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Executive Summary

Since its inception in 1953, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has served to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small businesses.  While SBA is generally known for the financial support it provides to small businesses, it also plays a critical role in assisting the victims of natural and other disasters.  SBA provides disaster assistance through capital, counseling, and contracting services.  Its Disaster Loan Program helps homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes, and private nonprofits fund their recovery.  (As of March 2012, SBA has approved more than 1.9 million disaster loans for over $50 billion.)  Counseling by SBA and its resource partners helps small businesses navigate through the recovery process.  Federal contracting guidance and other SBA efforts bring business to impacted firms. 

SBA’s response to disasters has five guiding principles.  These principles allow the Agency to effectively execute surge plans involving the whole Agency.  They are as follows:

• SBA is prepared to respond.  SBA has an organizational infrastructure designed to respond swiftly and effectively to disaster activity.
• SBA is trained to respond. Training and coordination are the keys to preparedness.       
• SBA’s response at higher post-disaster demand levels requires a “One SBA” approach.  Employees across SBA organization have roles to play and are valuable assets to help SBA achieve the level of performance America requires and expects.
• SBA takes pride in quality assurance and customer service.  The Agency continuously strives to deliver the highest level of quality of service with available resources.  Customers will be provided with the necessary support and communication channels to minimize confusion and ensure a positive experience during their time of greatest need.
• SBA’s actions are coordinated with its government partners.  The Agency communicates with local, state, federal government agencies, and Congress to deliver timely assistance. 

SBA’s Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Plan (DPRP) supports the following outcomes:

• Processes coordinated with federal guidance and protocols for preparedness (e.g., the National Response Framework (NRF) and the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF)).
• A customer-focused, transparent, outcome-driven model of performance. 
• Timely decision-making and available resources (human capital, facilities, technology, and partnerships) throughout the Disaster Loan Making (DLM) process.
• Support of long-term economic recovery by providing access to capital, counseling, and contracting services for disaster victims to rebuild and withstand economic injury.

SBA’s Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Plan is applicable Agency-wide to ensure a broad scope of coordination, awareness, and support throughout the organization. The DPRP comprises the following key sections:

• Section 1, Introduction, gives a background on SBA and its role in supporting national preparedness. 
• Section 2, Preparedness and Risk, sets the stage for later process descriptions by outlining SBA’s roles and responsibilities under Presidential Policy Directive 8, National Preparedness, and the five preparedness frameworks: prevention, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation.  The section also assesses risks applicable to SBA’s preparedness efforts.
• Section 3, Mission, outlines SBA’s mission to maintain and strengthen the Nation’s economy by enabling the establishment and vitality of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters.  This includes discussion of pre-disaster protection mitigation efforts, continuity of operations planning and small business readiness, and post-disaster response and recovery elements of continuity planning, disaster loan making, and long-term recovery steps encompassing more than the restoration of a community’s physical structures.
• Section 4, Execution, describes how SBA conducts its disaster-related missions, in chronological sequence, beginning with warning and preparation for an event with notice (e.g., a hurricane).
  • Response includes
    • Initial continuity actions and
    • The disaster loan-making process, which includes:
      • Disaster declaration and notification;
      • Application intake;
      • Loss verification;
      • Loan processing; and
      • Closing and loan disbursement.
  • Discussion of recovery outlines SBA’s support to the NDRF in short-term, intermediate, and long-term timeframes.  As recovery develops, the Office of Disaster Assistance’s (ODA) Disaster Loan Making (DLM) operations are supplemented and supplanted by Government Contracting and Business Development, Field Operations, Entrepreneurial Development and resource partners, and Capital Access.
• Section 5, Coordination and Logistics, details processes and elements that support the execution of the DPRP:
  • The Disaster Oversight Council/Executive Management Team oversees direction and support of the disaster loan process during disasters and coordinates DLM and continuity of operations (COOP).
  • Surge Process: SBA categorizes disasters into levels based on the number of anticipated applications. This categorization enables SBA to determine an appropriate surge level for scaling resources (human capital, facilities, and information technology) and operations to meet the needs of disaster victims. Levels I and II are within ODA’s core capabilities; Levels III and IV necessitate an SBA-wide response.  The disaster categories are as follows:

                       SURGE LEVEL APPROXIMATE RANGE OF EXPECTED APPLICATIONS
                                   Level I  100,000 and below
                                   Level II  100,000 to 250,000
                                   Level III  250,000 to 500,000
                                   Level IV  500,000 and above

• Budgeting: Securing sufficient funding for SBA’s disaster lending is of strategic importance.
• Office Responsibilities:  The roles of ODA and its components, the Office of Disaster Planning, Management and Administration, Field Operations, and Entrepreneurial Development are all detailed, as is the support from other portions of SBA.
• The section concludes with a short discussion of COOP logistics.

• Section 6, Public Communications, sets forth the mechanisms for communicating with citizens, state and local officials, federal officials, the media, national business organizations, and other strategic partners during disasters.  Although the specific communication plan will vary for each disaster, SBA will apply the same principles for all levels of disaster. The two major objectives guiding the Communications Plan are clear:
  • SBA will inform citizens of SBA services and how to obtain them, and
  • SBA will coordinate operations with other recovery partners.