Ernst Calls for Accountability, Major Reform After Sweeping Contract Abuses Exposed at SBA

WASHINGTON - After a potential hundred-million-dollar fraudulent "pass-through" contracting scheme was exposed in a Small Business Administration (SBA) program, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is calling for major reforms to the 8(a) program that provides billions in funding to "socially and economically disadvantaged businesses."

In a pair of letters to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and the SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG), Ernst made clear that every fraudster must be held accountable. She called for a top-to-bottom review that was long-overdue after Joe Biden tripled the funding goals of the program, despite a history of abuse at the expense of taxpayers and deserving small businesses.

"It is obvious that the Biden administration's indifference toward meaningful oversight in the 8(a) program allowed swindlers and fraudsters to treat federal contracting programs like personal piggy banks. After years of complaints about fraud in the 8(a) program, I am glad the veil has been lifted. Small business contracting programs were never intended to function as welfare systems for favored classes or give no-bid contracts to do- nothing companies," wrote Ernst.

Click here to view the letter to Administrator Loeffler and here to view the letter to the SBA OIG.

Background:

In June, the Department of Justice found that the 8(a) program was used to facilitate a $550 million bribery scheme over several decades. Four men, including a government contracting officer at the United States Agency for International Development, pled guilty to the charges.

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