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Advocacy Update: News from SBA Regarding SVOG

By Laurie Baskin posted 07-23-2021 20:30

  

UPDATED FAQS: The SBA has released updated FAQs, providing important revisions and corrections since the last set of FAQs were released in April. We encourage you to review the FAQs in full, and please note a new section describing the processes for Appeals (for denied applications), Reconsideration (for applicants who received less than requested), and the Supplemental Awards Process, pages 36-39.

Most importantly, eligibility for Supplemental Awards is, indeed, for those entities that suffered a 70% earned revenue decline in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2019. The Supplemental Award is 50% of the initial award, calculated on SVOG before PPP is deducted.

Changes to an SVOG grantee's approved budget have been relaxed. As long as the SVOG grantee follows the guidelines around allowable expenses, they will be able to move expenditures between categories without having to get pre-approval from the SBA. Final budgets will be submitted upon grant close-out (see new FAQs on page 26). 

STARTING NEXT WEEK: OFFICE HOURS: The SBA announced in our daily briefing this morning that it will begin "Office Hours" next week.

  • Office Hours will be held from 2:00-4:00 p.m. (EDT) daily as a "Teams Live Event". This moderated event will begin with demos of common issues in an effort to help applicants and awardees move forward in their process.

  • The event will also include time for Q&A, using questions submitted by applicants. The SBA will determine which questions are appropriate to share in a public setting. All other questions will be responded to and "actioned" by the SBA, so no question will go unanswered.

  • Monday's session will be devoted to Priority 1 active applicants (applicants who have not yet gotten an award or decline notification). Tuesday's session will be devoted to Priority 2 active applicants. Wednesday's session will be devoted to Priority 3 active applicants. Thursday and Friday will be open to all applicants.

  • If your application is still active, and you have not received a notice of award, you will receive an email shortly from the SBA outlining the details of Office Hours, as well as how to submit questions.

A TIMELINE FOR DECLINE APPEALS, AWARD RECONSIDERATIONS, AND SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING: In today's briefing, the SBA shared the timeline for these next phases. For each process, eligible applicants will receive an email from SBA.

  • Appeals for declined applications: Process will begin August 2 and run for two weeks.

  • Reconsiderations for applicants who received less than expected: Process will begin August 4 and run for two weeks.

  • Supplemental Funding: Process will begin the week of August 23.

The SBA also noted that it plans to close the portal to new applicants soon.

THE NUMBERS:

As of earlier today, 14,712 applications have been "decisioned" of which 11,712 applicants have been notified of their status.

  • Of the 14,712 "decisioned", 9,504 applicants have been notified of their awards, and 1,273 are queued for award notification. Those queued are primarily applicants who have a 4506-T issue, a budget adjustment request, a SAM.gov registration issue, a Notice of Award/documentation issue, or have just moved from technical correction to award.

  • Thus far, award notifications have obligated $7.2 billion of which $5.8 billion has been disbursed.

  • 2,208 applications have been declined, and 206 are queued for decline.

  • 1,521 have been sent requests for technical correction, and the technical corrections queue has been cleared.

  • In case you missed it, on Monday, the SBA released its latest program report. While many numbers have since been updated, it does provide more detail that may be of interest. The SBA also released the most recent awardee data.

If you have a question for the SBA, you can send it to SVOGrant@sba.gov.

 

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