SBA moving ahead with upgrades to certification system despite GOP protest

The Small Business Administration is moving forward with planned upgrades to its online certification portal, rejecting a call from two Republican committee leaders to delay the modernization project.

An SBA spokesperson said in a statement Friday that the agency “does not intend to pause a project that has been budgeted and planned for launch this year,” referring to technology upgrades for how users apply for and manage their federal contracting certifications. 

The agency’s commitment to stick with its Aug. 1 start date on the certification system overhaul comes after the top Republicans on the Senate and House Small Business committees — Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Rep. Roger Williams of Texas — sent a letter to SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman last week urging her to delay the upgrade until after the close of fiscal 2024.

While Ernst and Williams agreed with the SBA on the need to “improve this critical technology platform,” they argued in the letter that asking prospective small business owners to hold off on submitting applications during the digital upgrade period represented an “ill-conceived timeline” that showed a “lack of consideration” to applicants.

“Once again, the SBA is putting small businesses last and forcing them to navigate a bureaucratic mess,” Ernst and Williams said in a statement provided to FedScoop. “Shutting down the certification portal right before the end of the fiscal year, the busiest time for applications, without a clear timeframe for reopening is completely unacceptable and shows Biden’s agency is out of touch with hardworking Americans. Washington is pulling the plug and leaving small businesses in the dark without warning.”

Ernst and Williams also took issue with the timing of the pause in certification applications because “a large portion” of federal contracts are awarded in September and users could potentially miss out on “valuable contracting opportunities.” 

“Closing the certification portal during this critical juncture, especially as such upgrades do not appear to be time-sensitive or essential, displays a worrisome insensitivity to small businesses new to federal contracting,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Federal News Network first reported the letter from Ernst and Williams. 

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat who chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, said in an email to FedScoop that she “will continue to monitor SBA’s progress to ensure that any disruption to small businesses is minimal. Upgrading technology for small businesses seeking contracting certifications is urgent and essential.”

In a letter sent to Ernst and Williams on Friday, George Holman, the SBA’s associate administrator for congressional and legislative affairs, told the lawmakers that the agency is “taking proactive steps to minimize disruption for businesses.”

“Our team has planned for, and remains committed to managing, any potential impacts of the pause on the current year contracting cycle,” Holman wrote, “which is why this upgrade period is carefully scoped to pause only new incoming applications; active/pending applications as well as all certification updates and customer support services will not be impacted.”

Holman pointed to a 2022 project called VetCert as a model for what the agency is attempting to do with these upcoming certification upgrades. Holman said VetCert, a modernization effort that transitioned veteran-owned small business certifications from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the SBA, was “delivered on-time and on-budget” and with “ample communication” during a 10-week pause in new applications.

According to Holman, many small business owners have told agency representatives that the benefits of the new system — which will allow applicants to apply for multiple certifications at once — will outweigh any inconveniences associated with the pause.

“After waiting more than a decade for a unified certification platform, SBA believes that it does not make sense to force small businesses to continue to use an antiquated certification system that relies upon multiple platforms for an additional year,” Holman said, “nor to delay long planned modernization efforts that have already been budgeted for Fiscal Year 2024.”