New Jersey Small Business Development Center’s Compliance with Cooperative Agreement Requirements

The Office of Inspector General is issuing an inspection report to determine whether the New Jersey Small Business Development Center met financial, programmatic, and performance requirements. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is authorized to make grants to states, institutions of higher education, and Women’s Business Centers to establish Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs). Since 1978, Rutgers University has been a recipient and hosts the New Jersey SBDC to administer the program.

For program year (PY) 2023, SBA awarded the New Jersey SBDC $3,620,094 in federal funds and the center contributed $4,303,349 in matching funds, for a total budget of $7,923,443. The period of performance for PY 2023 is from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024.

We identified operational improvements to protect program integrity and performance, such as maintaining counselors certified to assist small businesses with exporting, publicizing operating hours, informing SBDC personnel of whistleblower protections, and improving coordination with SBA so the center’s progress towards performance goals can be accurately tracked and monitored.