Minority Business

Minority Business Development Agency Needs to Address Program Weaknesses Gao ID: RCED-91-114 April 16, 1991

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Minority Business Development Agency's (MBDA) grant program management, focusing on: (1) procedures and practices for attracting, selecting, and managing special projects; and (2) MBDA response to previously identified management deficiencies in its Business Development Center and special projects programs.

GAO found that MBDA: (1) lacked adequate procedures for attracting, selecting, and managing special projects; (2) did not publicize special project grant fund availability or ensure that the projects complied with grant selection criteria; (3) did not require grantees to clearly define project goals; (4) lacked routine and effective project monitoring; (5) based renewal decisions on insufficient information; (6) did not ensure that grants were audited regularly; (7) did not award any special projects in 1990 and was working on restructuring the program; (8) has been unresponsive to recommendations for correcting management deficiencies in its Center and special projects programs; and (9) grant funds and programs would remain vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse until MBDA effectively implemented actions to correct identified weaknesses.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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