Small Business Administration's Implementation of Administrative Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvesment Act

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Congress required the Small Business Administration (SBA) to implement a total of eight administrative provisions to help facilitate small business lending and enhance liquidity in the secondary markets. These administrative provisions include (1) temporarily requiring SBA to reduce or eliminate certain fees on 7(a) and 504 loans; (2) temporarily increasing the maximum 7(a) guarantee from 85 percent to 90 percent; and (3) implementing provisions designed specifically to facilitate secondary markets, such as extending existing guarantees in the 504 program and making loans to systemically important brokerdealers that operate in the 7(a) secondary market. Further, ARRA established deadlines for SBA to issue regulations that implement certain administrative provisions, such as those pertaining to facilitating secondary market activities. Specifically, ARRA required SBA to issue regulations extending the guarantee related to the 504 program within 15 days after enactment (March 4, 2009) and for making loans to systemically important broker-dealers within 30 days after enactment (March 19, 2009). ARRA also mandates that we report within 60 days after the date of enactment, April 17, 2009, on SBA's initial efforts to comply with these provisions. In response, this report (1) summarizes key activities undertaken by the Administrator of SBA to implement the administrative provisions including establishment of project plans with timelines for fulfilling responsibilities, and (2) analyze whether the Administrator is accomplishing the purpose of increasing liquidity in the secondary markets for SBA loans. Because SBA's efforts are still in their early stages, we agreed with the staffs of the House and Senate Committees on Small Business to focus our work on four key administrative provisions for the purposes of this report. These four provisions are eliminating or reducing fees on 7(a) and 504 loans, extending the existing guarantee on 7(a) loans, and taking two specific steps to facilitate activities in the secondary markets: extending the guarantee on 504 financing and making loans to systemically important broker-dealers. However, consistent with ARRA's requirements, we are also providing information on the status of SBA's implementation of the other four administrative provisions.