Improvements Needed in SBA’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Post-Award Review Process

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory to bring attention to concerns regarding the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) post-award review process to monitor Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) award recipients’ eligibility, award calculation, and use of funds. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program was established on December 27, 2020, as part of the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (Economic Aid Act).  The program was amended by the American Rescue Plan Act on March 11, 2021, which increased program funding and reduced SVOG assistance for some recipients who also received loans under the Paycheck Protection Program.  Collectively these laws provided the SVOG program with $16.25 billion to provide grants to eligible businesses that engage in venue operations.

Since the agency is currently conducting post-award reviews of SVOG awards, we believe management should take immediate action to apply a more robust risk-based approach in selecting awards to review for eligibility. Specifically, the agency has selected 155 awards for eligibility reviews; however, OIG has identified an additional 1,818 high-risk awards totaling $1.6 billion that warrant review. 

We also believe the agency should assess the post-award review process to ensure reviews are conducted timely. Program officials assigned 30 staff members to review 2,162 of the 13,011 SVOG awards in total. As of February 5, 2024, SBA completed 165 reviews since it began conducting post-award reviews in July 2022. At this pace, we estimate it will take 19 years, or until February 2043, to complete the remaining reviews. Therefore, program officials must prioritize the reviews to increase the opportunity to save taxpayer funds and improve the integrity of this vital pandemic relief program. SBA management partially agreed with two recommendations and disagreed with one recommendation.