Description
This abstract tell u.s. small business administration (sba) customer service plan.
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
Customer Service Plan
October 24, 2011
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
1
Executive Summary
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) acts as a guarantor of small business loans and provides
management and technical assistance and contracting opportunities to small businesses. The Agency also
provides disaster assistance through direct loans in communities that have undergone catastrophes with the
intention of rebuilding the devastated economy and community simultaneously.
Moreover, as the only federal government agency with “small business” in its name and our credibility with
entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the country, SBA is often turned to for advice and guidance
beyond our specific program areas. Recognition of this reality and adapting our service offerings as an agency
has been an essential component of improving customer service across our agency.
During the last fiscal year SBA backed loans went to over 60,000 small businesses. Tens of thousands of small
businesses received federal government contracts. And over 1 million small businesses were counseled by our
resource partners. Each of those businesses was directly impacted by an SBA program – but they are far from
the extent of our reach into the community of entrepreneurs across America.
Over the last 12 months approximately 9 million individuals have visited our agency web site.
In other words, every two and a half days more people visit www.SBA.gov than get an SBA backed loan in an
entire year!
As SBA’s senior leadership team has considered our reach and impact on small businesses, our priority has
always been on improving customer service. For example, turnaround times between receipt of an application
and decision on approval for direct loans made by our Office of Disaster Assistance consistently averages lower
than the 14-18 day goal established in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
That commitment to more quickly and efficiently delivering our programs to small businesses will continue
across the agency. When considering potential impact on signature customer service initiatives – it is clear from
the sheer volume of traffic to our web site that the greatest opportunities for improving customer service exist
online.
Therefore, SBA will focus primarily on a series of improvements to online tools and services in accordance with
the principles and objectives of the Customer Service initiative. Additional customer service enhancements are
informed by ongoing input from a wide range of stakeholder groups, including small business owners and
entrepreneurs of all stages of the business life cycle.
SIGNATURE INITIATIVE: SBA DIRECT 2.0
Overview: SBA Direct (www.sba.gov/direct) provides customized search results for users through three simple
questions – “where are you?”, “what are you looking for?” and “who are you?” These three simple questions
make it much simpler for users to find the answers and information they are looking for quickly. SBA Direct was
launched in December, 2010 as the cornerstone of the agency’s new web site and includes information about
everything from licenses and permits to financial assistance and even how to start and manage a business. The
next generation of SBA Direct will attract more users, provide more types of content to users, and allow greater
customization based on individual users.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
2
Timing:
• Throughout: Refine search results and taxonomy to continually improve search results
• Winter 2011: Make SBA Direct widgets available to third party web sites to introduce more users into
the SBA Direct environment
• Summer 2012: Integrate SBA Community content into SBA Direct search results – greatly broadening the
scope of answers and information available to users of SBA Direct.
SERVICE 1: SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM FINDER
Overview: During the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtables held earlier this calendar year, the most
common frustration among participating entrepreneurs and small businesses was about the need for new
program X or service Y through the Federal Government. Fortunately, in most cases, the Federal Government
had a program – similar or otherwise – in place, but the Federal Government does an unsatisfactory job in
making programs and services for small businesses easily accessible and understandable through normal
means. With the relaunch of SBA.gob site in Winter 2011 and related functionality in SBA Direct, the Small
Business Program Finder makes it easier to find the appropriate programs for a small business through basic
questions about the small business.
Key Customer Groups: Any entrepreneur or small business owner interested in learning more about Federal,
State, and Local programs available according to their interests.
Challenges: The major challenge to this initiative is the maintenance of the database of relevant Federal, State,
and Local program to keep its relevance and accuracy. Currently, the database focus is relatively narrow, and
will gradually broaden upon subsequent releases. The SBA will move to develop a regular update process to
maintain its accuracy and relevancy of the database. Realistically, the tool will be as current and accurate, as
its use will be by the small business community reporting errors and inaccuracies.
Featured Action: The SBA plans to unveil a first generation of the Small Business Program Finder by the end of
the November 2011. Subsequent releases will take place quickly thereafter. The SBA is also exploring the
opportunity to make the core tool extensible to related initiatives, such as BusinessUSA.
SERVICE 2: ONLINE TRACKING – SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTING PROGRAM CERTIFICATION
Overview: Applying for and being approved into SBA’s small business contracting certificationprograms – 8(a)
and HUBZone may seem an overwhelming task to a small business juggling multiple priorities. Establishing
online tracking of a small businesses application will improve customer satisfaction and free up valuable labor
hours by government employees to process applications.
Key Customer Groups: Disadvantaged small businesses seeking access to business development programs and
greater access to federal contracts.
Challenges: Establishing online tracking requires re-engineering current application review processes and poses
security risks due to the necessity of protecting PII.
Featured Action: SBA is in the process of developing a new system to improve the 8(a) and HUBZone application
process and plans to launch a test pilot of the online tracking system before the end of fiscal year 2012.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
3
SERVICE 3: SMALL BUSINESS “DATA LOCKER”
Overview: Distinct, separate Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) at each different federal
agency lead to frustration on the part of small businesses seeking to utilize services and programs across the
federal government. Agency CRMs do not talk to one another – resulting in business owners spending valuable
time repeating information to government officials. Establishing a “data locker” that allows federal agency
CRMs to “talk to each other” will minimize lost time for small businesses and the government alike – ensuring
the focus is on answering a business owners question or connecting them with the service they need rather than
filling out another form similar to the one they just completed for a different agency.
Key Customer Groups: Small businesses interested in beginning to export or expand their exporting operation –
a key audience segment that this initiative will target in phase.
Challenges: Current CRMs utilized by federal agencies are developed and maintained by distinct industry leaders
in the area of information technology – posing significant challenges to an integrated environment where the
CRMs can “communicate” and share information.
Featured Action: Before the end of calendar year 2011 SBA will host a workshop featuring senior leaders from
across the government to establish requirements and a work plan for completing the data locker.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
4
SIGNATURE INITIATIVE
SBA DIRECT 2.0
Overview: SBA Direct (www.sba.gov/direct) provides customized search results for users through three simple
questions – “where are you?”, “what are you looking for?” and “who are you?” These three simple questions
make it much simpler for users to find the answers and information they are looking for quickly. SBA Direct was
launched in December, 2010 as the cornerstone of the agency’s new web site and includes information about
everything from licenses and permits to financial assistance and even how to start and manage a business. The
next generation of SBA Direct will attract more users, provide more types of content to users, and allow greater
customization based on individual users.
Timing:
• Throughout: Refine search results and taxonomy to continually improve search results
• Winter 2011: Make SBA Direct widgets available to third party web sites to introduce more users into
the SBA Direct environment
• Summer 2012: Integrate SBA Community content into SBA Direct search results – greatly broadening the
scope of answers and information available to users of SBA Direct.
Additional Information
• While approximately 750,000 users visit www.SBA.gov each month – only approximately 10% of current
users utilize SBA Direct.
• Overall customer satisfaction with www.sba.gov measures 69 – but among users utilizing SBA Direct
satisfaction stands at 83.
• SBA Direct satisfaction underscores the ease of use and availability of relevant information for users,
emphasizing the importance of increasing use of this signature tool.
Continually refining and improving taxonomy and search results to ensure accurate, timely, and relevant
information for small businesses can be found is essential to maintaining and improving satisfaction with SBA
Direct. To that end, SBA Direct 2.0 will feature next generation taxonomy consistent with standards currently
being developed on a interagency basis. This consistency across federal agency web sites will allow agencies to
leverage SBA Direct and more efficiently share content across federal web sites – ensuring that there is “no
wrong door” small business owners can choose when turning to the federal government for assistance.
Development and distribution of SBA Direct widgets will increase the points of entry into the successful SBA
Direct environment. SBA intends to make these widgets available to federal government partners, as well as
third party, non-governmental web sites utilized by small business owners and entrepreneurs to encourage use
of SBA Direct.
The SBA Community, an online, user-focused community of over 25,000 individuals hosts a wealth of
information for small business owners outside the traditional focus on government programs prevalent on most
government agency web sites. Integrating SBA Community content into SBA Direct search results will greatly
expand the types of information available to small business owners and invite greater collaboration from users.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
5
SERVICE 1: SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM FINDER
Overview: During the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtables held earlier this calendar year, the most
common frustration among participating entrepreneurs and small businesses was about the need for new
program X or service Y through the Federal Government. Fortunately, in most cases, the Federal Government
had a program – similar or otherwise – in place, but the Federal Government does an unsatisfactory job in
making programs and services for small businesses easily accessible and understandable through normal means.
With the relaunch of SBA.gob site in Winter 2011 and related functionality in SBA Direct, the Small Business
Program Finder makes it easier to find the appropriate programs for a small business through basic questions
about the small business.
Key Customer Groups: Any entrepreneur or small business owner interested in learning more about Federal,
State, and Local programs available according to their interests.
Challenges: The major challenge to this initiative is the maintenance of the database of relevant Federal, State,
and Local program to keep its relevance and accuracy. Currently, the database focus is relatively narrow, and
will gradually broaden upon subsequent releases. The SBA will move to develop a regular update process to
maintain its accuracy and relevancy of the database. Realistically, the tool will be as current and accurate, as its
use will be by the small business community reporting errors and inaccuracies.
Featured Action: The SBA plans to unveil a first generation of the Small Business Program Finder by the end of
the November 2011. Subsequent releases will take place quickly thereafter. The SBA is also exploring the
opportunity to make the core tool extensible to related, intergovernmental initiatives.
Additional Information
The Small Business Program Finder is an interactive, online tool supported by a database of Federal, State and
Local programs that quickly narrows an individual small business owner or entrepreneur’s quest to find a
relevant federal program that could suit their needs. The questions asked of the small business include size,
ownership, location, industry sector, and interests. The tool lists the programs and provides them in a
downloadable format for further viewing and study, after the small business exits the tool.
Currently, version 1 includes over 400 loan and grant programs at the Federal, State, Local levels with the
Federal contracting certifications for small businesses. Version 2 will include other resources, such as education,
training, and technical assistances for small businesses. Version 3 will include search functionality relevant for
small businesses of other publicly available information, such as FedBizOpps.gov, Grants.gov,
FederalRegister.gov, and others. Advanced functionality will include the widgetization of the tool for use on
other government and private sites. Additionally, the base data will be made available through a commonly-
used web services API.
• The Small Business Program Finder represents an improvement of a currently available tool at SBA.gov –
the “Loans & Grants” tool.
• The datasets which currently power the above mentioned tools are featured datasets made available by
SBA through the Open Government initiative.
• The “Loans & Grants tool” currently receives approximately 70,000 page views per month.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
6
SERVICE 2: ONLINE TRACKING – SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTING PROGRAM CERTIFICATION
Overview: Applying for and being approved into SBA’s small business contracting certificationprograms – 8(a)
and HUBZone may seem an overwhelming task to a small business juggling multiple priorities. Establishing
online tracking of a small businesses application will improve customer satisfaction and free up valuable labor
hours by government employees to process applications.
Key Customer Groups: Disadvantaged small businesses seeking access to business development programs and
greater access to federal contracts.
Challenges: Establishing online tracking requires re-engineering current application review processes and poses
security risks due to the necessity of protecting PII.
Featured Action: SBA is in the process of developing a new system to improve the 8(a) and HUBZone application
process and plans to launch a test pilot of the online tracking system before the end of fiscal year 2012.
Additional Information
• SBA receives approximately 3,000 applications each year for the 8(a) business development program
and graduates an average of 500 firms from the 8(a) program each year.
• In the last fiscal year, 8(a) firms received just under $18.5 billion in federal contracts.
• SBA receives on average 3,550 applications each year for the HUBZone program.
• In the last fiscal year, HUBZone firms received just shy of $12 billion in federal contracts.
The 8(a) Business Development and HUBZone programs provide opportunities for small businesses to compete
for and win federal contracts. By law, 23% of all federal contract dollars are required to go to small businesses.
A record, nearly $100 billion were awarded to small businesses in FY 2010, which is 22.7 percent of government
contracting dollars. This increase marks the largest two-year increase in over a decade. For the second
consecutive year, federal prime contracting dollars to small businesses have increased after 3 years of decline.
SBA has made tremendous strides in re-engineering the certification process and cutting down the time
between receipt of a small businesses application and determination of eligibility for/acceptance into these
programs.
This decrease represents a significant customer service improvement on the part of our Office of Government
Contracting and Business Development. The next evolution in continuing to improve this process is to allow
business owners with applications pending to view the status of their application in a secure environment online
at www.sba.gov.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
7
SERVICE 3: SMALL BUSINESS “DATA LOCKER”
Overview: SBA seeks to increase the value of government interactions with small business by improving the
way information is entered, stored, shared and used. Currently, small businesses must create a distinct,
separate user profile at each different federal agency they encounter. In areas where many agencies are
involved, such as exporting, this leads to frustration on the part of small businesses seeking to utilize services
and programs across the federal government. Establishing a method that allows businesses to control their
profiles and enables federal agency systems to “talk to each other” will minimize lost time for small businesses
and the government alike – ensuring that pertinent information and services are delivered to business in a
timely way.
Key Customer Groups: Small businesses interested in beginning to export or expand their exporting operation –
a key audience segment that this initiative will target in phase.
Additional Information
• Multiple agencies play critical role in preparing small businesses to export their goods or services,
including, but not limited to: SBA, Department of Commerce, Exim Bank, Department of Agriculture, and
the Department of State.
• In 2009, President Obama called for a doubling of exports over the next 5 years. Central to reaching that
goal is supporting small business exports.
• Currently, small firms must “re-introduce” themselves to each agency that offers export assistance when
they initially contact an agency producing tens of thousands of duplicate records annually and wasting
valuable time of both the business owner and the federal employee.
The private sector has streamlined the customer service experience for small business owners. For example, if a
small business owner purchases electronic equipment from a retailer on one side of town, the purchase history,
warranty information and other relevant details can quickly be accessed by the same retailer in a different
location on the other side of town. Increasingly retailers, like Amazon, “push” information to their customers
based on previous interactions.
The federal government can, and should, be able to replicate that type of customer service experience for small
business owners. Doing so requires cooperation among agencies, allowing distinct agencies to talk to each other
and share information. The technical challenges to doing so are not complicated. The policy, organizational and
legal questions pose the greatest risk to the success of this effort.
In his 2010 State of the Union Address the President articulated his plan to double exports by 2014. The National
Export Initiative instructed federal agencies to work together to reach this goal. Building upon the collegial
working relationship of the trade agencies lead by the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, SBA is
currently planning a multi-day workshop to address existing challenges and agree to an achievable workplan.
Initial feedback from TPCC member agencies is positive, and SBA hopes to have the workplan in place next year.
doc_268393144.pdf
This abstract tell u.s. small business administration (sba) customer service plan.
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
Customer Service Plan
October 24, 2011
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
1
Executive Summary
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) acts as a guarantor of small business loans and provides
management and technical assistance and contracting opportunities to small businesses. The Agency also
provides disaster assistance through direct loans in communities that have undergone catastrophes with the
intention of rebuilding the devastated economy and community simultaneously.
Moreover, as the only federal government agency with “small business” in its name and our credibility with
entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the country, SBA is often turned to for advice and guidance
beyond our specific program areas. Recognition of this reality and adapting our service offerings as an agency
has been an essential component of improving customer service across our agency.
During the last fiscal year SBA backed loans went to over 60,000 small businesses. Tens of thousands of small
businesses received federal government contracts. And over 1 million small businesses were counseled by our
resource partners. Each of those businesses was directly impacted by an SBA program – but they are far from
the extent of our reach into the community of entrepreneurs across America.
Over the last 12 months approximately 9 million individuals have visited our agency web site.
In other words, every two and a half days more people visit www.SBA.gov than get an SBA backed loan in an
entire year!
As SBA’s senior leadership team has considered our reach and impact on small businesses, our priority has
always been on improving customer service. For example, turnaround times between receipt of an application
and decision on approval for direct loans made by our Office of Disaster Assistance consistently averages lower
than the 14-18 day goal established in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
That commitment to more quickly and efficiently delivering our programs to small businesses will continue
across the agency. When considering potential impact on signature customer service initiatives – it is clear from
the sheer volume of traffic to our web site that the greatest opportunities for improving customer service exist
online.
Therefore, SBA will focus primarily on a series of improvements to online tools and services in accordance with
the principles and objectives of the Customer Service initiative. Additional customer service enhancements are
informed by ongoing input from a wide range of stakeholder groups, including small business owners and
entrepreneurs of all stages of the business life cycle.
SIGNATURE INITIATIVE: SBA DIRECT 2.0
Overview: SBA Direct (www.sba.gov/direct) provides customized search results for users through three simple
questions – “where are you?”, “what are you looking for?” and “who are you?” These three simple questions
make it much simpler for users to find the answers and information they are looking for quickly. SBA Direct was
launched in December, 2010 as the cornerstone of the agency’s new web site and includes information about
everything from licenses and permits to financial assistance and even how to start and manage a business. The
next generation of SBA Direct will attract more users, provide more types of content to users, and allow greater
customization based on individual users.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
2
Timing:
• Throughout: Refine search results and taxonomy to continually improve search results
• Winter 2011: Make SBA Direct widgets available to third party web sites to introduce more users into
the SBA Direct environment
• Summer 2012: Integrate SBA Community content into SBA Direct search results – greatly broadening the
scope of answers and information available to users of SBA Direct.
SERVICE 1: SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM FINDER
Overview: During the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtables held earlier this calendar year, the most
common frustration among participating entrepreneurs and small businesses was about the need for new
program X or service Y through the Federal Government. Fortunately, in most cases, the Federal Government
had a program – similar or otherwise – in place, but the Federal Government does an unsatisfactory job in
making programs and services for small businesses easily accessible and understandable through normal
means. With the relaunch of SBA.gob site in Winter 2011 and related functionality in SBA Direct, the Small
Business Program Finder makes it easier to find the appropriate programs for a small business through basic
questions about the small business.
Key Customer Groups: Any entrepreneur or small business owner interested in learning more about Federal,
State, and Local programs available according to their interests.
Challenges: The major challenge to this initiative is the maintenance of the database of relevant Federal, State,
and Local program to keep its relevance and accuracy. Currently, the database focus is relatively narrow, and
will gradually broaden upon subsequent releases. The SBA will move to develop a regular update process to
maintain its accuracy and relevancy of the database. Realistically, the tool will be as current and accurate, as
its use will be by the small business community reporting errors and inaccuracies.
Featured Action: The SBA plans to unveil a first generation of the Small Business Program Finder by the end of
the November 2011. Subsequent releases will take place quickly thereafter. The SBA is also exploring the
opportunity to make the core tool extensible to related initiatives, such as BusinessUSA.
SERVICE 2: ONLINE TRACKING – SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTING PROGRAM CERTIFICATION
Overview: Applying for and being approved into SBA’s small business contracting certificationprograms – 8(a)
and HUBZone may seem an overwhelming task to a small business juggling multiple priorities. Establishing
online tracking of a small businesses application will improve customer satisfaction and free up valuable labor
hours by government employees to process applications.
Key Customer Groups: Disadvantaged small businesses seeking access to business development programs and
greater access to federal contracts.
Challenges: Establishing online tracking requires re-engineering current application review processes and poses
security risks due to the necessity of protecting PII.
Featured Action: SBA is in the process of developing a new system to improve the 8(a) and HUBZone application
process and plans to launch a test pilot of the online tracking system before the end of fiscal year 2012.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
3
SERVICE 3: SMALL BUSINESS “DATA LOCKER”
Overview: Distinct, separate Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) at each different federal
agency lead to frustration on the part of small businesses seeking to utilize services and programs across the
federal government. Agency CRMs do not talk to one another – resulting in business owners spending valuable
time repeating information to government officials. Establishing a “data locker” that allows federal agency
CRMs to “talk to each other” will minimize lost time for small businesses and the government alike – ensuring
the focus is on answering a business owners question or connecting them with the service they need rather than
filling out another form similar to the one they just completed for a different agency.
Key Customer Groups: Small businesses interested in beginning to export or expand their exporting operation –
a key audience segment that this initiative will target in phase.
Challenges: Current CRMs utilized by federal agencies are developed and maintained by distinct industry leaders
in the area of information technology – posing significant challenges to an integrated environment where the
CRMs can “communicate” and share information.
Featured Action: Before the end of calendar year 2011 SBA will host a workshop featuring senior leaders from
across the government to establish requirements and a work plan for completing the data locker.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
4
SIGNATURE INITIATIVE
SBA DIRECT 2.0
Overview: SBA Direct (www.sba.gov/direct) provides customized search results for users through three simple
questions – “where are you?”, “what are you looking for?” and “who are you?” These three simple questions
make it much simpler for users to find the answers and information they are looking for quickly. SBA Direct was
launched in December, 2010 as the cornerstone of the agency’s new web site and includes information about
everything from licenses and permits to financial assistance and even how to start and manage a business. The
next generation of SBA Direct will attract more users, provide more types of content to users, and allow greater
customization based on individual users.
Timing:
• Throughout: Refine search results and taxonomy to continually improve search results
• Winter 2011: Make SBA Direct widgets available to third party web sites to introduce more users into
the SBA Direct environment
• Summer 2012: Integrate SBA Community content into SBA Direct search results – greatly broadening the
scope of answers and information available to users of SBA Direct.
Additional Information
• While approximately 750,000 users visit www.SBA.gov each month – only approximately 10% of current
users utilize SBA Direct.
• Overall customer satisfaction with www.sba.gov measures 69 – but among users utilizing SBA Direct
satisfaction stands at 83.
• SBA Direct satisfaction underscores the ease of use and availability of relevant information for users,
emphasizing the importance of increasing use of this signature tool.
Continually refining and improving taxonomy and search results to ensure accurate, timely, and relevant
information for small businesses can be found is essential to maintaining and improving satisfaction with SBA
Direct. To that end, SBA Direct 2.0 will feature next generation taxonomy consistent with standards currently
being developed on a interagency basis. This consistency across federal agency web sites will allow agencies to
leverage SBA Direct and more efficiently share content across federal web sites – ensuring that there is “no
wrong door” small business owners can choose when turning to the federal government for assistance.
Development and distribution of SBA Direct widgets will increase the points of entry into the successful SBA
Direct environment. SBA intends to make these widgets available to federal government partners, as well as
third party, non-governmental web sites utilized by small business owners and entrepreneurs to encourage use
of SBA Direct.
The SBA Community, an online, user-focused community of over 25,000 individuals hosts a wealth of
information for small business owners outside the traditional focus on government programs prevalent on most
government agency web sites. Integrating SBA Community content into SBA Direct search results will greatly
expand the types of information available to small business owners and invite greater collaboration from users.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
5
SERVICE 1: SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM FINDER
Overview: During the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtables held earlier this calendar year, the most
common frustration among participating entrepreneurs and small businesses was about the need for new
program X or service Y through the Federal Government. Fortunately, in most cases, the Federal Government
had a program – similar or otherwise – in place, but the Federal Government does an unsatisfactory job in
making programs and services for small businesses easily accessible and understandable through normal means.
With the relaunch of SBA.gob site in Winter 2011 and related functionality in SBA Direct, the Small Business
Program Finder makes it easier to find the appropriate programs for a small business through basic questions
about the small business.
Key Customer Groups: Any entrepreneur or small business owner interested in learning more about Federal,
State, and Local programs available according to their interests.
Challenges: The major challenge to this initiative is the maintenance of the database of relevant Federal, State,
and Local program to keep its relevance and accuracy. Currently, the database focus is relatively narrow, and
will gradually broaden upon subsequent releases. The SBA will move to develop a regular update process to
maintain its accuracy and relevancy of the database. Realistically, the tool will be as current and accurate, as its
use will be by the small business community reporting errors and inaccuracies.
Featured Action: The SBA plans to unveil a first generation of the Small Business Program Finder by the end of
the November 2011. Subsequent releases will take place quickly thereafter. The SBA is also exploring the
opportunity to make the core tool extensible to related, intergovernmental initiatives.
Additional Information
The Small Business Program Finder is an interactive, online tool supported by a database of Federal, State and
Local programs that quickly narrows an individual small business owner or entrepreneur’s quest to find a
relevant federal program that could suit their needs. The questions asked of the small business include size,
ownership, location, industry sector, and interests. The tool lists the programs and provides them in a
downloadable format for further viewing and study, after the small business exits the tool.
Currently, version 1 includes over 400 loan and grant programs at the Federal, State, Local levels with the
Federal contracting certifications for small businesses. Version 2 will include other resources, such as education,
training, and technical assistances for small businesses. Version 3 will include search functionality relevant for
small businesses of other publicly available information, such as FedBizOpps.gov, Grants.gov,
FederalRegister.gov, and others. Advanced functionality will include the widgetization of the tool for use on
other government and private sites. Additionally, the base data will be made available through a commonly-
used web services API.
• The Small Business Program Finder represents an improvement of a currently available tool at SBA.gov –
the “Loans & Grants” tool.
• The datasets which currently power the above mentioned tools are featured datasets made available by
SBA through the Open Government initiative.
• The “Loans & Grants tool” currently receives approximately 70,000 page views per month.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
6
SERVICE 2: ONLINE TRACKING – SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTING PROGRAM CERTIFICATION
Overview: Applying for and being approved into SBA’s small business contracting certificationprograms – 8(a)
and HUBZone may seem an overwhelming task to a small business juggling multiple priorities. Establishing
online tracking of a small businesses application will improve customer satisfaction and free up valuable labor
hours by government employees to process applications.
Key Customer Groups: Disadvantaged small businesses seeking access to business development programs and
greater access to federal contracts.
Challenges: Establishing online tracking requires re-engineering current application review processes and poses
security risks due to the necessity of protecting PII.
Featured Action: SBA is in the process of developing a new system to improve the 8(a) and HUBZone application
process and plans to launch a test pilot of the online tracking system before the end of fiscal year 2012.
Additional Information
• SBA receives approximately 3,000 applications each year for the 8(a) business development program
and graduates an average of 500 firms from the 8(a) program each year.
• In the last fiscal year, 8(a) firms received just under $18.5 billion in federal contracts.
• SBA receives on average 3,550 applications each year for the HUBZone program.
• In the last fiscal year, HUBZone firms received just shy of $12 billion in federal contracts.
The 8(a) Business Development and HUBZone programs provide opportunities for small businesses to compete
for and win federal contracts. By law, 23% of all federal contract dollars are required to go to small businesses.
A record, nearly $100 billion were awarded to small businesses in FY 2010, which is 22.7 percent of government
contracting dollars. This increase marks the largest two-year increase in over a decade. For the second
consecutive year, federal prime contracting dollars to small businesses have increased after 3 years of decline.
SBA has made tremendous strides in re-engineering the certification process and cutting down the time
between receipt of a small businesses application and determination of eligibility for/acceptance into these
programs.
This decrease represents a significant customer service improvement on the part of our Office of Government
Contracting and Business Development. The next evolution in continuing to improve this process is to allow
business owners with applications pending to view the status of their application in a secure environment online
at www.sba.gov.
U.S. Small Business Administration Customer Service Plan – 2011
7
SERVICE 3: SMALL BUSINESS “DATA LOCKER”
Overview: SBA seeks to increase the value of government interactions with small business by improving the
way information is entered, stored, shared and used. Currently, small businesses must create a distinct,
separate user profile at each different federal agency they encounter. In areas where many agencies are
involved, such as exporting, this leads to frustration on the part of small businesses seeking to utilize services
and programs across the federal government. Establishing a method that allows businesses to control their
profiles and enables federal agency systems to “talk to each other” will minimize lost time for small businesses
and the government alike – ensuring that pertinent information and services are delivered to business in a
timely way.
Key Customer Groups: Small businesses interested in beginning to export or expand their exporting operation –
a key audience segment that this initiative will target in phase.
Additional Information
• Multiple agencies play critical role in preparing small businesses to export their goods or services,
including, but not limited to: SBA, Department of Commerce, Exim Bank, Department of Agriculture, and
the Department of State.
• In 2009, President Obama called for a doubling of exports over the next 5 years. Central to reaching that
goal is supporting small business exports.
• Currently, small firms must “re-introduce” themselves to each agency that offers export assistance when
they initially contact an agency producing tens of thousands of duplicate records annually and wasting
valuable time of both the business owner and the federal employee.
The private sector has streamlined the customer service experience for small business owners. For example, if a
small business owner purchases electronic equipment from a retailer on one side of town, the purchase history,
warranty information and other relevant details can quickly be accessed by the same retailer in a different
location on the other side of town. Increasingly retailers, like Amazon, “push” information to their customers
based on previous interactions.
The federal government can, and should, be able to replicate that type of customer service experience for small
business owners. Doing so requires cooperation among agencies, allowing distinct agencies to talk to each other
and share information. The technical challenges to doing so are not complicated. The policy, organizational and
legal questions pose the greatest risk to the success of this effort.
In his 2010 State of the Union Address the President articulated his plan to double exports by 2014. The National
Export Initiative instructed federal agencies to work together to reach this goal. Building upon the collegial
working relationship of the trade agencies lead by the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, SBA is
currently planning a multi-day workshop to address existing challenges and agree to an achievable workplan.
Initial feedback from TPCC member agencies is positive, and SBA hopes to have the workplan in place next year.
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