Audit Report 14-10: The SBA Did Not Follow Regulations and Guidance in the Acquisition of the OneTrack System

On February 12, 2014, the OIG issued Audit Report 14-10, The SBA Did Not Follow Regulations and Guidance in the Acquisition of the OneTrack System. The objective of the audit was to assess the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) compliance with Federal contracting regulations and guidance over Information Technology systems acquisition and project oversight. The OIG determined that the SBA did not follow federal regulations and guidance in its acquisition of the OneTrack system for use by the Business Development (BD), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone), and three new Mentor-Protégé Programs. As a result, the SBA did not receive a system with full capabilities as originally designed. The original OneTrack system should have been completed in a 12-month period at a total cost of around $1.17 million. Instead, the SBA modified the task order to receive a system with the same, limited functions as the existing system in use, the Business Development Management Information System (BDMIS). However, the SBA still did not have a tested and approved system—that included existing BDMIS capabilities—to put into production when the task order expired. To date, the SBA has increased the total cost of the system by approximately $734,000 and extended the performance of the acquisition by 14 months. The OIG made four recommendations, and the SBA agreed with each of the recommendations.