseling, training, coordinated service delivery referrals,
mentoring and network building, procurement assistance and E-based assistance to benefit Small
Business concerns and potential concerns owned and controlled by Veterans, Service Disabled
Veterans and Members of Reserve Components of the U.S. Military.”103
There are currently 15 Veterans Business Outreach Centers.104 Each center is funded on an annual
basis, with funding not to exceed $150,000 each year. Awards “may vary, depending upon
location, staff size, project objectives, performance and agency priorities, and additional special
initiatives initiated by the Office of Veterans Business Development.”105 Existing centers may
receive additional funding for special outreach or other initiatives. The initial grant award is for
12 months, with the possibility of four additional (option) years.
In FY2011, the Veterans Business Outreach Centers Program conducted its seventh annual
“Customer Satisfaction Survey.” The FY2011 survey found that 91% of the clients using the
centers were satisfied or highly satisfied with the quality, relevance, and timeliness of the
assistance provided.106
7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program
Utilizing what it viewed as broad statutory powers granted under Section 8(a) of the Small
Business Act of 1958, as amended, the SBA issued regulations in 1970 creating the 8(a)
contracting program to “assist small concerns owned by disadvantaged persons to become self-
sufficient, viable businesses capable of competing effectively in the market place.”107 Utilizing its
statutory authority under Section 7(j) of the Small Business Act to provide management and
technical assistance through contracts, grants, and cooperative agreement to qualified service
providers, the regulations specified that “the SBA may provide technical and management
assistance to assist in the performance of the subcontracts.”108
On October 24, 1978, P.L. 95-507, to amend the Small Business Act and the Small Business
Investment Act of 1958, provided the SBA explicit statutory authority to extend financial,
management, technical, and other services to socially and economically disadvantaged small
businesses. The SBA’s current regulations indicate that the 7(j) Management and Technical
Assistance Program, named after the section of the Small Business Act of 1958, as amended,

103 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Veterans Business Development, “Special Program Announcement:
Veterans Business Outreach Center Program,” April 2010, p. 1, at http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/
sba_program_office/ovbd_vboc_prgm_announce2010.pdf.
104 U.S. Small Business Administration, “Veterans Business Outreach Centers,” at http://www.sba.gov/content/
veterans-business-outreach-centers. There were 8 veterans business outreach centers in FY2009 and 16 in FY2012.
105 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Veterans Business Development, “Special Program Announcement:
Veterans Business Outreach Center Program,” April 2010, p. 2, at http://archive.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/
sba_program_office/ovbd_vboc_prgm_announce2010.pdf.
106 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 62, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
107 13 C.F.R. §124.8-1(b) (1970); and Notes, “Minority Enterprise, Federal Contracting, and the SBA’s 8(a) Program:
A New Approach to an Old Problem,” Michigan Law Review, vol. 71, no. 2 (December 1972), pp. 377, 378. For further
analysis of the Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development Program, also known as the 8(a)
program, see CRS Report R40744, The “8(a) Program” for Small Businesses Owned and Controlled by the Socially
and Economically Disadvantaged: Legal Requirements and Issues, by Kate M. Manuel and John R. Luckey.
108 13 C.F.R. §124.8-1(d) (1970).
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authorizing the SBA to provide management and technical assistance training, will, “through its
private sector service providers” deliver “a wide variety of management and technical assistance
to eligible individuals or concerns to meet their specific needs, including: (a) counseling and
training in the areas of financing, management, accounting, bookkeeping, marketing, and
operation of small business concerns; and (b) the identification and development of new business
opportunities.”109 Eligible individuals and businesses include “8(a) certified firms, small
disadvantaged businesses, businesses operating in areas of high unemployment, or low income or
firms owned by low income individuals.”110
In FY2012, the 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program awarded 17 contracts to 15
service providers totaling just over $4.0 million, ranging from $99,788 to $787,500.111 The 7(j)
program assisted 3,550 small business owners in FY2011.112 It received a $3.4 million
appropriation for FY2010, $3.4 million for FY2011, $3.1 million for FY2012, and a projected
appropriation of $3.1 million for FY2013.113
Native American Outreach Program
The SBA established the Office of Native American Affairs in 1994 to “address the unique needs
of America’s First people.”114 It oversees the Native American Outreach Program, which provides
management and technical educational assistance to American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native
Hawaiians, and “the indigenous people of Guam and American Samoa … to promote entity-
owned and individual 8(a) certification, government contracting, entrepreneurial education, and
capital access.”115 The program’s management and technical assistance services are available to
members of these groups living in most areas of the nation.116 However, “for Native Americans
living in much of Indian Country, actual reservations communities where the land is held in trust
by the U.S. federal government, SBA loan guaranties and technical assistance services are not
available.”117

109 13 C.F.R. §124.702.
110 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 75, at http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-
performance-report.
111 USASpending.gov, search terms: CFDA number 59.007 and FY2012.
112 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 69, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
113 H.Rept. 111-366, the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2012; and P.L. 112-175, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
114 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Workforce, Empowerment, and
Government Programs, Oversight of the Small Business Administration’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs,
109th Cong., 2nd sess., March 2, 2006, Serial No. 109-40 (Washington: GPO, 2006), pp. 5, 37. H.R. 2352, the Job
Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, would provide statutory authorization for the Office of Native
American Affairs. It was passed by the House on May 20, 2009.
115 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 65, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/Congressional_Budget_Justification.pdf.
116 Ibid.
117 Ibid.
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The SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs has four goals:
• to increase financial literacy across a broad section of the community and to
educate internally on the roles of tribal governments;
• to formulate an SBA-specific tribal consultation policy to engage with tribally
run economic development branches;
• to conduct a Native American veterans’ outreach initiative to increase the
utilization of the SBA’s counseling services and the Patriot Express loan guaranty
program; and
• to conduct an in-depth market research analysis to fine tune marketing efforts
ending in a comprehensive communications plan to reach the target market with
the end goal being a measurable increase in the use of all SBA tools with
particular emphasis on loans and contracting.118
The Native American Outreach Program assisted 3,116 small businesses in FY2010.119 It received
a $1.25 million appropriation for FY2010, $1.25 million for FY2011, $1.25 million for FY2012,
and a projected appropriation of $1.258 million for FY2013.120
Department of Commerce Small Business
Management and Technical Assistance Training
Programs
As mentioned previously, the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development
Agency provides training to minority business owners to assist them in obtaining contracts and
financial awards.121 In addition, the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development
Administration’s Local Technical Assistance Program promotes efforts to build and expand local
organizational capacity in distressed areas. As part of that effort, it funds projects that focus on
technical or market feasibility studies of economic development projects or programs, which
often include consultation with small businesses.122

118 Ibid.
119 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 69, at http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-
performance-report.
120 H.Rept. 111-366, The Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of
Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; and H.Rept. 112-331, the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2012.
121 U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency, “Annual Performance Report, Fiscal Year
2011; America: Built to Last,” p. 76, at http://www.mbda.gov/sites/default/files/APR2011.pdf.
122 13 C.F.R. §306.
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The Minority Business Development Agency
The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) was established by President Richard M.
Nixon by Executive Order 11625, issued on October 13, 1971, and published in the Federal
Register the next day. It clarified the authority of the Secretary of Commerce to
• implement federal policy in support of the minority business enterprise program,
• provide additional technical and management assistance to disadvantaged
businesses,
• assist in demonstration projects, and
• coordinate the participation of all federal departments and agencies in an
increased minority enterprise effort.123
The MBDA received an appropriation of $31.5 million for FY2010, $30.4 million for FY2011,
$30.3 million for FY2012, and a projected appropriation of $30.5 million for FY2013.124
As part of its mission, the MBDA seeks to train minority business owners to become first- or
second-tier suppliers to private corporations and the federal government. Progress is measured in
the business’s increased gross receipts, number of employees, and size and scale of the firms
associated with minority business enterprises.
The MBDA reported that in FY2011 it “created 5,787 new jobs across America by helping
minority-owned and operated businesses obtain 777 contracts, totaling $2.14 billion, and 331
financial awards totaling $1.82 billion.”125
The EDA Local Technical Assistance Program
P.L. 89-186, the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, authorized the
Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to provide financial
assistance to economically distressed areas in the United States that are characterized by high
levels of unemployment and low per-capita income. The EDA currently administers seven
Economic Development Assistance Programs (EDAPs) that award matching grants for public
works, economic adjustment, planning, technical assistance, research and evaluation, trade
adjustment assistance, and global climate change mitigation.126

123 The Executive Office of the President, “Executive Order 11625,” 36 Federal Register 11625, October 14, 1971; and
3 C.F.R., 1971-1975 Comp. 9. 616. The MBDA superseded the Office of Minority Business Enterprise, which was
established by Executive Order 11458 signed by President Richard Nixon on March 5, 1969.
124 P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of Defense and Full-Year
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011; P.L. 112-55, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012;
and P.L. 112-175, Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
125 U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency, “Annual Performance Report, Fiscal Year
2011; America: Built to Last,” p. 17, at http://www.mbda.gov/sites/default/files/APR2011.pdf.
126 In addition, since 1970, Congress has periodically allocated supplemental funds for EDA to assist with disaster
mitigation and economic recovery. Also, EDA grant applicants must be designated by EDA as part of an EDD—a
multijurisdictional consortium of county and local governments—to be eligible for EDA funding and grants. To be
designated as an EDD, an area must meet the definition of economic distress, under 13 C.F.R 303.3: (i) An
unemployment rate that is, for the most recent twenty-four (24) month period for which data are available, at least one
(continued...)
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Grants awarded under the EDA’s Local Technical Assistance Program are designed to help solve
specific economic development problems, respond to development opportunities, and build and
expand local organizational capacity in distressed areas.127 The majority of local technical
assistance projects focus on technical or market feasibility studies of economic development
projects or programs, including consultation with small businesses. The EDA’s Local Technical
Assistance Program received a $9.8 million appropriation for both FY2010 and FY2011, $12.0
million for FY2012, and a projected appropriation of $12.1 million for FY2013.128
Congressional Issues
For many years, a recurring theme at congressional hearings concerning the SBA’s management
and technical assistance training programs has been the perceived need to improve program
efficiency by eliminating duplication of services and increasing cooperation and coordination
both within and among SCORE, WBCs, and SBDCs.129 As mentioned previously, the Obama
Administration has recommended that the PRIME program be eliminated, arguing that it overlaps
and duplicates the SBA’s Microloan Technical Assistance Program.130 Also, the House Committee
on Small Business has argued that the SBA’s various management and technical assistance
training programs should be “folded into the mission of the SBDC program or their
responsibilities should be taken over by other agencies” because they “overlap each other and
duplicate the educational services provided by other agencies.”131 In recent years, Congress has
also explored ways to improve the SBA’s measurement of these programs’ effectiveness.

(...continued)
(1) percentage point greater than the national average unemployment rate; (ii) Per capita income that is, for the most
recent period for which data are available, eighty (80) percent or less of the national average per capita income; or (iii)
A Special Need, as determined by Economic Development Administration (EDA).
127 13 C.F.R. §306.
128 U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Request,”
p. 33, at http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/12CJ/EDA_FY_2012_Congressional_Submission.pdf; P.L. 111-117, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010; P.L. 112-10, the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2011; H.Rept. 112-284, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and
Related Agencies Programs for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes; and P.L. 112-175,
the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013.
129 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Markup of H.R. 2352 The Job Creation
Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, 111th Cong., 1st sess., May 13, 2009, Doc. No. 111-022 (Washington: GPO,
2009), pp. 2, 14; U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business, SBA’s Management and Assistance Programs,
Roundtable before the Committee on Small Business United States Senate, 106th Cong., 1st sess., May 20, 1999, S. Hrg.
106-337 (Washington: GPO, 1999), pp. 69, 74, 82, 92; U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, To
Investigate the Legislation That Would Increase the Extent and Scope of the Services Provided By Small Business
Development Centers, 107th Cong., 1st sess., July 19, 2001, Serial No. 107-20 (Washington: GPO, 2001), pp. 13, 59, 60;
and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business, Oversight on the Small Business Administration’s Small
Business Development Center Program, 100th Cong., 1st sess., October 15, 1987, S. Hrg. 100-339 (Washington: GPO,
1987), pp. 6, 165, 168, 230.
130 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance
Report,” p. 4, at http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2012-congressional-budget-justification-and-fy-2010-annual-
performance-report; and U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and
FY2011 Annual Performance Report,” pp. 8, 15, at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/
FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR.pdf.
131 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, “Views and Estimates of the Committee on Small Business on
Matters to be set forth in the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY2014,” communication to the Chairman,
House Committee on the Budget, 113th Cong., 1st sess., February 27, 2013, at http://smallbusiness.house.gov/
(continued...)
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Program Administration
In 2007, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to assess the SBA’s
oversight of WBCs and the coordination and duplication of services among the SBA’s
management and technical training assistance programs. GAO found that
As described in the terms of the SBA award, WBCs are required to coordinate with local
SBDCs and SCORE chapters. In addition, SBA officials told us that they expected district
offices to ensure that the programs did not duplicate each other. However, based on our
review, WBCs lacked guidance and information from SBA on how to successfully carry out
their coordination efforts. Most of the WBCs that we spoke with explained that in some
situations they referred clients to an SBDC or SCORE counselor, and some WBCs also took
steps to more actively coordinate with local SBDCs and SCORE chapters to avoid
duplication and leverage resources. We learned that WBCs used a variety of approaches to
facilitate coordination, such as memorandums of understanding, information-sharing
meetings, and co-locating staff and services. However, some WBCs told us that they faced
challenges in coordinating services with SBDC and SCORE, in part because the programs
have similar performance measures, and this could result in competition among the service
providers in some locations. We also found that on some occasions SBA encouraged WBCs
to provide services that were similar to services already provided by SBDCs in their district.
Such challenges thwart coordination efforts and could increase the risk of duplication in
some geographic areas.132
Some organizations have argued that the SBA’s management and technical assistance training
programs should be merged. For example, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce has argued
that
over the last 50 years, the SBA entrepreneurial development system has grown into a
fragmented array of programs, which has resulted in a disorganized, overlapping, and [in]
efficient delivery of service through a system that is ill-prepared to effectively address the
challenges of our economy….
if we are to serve the needs of American entrepreneurs, we must commit to a top to bottom
restructuring of the delivery of the entrepreneurial services of the SBA. The myriad of
entrepreneurial development programs should be unified into one centrally managed
organization that has the flexibility to provide services when and where they are needed.133

(...continued)
uploadedfiles/revised_2014_views_and_estimates_document.pdf. Previously, the House Committee on Small Business
had recommended that funding for Women Business Centers, PRIME technical assistance, HUBZone outreach, and the
Offices of Native American Affairs and International Trade be eliminated; and funding for 7(j) technical assistance,
Microloan technical assistance, and the National Women’s Business Council be reduced. See U.S. Congress, House
Committee on Small Business, “Views and Estimates of the Committee on Small Business on Matters to be set forth in
the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY2013,” communication to the Chairman, House Committee on the
Budget, 112th Cong., 2nd sess., March 7, 2012, at http://smallbusiness.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
views_and_estimates_fy_2013.pdf.
132 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Small Business Administration: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight
of Women’s Business Centers and Coordination among SBA’s Business Assistance Programs, GAO-08-49, November
2007, pp. 6, 24-31, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0849.pdf.
133 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on the State of the SBA’s
Entrepreneurial Development Programs and Their Role in Promoting an Economic Recovery, 111th Cong., 1st sess.,
February 11, 2009, Small Business Comm. Doc. No. 111-005 (Washington: GPO, 2009), p. 4.
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These organizations argue that merging the SBA’s management and technical assistance training
programs would provide greater coordination of services and “one clear channel for assistance”
that “is paramount to the average business owner seeking help.”134 Advocates of merging the
SBA’s management and technical assistance training programs often mention merging them into
the SBDC Program because, in their view, it has the advantage of having a broader connection to
mainstream resources and its locations are “greater and more diverse” than other SBA
management and technical assistance training programs.135
Others argue that providing separate management and training assistance programs for specific
groups is the best means to ensure that those group’s unique challenges are recognized and their
unique needs are met.136 For example, when asked at a congressional hearing about the rationale
for having separate management and technical assistance training programs for specific groups, a
representative of the Association of Women’s Business Centers stated:
I think that there is tremendous rationale for having different programs…. The women’s
business center programs really target a very different kind of population than the SBDCs.…
We serve very different clientele…. We create a very different culture at the women’s
business center. We really have made it a welcoming place where … they feel
comfortable.… And it’s very important to me that the woman have a place where they feel
comfortable … and where they see other women like themselves who are aspiring to reach
their dreams.137
At another congressional hearing, the Association of Women’s Business Centers’ executive
director argued that “the new three-year funding arrangement” for WBCs had enabled them to
“concentrate on better serving their clients and growing their programs” and that WBCs should be
provided continued and expanded funding because they provide effective services:
We know that when our program performance is measured against any other enterprise
assistance program, we will meet or exceed any performance measures. Indeed, the SBA’s
own client-based performance reviews have shown our clients to be just as satisfied or in
some cases more satisfied with the services they have received compared to the SBA’s other
entrepreneurial development efforts.138
Instead of merging programs, some argue that improved communication among the SBA’s
management and technical assistance training resource partners and enhanced SBA program
oversight is needed. For example, during the 111th Congress, the House passed H.R. 2352, the Job

134 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship, and
Trade, Subcommittee Hearing on Legislative Initiatives to Modernize SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs,
111th Cong., 1st sess., April 2, 2009 (Washington: GPO, 2009), p. 29.
135 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on the State of the SBA’s
Entrepreneurial Development Programs and Their Role in Promoting an Economic Recovery, 111th Cong., 1st sess.,
February 11, 2009, Small Business Committee Doc. No. 111-005 (Washington: GPO, 2009), p. 26.
136 Ibid., pp. 15, 17, 26, 29, 58-65, 72; and U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Women’s Business
Ownership Act of 1988, report to accompany H.R. 5050, 100th Cong., 2nd sess., September 22, 1988, H.Rept. 100-955
(Washington: GPO, 1988), pp. 9, 10, 13, 14.
137 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Legislative Hearing on Energy, Veterans
Entrepreneurship, and the SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs, 110th Cong., 1st sess., May 16, 2007, Serial
Number 110-22 (Washington: GPO, 2007), p. 20.
138 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on the State of the SBA’s
Entrepreneurial Development Programs and Their Role in Promoting an Economic Recovery, 111th Cong., 1st sess.,
February 11, 2009, Small Business Committee Doc. No. 111-005 (Washington: GPO, 2009), pp. 45, 47.
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Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, on May 20, 2009, by a vote of 406–15. The
Senate did not take action on the bill. In its committee report accompanying the bill, the House
Committee on Small Business concluded that
Each ED [Entrepreneurial Development] program has a unique mandate and service delivery
approach that is customized to its particular clients. However, as a network, the programs
have established local connections and resources that benefit entrepreneurs within a region.
Enhanced coordination among this network is critical to make the most of scarce resources
available for small firms. It can also ensure that best practices are shared amongst providers
that have similar goals but work within different contexts.139
In an effort to enhance the oversight and coordination of the SBA’s management and technical
assistance training programs, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009 would have
• required the SBA to create a new online, multilingual distance training and
education program that was fully integrated into the SBA’s existing management
and technical assistance training programs and “allows entrepreneurs and small
business owners the opportunity to exchange technical assistance through the
sharing of information.”140
• required the SBA to coordinate its management and technical assistance training
programs “with State and local economic development agencies and other federal
agencies as appropriate.”141
• required the SBA to “report annually to Congress, in consultation with other
federal departments and agencies as appropriate, on opportunities to foster
coordination, limit duplication, and improve program delivery for federal
entrepreneurial development activities.”142
During the 112th Congress, S. 3442, the SUCCESS Act of 2012, and S. 3572, the Restoring Tax
and Regulatory Certainty to Small Businesses Act of 2012, would have addressed the
coordination issue by requiring the SBA, in consultation with other federal departments and
agencies, to submit an annual report to Congress “describing opportunities to foster coordination
of, limit duplication among, and improve program delivery for federal entrepreneurial
development programs.”143 The SUCCESS Act of 2012 was referred to the Senate Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship, which held hearings on the bill.144 The Restoring Tax and
Regulatory Certainty to Small Businesses Act of 2012 was referred to the Senate Committee on
Finance.

139 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, report to
accompany H.R. 2352, 111th Cong., 1st sess., May 15, 2009, H.Rept. 111-112 (Washington: GPO, 2009), pp. 17, 18.
140 H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, Section 201. Educating Entrepreneurs Through
Technology; and H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, Section 601. Expanding
Entrepreneurship.
141 H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, Section 601. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
142 Ibid.
143 S. 3442, the SUCCESS Act of 2012, Section 411. Expanding Entrepreneurship; and S. 3572, the Restoring Tax and
Regulatory Certainty to Small Businesses Act of 2012, Section 411. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
144 U.S. Senate, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, “Creating Jobs and Growing the Economy:
Legislative Proposals to Strengthen the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem,” November 29, 2012, at
http://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings.
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There has also been some discussion of merging SBA’s small business management and training
programs with business management and training programs offered by other federal agencies,
both as a means to improve program performance and to achieve savings. For example, P.L. 111-
139, Increasing the Statutory Limit on the Public Debt, requires GAO to “conduct routine
investigations to identify programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and
activities within Departments and governmentwide and report annually to Congress on the
findings.”145 GAO identified 51 programmatic areas in its 2012 annual report on federal
duplication “where programs may be able to achieve greater efficiencies or become more
effective in providing government services.”146 GAO identified management and training
assistance provided to businesses by the SBA and the Departments of Commerce, Housing and
Urban Development, and Agriculture as one of these areas.147 GAO identified 53 business
management and technical assistance programs sponsored by the SBA and these three
departments. GAO reported that “the number of programs that support entrepreneurs – 53 – and
the overlap among these programs raise questions about whether a fragmented system is the most
effective way to support entrepreneurs. By exploring alternatives, agencies may be able to
determine whether there are more efficient ways to continue to serve the unique needs of
entrepreneurs, including consolidating various programs.”148
In addition, as mentioned previously, the House Committee on Small Business has argued that
“given tight budgetary constraints” the SBA’s various management and technical assistance
training programs “should be folded into the mission of the SBDC program or their
responsibilities should be taken over by other agencies.”149
Program Evaluation
GAO noted in its 2007 assessment of the SBA’s management and technical assistance training
programs that, in addition to its annual survey of WBC, SBDC, and SCORE participants, the
SBA requires WBCs to provide quarterly performance reports that include “the WBCs’ actual
accomplishments, compared with their performance goals for the reporting period; actual budget
expenditures, compared with an estimated budget; cost of client fees; success stories; and names
of WBC personnel and board members.”150 GAO also noted that WBCs are also required to issue
fourth quarter performance reports that “also include a summary of the year’s activities and
economic impact data that the WBCs collect from their clients, such as number of business start-

145 P.L. 111-139, Increasing the statutory limit on the public debt, Section 21. Identification, Consolidation, and
Elimination of Duplicative Government Programs.
146 U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and
Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Results, GAO-12-342SP, February 28, 2012, p. 1, http://www.gao.gov/
assets/590/588818.pdf
147 Ibid., pp. 52-61.
148 Ibid., p. 55.
149 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, “Views and Estimates of the Committee on Small Business on
Matters to be set forth in the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY2014,” communication to the Chairman,
House Committee on the Budget, 113th Cong., 1st sess., February 27, 2013, at http://smallbusiness.house.gov/
uploadedfiles/revised_2014_views_and_estimates_document.pdf.
150 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Small Business Administration: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight
of Women’s Business Centers and Coordination among SBA’s Business Assistance Programs, GAO-08-49, November
2007, p. 15, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0849.pdf.
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ups, number of jobs created, and gross receipts.”151 SBDCs have similar reporting
requirements.152
In recent years, Congress has considered requiring the SBA to expand its use of outcome-based
measures to determine the effectiveness of its management and technical training assistance
programs. For example, during the 111th Congress, the previously mentioned Job Creation
Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009 would have required the SBA to create “outcome-based
measures of the amount of job creation or economic activity generated in the local community as
a result of efforts made and services provided by each women’s business center.”153 It would also
have required the SBA to “develop and implement a consistent data collection process to cover all
entrepreneurial development programs” including “data relating to job creation, performance, and
any other data determined appropriate by the Administrator with respect to the Administration’s
entrepreneurial development programs.”154 In addition, during the 112th Congress, the previously
mentioned SUCCESS Act of 2012 and Restoring Tax and Regulatory Certainty to Small
Businesses Act of 2012 would have required the SBA to “promulgate a rule to develop and
implement a consistent data collection process for the entrepreneurial development programs”
that included data “relating to job creation and performance and any other data determined
appropriate by the Administrator.”155
Concluding Observations
Congressional interest in the federal government’s small business management and technical
assistance training programs has increased in recent years. One of the reasons for the heightened
level of interest in these programs is that small business has led job formation and retention
during previous economic recoveries.156 It has been argued that effective small business
management and technical assistance training programs are needed if small businesses are to lead
job creation and retention during the current economic recovery. As Representative Heath Shuler
stated during a congressional hearing,
We often talk about the role that small business plays in the creation of jobs and with good
reason. Small firms generate between 60 and 80 percent of new positions. Following the
recession in the mid-1990s, they created 3.8 million jobs…. we could use that growth today.
But unfortunately, many firms are struggling to make ends meet. Let’s allow them to hire
new workers. In the face of historic economic challenges, we should be investing in
America’s job creators. SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs, or ED, do just that.

151 Ibid.
152 U.S. Small Business Administration, “FY/CY 2011, Program Announcement for Renewal of the Cooperative
Agreement for Current Recipient Organizations,” pp. 27-38, at http://ohiosbdcrfp.com/Documents/
12%20Program%20Announcement%20FFY2011%20DRAFT%20.pdf.
153 H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, Section 404. Performance and Planning.
154 H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, Section 601. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
155 S. 3442, the SUCCESS Act of 2012, Section 411. Expanding Entrepreneurship; and S. 3572, the Restoring Tax and
Regulatory Certainty to Small Businesses Act of 2012, Section 411. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
156 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Small Business Economic Indicators for 2003, August
2004, p. 3; Brian Headd, “Small Businesses Most Likely to Lead Economic Recovery,” The Small Business Advocate,
vol. 28, no. 6 (July 2009), pp. 1, 2; and U.S. Small Business Administration, “Fiscal Year 2010 Congressional Budget
Justification,” p. 1, at http://www.sba.gov/content/fy-2010-congressional-budget-justification.
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Of all the tools in the small business toolbox, these are some of the most critical. They help
small firms do everything from draft business plans to access capital.157
There is a general consensus that federal management and technical assistance training programs
serve an important purpose and, for the most part, are providing needed services that are not
available elsewhere. As Karen Mills, SBA Administrator, stated during a press interview:
We find that our counseling operations are equally important as our credit operations because
small businesses really need help and advice, and when they get it, they tend to have more
sales and more profits and more longevity, and they hire more people. So we have looked
forward and said, “How do we get all the tools small businesses need into their hands?”
Maybe they want to export. Maybe they want to know how to use broadband. Maybe they
are veterans who are coming back and want to start a business or grow their business. Our
job is to make sure all that information and opportunity is accessible for small businesses so
they can do what they do, which is keep our economy strong.158
There is also a general consensus that making federal management and technical assistance
training programs more effective and responsive to the needs of small business would assist the
national economic recovery. However, there are disagreements over how to achieve that goal.
Some advocate increasing funding for existing programs to enable them to provide additional
training opportunities for small businesses while, at the same time, maintaining separate training
programs for specific demographic groups as a means to ensure that those groups’ specific needs
are met; require the SBA to make more extensive use of outcome-based measures to better
determine the programs’ effect on small business formation and retention, job creation and
retention, and the generation of wealth; and temporarily reduce or eliminate federal matching
requirements to enable SBA’s management and technical assistance training resource partners to
focus greater attention to service delivery and less to fund raising. Others argue for a merger of
existing programs to reduce costs and improve program efficiency, to focus available resources
on augmenting the capacity of SBDCs to meet the needs of all small business groups, and require
the SBA to make more extensive use of outcome-based performance measures to determine
program effectiveness.
There are no case studies or empirical data available concerning the efficiencies that might be
gained by merging the SBA’s management and technical assistance training programs. Advocates
argue that merging the programs would improve communications, reduce confusion by business
owners seeking assistance by ensuring that all small business management and technical
assistance training centers serve all small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, lead to
more sustainable and predictable funding for the programs from non-federal sources, and result in
more consistent and standard operating procedures throughout the country.159 Opponents argue

157 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and
Trade, Subcommittee On Rural Development, Entrepreneurship And Trade Markup On Entrepreneurial Development
Programs Legislation, 111th Cong., 1st sess., April 30, 2009, Small Business Committee Document No. 111-118
[ERRATA – printing error, should be 111-018] (Washington: GPO, 2009), p. 1.
158 David Port, “But Where Is the Money?” Entrepreneur Magazine, August 2010, at http://www.entrepreneur.com/
magazine/entrepreneur/2010/august/207500.html.
159 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on the State of the SBA’s
Entrepreneurial Development Programs and Their Role in Promoting an Economic Recovery, 111th Cong., 1st sess.,
February 11, 2009, Small Business Committee Doc. No. 111-005 (Washington: GPO, 2009), pp. 3-5, 24-27, 29; and
U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on Legislation to Reauthorize and
Modernize SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs, 111th Cong., 1st sess., May 6, 2009 (Washington: GPO,
(continued...)
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that any gains in program efficiency that might be realized would be more than offset by the loss
of targeted services for constituencies that often require different information and training to meet
their unique challenges and needs.160

(...continued)
2009), pp. 3-5, 15, 27-34.
160 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Full Committee Hearing on the State of the SBA’s
Entrepreneurial Development Programs and Their Role in Promoting an Economic Recovery, 111th Cong., 1st sess.,
February 11, 2009, Small Business Committee Doc. No. 111-005 (Washington: GPO, 2009), pp. 44-49; U.S. Congress,
House Committee on Small Business, Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, report to accompany H.R.
2352, 111th Cong., 1st sess., May 15, 2009, H.Rept. 111-112 (Washington: GPO, 2009), pp. 16-31; and U.S. Congress,
House Committee on Small Business, Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988, report to accompany H.R. 5050, 100th
Cong., 2nd sess., September 22, 1988, H.Rept. 100-955 (Washington: GPO, 1988), pp. 9, 10, 13, 14.
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Appendix. Brief Descriptions of SBA Management
and Technical Assistance Training Programs
Table A-1. Brief Descriptions of SBA Management and
Technical Assistance Training Programs
Federal Matching
Program Name
Authority
Brief Description
Number
Requirement
Small Business
P.L. 96-302, 1980
Provides
63 lead centers and
50% match from
Development
management and
900+ local centers
non-federal sources
Center Grant
technical assistance
comprised of not
Program
training to small
less than 50% cash
businesses through
and not more than
centers located in
50% of indirect
leading universities,
costs.
colleges, and state
economic
development
agencies.
Women Business
P.L. 100-533, 1988
Provides long-term
101
50% match from
Center Grant
training, counseling,
non-federal sources;
Program
networking, and
not more than one-
mentoring to
half of the non-
women
federal matching
entrepreneurs,
assistance may be in
especially those who
the form of in-kind
are socially and
contributions,
economically
including office
disadvantaged.
equipment and office
space.
SCORE ((Service
Section 8(b) of the
Provides technical,
368 chapters and
none
Corps of Retired
Small Business Act;
managerial, and
800+ branch offices
Executives)
P.L. 89-754, 1966
informational
assistance to small
business concerns
through in-person
mentoring by
volunteer
counselors who are
working or, in most
instances, retired
business owners.
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Federal Matching
Program Name
Authority
Brief Description
Number
Requirement
7(j) Technical
Section 7(j) of the
Provides
15 service providers
none
Assistance Program
Small Business Act;
management and
Section 8(a) of the
technical assistance
Small Business Act;
training to 8(a)
P.L. 95-507, 1978
certified firms, small
disadvantaged
businesses,
businesses operating
in areas of high
unemployment or
low-income and
firms owned by low-
income individuals.
Microloan Technical
P.L. 102-140, 1992
Provides
180 intermediaries
25% from non-
Assistance Program
management and
federal sources; no
technical assistance
matching
training to Microloan
requirement if the
borrowers and,
intermediary makes
within specified
at least 50% of its
limits, to prospective
loans in an
Microloan
Economically
borrowers.
Distressed Area.
Native American
Section 7(j) of the
Provides
NA none
Outreach Program
Small Business Act;
management and
SBA regulations,
technical assistance
1994
training to American
Indians, Alaska
Natives, Native
Hawaiians and “the
indigenous people of
Guam and American
Samoa … to
promote entity-
owned and individual
8(a) certification,
government
contracting,
entrepreneurial
education, and
capital access.”
PRIME Technical
P.L. 106-102, 1999
Provides assistance
67 service providers
50% from non-
Assistance Program
in the form of grants
federal sources;
to nonprofit
sources such as fees,
microenterprise
grants, gifts, income
development
from loan sources,
organizations or
and in-kind
programs that has a
resources from non-
demonstrated
federal public or
record of delivering
private sources may
microenterprise
be used to comply
services to
with the matching
disadvantaged
funds requirement
entrepreneurs.
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Federal Matching
Program Name
Authority
Brief Description
Number
Requirement
Veterans Business
P.L. 106-50, 1999
The mission of the
NA none
Development
SBA’s Office of
Programs
Veterans Business
Development is to
(1) expand the
provision of and
improve access to
technical assistance
regarding
entrepreneurship for
the Nation’s
veterans; and (2) to
assist veterans,
including service-
disabled veterans,
with the formation
and expansion of
small business
concerns by working
with and organizing
public and private
resources, including
those of the SBA.
Source: Federal statutes, cited in table.

Author Contact Information

Robert Jay Dilger

Senior Specialist in American National Government
rdilger@crs.loc.gov, 7-3110




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