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15 U.S. Code § 648. Small business development center program authorization
(a) Grants, contracts and cooperative agreements for establishment of small business development centers and for small business activities and purposes; role of Administration; non-Federal additional amount; amount of grant; eligibility
(1)
The Administration is authorized to make grants (including contracts and cooperative agreements) to any State government or any agency thereof, any regional entity, any State-chartered development, credit or finance corporation, any women’s business center operating pursuant to section 656 of this title, any public or private institution of higher education, including but not limited to any land-grant college or university, any college or school of business, engineering, commerce, or agriculture, community college or junior college, or to any entity formed by two or more of the above entities (herein referred to as “applicants”) to assist in establishing small business development centers and to any such body for: small business oriented employment or natural resources development programs; studies, research, and counseling concerning the managing, financing, and operation of small business enterprises; management and technical assistance regarding small business participation in international markets, export promotion and technology transfer; delivery or distribution of such services and information; providing access to business analysts who can refer small business concerns to available experts; and, to the extent practicable, providing assistance in furtherance of the Small Business Development Center Cyber Strategy developed under section 1841(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017: Provided, That after December 31, 1990, the Administration shall not make a grant to any applicant other than an institution of higher education or a women’s business center operating pursuant to section 656 of this title as a Small Business Development Center unless the applicant was receiving a grant (including a contract or cooperative agreement) on such date. The previous sentence shall not apply to an applicant that has its principal office located in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Administration shall require any applicant for a small business development center grant with performance commencing on or after January 1, 1992 to have its own budget and to primarily utilize institutions of higher education and women’s business centers operating pursuant to section 656 of this title to provide services to the small business community. The term of such grants shall be made on a calendar year basis or to coincide with the Federal fiscal year.
(2)Cooperation to provide international trade services.—
(A)Information and services.—
The small business development centers shall work in close cooperation with the Administration’s regional and local offices, the Department of Commerce, appropriate Federal, State and local agencies (including State trade agencies), and the small business community to serve as an active information dissemination and service delivery mechanism for existing trade promotion, trade finance, trade adjustment, trade remedy and trade data collection programs of particular utility for small businesses.
(B)Cooperation with state trade agencies and export assistance centers.—A small business development center that counsels a small business concern on issues relating to international trade shall—
(i)
consult with State trade agencies and Export Assistance Centers to provide appropriate services to the small business concern; and
(ii)
as necessary, refer the small business concern to a State trade agency or an Export Assistance Center for further counseling or assistance.
(C)Definition.—
In this paragraph, the term “Export Assistance Center” has the same meaning as in section 649 of this title.
(3) The Small Business Development Center Program shall be under the general management and oversight of the Administration for the delivery of programs and services to the small business community. Such programs and services shall be jointly developed, negotiated, and agreed upon, with full participation of both parties, pursuant to an executed cooperative agreement between the Small Business Development Center applicant and the Administration.
(A)
Small business development centers are authorized to form an association to pursue matters of common concern. If more than a majority of the small business development centers which are operating pursuant to agreements with the Administration are members of such an association, the Administration is authorized and directed to recognize the existence and activities of such an association and to consult with it and develop documents (i) announcing the annual scope of activities pursuant to this section, (ii) requesting proposals to deliver assistance as provided in this section and (iii) governing the general operations and administration of the Small Business Development Center Program, specifically including the development of regulations and a uniform negotiated cooperative agreement for use on an annual basis when entering into individual negotiated agreements with small business development centers.
(B)
Provisions governing audits, cost principles and administrative requirements for Federal grants, contracts and cooperative agreements which are included in uniform requirements of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars shall be incorporated by reference and shall not be set forth in summary or other form in regulations.
(C)
On an annual basis, the Small Business Development Center shall review and coordinate public and private partnerships and cosponsorships with the Administration for the purpose of more efficiently leveraging available resources on a National [1] and a State basis.
(4)Small business development center program level.—
(A)In general.—
The Administration shall require as a condition of any grant (or amendment or modification thereof) made to an applicant under this section, that a matching amount (excluding any fees collected from recipients of such assistance) equal to the amount of such grant be provided from sources other than the Federal Government, to be comprised of not less than 50 percent cash and not more than 50 percent of indirect costs and in-kind contributions.
(B)Restriction.—
The matching amount described in subparagraph (A) shall not include any indirect costs or in-kind contributions derived from any Federal program.
(C)Funding formula.—
(i)In general.—Subject to clause (iii), the amount of a formula grant received by a State under this subparagraph shall be equal to an amount determined in accordance with the following formula:
(I)
The annual amount made available under section 20(a) [2] for the Small Business Development Center Program, less any reductions made for expenses authorized by clause (v) of this subparagraph, shall be divided on a pro rata basis, based on the percentage of the population of each State, as compared to the population of the United States.
(II)
If the pro rata amount calculated under subclause (I) for any State is less than the minimum funding level under clause (iii), the Administration shall determine the aggregate amount necessary to achieve that minimum funding level for each such State.
(III)
The aggregate amount calculated under subclause (II) shall be deducted from the amount calculated under subclause (I) for States eligible to receive more than the minimum funding level. The deductions shall be made on a pro rata basis, based on the population of each such State, as compared to the total population of all such States.
(IV)
The aggregate amount deducted under subclause (III) shall be added to the grants of those States that are not eligible to receive more than the minimum funding level in order to achieve the minimum funding level for each such State, except that the eligible amount of a grant to any State shall not be reduced to an amount below the minimum funding level.
(ii)Grant determination.—
The amount of a grant that a State is eligible to apply for under this subparagraph shall be the amount determined under clause (i), subject to any modifications required under clause (iii), and shall be based on the amount available for the fiscal year in which performance of the grant commences, but not including amounts distributed in accordance with clause (iv). The amount of a grant received by a State under any provision of this subparagraph shall not exceed the amount of matching funds from sources other than the Federal Government, as required under subparagraph (A).
(iii)Minimum funding level.—The amount of the minimum funding level for each State shall be determined for each fiscal year based on the amount made available for that fiscal year to carry out this section, as follows:
(I)
If the amount made available is not less than $81,500,000 and not more than $90,000,000, the minimum funding level shall be $500,000.
(II)
If the amount made available is less than $81,500,000, the minimum funding level shall be the remainder of $500,000 minus a percentage of $500,000 equal to the percentage amount by which the amount made available is less than $81,500,000.
(III)
If the amount made available is more than $90,000,000, the minimum funding level shall be the sum of $500,000 plus a percentage of $500,000 equal to the percentage amount by which the amount made available exceeds $90,000,000.
(iv)Distributions.—Subject to clause (iii), if any State does not apply for, or use, its full funding eligibility for a fiscal year, the Administration shall distribute the remaining funds as follows:
(I)
If the grant to any State is less than the amount received by that State in fiscal year 2000, the Administration shall distribute such remaining funds, on a pro rata basis, based on the percentage of shortage of each such State, as compared to the total amount of such remaining funds available, to the extent necessary in order to increase the amount of the grant to the amount received by that State in fiscal year 2000, or until such funds are exhausted, whichever first occurs.
(II)
If any funds remain after the application of subclause (I), the remaining amount may be distributed as supplemental grants to any State, as the Administration determines, in its discretion, to be appropriate, after consultation with the association referred to in subsection (a)(3)(A).
(v)Use of amounts.—
(I)In general.—Of the amounts made available in any fiscal year to carry out this section—
(aa)
not more than $500,000 may be used by the Administration to pay expenses enumerated in subparagraphs (B) through (D) of section 20(a)(1); 2 and
(bb)
not more than $500,000 may be used by the Administration to pay the examination expenses enumerated in section 20(a)(1)(E).2
(II)Limitation.—
No funds described in subclause (I) may be used for examination expenses under section 20(a)(1)(E) 2 if the usage would reduce the amount of grants made available under clause (i)(I) of this subparagraph to less than $85,000,000 (after excluding any amounts provided in appropriations Acts, or accompanying report language, for specific institutions or for purposes other than the general small business development center program) or would further reduce the amount of such grants below such amount.
(vi)Exclusions.—
Grants provided to a State by the Administration or another Federal agency to carry out subsection (a)(6) or (c)(3)(G), or for supplemental grants set forth in clause (iv)(II) of this subparagraph, shall not be included in the calculation of maximum funding for a State under clause (ii) of this subparagraph.
(vii)Authorization of appropriations.—There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subparagraph—
(I)
$130,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and
(II)
$135,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
(viii)Limitation.—
From the funds appropriated pursuant to clause (vii), the Administration shall reserve not less than $1,000,000 in each fiscal year to develop portable assistance for startup and sustainability non-matching grant programs to be conducted by eligible small business development centers in communities that are economically challenged as a result of a business or government facility down sizing or closing, which has resulted in the loss of jobs or small business instability. A non-matching grant under this clause shall not exceed $100,000, and shall be used for small business development center personnel expenses and related small business programs and services.
(ix)State defined.—
In this subparagraph, the term “State” means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.