The problem areas include cumbersome communication links between headquarters and field units; complex, overlapping organizational relationships; confusion about the district offices’ primary customer; and a field structure not consistently matched with mission requirements. In response to our findings and additional challenges identified by OMB and the SBA Inspector General, SBA drafted a 5-Year Workforce Transformation Plan. Disagreement Regarding the District Office’s Primary Customer

We found disagreement within SBA over the primary customer of the district offices. According to SBA’s transformation plan, the mission of its districts will become one of marketing SBA’s continuum of services, focusing on the customer, and providing entrepreneurial development assistance. Eleven SBA staff positions and specific reporting relationships were also required by law. Organizational Alignment is Crucial to Maximizing Performance and Ensuring Accountability

Integrating personnel, programs, processes, and resources to support the most efficient and effective delivery of services—organizational alignment—is key to maximizing an agency’s performance and ensuring its accountability. Our work has shown that the major elements that underpin a successful transformation—and that SBA should consider employing—include strategic planning; strategic human capital management; senior leadership and accountability; alignment of activities, processes, and resources to support mission achievement; and internal and external collaboration. However, SBA has lost much of its direct connection with its small business owner clients.
What GAO Found

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has made organizational structure and service delivery changes during the past 10 years. However, ineffective lines of communication, confusion over the mission of district offices, complicated and overlapping organizational relationships, and a field structure not consistently matched with mission requirements all combine to impede SBA staff efforts to deliver services effectively. SBA's structural inefficiencies stem in part from realignment efforts during the mid-1990s that changed SBA's functions but left aspects of the previous structure intact, congressional influence over the location of field offices and centers, and legislative requirements such as specified reporting relationships. In response to GAO's findings and additional challenges identifies by the Office of Management and Budget and the SBA Inspector General, SBA recently announced a draft 5-year workforce transformation plan that discusses many of GAO's findings regarding the difficulties posed by its current structure. Organizational alignment is crucial if an agency is to maximize its performance and accountability. As SBA executes its workforce transformation plan, it should employ strategies common to successful transformation efforts both here and abroad. Successful efforts begin with instilling senior-level leadership, responsibility, and accountability for organizational results and transformation efforts. Organizations that have successful undertaken transformation efforts also typically use strategic planning and human capital management, alignment of activities, processes, and resources, and internal and external collaboration to underpin their efforts.