The House Small Business Committee reviewed the Small Business Administration’s attempt to restructure the agency at a hearing last week, with experts citing several concerns about its execution of those changes.
Of particular concern among speakers is the SBA’s use of the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) Programs, which were created to help agencies restructure or downsize their workforce.
“The Office of Inspector General conducted an audit of SBA’s management of its VERA-VSIP program,” House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH) said. “In its audit released just a couple of weeks ago, the OIG determined that SBA failed to achieve any of its goals. It did not address workforce competency and agency skill gaps. It did not decrease the average age of the agency’s workforce. It did not address budgetary constraints to avoid a reduction in force. In fact, apparently, the agency was facing no real threat of a reduction in force.”
Chabot added that while the VERA and VSIP options were designed to help agencies restructure and reshape their workforces, SBA’s workforce was left almost completely unchanged.
“We found that while SBA made limited progress in restructuring and reshaping the workforce, it did not accomplish its stated goals of the VERA-VSIP program,” Hannibal Ware, acting inspector general of the United States Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General explained. “As a result, SBA paid $2.1 million for early retirements for positions that were not restructured following VERA-VSIP. Overall, SBA may have been more successful in achieving its goals had it properly managed the VERA-VSIP program by developing specific and measurable VERA-VSIP goals.”
Joseph Loddo, chief operating officer at the United States Small Business Administration said the SBA did not carry out the 2014 VERA-VSIP properly.
“We will document the lessons learned, including in the areas of planning, implementation, results and recommended improvements. We will include all stakeholders in the process,” Loddo said.