In addition, the five goals in the September plan—which are to (1) increase opportunities for small business success, (2) transform SBA into a 21st century, leading edge financial institution, (3) help businesses and families recover from disasters, (4) lead small business participation in welfare-to-work, and (5) serve as the voice of America’s small businesses—are, as a group, more clearly linked to SBA’s statutory mission than the goals in the March version of the plan. In general, the September plan does a better job of recognizing that SBA’s success in achieving certain goals and objectives in its plan is dependent on the actions of others. Performance measures are directly linked to 11 of the 14 performance objectives in the plan. SBA’s Strategic Plan Can Be Further Improved

While SBA’s September 30, 1997, strategic plan is an improvement over the March 1997 version that we reviewed, we believe that further revisions to the plan as SBA continues to implement the Results Act and build on current efforts would enable SBA’s plan to better meet the purposes of the Results Act. As noted earlier, while the five goals in the September plan are more clearly linked to SBA’s statutory mission, the relationship of one goal—leading small businesses’ participation in the welfare-to-work effort—to SBA’s mission is unclear. The Results Act requires that strategic plans include a schedule of future program evaluations. However, with the exception of the “interagency coordination” factor, the plan does not link these factors to particular goals or describe how each could affect achievement of the plan’s goals and objectives. The added section also discusses how SBA’s programs and activities interact with other federal agencies’ programs and activities. Unlike the March version that we reviewed, SBA’s September plan includes, as appendices, separate strategic plans for SBA’s Office of Inspector General (IG) and Office of Advocacy. Generally, the goals and objectives in the IG and Advocacy plans appear consistent with, and may contribute to the achievement of, the goals and objectives in SBA’s plan, but the relationship is not explicit.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the September 30, 1997 strategic plan developed by the Small Business Administration (SBA), pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) SBA's plan represents an improvement over its March 1997 version; (2) the plan contains the six elements required by the Results Act; (3) the strategic goals, as a group, are more clearly linked to SBA's mission and are more amenable to measurement; (4) the strategies and performance measures are more clearly linked to the objectives that they are intended to achieve and measure; (5) other improvements in the plan encompass a mission statement that now includes the disaster loan program for families and more accurately reflects SBA's statutory authorities and a better recognition that SBA's success in achieving certain goals and objectives in the plan is dependent on the actions of others; (6) an additional section discusses how SBA's programs and activities interact with those of other federal agencies; (7) the plan could be further improved to better meet the purposes of the Results Act; (8) the relationship of one of the plan's goals, leading small business participation in the welfare-to-work effort, to SBA's mission is unclear; (9) the plan does not discuss the human, capital, and other resources needed by SBA to carry out the strategies identified in the plan; (10) the plan does not include comprehensive schedules of future program evaluations for major SBA programs; (11) the plan does not consistently link identified external factors to the particular goal or goals they could affect or describe how how each factor could affect the achievement of the goal; (12) in a departure from its March version, SBA's plan includes as appendices separate strategic plans for SBA's Office of Inspector General and Office of Advocacy; and (13) the relationship between the goals and objectives in the plans included in the appendices and those in SBA's plan is not explicit.