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GAO-25-108048 1 (May 1, 2025)

handle is hein.gao/prtyopnrcmn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAOU.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States May 1, 2025 The Honorable Kelly Loeffler Administrator U.S. Small Business Administration 409 3rd St., SW Washington, DC 20416 Priority Open Recommendations: Small Business Administration Dear Administrator Loeffler: Congratulations on your appointment. The purpose of this letter is to call your personal attention to three areas based on GAO's past work and 17 open priority recommendations, which are enclosed.1 Additionally, there are 38 other GAO open recommendations that we will continue to work with your staff to address. We are highlighting the following areas that warrant your timely and focused attention. Specifically: Improving oversight and communication related to lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic response. From March 2020 through March 2022, the Small Business Administration (SBA) provided more than $1 trillion in loans and grants to small businesses through pandemic relief programs. SBA moved quickly and under challenging circumstances to develop and launch these programs. However, rapid implementation increased the risk of improper payments-that is, payments that should not have been made or were made in incorrect amounts, including those resulting from fraud. GAO added SBA's emergency loans for small businesses to its High-Risk List in 2021. Our prior work found potential weaknesses in SBA's communication with applicants and its oversight of pandemic relief programs, and our priority recommendations call for SBA to address these issues. For example, we recommended that SBA develop a comprehensive strategy for communicating with potential and actual program applicants during future disasters to help reduce applicant confusion. Subsequently, we recommended that SBA develop cross- program data analytics to better identify applicants attempting to defraud multiple programs and obtain external data to help verify applicant information and detect potential fraud. While SBA has taken steps to address these recommendations, fully implementing them could help the agency more strategically manage fraud risks in ongoing and future programs. 1GAO considers a recommendation to be a priority if, when implemented, it may significantly improve government operations-for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue. GAO-25-108048 Page 1

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