After several high-profile fraud schemes were exposed in the 8(a) program, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is asking all federal agencies to halt new 8(a) sole-source contract awards made through the program that provides billions in funding to “socially and economically disadvantaged businesses.”
In letters to the 22 federal agencies that are subject to the statutory “small disadvantaged business” goal which includes 8(a), Ernst details concerning awards that appear to be potentially fraudulent or made to ineligible firms and asks the agency to halt all future 8(a) sole-source awards pending a thorough review to ensure taxpayers are not being ripped off.
“While there’s no doubt that the Biden administration’s indifference toward 8(a) program integrity enabled swindlers and fraudsters to treat federal contracting programs like personal piggy banks, 8(a) program flaws have raised alarm bells for decades. The SBA’s 8(a) program is the largest set-aside program at the agency, which dished out $40+ billion in contract awards during fiscal year 2024 (FY 24) alone. Yet decades of Government Accountability Office (GAO), SBA’s Office of Inspector General, and DOJ probes expose the same rot,” wrote Ernst.
Click here to view the letters.
