SBA’s Oversight of Restaurant Revitalization Fund Recipients

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Date Issued

Friday, September 29, 2023

Submitting OIG

Small Business Administration OIG

Other Participating OIGs

Small Business Administration OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Small Business Administration

Report Number

23-15

Report Description

We reviewed the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) oversight of Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) recipients. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 authorized SBA to administer the RRF and provided $28.6 billion to assist eligible small businesses adversely affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.We determined program officials developed a plan for monitoring RRF award recipients use of funds and recovering unused or improperly awarded funds. However, program implementation was not executed in accordance with the plan.We made six recommendations for SBA to develop processes and procedures to improve oversight of RRF program recipients and recover unused or improperly awarded funds.

Report Type

Audit

Special Projects

Pandemic

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

$3,528,709,751

Funds for Better Use

Open Recommendations

This report has 6 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
1	Yes	$0	$0
Follow-up with recipients who did not submit their final annual report as required by April 30, 2023, and take action to recover funds.
2	Yes	$0	$0
Review the 210 RRF award recipients currently marked in the PPP loan data as potentially fraudulent or ineligible that were not selected for post award review.
3	Yes	$0	$0
Extend the record retention period and notify all RRF award recipients in writing in accordance with 2 CFR 200.334.
4	Yes	$0	$0
Assess the post award review process and manpower requirements to ensure post award reviews are conducted in a prompt manner. Use the results of the assessment to improve processing times to ensure reviews are completed before the statute of limitations expire.
5	Yes	$0	$0
Take immediate administrative actions to recover improper payments from the 5 hotels and 18 recipients found to be ineligible, for a total of 23 ineligible award recipients identified totaling $39 million.
6	Yes	$0	$0
Establish and implement procedures to recover unused funds or recover funds paid to ineligible recipients and prioritize this effort.