SBA Information Notice

TO: All Employees

CONTROL NO.: 5000-1139

EFFECTIVE: 02-03-2010

SBA announces the re-release of the 2009.4 edition of the National 7(a) Authorization (which is the Boilerplate and Wizard). This edition of the Authorization was originally released on July 8, 2009. The re-released 2009.4 edition of the Authorization has been programmed so that it will function in Microsoft Office Word 2007 (12). As a result there will be two editions of the 2009.4 Authorization available to all users on the SBA website.

Since both editions will have the same 2009.4 identifier, SBA added the suffix W3 (for Word 2003) and W7 (for Word 2007) at the website location where the two editions are posted.

Please note that an authorization created with the W3 Wizard will not function properly in W7 (although it may open) and an authorization created with the W7 Wizard will not function properly in W3 (although it may open). As such it is incumbent upon the user to download the correct edition from the web site.

The 2009.4-W7 edition of the Authorization has the same terms, conditions, and processes as the 2009.4-W3 edition. As such the “What’s New” sections of both editions are the same.

The “About the ‘7a’ Wizard” section in the Boilerplate in both editions now has a more thorough explanation of compatibility with the different versions of Microsoft Office. The 2009.4-W7 edition will be available at www.sba.gov beginning on the effective date of this Notice.

The authorization webpage is: http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/elending/authorizations/bank_Aut....

Participants with Word 2007 capabilities can begin using the 2009.4-W7 edition as soon as it is posted. Since both editions have the same terms, conditions, and processes, the use of either edition is satisfactory to SBA. The decision to use either edition is based on the user’s capabilities to use either Microsoft Word version 2003 or Microsoft Word version 2007. Care should be taken to download the correct Wizard for your system.

Users who are currently using Word 2003 on their systems should not download the 2009.4-W7 edition.

Future changes to the Wizard and Boilerplate so the terms, conditions, and processes conform to the current SOPs will be made when the 2010 editions are issued.

Notification and Questions

SBA field offices are responsible for notifying the participants that this W7 edition of version 2009.4 of the National 7(a) Authorization Boilerplate and Wizard has been released.
Questions regarding the 7(a) Authorization should be submitted to the 7(a) Authorization e-mail box at Auth-7a@sba.gov.

_________________________________
Grady B. Hedgespeth, Director
Office of Financial Assistance
Expires: XXXX-2010