SMALL BUSINESS : HEARD ON THE BEAT: Small Business : SBA Draws Criticism for Lax Data Security

Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) has fired off another zinger to SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez, this time over the issue of information security at the Small Business Administration.

In a letter dated Sept. 20, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business expressed dismay over “numerous information-security deficiencies” turned up by a recent independent audit report of the SBA’s computer systems.

That report, prepared by certified public accountants Cotton & Co. for the inspector general’s office, revealed some weak spots in the systems that help SBA track everything from disaster loan applications to accounting functions. Those weaknesses included giving some personnel too much access to the systems and failing to properly monitor unauthorized computer activities, according to the audit.

While the report stopped short of speculating whether any harm has come from these deficiencies, Bond’s letter tartly observes that “the lack of an effective security program means that fraudulent activity such as loans to phantom companies or salary checks to phantom employees . . . are difficult, if not impossible, to detect.”

SBA spokesman Don Elder said the agency already had identified the trouble areas and was working to improve them before the Cotton & Co. audit.

“We certainly share Sen. Bond’s concerns about making sure our systems are operating efficiently and effectively,” Elder said. “We feel like we have been addressing it and will continue to address it. . . . The system isn’t broken. We’re just fine-tuning it.”

The letter is just the latest salvo aimed at the SBA by Bond, who has accused the agency of cutting funding for the popular SCORE program, failing to trim paperwork for its small-business clients and delaying implementation of the HUBZone program.

While some might chalk it up to petty political wrangling between a Republican-controlled committee and a Democrat-appointed agency head, the stakes are high for the SBA. Neither the House nor Senate appear willing to grant the SBA anything near the $994.5-million budget the agency has proposed for the next fiscal year.