A mounting wave of scrutiny has landed on one of Washington’s largest minority-business contracting programs, as Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa moved to halt funding across two dozen federal agencies while investigators probe what she calls “widespread abuse.”
According to Fox News, Ernst, who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, sent letters to 24 agencies urging an immediate pause on all awards linked to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program — an initiative meant to support “socially and economically disadvantaged” businesses through training, counseling, and access to exclusive federal contracts.
“Despite concerns with the 8(a) program, Joe Biden opened the floodgates to fraud,” Ernst said. “I have found evidence of alarming, potentially fraudulent 8(a) awards made across government that need to be investigated. The program must be halted at every agency while a thorough review is conducted to ensure taxpayers are not being ripped off by con artists.”
The senator argued that the program’s rapid expansion under the Biden administration — which raised the contracting goal from 5 percent to 15 percent of federal awards — has magnified long-standing weaknesses.
“The SBA’s 8(a) program is the largest set-aside program at the agency, which dished out $40+ billion in contract awards during fiscal year 2024 alone,” Ernst wrote. “Yet decades of GAO, SBA Inspector General, and DOJ probes expose the same rot.”
She accused the system of allowing firms to operate as “pass-through entities,” winning no-bid contracts with minimal oversight. According to Ernst, these loopholes undermine competition and erode confidence in federal procurement.
Recent criminal cases have fueled her concerns. In June, the Department of Justice arrested four individuals tied to a decade-long bribery scheme involving at least 14 contracts worth more than $550 million. All four pleaded guilty.
Ernst also highlighted a high-profile sting interview conducted in October, in which an 8(a) contractor allegedly admitted “to Violating Federal Law, Using Minority-Owned Status as a Front to Obtain $100M+ No-Bid Government Contracts While Outsourcing 80% of the Work.”
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler has already launched a sweeping audit, targeting high-value and limited-competition contracts awarded over the past 15 years. She later opened a separate investigation following the sting and demanded financial records from all 4,300 8(a) contractors.
“Evidence indicates that the 8(a) Program… has become a pass-through vehicle for rampant abuse — especially during the Biden Administration,” Loeffler said.Ernst echoed that sentiment, adding that the program’s flaws “have raised alarm bells for decades.” She called on agencies to stop contracting, review awards dating back to 2020, and report findings to her committee by Dec. 22.
