Small Business Management and Technical
Assistance Training Programs
Updated October 9, 2020
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R41352

Small Business Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs

Summary
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has provided technical and managerial assistance to
small businesses 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 received $239 million in regular appropriations for its management and training
programs in FY2020 and FY2021 under P.L. 116-159, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021
and Other Extensions Act (funding through December 11, 2020). In addition, P.L. 116-136, the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), among other provisions,
appropriated $265 million in FY2020, to remain available through FY2021, for SBA’s
entrepreneurial development programs to assist small businesses adversely affected by the novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Congressional interest in the SBA’s management and technical assistance training programs has
increased in recent years, primarily because these programs are viewed as a means to assist small
businesses create and retain jobs. These programs fund about “14,000 resource partners,”
including 63 lead small business development centers (SBDCs) and nearly 900 SBDC local
outreach locations, 187 women’s business centers (WBCs), and more than 250 chapters of the
mentoring program, SCORE. The SBA reports that nearly 1 million aspiring entrepreneurs and
small business owners receive training from an SBA-supported resource partner each year.
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.
Some have argued that the SBA should eliminate some management and training programs to
reduce duplication of services across federal agencies. Others have argued that the SBA should
improve cooperation and coordination among the SBA’s resource partners. Congress has also
explored ways to improve the SBA’s measurement of these programs’ effectiveness.
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 and the measures used to determine their
effectiveness. It also discusses recent legislation affecting these programs, including
 P.L. 114-88, the Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act of
2015 (RISE After Disaster Act of 2015), which authorizes the SBA to provide up
to two years of additional funding to its resource partners to assist small
businesses located in a presidentially declared major disaster area and authorizes
SBDCs to provide assistance outside the SBDC’s state, without regard to
geographical proximity to the SBDC, if the small business is in a presidentially
declared major disaster area;
 P.L. 115-141, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, which relaxed
requirements that Microloan intermediaries may spend no more than 25% of
Microloan technical assistance grant funds on prospective borrowers and no more
than 25% of those funds on contracts with third parties to provide that technical
assistance by increasing those percentages to no more than 50%; and
 as mentioned, the CARES Act, among other provisions, appropriated $265
million for the SBA’s entrepreneurial development programs ($192 million for
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Small Business Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs

SBDCs, $48 million for WBCs, and $25 million for a new SBA Resource Partner
Association grant program).
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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. Nearly 1 million
aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners receive training from an SBA-supported
resource partner each year.2
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
and create jobs.”3 It currently provides financial support to about 14,000 resource partners,
including 63 small business development centers (SBDCs) and nearly 900 SBDC local outreach
locations, 187 women’s business centers (WBCs), and more than 250 chapters of the mentoring
program, SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives).4
Congress specifies the appropriation amount for SBDCs and the Microloan Technical Assistance
Program in its annual appropriation act and includes recommended appropriation amounts for the
SBA’s other management and training programs in either the explanatory statement or the
committee report accompanying the appropriations act. The SBA is not legally required to adhere
to the recommended amounts but has traditionally done so in the past.
As shown in Table 1, the SBA received $239 million in regular appropriations for its
management and training programs in FY2020 and FY2021 under P.L. 116-159, the Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act (hereinafter continuing resolution), which
provides funding through December 11, 2020.5 In addition, P.L. 116-136, the Coronavirus Aid,

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 (SBA), FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual
Performance Report, p. 17, at https://www.sba.gov/document/report--congressional-budget-justification-annual-
performance-report (hereinafter SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance
Report).
3 SBA, Fiscal Year 2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance Report, p. 4, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/Congressional_Budget_Justification.pdf.
4 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, pp. 83-90; SBA,
“Women’s Business Centers Directory,” at http://www.sba.gov/about-offices-content/1/2895/resources/13729; SBA,
“SCORE Business Mentor,” at https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/find/?type=SCORE%20Business%20Mentor&
pageNumber=3; and SCORE, “About SCORE,” at https://www.score.org/about-score.
5 The SBA receives an annual appropriation for entrepreneurial development/noncredit programs collectively ($261
million in regular appropriations in FY2020 and FY2021 under P.L. 116-159, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021
and Other Extensions Act (hereinafter continuing resolution), which provides funding through December 11, 2020).
The SBA uses these funds for its management and training programs ($239 million in regular appropriations in FY2020
and FY2021 under the continuing resolution), HUBZone program administration ($3 million in FY2020 and FY2021
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Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), among other provisions, appropriated $265
million for SBA’s entrepreneurial development programs in FY2020, with funding remaining
available through FY2021, to assist small businesses adversely affected by the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic: $192 million for SBDCs; $48 million for WBCs; and $25 million for a
new SBA Resource Partner Association Grant program to establish a single, online centralized
hub for COVID-19 information and a COVID-19-related training program for SBDC, WBC,
SCORE, and veteran business outreach center (VBOC) counselors.
Table 1. SBA Management and Technical Assistance Training Programs, Specified and
Recommended Appropriations, FY2018-FY2021
($ in millions)
CARES
Act
Supple-
mental
FY2021
Training Program
FY2018
FY2019
FY2020
FY2020
CR
Small Business Development
$130.0
$131.0
$135.0
$192.0
$135.0
Center Grants Program
Microloan Technical Assistance
$31.0
$31.0
$34.5
—
$34.5
Program
Women’s Business Center Grants
$18.0
$18.5
$22.5
$48.0
$22.5
Program
COVID-19 Resource Partner
‒‒
‒‒
‒‒
$25.0
‒‒
Association Grants
Veterans Outreach (Veterans
$12.3
$12.7
$14.0
—
$14.0
Business Outreach Centers, Boots
to Business Initiative, Boots to
Business Reboot Initiative, Veteran-
Women Igniting the Spirit of
Entrepreneurship [V-Wise], and
Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for
Veterans with Disabilities [EBV])
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired
$11.5
$11.7
$11.7
—
$11.7
Executives)
Entrepreneurial Education Initiative
$6.0
$3.5
$2.5
—
$2.5
Entrepreneurial Development
$5.0
$5.0
$5.0
—
$5.0
Initiative (Regional Innovation
Clusters)
PRIME Technical Assistance
$5.0
$5.0
$5.5
—
$5.5
Program
7(j) Technical Assistance Program
$2.8
$2.8
$2.8
—
$2.8
Native American Outreach
$2.0
$2.0
$2.0
—
$2.0
Program

under the continuing resolution) and the State Trade and Export Promotion program ($19 million in FY2020 and
FY2021 under the continuing resolution). For additional information and analysis of the SBA’s HUBZone program, see
CRS Report R41268, Small Business Administration HUBZone Program, by Robert Jay Dilger. For additional
information and analysis concerning the STEP program see CRS Report R43155, Small Business Administration Trade
and Export Promotion Programs, by Sean Lowry.
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CARES
Act
Supple-
mental
FY2021
Training Program
FY2018
FY2019
FY2020
FY2020
CR
National Women’s Business
$1.5
$1.5
$1.5
—
$1.5
Council
Growth Accelerators Initiative
$1.0
$2.0
$2.0
—
$2.0
Total
$226.1
$226.7
$239.0
$265.0
$239.0
Sources: P.L. 115-31, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, “Explanatory
Statement Submitted By Mr. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations
Regarding the House Amendment to the Senate Amendments on H.R. 244 [the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2017],” Congressional Record, vol. 163, no. 76-Book II (May 3, 2017), p. H3786; “Explanatory Statement
Submitted by Mr. Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations Regarding the House
Amendment to the Senate Amendments on H.R. 1625 [the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018] (Division E
– Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2018),” p. 87; P.L. 116-6, the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2019, H.Rept. 116-9, conference report accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2019; P.L. 116-93, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020; “Explanatory Statement Submitted by Mrs.
Lowey, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations Regarding the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2020 (Division C – Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2020),” p. 38; U.S. Small
Business Administration, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11, at
https://www.sba.gov/document/report--congressional-budget-justification-annual-performance-report; P.L. 116-
136, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); and P.L. 116-159, the Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act (funding through December 11, 2020).
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 (MBDA) provides training to minority business owners to assist them in obtaining
contracts and financial awards.6 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.7
For many years, a recurring theme at congressional hearings concerning the SBA’s management
and technical assistance training programs was the perceived need to improve program efficiency
by eliminating duplication of services or increasing cooperation and coordination both within and
among its training resource partners. For example, the Obama Administration recommended in its
FY2012-FY2017 budget recommendations that funding for the PRIME technical assistance
program end. The Obama Administration argued that PRIME overlaps and duplicates “the

6 U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), “Annual Performance Report,
Fiscal Year 2015,” pp. 1, 2, at https://www.mbda.gov/sites/mbda.gov/files/migrated/files-attachments/
2015AnnualPerformanceReport.pdf.
7 13 C.F.R. §306.
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technical assistance provided by SBA’s microlending intermediaries.”8 The Trump
Administration has also requested the program’s elimination.9
The House Committee on Small Business majority argued in each of its annual “Views and
Estimates” letters to the House Budget Committee for FY2013 through FY2019 that the SBA’s
various management and technical assistance training programs were duplicative of each other
and of programs offered by other federal agencies.10 As the majority stated in its FY2014 “Views
and Estimates” letter, “given tight budgetary constraints and the need for the SBA to reallocate
resources in other critical areas, entrepreneurial outreach at the SBA should be limited to ... the
Small Business Development (SBDC) Program. All other entrepreneurial outreach efforts at the
SBA either overlap with the SBDC Program or duplicate efforts at other federal agencies.”11

8 SBA, FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance Report, p. 4, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/
FINAL%20FY%202012%20CBJ%20FY%202010%20APR_0.pdf. Also, see SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 22, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/1-508-
Compliant-FY-2014-CBJ%20FY%202012%20APR.pdf; and SBA, FY2017 Congressional Budget Justification and
FY2015 Annual Performance Report, p. 19, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/FY17-CBJ_FY15-APR.pdf
(hereinafter SBA, FY2017 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2015 Annual Performance Report).
9 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/FINAL_SBA_FY_2018_CBJ_May_22_2017c.pdf (hereinafter
SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report); SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/
default/files/aboutsbaarticle/SBA_FY_2019_CBJ_APR_2_12_post.pdf (hereinafter SBA, FY2019 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report); SBA, FY2020 Congressional Budget Justification and
FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2019-04/
SBA%20FY%202020%20Congressional%20Justification_final%20508%20%204%2023%202019.pdf (hereinafter
SBA, FY2020 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report); and SBA, FY2021
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
10 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; 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; 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 FY2015,”
communication to the Chairman, House Committee on the Budget, 113th Cong., 2nd sess., March 25, 2014; 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 FY2016,” communication to the Chairman, House
Committee on the Budget, 114th Cong., 1st sess., February 12, 2015; 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 FY2017,” communication to the Chairman, House Committee on the Budget, 114th
Cong., 2nd sess., February 4, 2016; 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 FY2018,”
communication to the Chairman, House Committee on the Budget, 115th Cong., 1st sess., March 1, 2017; and 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 FY2019,” communication to the Chairman, House
Committee on the Budget, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., February 14, 2018.
11 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, p. 6. 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.
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Congress has also explored ways to improve the SBA’s measurement of these programs’
effectiveness.
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 measures used to determine their
effectiveness.
This report also discusses recent legislation affecting the SBA’s management and training
programs, including
 P.L. 114-88, the Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act of
2015 (RISE After Disaster Act of 2015), which, among other things, authorizes
the SBA to provide up to two years of additional financial assistance, on a
competitive basis, to SBDCs, WBCs, SCORE, or any proposed consortium of
such individuals or entities to assist small businesses located in a presidentially
declared major disaster area and authorizes SBDCs to provide assistance to small
businesses outside the SBDC’s state, without regard to geographical proximity to
the SBDC, if the small business is in a presidentially declared major disaster
area. This assistance can be provided “for a period of not more than two years
after the date on which the President” has declared the area a major disaster;12
 P.L. 115-141, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, among other
provisions, relaxed requirements that Microloan intermediaries may spend no
more than 25% of Microloan technical assistance grant funds on prospective
borrowers and no more than 25% of those funds on contracts with third parties to
provide that technical assistance by increasing those percentages to no more than
50% (originally in H.R. 2056, the Microloan Modernization Act of 2017, and S.
526, the Microloan Modernization Act of 2018); and
 as mentioned, P.L. 116-136 (CARES Act), among other provisions, appropriated
an additional $265 million for SBA’s entrepreneurial development programs in
FY2020, with funding remaining available through FY2021, to assist small
businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: $192 million for
SBDCs; $48 million for WBCs; and $25 million for a new SBA Resource Partner
Association Grant program to establish a single, online centralized hub for
COVID-19 information and a COVID-19-related training program for SBDC,
WBC, SCORE, and veteran business outreach center (VBOC) counselors.
In addition, H.R. 1774, the Developing the Next Generation of Small Businesses Act of 2017,
introduced during the 115th Congress, would have required the SBA to only use authorized
entrepreneurial development programs (SCORE, WBCs, SBDCs, etc.) to deliver specified
entrepreneurial development services. The bill also would have added data collection and
reporting requirements for SBDCs; authorized to be appropriated $21.75 million for WBCs for
each of FY2018-FY2021 (WBCs were appropriated $18 million in FY2018); increased the WBC
annual grant award from not more than $150,000 to not more than $185,000 (adjusted annually to
reflect change in inflation); authorized the award of an additional $65,000 to WBCs under

12 P.L. 114-88 also, among other things, increases, for three years, the minimum disaster loan amount for which the
SBA may require collateral, from $14,000 to $25,000 (or, as under existing law, any higher amount the SBA
determines appropriate in the event of a disaster); provides a contracting preference for small businesses located in a
disaster area if the small business concern will perform the work required under the contract in the disaster area; and
doubles the value of the contract for purposes of determining agency compliance with federal small business
procurement goals.
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specified circumstances; authorized the SBA to waive, in whole or in part, the WBC nonfederal
matching requirement for up to two consecutive fiscal years under specified circumstances;
modified SCORE program requirements with respect to the role of participating volunteers,
program plans and goals, and reporting; and added language concerning the provision and
reporting of online counseling by SCORE.
SBA Management and Technical Assistance
Training Programs
The SBA supports a number of management and technical assistance training programs, including
the following:
 Small Business Development Center Grants Program,
 Microloan Technical Assistance Program,
 Women’s Business Center Grants Program,
 Veterans Business Development Programs,
 SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives),
 PRIME Technical Assistance Program,
 7(j) Technical Assistance Program,
 Native American Outreach Program, and
 Several initiatives, including the Entrepreneurial Development Initiative
(Regional Innovation Clusters), Boots to Business, Entrepreneurial Education,
and Growth Accelerators.
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, the program’s
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
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.13
The SBDC program was provided statutory authorization by P.L. 96-302, the Small Business
Development Center Act of 1980.14 SBDCs were to “rely on the private sector primarily, and the

13 Association of Small Business Development Centers, “A Brief History of America’s Small Business Development
Center Network,” Burke, VA, at https://americassbdc.org/about-us/a-brief-history/.
14 Association of Small Business Development Centers, “A Brief History of America’s Small Business Development
Center Network”; 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
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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.”15 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.16
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 U.S. 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.”17 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.”18
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 nonfederal sources and be comprised
of not less than 50% cash and not more than 50% of indirect costs and in-kind contributions.19 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.
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.”20 These services
are delivered, in most instances, on a nonfee, 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

(Washington: GPO, 1983), p. 2.
15 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 (hereinafter U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business, Oversight of the Small Business
Administration’s Small Business Development Center Program).
16 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business, Oversight of the Small Business Administration’s Small
Business Development Center Program, p. 4.
17 15 U.S.C. 648(a)(4)(C).
18 15 U.S.C. 648(a)(4)(C); and P.L. 106-554, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001.
19 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.
20 SBA, “Small Business Development Center Fy/Cy 2011 Program Announcement for Renewal of the Cooperative
Agreement for Current Recipient Organizations,” p. 3, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/
2011%20Program%20Announcement.pdf (hereinafter SBA, “Small Business Development Center Fy/Cy 2011
Program Announcement for Renewal of the Cooperative Agreement for Current Recipient Organizations”).
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California), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American
Samoa.21 These lead centers manage nearly 900 service centers located throughout the United
States and the territories.22
In FY2019, SBDCs provided technical assistance training and counseling services to 254,821
unique SBDC clients, and 17,810 new businesses were started largely as a result of SBDC
training and counseling.23
As shown in Table 1, SBDCs received an appropriation of $130 million in FY2018, $131 million
in FY2019, $327 million in FY2020 ($135 million in regular appropriations and $192 million in
supplemental appropriations), and $135 million in FY2021 under the continuing resolution
(funding through December 11, 2020).
In addition, SBDCs are eligible to receive funding from the CARES Act’s $25 million SBA
Resource Partner Association Grants Program. These grants are to be used to establish a single,
online centralized hub for COVID-19 information and a COVID-19-related training program for
SBDC, WBC, SCORE, and veteran business outreach center (VBOC) counselors.
The Trump Administration requested $110 million for SBDCs in FY2018, $110 million in
FY2019, $101 million in FY2020, and $87.86 million in FY2021.24
In addition, as mentioned, P.L. 114-88 expanded the role of SBDCs by, among other things
 authorizing the SBA to provide up to two years of additional financial assistance,
on a competitive basis, to SBDCs, WBCs, SCORE, or any proposed consortium
of such individuals or entities to assist small businesses located in a presidentially
declared major disaster area;25 and
 authorizing SBDCs to provide assistance to small businesses outside the SBDC’s
state, without regard to geographical proximity to the SBDC, if the small
business is located in a presidentially declared major disaster area. This
assistance can be provided “for a period of not more than two years after the date
on which the President” has declared the area a major disaster.26
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.”27 The survey was administered annually in partnership
with a private firm.

21 SBA, “Small Business Development Center Fy/Cy 2011 Program Announcement for Renewal of the Cooperative
Agreement for Current Recipient Organizations,” p. 3.
22 Association of Small Business Development Centers, “Welcome,” Burke, Virginia, at https://americassbdc.org/.
23 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 85.
24 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
25 P.L. 114-88, §2101. The SBA administrator may make one extension of a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement
under this paragraph for a period of not more than one year, upon a showing of good cause and need for the extension.
26 P.L. 114-88, §2103. The SBA administrator is authorized to extend the two-year limitation.
27 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial Development Resources,”
September 10, 2009, p. 2.
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The 2014 survey (the last one available) was sent to 70,262 SBDC clients who had received five
or more hours of counseling assistance in calendar year 2012. The survey was administered in the
spring and summer of 2013.28 A total of 10,407 surveys (14.8% return rate) were completed either
by mail, email, or the internet.29
The 2014 survey indicated that, of the SBDC clients
 90.7% reported that the services they received from SBDC counselors were
beneficial;30
 87.8% reported that the knowledge and expertise of their SBDC counselor was
excellent (66.0%) or above average (21.8%);31
 86.2% reported that their overall working relationship with their SBDC counselor
was excellent (68.9%) or above average (17.3%);32 and
 94.4% reported that they would recommend that other businesspersons contact
the SBDC.33
Legislation
As mentioned, P.L. 114-88, among other things, authorizes the SBA to provide up to two years of
additional funding to its management and training resource partners to assist small businesses
located in a presidentially declared major disaster area and authorizes SBDCs to provide
assistance outside the SBDC’s state, without regard to geographical proximity to the SBDC, if the
small business is in a presidentially declared major disaster area. This assistance can be provided
“for a period of not more than two years after the date on which the President” has declared the
area a major disaster.
H.R. 4406, the Small Business Development Centers Act of 2019, would have, among other
provisions, required the SBA to only use authorized entrepreneurial development programs
(SCORE, WBCs, SBDCs, etc.) “to deliver entrepreneurial development services, entrepreneurial
education, and support for the development and maintenance of the Regional Innovation Cluster
Program (or similar business training services)” and would have added SBDC data collection and
reporting requirements. Similar legislation was introduced during the 114th Congress (H.R. 207
and S. 999) and the 115th Congress (H.R. 1702 and H.R. 1774).34

28 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015.
29 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015.
30 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015.
31 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015. 8.7% of SBDC
clients reported that the knowledge and expertise of their SBDC counselor was average, 1.5% of SBDC clients reported
that the knowledge and expertise of their SBDC counselor was below average, and 1.9% of SBDC clients reported that
the knowledge and expertise of their SBDC counselor was poor.
32 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015. 9.3% of SBDC
clients reported that their overall working relationship with their SBDC counselor was average, 2% of SBDC clients
reported that their overall working relationship with their SBDC counselor was below average, and 2.4% of SBDC
clients reported that their overall working relationship with their SBDC counselor was poor.
33 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015.
34 The House-passed version of H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, included
provisions similar to those concerning WBCs, SBDCs, and SCORE in H.R. 1774. These provisions were not included
in the Senate-passed version of H.R. 2810 or in the bill’s final version (P.L. 115-91, the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018).
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Also, as mentioned, the CARES Act provided SBDCs an additional $192 million to assist small
businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. SBDCs are also eligible to receive
funding from the $25 million Resource Partner Association Grants program.
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, veteran, 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.35
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 Small Business
Reauthorization Act of 1997.
The SBA’s Microloan Technical Assistance Program, which is affiliated with the SBA’s
Microloan lending program but receives a separate appropriation, provides grants to Microloan
intermediaries to provide management and technical training assistance to Microloan program
borrowers and prospective borrowers.36 There are currently 144 active Microloan intermediaries
serving 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.37
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.38 Grant
funds may be used only to provide marketing, management, and technical assistance to Microloan
borrowers, except that no more than 50% of the funds may be used to provide such assistance to
prospective Microloan borrowers and no more than 50% of the funds may be awarded to third
parties to provide that technical assistance. Grant funds also may be used to attend required
training.39

35 15 U.S.C. §636 7(m)(1)(A).
36 For further analysis of the SBA’s Microloan program, see CRS Report R41057, Small Business Administration
Microloan Program, by Robert Jay Dilger.
37 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 36. For a list of
Microloan intermediaries by state, see SBA, “List of Lenders,” at https://www.sba.gov/partners/lenders/microloan-
program/list-lenders.
38 15 U.S.C. §636(m)(4)(A).
39 13 C.F.R. §120.712.
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In most instances, intermediaries must contribute, solely from nonfederal sources, an amount
equal to 25% of the grant amount.40 In addition to cash or other direct funding, the contribution
may include indirect costs or in-kind contributions paid for under nonfederal programs.41
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.42
The program was appropriated $31 million in FY2018 and FY2019, $34.5 million in FY2020,
and $34.5 million in FY2021 under the continuing resolution (funding through December 11,
2020) (see Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested $25 million for the Microloan Technical Assistance Program
in FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021.43
As shown in Table 2, the Microloan Technical Assistance Program provided counseling services
to 22,100 small businesses in FY2019, and there were 144 grant eligible microloan
intermediaries.
Table 2. Microloan Technical Assistance Program, FY2014-FY2019
# of Grant
Eligible
# of Clients
Microloan
FY
Advised
Intermediaries
2019
22,100
144
2018
21,800
147
2017
19,600
144
2016
17,948
140
2015
17,200
137
2014
15,668
137
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual
Performance Report, p. 36, at https://www.sba.gov/document/report--congressional-budget-justification-annual-
performance-report.

40 13 C.F.R. §120.712.
41 13 C.F.R. §120.712. Intermediaries may not borrow their contribution.
42 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).
43 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and Small Business Administration, FY2021
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
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Legislation
As mentioned, P.L. 115-141, among other provisions, relaxed requirements that Microloan
intermediaries may spend no more than 25% of Microloan technical assistance grant funds on
prospective borrowers and no more than 25% of those funds on contracts with third parties to
provide that technical assistance by increasing those percentages to no more than 50%. These
provisions were originally in H.R. 2056 and S. 526.44
During the 114th Congress, H.R. 2670 and S. 1857 (its Senate companion bill) would have
required the SBA administrator to establish a rule enabling intermediaries to apply for a waiver to
the requirement that no more than 25% of Microloan technical assistance grant funds may be
used to provide technical assistance to prospective borrowers.45
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.46 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. As a condition of the receipt of funds, the WBC was required to raise at
least one nonfederal dollar for each two federal dollars during the grant’s first year (1:2), one
nonfederal dollar for each federal dollar during year two (1:1), and two nonfederal dollars for
each federal dollar during year three (2:1).47 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.48 The SBA determines if

44 The bills would also increase the Microloan program’s aggregate loan limit for intermediaries after their first year of
participation in the program from $5 million to $6 million.
45 H.R. 2670 was passed by the House on July 13, 2015. S. 1857 was ordered to be reported by the Senate Committee
on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on July 29, 2015, and subsequently reported and placed on the Senate
Legislative Calendar under General Orders on September 15, 2015. The bills would have also increased the Microloan
program’s aggregate loan limit for intermediaries after their first year of participation in the program from $5 million to
$6 million and the program’s repayment terms from not more than 6 years to not more than 10 years for loans greater
than $10,000. For additional information, see CRS Report R41057, Small Business Administration Microloan Program,
by Robert Jay Dilger.
46 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.
47 Matching contributions must come from nonfederal 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 nonfederal match must be in the form
of cash. SBA, “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.
48 P.L. 105-135, the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, authorized the SBA to award grants to WBCs for up
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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.49
During their initial five-year grant period, WBCs are now required to provide a nonfederal match
of one nonfederal dollar for each two federal dollars in years one and two (1:2), and one
nonfederal dollar for each federal dollar in years three, four and five (1:1).50 After the initial five-
year grant period, the matching requirement in subsequent three-year funding intervals is not
more than 50% of federal funding (1:1).51 The nonfederal match may consist of cash, in-kind, and
program income.52
Today, there are 187 WBCs located throughout most of the United States and the territories.53 In
FY2019, WBCs provided technical assistance training and counseling services to 64,527 unique
WBC clients, and 2,087 new businesses were started largely as a result of WBC training and
counseling.54
Congress recommended that the WBC program receive $18 million in FY2018, $18.5 million in
FY2019, $70.5 million in FY2020 ($22.5 million in regular appropriations and $48 million in
supplemental appropriations), and $22.5 million in FY2021 under the continuing resolution
(funding through December 11, 2020) (see Table 1).
In addition, WBCs are eligible to receive funding from the CARES Act’s $25 million SBA
Resource Partner Association Grants Program. These grants are to be used to establish a single,
online centralized hub for COVID-19 information and a COVID-19-related training program for
SBDC, WBC, SCORE, and veteran business outreach center (VBOC) counselors.
The Trump Administration requested $16 million for WBCs in FY2018 and FY2019, and $17.4
million in FY2020 and FY2021.55

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 would be phased out
by FY2012, leaving the initial five-year grants with the continuous three-year option. See SBA, FY2012 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance Report, p. 49, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/
aboutsbaarticle/FINAL%20FY%202012%20CBJ%20FY%202010%20APR_0.pdf.
49 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.
50 P.L. 105-135 reduced the program’s matching to one nonfederal dollar for each two federal dollars in years one
through three rather than just during the first year (1:2), one nonfederal dollar for each federal dollar in year four rather
than during year two (1:1), and two nonfederal 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 nonfederal dollar for each two federal dollars in years one and two (1:2), and one nonfederal dollar for each federal
dollar in years three, four and five (1:1).
51 P.L. 110-28 reduced the federal share to not more than 50% for all grant years (1:1) following the initial five-year
grant.
52 P.L. 105-135 specified that not more than one-half of the nonfederal sector matching assistance may be in the form
of in-kind contributions that are budget line items only, including office equipment and office space.
53 SBA, “Women’s Business Centers Directory,” at https://www.sba.gov/tools/local-assistance/wbc.
54 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 87.
55 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
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P.L. 105-135 required the SBA to “develop and implement an annual programmatic and financial
examination of each” WBC.56 As part of its legislative mandate to implement an annual
programmatic and financial examination of each WBC, the SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial
Development included WBCs in the previously mentioned multiyear time series study of its
entrepreneurial development programs.
The firm administering the 2013 survey of SBA management and training clients (the last one
available concerning WBC clients) contacted 2,997 WBC clients and received 529 completed
surveys (17.7% return rate).57 The survey indicated that
 80% of WBC clients reported that the services they received from counselors
were useful or very useful, 2% had no opinion, and 18% reported that the
services they received from counselors were somewhat useful or not useful;58
 61% of WBC clients reported that they changed their management
practices/strategies as a result of the assistance they received;59 and
 the top five changes to management practices involved their business plan (56%),
marketing plan (46%), general management (36%), cash flow analysis (31%),
and financial strategy (30%).60
Legislation
As mentioned, P.L. 114-88 expanded the role of WBCs by authorizing the SBA to provide up to
two years of additional financial assistance, on a competitive basis, to SBDCs, WBCs, SCORE,
or any proposed consortium of such individuals or entities to assist small businesses located in a
presidentially declared major disaster area.61
Also, as mentioned, the CARES Act provided WBCs an additional $48 million to assist small
businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. WBCs are also eligible to receive
funding from the $25 million Resource Partner Association Grants program.
In addition, H.R. 4406, the Small Business Development Centers Act of 2019, would, among
other provisions, require the SBA to only use authorized entrepreneurial development programs
(SCORE, WBCs, SBDCs, etc.) “to deliver entrepreneurial development services, entrepreneurial

Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
56 P.L. 105-135, §29. Women’s Business Center Program.
57 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial
Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” September 2013, p. 8, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/
default/files/files/OED_ImpactReport_09302013_Final.pdf (hereinafter SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development,
“Impact Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face
Counseling”).
58 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial
Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” p. 19.
59 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial
Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” p. 20.
60 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Impact Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics: Office of Entrepreneurial
Development Resource Partners’ Face-to-Face Counseling,” p. 21.
61 P.L. 114-88, §2101. The SBA administrator may make one extension of a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement
under this paragraph for a period of not more than one year, upon a showing of good cause and need for the extension.
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education, and support for the development and maintenance of the Regional Innovation Cluster
Program (or similar business training services).”
H.R. 4405, the Women’s Business Centers Improvements Act of 2019, would, among other
provisions, authorize to be appropriated $31.5 million for WBCs for each of FY2020-FY2023
(WBCs received $22.5 million in FY2020); increase the WBC annual grant award from not more
than $150,000 to not more than $300,000 (adjusted annually to reflect change in inflation); and
authorize the SBA to waive, in whole or in part, the WBC nonfederal matching requirement for
up to two consecutive fiscal years under specified circumstances.62 Similar legislation was
introduced during the 114th Congress (H.R. 207 and S. 2126) and 115th Congress (H.R. 1774).
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.”63 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 1999.64
The act reemphasized the SBA’s responsibility “to reach out to and include veterans in its
programs providing financial and technical assistance.”65 It also included veterans as a target
group for the SBA’s 7(a), 504/CDC, and Microloan programs. In addition, it 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.”66 The act also directed the SBA to enter into a
memorandum of understanding with SBDCs, the Department of Veteran Affairs, and the National
Veterans Business Development Corporation “with respect to entrepreneurial assistance to
veterans, including service-disabled veterans.”67 It specified, among other things, that the SBA
conduct and distribute studies on the formation, management, financing, marketing, and operation
of small business concerns by veterans; provide training and counseling on these topics to
veterans; assist veterans regarding procurement opportunities with federal, state, and local
agencies, especially agencies funded in whole or in part with federal funds; and provide internet

62 The specified circumstances include the consideration of the economic conditions affecting the recipient
organization; the waiver’s impact on the women’s business center program’s credibility; the recipient organization’s
demonstrated ability to raise nonfederal funds; and the recipient organization’s performance.
63 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 (hereinafter U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Veterans Entrepreneurship and
Small Business Development Act of 1999).
64 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development
Act of 1999, pp. 14, 15.
65 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Small Business, Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development
Act of 1999, p. 14.
66 P.L. 106-50, §301. Score Program.
67 P.L. 106-50, §302. Entrepreneurial Assistance.
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or other distance-learning academic instruction for veterans in business subjects, including
accounting, marketing, and business fundamentals.68
The SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) was established to address these
statutory requirements.69 The OVBD currently administers several management and training
programs to assist veteran-owned businesses, including the following:
 The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities Consortium of
Universities provides “experiential training in entrepreneurship and small
business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities” at eight
universities.70
 The Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE) program,
administered through a cooperative agreement with Syracuse University, offers
women veterans a 15-day, online course on entrepreneurship skills and the
“language of business,” followed by a 3-day conference (offered twice a year at
varying locations) in which participants “are exposed to successful entrepreneurs
and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and leaders in government” and participate
in courses on business planning, marketing, accounting and finance, operations
and production, human resources, and work-life balance.71
 The Operation Endure and Grow Program, administered through a cooperative
agreement with Syracuse University, offers an eight-week online training
program on “the fundamentals of launching and/or growing a small business”
and is available to National Guard and reservists and their family members.72
 The Boots to Business program (started in 2012), which is “an elective track
within the Department of Defense’s revised Training Assistance Program called
Transition Goals, Plans, Success (Transition GPS) and has three parts: the
Entrepreneurship Track Overview—a 10-minute introductory video shown
during the mandatory five-day Transition GPS course which introduces
entrepreneurship as a post-service career option; Introduction to
Entrepreneurship—a two-day classroom course on entrepreneurship and business
fundamentals offered as one of the three Transition GPS elective tracks; and
Foundations of Entrepreneurship—an eight-week, instructor-led online course
that offers in-depth instruction on the elements of a business plan and tips and
techniques for starting a business.”73

68 P.L. 106-50, §302. Entrepreneurial Assistance.
69 SBA, FY2016 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2014 Annual Performance Report, p. 97, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/1-FY%202016%20CBJ%20FY%202014%20APR.PDF.
70 Syracuse University, “About the EBV,” Syracuse, NY, at http://ebv.vets.syr.edu/; and SBA, “SBA Expands
Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Vets: Announces Two New Programs for Women Vets, Guard, Reservists and
Families,” November 10, 2010, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/news_release_10-63.pdf.
71 Syracuse University, “Women Veterans Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE),” Syracuse, NY, at
http://vwise.vets.syr.edu/; and SBA, “SBA Expands Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Vets: Announces Two New
Programs for Women Vets, Guard, Reservists and Families,” November 10, 2010, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/
files/news_release_10-63.pdf.
72 Syracuse University, “About Operation Endure and Grow,” Syracuse, NY, at http://vets.syr.edu/education/endure-
grow/.
73 SBA, “Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup,” at https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/ovbd/
resources/160511; and SBA, “Operation Boots to Business: Fact Sheet,” at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/
B2B_Fact%20Sheet.pdf (hereinafter SBA, “Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup”).
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 The Boots to Business Reboot program (started in 2014) assists veterans who
have already transitioned to civilian life.74
 The Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC) program provides veterans and
their spouses management and technical assistance training at 22 locations,
including assistance with the Boots to Business program, the development and
maintenance of a five-year business plan, and referrals to other SBA resource
partners when appropriate for additional training or mentoring services.75
Prior to FY2016, Congress recommended appropriations for VBOCs and the Boots to Business
program. Funding for the OVBD’s other veterans assistance programs was provided through the
SBA’s salaries and expenses account. Starting in FY2016, Congress has recommended a single
amount for all OVBD programs (currently $14 million) (see Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested $11.25 million for these programs in FY2018, FY2019, and
FY2020, and $12.84 million in FY2021.76
As shown in Table 3, VBOCs trained or advised 41,860 veterans in FY2019, and 16,528 veterans
participated in the Boots to Business Initiative.
Table 3. Office of Veterans Business Development Assistance, By Program,
FY2014-FY2019
Veterans
Business
Outreach
Boots to Business
FY
Centers
Program
2019
41,860
16,528
2018
51,945
17,167
2017
48,839
17,320
2016
47,342
17,966
2015
62,117
14,457
2014
78,124
14,684

74 SBA, “Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup,” pp. 90, 99.
75 SBA, “Veterans Business Outreach Centers,” at https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/ovbd/resources/1548576.
There were 14 VBOCs in 2015 and 20 in 2017. VBOC grants, starting at $180,000, “are made for up to a three-year
period of performance, consisting of a base period of 12 months from the date of award and up to two renewal option
periods of 12 months each. Exercise of the option periods will be solely at SBA’s discretion and is subject to
continuing program authority, the availability of funds, and the recipient’s continued satisfactory performance and
compliance.” Also, “funding per VBOC will vary based on proposed Boots to Business (B2B) program delivery and
associated outreach.” See SBA, Office of Veterans Business Development, “FY 2015 Program Announcement No.
VBOC-2015-02,” pp. 6-7, at https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/ovbd/spotlight. In FY2013, the Veterans
Business Outreach Centers Program conducted its ninth annual “Customer Satisfaction Survey.” 91% of the clients
using the centers were satisfied or highly satisfied with the quality, relevance, and timeliness of the assistance provided.
See SBA, FY2015 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2013 Annual Performance Report, p. 81, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2018-06/Fiscal%20year%202015.zip.
76 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
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Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual
Performance Report, pp. 94, 95, at https://www.sba.gov/document/report--congressional-budget-justification-
annual-performance-report.
Legislation
H.R. 3537, the Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Act of 2019, and S. 1998, the Veterans Small
Business Ownership Improvements Act, would, among other provisions, provide the Boots to
Business program statutory authorization. Similar legislation was introduced during the 114th
Congress (S. 1866) and 115th Congress (H.R. 5193 and S. 121).
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 more than 50 independent nonprofit organizations into a single,
national nonprofit organization.77 Since then, the SBA has provided financial assistance to
SCORE to provide training to small business owners and prospective owners.78
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.”79 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.”80 P.L. 95-510, a bill to amend the Small Business Act, provided

77 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 https://www.score.org/
node/147953.
78 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.
79 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.
80 P.L. 93-113, the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, §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, 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
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the SBA explicit statutory authorization to work with SCORE (Section 8(b)(1)(B)). 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.81 SCORE’s more than
250 chapters and more than 800 branch offices are located throughout the United States and
partner with more than 10,000 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.”82
In FY2019, SCORE provided technical assistance training and counseling services to 195,242
unique SCORE clients, and 480 new businesses were started largely as a result of SCORE
training and counseling.83
Congress recommended that SCORE receive $11.5 million in FY2018, and $11.7 million in
FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021 under the continuing resolution (funding through December 11,
2020) (see Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested $9.9 million for the program in FY2018 and FY2019, $9.5
million in FY2020, and $8 million in FY2021.84
The SBA Office of Entrepreneurial Development included SCORE in the multiyear time series
study to assess its programs’ effectiveness. The 2014 survey was sent to 124,612 SCORE clients
who had a valid email address and received at least one mentoring session in any form
(telephone, online/email, in-person, or other form) during FY2013 (October 2012-September
2013). The survey was initially distributed by email, and telephone calls were used as a follow-up
to ensure at least 30 responses were received from each responding SCORE chapter. The survey
was administered between October 2013 and December 2013.85 A total of 13,548 surveys (10.9%
return rate) were completed either by email or telephone, representing 318 of SCORE’s then-330
chapters.86
The 2014 survey indicated that, of the SCORE clients
 60.9% reported that they strongly agreed (32.2%) or agreed (28.7%) with the
following statement: SCORE is important to my success;87

Service, “National Service Timeline,” Washington, DC, at http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/role_impact/
history_timeline.asp.
81 SBA, FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2011 Annual Performance Report, p. 45, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY%202015%20CBJ%20FY%202013%20APR%20FINAL%20508(1).pdf
82 SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), “About SCORE,” Washington, DC, at https://www.score.org/about-
score.
83 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 89.
84 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
85 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015.
86 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015.
87 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015. 23.8% reported
that they were neutral in response to the following statement: SCORE is important to my success; 7.2% disagreed, and
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 44.8% reported that they strongly agreed (18.4%) or agreed (26.4%) with the
following statement: As a result of working with SCORE, I have changed my
business strategies or practices;88
 32.6% reported that they strongly agreed (12.1%) or agreed (20.5%) with the
following statement: Working with SCORE helped me add employees in the past
year;89 and
 51.8% reported that they strongly agreed (17.0%) or agreed (34.8%) with the
following statement: Working with SCORE helped me grow my business
revenue.90
Legislation
As mentioned, P.L. 114-88 expanded SCORE’s role by authorizing the SBA to provide up to two
years of additional financial assistance, on a competitive basis, to SBDCs, WBCs, SCORE, or
any proposed consortium of such individuals or entities to assist small businesses located in a
presidentially declared major disaster area.91
Also, H.R. 4406, the Small Business Development Centers Act of 2019, would, among other
provisions, require the SBA to only use authorized entrepreneurial development programs
(SCORE, WBCs, SBDCs, etc.) “to deliver entrepreneurial development services, entrepreneurial
education, and support for the development and maintenance of the Regional Innovation Cluster
Program (or similar business training services).”
H.R. 4407, the SCORE for Small Business Act of 2019, would specifically authorize the SBA to
enter into a cooperative agreement with SCORE to carry out the SCORE program. The bill also
provides a list of SBA and SCORE duties, and, among other provisions, requires SCORE to
implement webinars and other online training, centralize its accounting and finance systems (in
response to a SBA OIG report that was critical of SCORE’s accounting and finance systems), and
limits SCORE employee compensation to the maximum rate of pay allowable for SBA Senior
Executive Service employees.92 Similar legislation concerning SBA and SCORE duties was
introduced during the 114th Congress (H.R. 4788 and S. 1000) and 115th Congress (H.R. 1700 and
S. 2034).

8.1% strongly disagreed.
88 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015. 20.9% reported
that they were neutral in response to the following statement: As a result of working with SCORE, I have changed my
business strategies or practices; 8.2% disagreed, 9.8% strongly disagreed, and 6.4% did not reply or indicated they
don’t know.
89 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015. 27% reported
that they were neutral in response to the following statement: Working with SCORE helped me add employees in the
past year; 17.4% disagreed, and 13.6% strongly disagreed.
90 SBA, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, “Correspondence with the author,” November 4, 2015. 26.9%
reported that they were neutral in response to the following statement: Working with SCORE helped me grow my
business revenue; 10.1% disagreed, and 11.2% strongly disagreed.
91 P.L. 114-88, §2101. The SBA administrator may make one extension of a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement
under this paragraph for a period of not more than one year, upon a showing of good cause and need for the extension.
92 SBA, OIG, Audit of SBA’s Oversight of the SCORE Association, Report Number 19-12, April 25, 2019, at
https://www.sba.gov/document/report-19-12-audit-sbas-oversight-score-association.
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Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME)
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.”93 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
Indian tribe can certify that no private organization or program referred to in this paragraph
exists within its jurisdiction.”94
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.”95 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.96
The SBA’s PRIME program 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.”97 The program
offers four types of grants:
 Technical Assistance Grants support training and technical assistance to
disadvantaged microentrepreneurs,
 Capacity Building Grants support training and capacity building services to
microenterprise development organizations and programs to assist them in
developing microenterprise training and services,
 Research and Development Grants support the development and sharing of best
practices in the field of microenterprise development and technical assistance
programs for disadvantaged microentrepreneurs, and
 Discretionary Grants support other activities determined to be consistent with
these purposes.98

93 P.L. 106-102, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, §173. Establishment of Program.
94 P.L. 106-102, §173. Establishment of Program and §175. Qualified Organizations.
95 P.L. 106-102, §176. Allocation of Assistance; Subgrants.
96 P.L. 106-102, §174. Uses of Assistance.
97 SBA, “What is PRIME?” at https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/oca/resources/11416 (hereinafter SBA, “What
is PRIME?”).
98 SBA, “What is PRIME?”
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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. The minimum grant award for
technical assistance and capacity building grants is $50,000. There is no minimum grant award
amount for research and development or discretionary grants.99 The SBA typically awards at least
75% of the grant funds for technical assistance, at least 15% for capacity building, and the
remainder for research and development or discretionary activities.100
Recipients must match 50% of the funding from nonfederal sources. Revenue from fees, grants,
and gifts; income from loan sources; and in-kind resources from nonfederal public or private
sources may be used to comply with the matching requirement.101 SBA regulations indicate that
“applicants or grantees with severe constraints on available sources of matching funds may
request that the Administrator or designee reduce or eliminate the matching requirements.”102 Any
reductions or eliminations must not exceed 10% of the aggregate of all PRIME grant funds made
available by SBA in any fiscal year.103
Table 4 provides the number and amount of PRIME awards from FY2014 to FY2020.
Table 4. PRIME Grant Awards, FY2014-FY2020
($ in millions)
FY
# of Grants
$ Awarded
Range of Awards
2020
30
$5.4
$75,000 to
$250,000
2019
30
$5.0
$75,000 to
$250,000
2018
32
$5.0
$75,000 to
$250,000
2017
34
$5.0
$55,103 to
$250,000
2016
37
$5.0
$75,000 to
$230,913
2015
39
$5.0
$35,455 to
$200,000
2014
24
$3.5
$94,000 to
$250,000
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, “PRIME Grantees,” available by year and state, at
https://www.sba.gov/document/support—prime-grantees.

99 SBA, “What is PRIME?”
100 SBA, “What is PRIME?” For Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Grants, after the initial grant, funding for
additional year(s) must be no more than 67% of the initial grant amount. For Research and Development and
Discretionary Grants, after the initial grant, funding for additional year(s) will be approved at the SBA’s discretion.
101 SBA, “Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (“PRIME”): Microenterprise and Technical Assistance
Programs to Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs, Fiscal Year 2010,” June 2010, pp. 2, 8, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/
files/files/serv_fa_2010_primetrack123.pdf.
102 13 C.F.R. §119.8.
103 13 C.F.R. §119.8.
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Congress has recommended that the PRIME program receive $5 million in each of FY2015-
FY2019, and $5.5 million in FY2020 and FY2021 under the continuing resolution (funding
through December 11, 2020) (see Table 1).
As mentioned, the Obama Administration recommended in its FY2012-FY2017 budget requests
that funding for the PRIME program be eliminated. It argued that the PRIME program overlaps
and duplicates the SBA’s Microloan Technical Assistance Program.104 The Trump Administration
requested that the program receive no funding in FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021.105
7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program
Using 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.”106 Using 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.”107
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,
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.”108 Eligible individuals and businesses include “8(a) certified firms, small

104 SBA, FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance Report, p. 4, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/
FINAL%20FY%202012%20CBJ%20FY%202010%20APR_0.pdf; SBA, FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification
and FY2011 Annual Performance Report, pp. 8, 15, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/1-
508%20Compliant%20FY%202013%20CBJ%20FY%202011%20APR(1).pdf; SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 22, 27, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/1-508-
Compliant-FY-2014-CBJ%20FY%202012%20APR.pdf; SBA, FY2017 Congressional Budget Justification and
FY2015 Annual Performance Report, p. 19; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual
Performance Report, p. 11.
105 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; and SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
106 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 R44844, SBA’s “8(a) Program”: Overview, History, and Current Issues, by Robert Jay
Dilger.
107 13 C.F.R. §124.8-1(d) (1970).
108 13 C.F.R. §124.702.
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disadvantaged businesses, businesses operating in areas of high unemployment, or low income or
firms owned by low income individuals.”109
As shown on Table 5, the 7(j) program assisted 8,032 small business owners in FY2019.
Table 5. 7(j) Assistance, FY2014-FY2019
# of Clients
Trained or
FY
Counseled
2019
8,032
2018
6,483
2017
4,100
2016
5,245
2015
5,360
2014
4,104
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual
Performance Report, p. 77, at https://www.sba.gov/document/report--congressional-budget-justification-annual-
performance-report.
Congress has recommended that the 7(j) program receive $2.8 million in each fiscal year since
FY2018 (see Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested $2.8 million for the program in FY2018 and FY2019, and
$0.5 million in FY2020 and FY2021.110
Native American Outreach Program
The SBA established the Office of Native American Affairs in 1992 to “address the unique needs
of America’s First people.”111 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.”112 The program’s management and technical assistance services are available to

109 SBA, FY2012 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2010 Annual Performance Report, p. 75, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/
FINAL%20FY%202012%20CBJ%20FY%202010%20APR_0.pdf.
110 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
111 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, SBA Reauthorization: Non-Credit
Programs, 108th Cong., 1st sess., April 9, 2003, S.Hrg. 108-447 (Washington: GPO, 2003), p. 25; and 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 have provided statutory authorization for the Office of Native American Affairs.
It was passed by the House on May 20, 2009.
112 SBA, FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance Report, p. 65, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/Congressional_Budget_Justification.pdf (hereinafter SBA,
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members of these groups living in most areas of the nation.113 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.”114
In FY2019, the SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs assisted 2,125 small businesses. It
provided workshops on business development and financial literacy, training webinars, incubator
training, and online classes for Native American entrepreneurs.115
Congress has recommended that the Native American Outreach Program receive $2 million in
each fiscal year since FY2018 (see Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested $1.5 million for the program in FY2018, FY2019, FY2020,
and FY2021.116
SBA Initiatives
In addition to the Boots to Business initiative discussed under “Veterans Business Development
Programs,” Congress has recommended appropriations for the following three Obama
Administration management and training initiatives: the Entrepreneurial Development Initiative
(Regional Innovation Clusters), Entrepreneurial Education, and Growth Accelerators.
Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (Regional Innovation Clusters)
The SBA has supported regional innovation clusters since FY2009, when it partnered with small
business suppliers working in the field of robotics in Michigan. In FY2010, the SBA was
involved in the rollouts of two additional clusters: another robotics cluster in southeast Virginia
and a cluster involving a partnership with the Department of Energy and several other federal
agencies with the goal of developing a regional cluster in energy efficiency homes and
businesses.117 In FY2011, SBA awarded funds to 10 regional innovation clusters. In FY2012,
these clusters “spurred $48 million in private capital raised through venture and angel capital
sources, $6.5 million in early stage investment from SBIR [Small Business Innovation Research
program] and STTR [Small Business Technology Transfer program] awards, and over $217
million in contracts or subcontracts from the federal government.”118

FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance Report).
113 SBA, FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance Report, p. 65.
114 SBA, FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance Report, p. 65.
115 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 99.
116 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
117 SBA, FY2011 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2009 Annual Performance Report, p. 59, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/Congressional_Budget_Justification.pdf.
118 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 60, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/1-FY%202016%20CBJ%20FY%202014%20APR.PDF. The Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in
federal research and development that has the potential for commercialization. For additional information and analysis
concerning the SBIR program, see CRS Report R43695, Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business
Technology Transfer Programs, by John F. Sargent Jr. The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program is a
competitive program that reserves a specific percentage of federal research and development funding for awards to
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President Obama requested, and Congress recommended, an appropriation of $5 million for the
SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (Regional Innovation Clusters) in FY2014.
Congress recommended that the program receive $6 million in FY2015, $6 million in FY2016, $5
million in FY2017, and $5 million in each fiscal year since then (see Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested that the program receive no funds in FY2018, FY2019,
FY2020, and FY2021.119
In 2013, the SBA reported that there were 56 federally supported regional innovation clusters; it
was involved in 40 of these clusters and directly funded 10 of them.120 In 2019, the SBA
announced that it was funding 7 new clusters, increasing the number of clusters currently
supported by the SBA to 14.121
The SBA describes regional innovation clusters as “on-the-ground collaborations between
business, research, education, financing and government institutions that work to develop and
grow a particular industry or related set of industries in a particular geographic region.”122 The
SBA reported that the 7 new clusters funded in FY2019 “are particularly well suited to focus on
rural small business creation that will bring much-needed education, training and expertise to
support small business growth in rural locations across our country.”123
Entrepreneurial Education
The SBA started its Entrepreneurship Education initiative in 2008. At that time, it was called the
Emerging 200 Underserved initiative (E200), reflecting the initiative’s provision of assistance to
200 inner city small businesses. In FY2009, it was renamed the Emerging Leaders initiative to
reflect the SBA’s decision to increase the number of small businesses participating in the
initiative. It was renamed the Entrepreneurial Education initiative in FY2013, and it is funded
under that name in appropriation acts, but the SBA, and others, often still call it the Emerging
Leaders Initiative. The initiative currently

small business and nonprofit research institutions.
119 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
120 The SBA is the lead agency supporting 10 SBA Pilot Contract-Based clusters; partners with the Economic
Development Agency, Employment and Training Agency, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and
Department of Energy to support 10 Jobs Accelerator Advanced Manufacturing clusters; and partners with the
Economic Development Agency and Employment and Training Agency to support 20 Jobs Accelerator Collaboration
Clusters. See SBA, “SBA Supports 56 Federally Funded Cluster Initiatives,” at https://www.sba.gov/sba-clusters; and
SBA, “56 Federally Supported Cluster Initiatives,” at https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sba.gov/sites/
default/files/SBA%2520Supports%252056%2520Federally%2520Funded%2520Cluster%2520Initiatives_1.pdf&sa=
U&ved=0CBMQFjAHahUKEwjinvOB9rXIAhULPD4KHZ_ODFA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=
AFQjCNEcVUjShZkcIYqlUrIn7ma3IZBRQg.
121 SBA, “SBA Announces New Regional Innovation Cluster Awards to Advance Small Business Growth,” April 15,
2019, at https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-announces-new-regional-
innovation-cluster-awards-advance-small-business-growth.
122 SBA, FY2016 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2014 Annual Performance Report, p. 63, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/1-FY%202016%20CBJ%20FY%202014%20APR.PDF.
123 SBA, “SBA Announces New Regional Innovation Cluster Awards to Advance Small Business Growth,” April 15,
2019, at https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-announces-new-regional-
innovation-cluster-awards-advance-small-business-growth.
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offers high‐growth small businesses in underserved communities a seven‐month executive
leader education series that elevates their growth trajectory, creates jobs, and contributes
to the economic well‐being of their local communities. Participants receive more than 100
hours of specialized training, technical resources, a professional networking system, and
other resources to strengthen their business model and promote economic development
within urban communities. At the conclusion of the training, participants produce a three‐
year strategic growth action plan with benchmarks and performance targets that help them
access the necessary support and resources to move forward for the next stage of business
growth.124
The Entrepreneurial Education initiative was initially offered in 10 communities (Albuquerque,
Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Des Moines, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, and
Philadelphia) and provided training to 200 inner city small businesses. The program was funded
through the SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurship Education.125 Since the initiative’s inception, the
SBA has requested separate appropriations to fund and expand the initiative. In FY2012, the
initiative offered training in 27 communities, with more than 450 small businesses
participating.126
The Obama Administration requested $40 million in its FY2014 budget request to sponsor
entrepreneur training in 40 locations and to create an online entrepreneurship training program.127
Congress included the Entrepreneurship Education initiative in its list of SBA entrepreneurial
development/noncredit programs to be funded in FY2014. This was the first time that the
initiative was included in the list. In the explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2014, Congress recommended that the initiative receive $5 million in
FY2014.128 Congress recommended that the program receive $7 million in FY2015, $10 million
in FY2016 and FY2017, $6 million in FY2018, $3.5 million in FY2019, and $2.5 million in
FY2020 and FY2021 under the continuing resolution (funding through December 11, 2020) (see
Table 1).
The Trump Administration requested $2 million for the program in FY2018 and FY2019, and
$2.5 million in FY2020 and FY2021.129
The Entrepreneurship Education initiative is currently being offered in 60 cities and serves more
than 800 small business owners annually.130 These owners are required to have been in business

124 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p.71, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/1-FY%202016%20CBJ%20FY%202014%20APR.PDF.
125 SBA, FY2010 Congressional Budget Justification, p.67, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/
Congressional_Budget_Justification_2010.pdf.
126 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 71, at
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/1-FY%202016%20CBJ%20FY%202014%20APR.PDF (hereinafter SBA,
FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report).
127 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 10.
128 Recommended funding levels for the SBA’s noncredit programs in FY2014 are provided in the “Explanatory
Statement” accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (Division E - Financial Services and General
Government Appropriations Act, 2014), pp. 37-39, at http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20140113/113-HR3547-
JSOM-D-F.pdf.
129 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
130 SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, pp. 91, 92.
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for at least three years, have annual revenue of at least $250,000, and have at least one employee,
other than the owner, to participate in the initiative. There is no cost to the participants.131
Growth Accelerators
The SBA describes growth accelerators as “organizations that help entrepreneurs start and scale
their businesses.”132 Growth accelerators are typically run by experienced entrepreneurs and help
small businesses access seed capital and mentors. The SBA claims that growth accelerators “help
accelerate a startup company’s path towards success with targeted advice on revenue growth, job,
and sourcing outside funding.”133
In FY2012, the SBA sponsored several meetings with university officials and faculty,
entrepreneurs, and representatives of growth accelerators to discuss mentoring and how to best
assist “high-growth” entrepreneurs. These meetings “culminated with a White House event co‐
hosted by the SBA and the Department of Commerce to help formalize the network of
universities and accelerators, provide a series of ‘train the trainers’ events on various government
programs that benefit high‐growth entrepreneurs, and provide a playbook of best practices on
engaging universities on innovation and entrepreneurship.”134
In FY2014, the Obama Administration requested $5 million, and Congress recommended an
appropriation of $2.5 million, for the growth accelerator initiative. The Obama Administration
proposed to use the funding to provide matching grants to universities and private sector
accelerators “to start a new accelerator program (based on successful models) or scale an existing
program.”135 The Obama Administration also indicated that it planned to request funding for five
years ($25 million in total funding) and feature a required 4:1 private-sector match.136 However,
because it received half of its budget request ($2.5 million), the SBA decided to reconsider the
program’s requirements. As part of that reconsideration, the SBA decided to drop the 4:1 private-
sector match in an effort to enable the program to have a larger effect.137
The SBA announced the availability of 50 growth accelerator grants of $50,000 each on May 12,
2014, and received more than 800 applications by the August 2, 2014, deadline. The 50 awards
were announced in September 2014.138
Congress recommended that the program receive $4 million in FY2015, $1 million in FY2016,
FY2017, and FY2018, and $2 million in FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021 under the continuing
resolution (funding through December 11, 2020) (see Table 1). Congress also directed the SBA in

131 SBA, “SBA Emerging Leaders Initiative,” at https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/organization/sba-initiatives#section-
header-18.
132 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 75.
133 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 75.
134 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 60.
135 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 60.
136 SBA, FY2014 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2012 Annual Performance Report, p. 60.
137 SBA, Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, “Correspondence with the author,” May 6, 2014.
138 SBA, “SBA Launches Accelerator Competition to Award $2.5 million for Small Business Startups,” May 12, 2014,
at https://www.sba.gov/content/sba-launches-accelerator-competition-award-25-million-small-business-startups-0;
SBA, “More than 800 Small Business Startups Compete for 50 Cash Prizes in SBA’s Growth Accelerator
Competition,” August 4, 2014, at https://www.sba.gov/content/more-800-small-business-startups-compete-50-cash-
prizes-sbas-growth-accelerator-competition; and SBA, “SBA Spurs Economic Growth, Announces 50 Awards to
Accelerators,” September 4, 2014, at https://www.sba.gov/content/sba-spurs-economic-growth-announces-50-awards-
accelerators.
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its explanatory statements accompanying P.L. 113-235 and P.L. 114-113 to “require $4 of
matching funds for every $1 awarded under the growth accelerators program.”139
The Trump Administration requested that the program receive no funding in FY2018, FY2019,
FY2020, and FY2021.140
The SBA announced the award of 80 growth accelerator grants on August 4, 2015 ($4 million),
68 on August 31, 2016 ($3.4 million), 20 on October 30, 2017 ($1 million), 60 on September 26,
2019 ($3 million), and 60 on February 6, 2020 ($3 million).141 The SBA did not issue a
competitive announcement for Growth Accelerator awards in FY2018.
H.R. 4387, to establish Growth Accelerator Fund Competition within the Small Business
Administration, and for other purposes, would provide the Growth Accelerators initiative
statutory authorization. Similar legislation was introduced during the 115th Congress (H.R. 2686).
Department of Commerce Small Business
Management and Technical Assistance
Training Programs
As mentioned, the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
provides training to minority business owners to assist them in obtaining contracts and financial
awards.142 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.143
The Minority Business Development Agency
The 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

139 Rep. Harold Rogers, “Explanatory Statement Submitted by Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, Chairman of the House
Committee on Appropriations Regarding the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment on H.R. 83,” Congressional
Record, vol. 160, part 151 (December 11, 2014), p. H9741; and Rep. Harold Rogers, “Explanatory Statement
Submitted By Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations Regarding House
Amendment No. 1 to the Senate Amendment on H.R. 2029 Consolidated Appropriations Act,” Congressional Record,
vol. 161, no. 184-Book II (December 17, 2015), p. H10140.
140 SBA, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 12; SBA, FY2019
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2017 Annual Performance Report, p. 13; SBA, FY2020 Congressional
Budget Justification and FY2018 Annual Performance Report, p. 11; and SBA, FY2021 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY2019 Annual Performance Report, p. 11.
141 SBA, “SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition: $3 Million for High Tech, Small Business Focused
Accelerators in 2019,” at https://www.sba.gov/node/1428931/leadership/; and SBA, “SBA Launches 5th Annual
Growth Accelerator Fund Competition,” at https://www.sba.gov/article/2020/feb/06/sba-launches-5th-annual-growth-
accelerator-fund-competition.
142 U.S. Department of Commerce, MBDA, “Annual Performance Report, Fiscal Year 2011; America: Built to Last,” p.
76, at https://www.mbda.gov/sites/mbda.gov/files/apr2011.pdf.
143 13 C.F.R. §306.
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 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.144
The MBDA received an appropriation of $39 million in FY2018, $40 million in FY2019, and $42
million in FY2020 and FY2021 under the continuing resolution (funding through December 11,
2020).145 The CARES Act provided the MBDA an additional $10 million in supplemental funding
in FY2020.
The Trump Administration requested $6 million to close the agency in FY2018, and a reduction
to $10 million in FY2019 and FY2020, and $10.281 million in FY2021.146
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 FY2015 it helped to create and retain 36,896 jobs and assisted
minority-owned and operated businesses in obtaining more than $5.9 billion in contracts and
capital awards.147
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.148

144 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.
145 P.L. 114-113, P.L. 115-31; P.L. 115-56, P.L. 115-141; P.L. 116-6, P.L. 116-93, and P.L. 116-159.
146 U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), “Appendix: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2018,” p.
190, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/appendix.pdf; OMB, “Appendix:
Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2019,” p. 189, at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2019-APP/
pdf/BUDGET-2019-APP.pdf; OMB, “Appendix: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2020,” p. 186, at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2020-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2020-APP.pdf: and OMB, “Appendix:
Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2021,” p. 198, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/
02/appendix_fy21.pdf.
147 U.S. Department of Commerce, MBDA, “Annual Performance Report, Fiscal Year 2015,” pp. 1, 2, at
https://www.mbda.gov/sites/mbda.gov/files/migrated/files-attachments/2015AnnualPerformanceReport.pdf.
148 In addition, since 1970, Congress has periodically allocated supplemental funds for the Economic Development
Administration (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
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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.149 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 an appropriation of $9 million in FY2017, $9.5 million in FY2018,
FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021 under the continuing resolution (funding through December 11,
2020).150
The Trump Administration requested $30 million to close the EDA in FY2018, $14.9 million to
close it in FY2019, $29.95 million to close it in FY2020, and $31.593 million to close it in
FY2021.151
Congressional Issues
For many years, a recurring theme at congressional hearings concerning the SBA’s management
and technical assistance training programs was the perceived need to improve program efficiency
by eliminating duplication of services or increasing cooperation and coordination both within and
among SCORE, WBCs, and SBDCs.152 For example, in 2013 the House Committee on Small

for which data are available, at least one (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).”
149 13 C.F.R. §306.
150 Rep. Harold Rogers, “Explanatory Statement Submitted By Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, Chairman of the House
Committee on Appropriations Regarding House Amendment No. 1 to the Senate Amendment on H.R. 2029
Consolidated Appropriations Act,” Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 184-Book II (December 17, 2015), p. H9732;
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, “Explanatory Statement Submitted By Mr. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Chairman of the
House Committee on Appropriations Regarding the House Amendment to the Senate Amendments on H.R. 244 [the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017],” Congressional Record, vol. 163, no. 76-Book II (May 3, 2017), p. H3365;
“Explanatory Statement Submitted by Mr. Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations
Regarding the House Amendment to the Senate Amendments on H.R. 1625 [the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2018] (Division B – Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018),” p. 2; H.Rept. 116-
9, conference report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019; “Explanatory Statement Submitted by
Mrs. Lowey, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations Regarding the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2020 (Division B – Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020),” p. 4; and P.L. 116-
159, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act.
151 OMB, “Appendix: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2018,” pp. 181-183, at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/BUDGET-2018-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2018-APP.pdf; OMB, “Appendix: Budget of the U.S. Government,
Fiscal Year 2019,” pp. 182, 183, at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2019-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2019-APP-1-
6.pdf; OMB, “Appendix: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2020,” p. 179, at https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/BUDGET-2020-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2020-APP-1-6.pdf; and OMB, “Appendix: Budget of the U.S.
Government, Fiscal Year 2021,” p. 191, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/
appendix_fy21.pdf
152 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,
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Business’s majority argued in its “views and estimates letter” to the House Budget Committee
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.”153
In addition, as mentioned, the Obama Administration recommended that the PRIME program be
eliminated, arguing that it overlaps and duplicates the SBA’s Microloan Technical Assistance
Program. The Trump Administration has also recommended that the PRIME program, the Growth
Accelerators Initiative, and the Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (Regional Innovation
Clusters) be eliminated because they overlap private-sector “mechanisms to foster local business
development and investment” or are “duplicative of other federal programs.”154
In contrast, Congress has approved continued funding for these programs and the Boots to
Business and Boots to Business: Reboot initiatives. In recent years, Congress has also explored
ways to improve the SBA’s measurement of its management and training programs’
effectiveness.
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

1987), pp. 6, 165, 168, 230.
153 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. 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.
154 OMB, “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again: Small Business Administration,” p. 47, at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf; and SBA, FY2018
Congressional Budget Justification and FY2016 Annual Performance Report, p. 58, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/
default/files/aboutsbaarticle/FINAL_SBA_FY_2018_CBJ_May_22_2017c.pdf.
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district. Such challenges thwart coordination efforts and could increase the risk of
duplication in some geographic areas.155
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 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.156
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.”157 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.158
Others argue that providing separate management and training assistance programs for specific
groups is the best means to ensure that those groups’ unique challenges are recognized and their
unique needs are met.159 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

155 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 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.
156 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.
157 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.
158 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 (hereinafter 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).
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, 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.
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comfortable … and where they see other women like themselves who are aspiring to reach
their dreams.160
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.161
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
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.162
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.”163
 coordinate its management and technical assistance training programs “with State
and local economic development agencies and other federal agencies as
appropriate.”164

160 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.
161 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.
162 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.
163 H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, §201. Educating Entrepreneurs Through
Technology; and H.R. 2352, §601. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
164 H.R. 2352, §601. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
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 “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.”165
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, sought to address 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.”166 The SUCCESS Act of 2012 was referred to the Senate Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship, which held hearings on the bill.167 The Restoring Tax and
Regulatory Certainty to Small Businesses Act of 2012 was referred to the Senate Committee on
Finance.
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.”168 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.”169 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.170 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.”171
As mentioned, the House Committee on Small Business previously argued that “given tight
budgetary constraints” the SBA’s various management and technical assistance training programs

165 H.R. 2352, §601. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
166 S. 3442, the SUCCESS Act of 2012, §411. Expanding Entrepreneurship; and S. 3572, the Restoring Tax and
Regulatory Certainty to Small Businesses Act of 2012, §411. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
167 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.
168 P.L. 111-139, Increasing the statutory limit on the public debt, §21. Identification, Consolidation, and Elimination of
Duplicative Government Programs.
169 GAO, 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 (hereinafter
GAO, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and
Enhance Results).
170 GAO, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings,
and Enhance Results, pp. 52-61.
171 GAO, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings,
and Enhance Results, p. 55.
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“should be folded into the mission of the SBDC program or their responsibilities should be taken
over by other agencies.”172 The House Committee on Small Business also indicated its opposition
to the Obama Administration’s increased use of, and requests for increased funding for,
management and training initiatives. For example, Representative Sam Graves, then-chair of the
House Committee on Small Business, indicated in his opening remarks at a congressional hearing
in April 2014 that
Despite reports that the federal government is riddled with redundant [management and
training] programs for entrepreneurs, the SBA has increasingly spawned its own
entrepreneurial development initiatives. In doing so, the SBA has repeatedly requested
increased funding for its own initiatives while allowing funding for statutorily authorized
programs, such as SBDCs, to remain static.… I continue to question the necessity of these
initiatives given the potential overlap with both private and public sector efforts already in
existence.173
In addition, as mentioned, H.R. 1774 would, among other provisions, require the SBA to only use
authorized entrepreneurial development programs (SCORE, WBCs, SBDCs, etc.) to deliver
specified entrepreneurial development services.
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.”174 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-
ups, number of jobs created, and gross receipts.”175 SBDCs have similar reporting
requirements.176
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

172 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.
173 Rep. Sam Graves, “Opening Statement of Chairman Sam Graves, Committee on Small Business Hearing: ‘SBA-
created Initiatives: Necessary or Redundant Spending,” April 30, 214, at http://smallbusiness.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
opening_statement-press_4-30-2014.pdf.
174 GAO, 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 (hereinafter GAO, Small Business Administration: Opportunities Exist to
Improve Oversight of Women’s Business Centers and Coordination among SBA’s Business Assistance Programs).
175 GAO, Small Business Administration: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of Women’s Business Centers and
Coordination among SBA’s Business Assistance Programs, p. 15.
176 SBA, “Small Business Development Center Fy/Cy 2011 Program Announcement for Renewal of the Cooperative
Agreement for Current Recipient Organizations,” pp. 27-38, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/
2011%20Program%20Announcement.pdf.
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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.”177 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.”178
During the 112th Congress, the 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.”179
During the 114th Congress, H.R. 207 would have required the SBA to issue an annual report
concerning “all entrepreneurial development activities undertaken in the current fiscal year.” This
report would include a description and operating details for each program and activity; operating
circulars, manuals, and standard operating procedures for each program and activity; a description
of the process used to award grants under each program and activity; a list of all awardees,
contractors, and vendors and the amount of awards provided for the current fiscal year for each
program and activity; the amount of funding obligated for the current fiscal year for each program
and activity; and the names and titles for those individuals responsible for each program and
activity. This legislative language was reintroduced during the 115th Congress in H.R. 1774, the
Developing the Next Generation of Small Businesses Act of 2017.
Concluding Observations
Congress has always shown an interest in the SBA’s management and technical assistance
training programs, primarily because small businesses are seen as important contributors to job
retention and creation.180 As then-Representative Heath Shuler stated during a congressional
hearing in 2009:
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.
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.181

177 H.R. 2352, §404. Performance and Planning.
178 H.R. 2352, §601. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
179 S. 3442, §411. Expanding Entrepreneurship; and S. 3572, §411. Expanding Entrepreneurship.
180 SBA, 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 SBA, “Fiscal Year 2010 Congressional Budget Justification,” p. 1, at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/
aboutsbaarticle/Congressional_Budget_Justification_2010.pdf.
181 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.
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During the 116th Congress, congressional interest in the SBA’s management and training
programs has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s adverse economic impact on the
national economy. The general consensus is that the SBA’s 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, then-SBA administrator, stated during a press interview in 2010:
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.182
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 help retain
and create jobs. However, there are disagreements over how to achieve that goal.
Some advocate (1) increased 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; (2) requiring 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 (3) temporarily reducing or eliminating 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.
They advocate additional funding for SBDCs and less funding for other SBA resource partners.
They also would require the SBA to make more extensive use of outcome-based performance
measures to determine program effectiveness.

182 David Port, “But Where Is the Money?” Entrepreneur Magazine, August 2010, at http://www.entrepreneur.com/
magazine/entrepreneur/2010/august/207500.html.
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No case studies or empirical data are 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 communication, 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 nonfederal sources, and result in more
consistent and standard operating procedures throughout the country.183 Opponents argue 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.184

183 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,
2009), pp. 3-5, 15, 27-34.
184 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
Program
Federal Matching
Name
Authority
Brief Description
Number
Requirement
Small Business P.L. 96-302,
Provides management and 63 lead centers and
50% match from
Development
1980
technical assistance
nearly 900 local
nonfederal sources
Center Grant
training to small
centers
comprised of not less
Program
businesses through
than 50% cash and not
centers located in leading
more than 50% of indirect
universities, col eges, and
costs.
state economic
development agencies.
Women
P.L. 100-533,
Provides long-term
187
50% match from
Business
1988
training, counseling,
nonfederal sources; not
Center Grant
networking, and
more than one-half of the
Program
mentoring to women
nonfederal matching
entrepreneurs, especial y
assistance may be in the
those who are socially
form of in-kind
and economically
contributions, including
disadvantaged.
office equipment and
office space.
SCORE
Section 8(b)
Provides technical,
250+ chapters and
None
(Service
of the Small
managerial, and
800+ branch offices
Corps of
Business Act;
informational assistance
Retired
P.L. 89-754,
to small business
Executives)
1966
concerns through in-
person mentoring by
volunteer counselors who
are working or, in most
instances, retired business
owners.
7(j) Technical
Section 7(j) of
Provides management and 9 service providers
None
Assistance
the Small
technical assistance
in FY2019
Program
Business Act;
training to 8(a) certified
Section 8(a) of firms, small disadvantaged
the Small
businesses, businesses
Business Act;
operating in areas of high
P.L. 95-507,
unemployment or low-
1978
income and firms owned
by low-income individuals.
Microloan
P.L. 102-140,
Provides management and 144 actively lending
25% from nonfederal
Technical
1992
technical assistance
intermediaries
sources; no matching
Assistance
training to Microloan
requirement if the
Program
borrowers and, within
intermediary makes at
specified limits, to
least 50% of its loans in an
prospective Microloan
Economically Distressed
borrowers.
Area.
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Program
Federal Matching
Name
Authority
Brief Description
Number
Requirement
Native
Section 7(j) of
Provides management and 2 service providers
None
American
the Small
technical assistance
in FY2019
Outreach
Business Act;
training to American
Program
SBA
Indians, Alaska Natives,
regulations,
Native Hawaiians and
1994
“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
P.L. 106-102,
Provides assistance in the
30 service providers 50% from nonfederal
Technical
1999
form of grants to
in FY2020
sources; sources such as
Assistance
nonprofit microenterprise
fees, grants, gifts, income
Program
development
from loan sources, and in-
organizations or programs
kind resources from
that have a demonstrated
nonfederal public or
record of delivering
private sources may be
microenterprise services
used to comply with the
to disadvantaged
matching funds
entrepreneurs.
requirement
Veterans
P.L. 106-50,
The SBA’s Office of
22 Veterans
None
Business
1999
Veterans Business
Business Office
Development
Development mission is
Centers and other
Programs
to (1) expand the
providers
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.
Sources: Federal statutes cited in table.

Author Information

Robert Jay Dilger

Senior Specialist in American National Government

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Disclaimer
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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
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Congressional Research Service
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