SBA orders 8(a) companies to turn over financial records

As part of an ongoing audit, the Small Business Administration has mandated that all companies participating in the 8(a) socioeconomic contracting program turn over their financial records by Jan. 5.

SBA said Friday that all 4,800 8(a) participants must provide three fiscal years’ worth of information including bank statements, financial statements, general ledgers, payroll registers, contracting and subcontracting agreements and employment records.

Companies that do not meet the deadline face the potential of being removed from the 8(a) program, plus what SBA calls “further investigative or remedial actions.”

In June, SBA announced the start of this audit to look at 15 years’ worth of contracts the agency characterized as “high-dollar and limited competition” following several guilty pleas over a bribery scheme at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

One company has already entered SBA’s microscope on that front. ATI Government Solutions and its majority owner, the Susanville Indian Rancheria tribe, are currently suspended from federal business activities pending an SBA investigation into allegations that the company and tribe defrauded the 8(a) program.

SBA put the suspension in place after a series of videos surfaced that purportedly depict ATI executives and employees talking about the company acting as a pass-through to other contractors.

“As our previously-announced government-wide audit continues, we’re committed to thoroughly reviewing every federal contract, contracting officer, and contractor – while working alongside federal law enforcement and other agencies to deliver accountability for taxpayers,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in the Friday release on the audit.