SBA’s State Trade Expansion Program

This report presents the results of our verification inspection of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) corrective actions for the six recommendations from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit report SBA’s State Trade Expansion Program (Report 18-11).

We initiated this verification inspection to follow up on the six recommendations and determine whether SBA’s corrective actions are still in place and effective. Accordingly, our objective was to determine the effectiveness of SBA’s corrective actions for 1) establishing performance measurements using the recipients’ reported data, 2) developing policies and implementing a process to ensure recipients report accurate and complete information, 3) clearly defining essential measurement criteria, 4) requiring State Trade Expansion Program applicants to include reimbursement and activity thresholds in their proposals, 5) enhancing the quarterly review process, and 6) increasing oversight of cooperative agreement recipients.  

We determined that recommendations 1, 2, and 3 were fully implemented; however, SBA management only partially addressed recommendations 4, 5, and 6. We will track management’s execution by reopening these three recommendations and will work with SBA to establish a target date for implementing corrective actions through the audit follow-up process.

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (the Act) directed the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP). In FY 2023, STEP grant awards totaled $19.92 million.