examples of the decrease in readiness of our navy because they haven't had the money that you have needed for the at the structure investments that we have, so if you could give me three or four examples like the hangar that would be helpful. >> so, mr. corti just left, but i can give one. pure 15 at there, which is the one we have, we did our periodic inspection and found it was more deteriorated than we thought so we had to take that off-line. we have mitigations in place in case we had to do an emergency dry docking it will now go to electric boat and we will lease floating dry dock and we have to put a submarine floating drydock in there in an emergency. we went to get that thing back online as soon as possible for the next scheduled dry docking so we are fixing that, but we have taken those resources, other things we would have done fixed, a lesser importance to get that pier back, so we are

still meeting missions, but we are deferring maintenance on something else because that was an unexpected challenge that popped up and we realize it's a top priority challenge. i have got to get that trying to fix oh, i can get that floating drydock and that's what we are going after. that's an example. >> ma'am, in kings bay we have a dry dock and we have chillers and that drydock that are critical to the ability for the drydock to operate in the chillers have reached the end of their lifecycle you need to be upgraded and we didn't have the money to be able to update the chillers and do all of the controllers with it, so we replaced a chiller, but we were not able to replace the supporting controllers, so we are in a condition right now where we often have to operate those chillers manually as opposed to the way they were originally and ideally design, so that is one example.

another example that will drill down to some specific numbers as i have every naval aviator that goes through training goes to one of my installations, so a not-- a lot of training and one of my biggest customers is the chief of naval air training, so my airfields such as jacksonville, meridian, we are looking at everything from pavement indices, whether the pavement on the runways is appropriate, hangar facilities, just envelopes of buildings, so an example in pensacola, is that we have a hangar suppression system that is not operating. again, it is towards the end of its life cycle. it has had band-aid repairs to a. in the past four years we have had it dahm, suppress eight times, which is not ideal to have on an aircraft and causes problems to the war fighter directly, so that means we have to not use those portions of the

hangar and that correlates to 17% less available space for those training wings that are trying to operate out of those hangers, so that is an example that has numbers. >> i can give you another airfield example, so a naval station where the amc terminal is a bring their. that's a part of the apron that needs to be repaired and it has challenges. but, we can make it work because the sailors and airmen go out every morning and do a walk down of the apron for 35 to 45 minutes, 25 sailors and airmen to outdo that, so they go out and police it to make sure there is no foreign objects or debris on the apron and then we use the apron, but that is 45 minutes of an individual going on doing that instead of something outs, instead of training or whatever, repairs, maintenance, so we make it work, but it's a project that we would like-- we will

eventually get funded, but right now does not meet the priority, so it is impacting the sailors and airmen and lou, i know you have an example. >> thank you, for the question. we have a facility that the navy marine corps intelligence where information dominance sailors, information warfare specialists are training and in the last fiscal year 15, we have 57 calls that the fire department responded to and these were not fires, but various things like water leaks, orders, sensor faults, each time that causes out you have to have these students leave the building and it is disrupting their training. we mitigated that. that instructors and the sailors in the students eventually got their training done and they are executing very well in the fleet right now, but in the short term we are putting a band-aid on it with a couple hundred thousand dollars going to help supplier protection systems as well as others, but it's a 12 million-dollar unfunded project to really fix the

problem and not to the symptom and that's another example. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. we will now go to mr. gibson. >> think you, mr. chairman. thank you for your leadership and your families for their sacrifice. much of what i was interested in has been addressed, specifically with regard to base operations and quality of life. and the impact on retention of high quality sailors and marines, the press we can put a finer point on it. but me frame and i would be interested in your feedback. is there any specific data analysis, stress you have done well communicated in terms of impacts on retention? may be, a little bit more on systemic programs you have in terms of getting feedback, some of that has been addressed, but if there is anything more you want to mention in terms of how you with the feedback from your sailors and marines. with regard to specific programs

, we have heard today about how child development, single sailor and that was held will to get report and particularly thank you for being creative in your support of families. talked about the ymca membership. that is very helpful. i'm thinking in terms of-- one of the things i remember from the army is-- which in some ways we were gaining in some of the experiences that you guys deal with forever and that is the repetitive deployments and one ways that army address that is we have this program building strong and ready families where after a deployment a family would actually be funded to do an off-site and a family would go together and it would be a nice place either by the water or maybe in the mountains and there would be experts who would come in and help with the reintegration process and chaplains would had this program and they had counselors that came in and just a lot of insight and it was very helpful. then, similarly, we brought

forward a program that had life counselors that were brought on to help particularly the younger folks deal with the stress of everything going on, so i'm interested in perhaps some thoughts on that and then also finally schools, any impact in terms of any of that. really, and open ended question to pursue a lot of the great testimony you have already brockport on the quality of life , but a little finer point on how that is impacting retention. >> thank you. so, i'm going to the first two lou in a couple minutes to talk specifically how he works at the installation and he has a process in place to do that to get the feedback you asked for, but much like you described from the army, it's force master chief right back your the deck plates out about talking to sailors, talking to families. it's me out about talking and

it's all of us out about talking to our sailors and getting the feedback of how are things going, what are the challenges of a what you need. we have our fleet of family services, we do seminars at all of our squadrons and ships when they come back, reintegration, much like you have offsites. in our schools, we are a school liaison officer program that helps transitioning families from one location to another, getting them integrated into the school, the program is working superbly, from my perspective right now. what i'm giving you are in formal processes to get that feedback to understand what the pressures are for families, with the challenges and concerns are, so we go off and attack them and start up new programs. what i do as i would ask lou now to talk specifics is how he gets feedback on issues and challenges he has seen oceana. >> thank you for the question

and thank you for your service as well. on a higher level there is a senior level survey that goes out yearly and we received that feedback directly from a leadership, but as the admiral mention, my best feedback comes back from walking around and talking to sailors and families, which i like to do all the time. i would rather do that than e-mails. we also have other avenues, nwr and through the cdc and child of element centers and child youth programs. there's boards they are that the parents chair and provide feedback and i see those as well. there's a lot of different avenues, but specific quantifiable data point, i don't simply have for you, sir, but i know you asked about schools also and continue admirals that with our school liaison officer. at oceana, being at virginia beach we also had-- the schools are amazing, but through that we have a lot of times sailors and

their moms and dads have to work at 5:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m., so there is a program when they got their children off the installation at one of our buildings and then we have buses at nwr where we will bus the student to the city schools and vice versa and the relationship, you can put a number on that and it really is a great piece of mine for these families to know their kids are cared for before and after school and of course, while they are going to some wonderful institutions of learning in the cities. >> sir, i would like to brag about to programs in the southeast that again has talked to the taylor ability of being able to respond to a request, so we have started a pilot program where we have developed a curriculum so that people who want to learn about how to take care of ailing parents, so that's example of something that wasn't part of our normal

curriculum in the courses and counseling we provided, but we realized there was a real demand, so with that that together, rolled it out, piloted it and that's one example. another as we continue to work towards resiliency of our force and sexual assault and prevention. we started some self-defense courses that had not previously been something we had in our toolkits and now, we have added that. so, those are some examples and the closer we are to understanding the needs, then we have the ability to work within some of the controls merit have to be able to provide these resources, which are so valuable to our forces. >> i think all the witnesses for their testimony and one quick follow-up, chairman, if i may. i know this goes across jurisdictional or functional lines, but so, to confirm there has been no red flags as far as retention is concerned for the navy based on the stress on base operating support and quality of life racks you are not any feedback from the navy that is--

>> i am not personally aware of. >> that is good. great report. i yield back. >> inc. you, gibson. i went to draw the association between what you have laid out and installation support, infrastructure and readiness and you all have laid out a number of those different elements, but captain, want to go to you to get your perspective as a base commander. as you look at the things you have to deal with, you have decisions and directives coming down from corporate maybe saying here is the installation purport -- support, here's the infrastructure we want you to supply, so you get that direction obviously, you have to respond because this is the unexpected element of what is going on in your job is to provide mission support for training and operations there on the base, so you have to reconcile those two things. your job is to do those two

things while making sure you are generating readiness, so my question is this, as you are juggling all of this different pieces, give us as a specific example and you have given some i can a hanger didn't have some fire suppression in certain areas, but take the next step further. what does that mean as far as operational readiness? what is that mean as far as training missions? what happens in reduction of training missions? what happens in deployment schedules? what happens when all of the things that potentially stack up, so if you can take that to the next step in that is generating readiness and making sure to ask your error wings are coming in there to do workups to go for the carrier leave, give me an example of how that infrastructure, how the installation support, how that facility capability totally affects what you are having to generate every day. >> thank you for the question, sir and what helps is i was a

recipient of this customer service for the last 24 years and having operated oceana for the majority of my career both as a young pilot i reckon is that important to me sure that the runway is ready to go when we have it available and i want to thank you again and we have a special project currently underway, a 100 million-dollar project to replace the aging lighting system on our airfield, it's 1950 technology and when i first given to this position as executive officer of insulation, inc. the first night we had one of the electrical vaults went out, which meant half of the airfield went out as far as lighting and for eight days that needs 247, 3685 support that was very disconcerting, so this hundred million dollars is greatly needed and kind of an example of the process working. those requirements were articulated well before i got there and we finally had to funding, but to continue on with that discussion, at oceana we also have fleet replacement

squadron, the home of the east coast training for new pilots and for those weapon systems officers to become fleet aviators. they are held-- their structure and their throughput is crucial to feed the fleet squadron so they are fully manned with a are deployed and so we really cannot afford a whole lot of delays whether it's a lack of air traffic controllers or airfield lighting problems or hanger challenges when they can't get the mean it's done because the hanger is not equipped, so i work closely with the commodore. and the operational side and we speak everyday and we talk about our needs and challenges that he works up to his chain of command as i do and i think that works well and that we are constantly checking in making sure that the readiness is available and i will say that's at least since i have been hearing this position since 2014, the theater

roseville and now the truman, those squadrons are deployed ready, but as we described the airfield renovations are greatly needed. if those are delayed further i think there would be a great impact and the hanger situation as i described, i think it was a predictable funding for the hanger to get those repaired and i think that will go a long way. to ask her, i think we are very good at finding alternatives when we need to and we know that the war fighter can no longer do what they need to do, they can't produce the pilots they need to or they cannot train. we are also working hard to make sure the process by which we look at all of these projects are wrapped and stacked and that we are able to articulate from on installations perspective the direct correlation to the readiness as you have asked, so an example is at mayport we have

a wastewater treatment plant that is currently not meeting environmental criteria and we are operating under a consent order. the relationship we have with the florida department of-- our relationship with them is important, but it is also equally important that as i prepare these projects and pushed them up my chain of command that i'm able to articulate what will happen if we no longer are able to use that wastewater truman plan and what that will mean to the ships that are burst in mayport that they may have to go to a different port or that we may have to pay to move the waist, which now has high levels of metals in a because we increased the ship loading in mayport and be able to articulate that, so it is a unified front from the war fighter to the installation all the way up to articulate that readiness and it's easier to articulate in a specific projects then it is across the

entire enterprise. >> lets me expand upon that a little bit. as you look at your mission overall. ..

and then secondly, where do you see yourself in a 10 year window down the road in a scenario of either level funding from this point on, or back to sequestration levels because that also introduces a fair amount of risk and the reason i ask for static funding levels is we are trying to regain readiness. we have lost some of the last three years and to regain that obviously is a challenge but it also, the slope of the curve we have to ascend to get there is also steeper so give me your perspective within those scenarios about how you get back to full spectrum readiness. >> i suppose i'm not as optimistic as perhaps others that we will get to full spectrum readiness, so sequestration makes us -- takes us a step back. where we are today, is holding a little bit of improvement as was

articulated. to get to 100% funding still doesn't get us to full spectrum readiness because we have degraded so significantly over time. so it is hard for me to imagine how we get so far, as far as we need to to get full spectrum. >> our current funding if you continue that out we will continue to lose ground. and if we were to get to the funding level of 90%, that's only 90% of an already deteriorated infrastructure so to get back to 100% you have to shoot at the duck and we are not shooting at a duck. let me get this perspective from you too. not only are you having to look at recapitalization on existing assets, you are also faced with a mission sense.

you have a p8 comic you have an upcoming replacement. all of those new mission requirements also create new demands on infrastructure so how does that exacerbate your challenge and just trying to maintain status quo when those two mission sets are set upon that and the challenges that you have to face there with infrastructure and installation support? >> so a couple of things i'd like to talk to. first is the process and how we accommodate those new mission sets and how we understand what the requirements are. so we have a strategic process where when those new mission sets come out and we have, the navy is our operators and our forces decide where we want those assets to be too made our country's mission, we then go and look at those installations whether it be the skipper or one of the 69 ceos and say you are getting this asset whether the

people submarine our squadron or whatever it is. can you accept it with what you've got? do you have? do you have they run when the hang her capacity? do you have the child development centers in what are your wait lists in those different things? they come back and put that in the mission commander and it comes to us and we now know what the requirement is what are what we need to do. those gaps then generate requirements that oceana creates and passes through the regional commander and then that gets pushed up so we now know what we have. then we go down with the priorities. those are going to take priorities to make sure we meet those mission sets and windows command that gets to your question that pressurized its the discretionary funds we have, and so those are directed so those will get funded and that's a good thing because we need that capability but it does as you say indicate pressure rises

further on existing assets we have that are declining. >> so if you're placing that new mission set requirement there and you have to provide infrastructure installation support for that does it then push out other things that are on your recapitalization list is a well now we won't be able to do that because we have these additional requirements that we have to find resources for? >> yes sir doesn't match what's puts us in that reactive mode reacted to new orleans and. >> one last question, how were these new mission sets affecting the size of the things are the number of items they get pushed out because of that? >> and if you don't have it now take it for the record and get back to us but i think that's critically important for us to understand because that gives us some measure of the magnitude of the issues we are dealing with. >> sir i'm trying to define it

in my mind and i can't do it justice here. >> if he can do that because that's going to be extraordinarily important to make sure we quantify that because people have to understand the magnitude and the reason behind these hearings is to make sure we draw direct association between infrastructure, installations and support with operational readiness and restoring full spectrum readiness so we need to get a gauge on where the gaps are and then the path to get back to full spectrum readiness to few could provide that to to us that would be great. >> thank you mr. chairman and i said while smith or the other witnesses here could you please describe what level the dimensions are made between the training requirements of the unit and the ability of an installation to support those training requirements and how often are they reevaluated and as a follow-up, have you found the facilities and asked to be an effective system for tracking

maintenance needs? >> yes maam i will start off and then ask the two of them to add on. bottom line, those decisions are being discussed at all levels. the skipper talks to it with his lieutenants and general jackson does have her level and i do it at my level so we have talked about strategically laid down this personal process generate requirements, filled the condition index code that you talk about and it's accurate to track back closely so we know what the condition is of every one of our facilities and a priority list we talked about so when it comes time to figure out what we are going to fund we use a mission, and integration process at the regional level so mary will take all of her installation requirements and all of those projects have been prioritized and we have a ranking use based upon safety

based upon operational necessity in based upon conditions and that prioritizes it. she will in her reach and and prioritize it out, push it out to me and at the enterprise-level and i will take in all the other regions requirements and then, i sit down and she has already dennis at her level with the fleet and the region and i do it with the fleets. i sit down with fleet forces command, sit down to syscon and we look at how that prioritization came out to determine what we are going to fund. so doubling back to your original question we address that at all three levels and we use facilities index code are condition index very closely to do that so i would turn it over to you and asked lou at his installation level. >> i have been doing installation business for five years starting in on luck and for the last five years we have

gotten much more rigorous and understanding how we have to do articulate our requirements tied to readiness as we go forward and we do that as admiral smith said at all levels. our installation as a landlord talking to their tenets to be able to quantify that and i say that somewhat in jest because those become a competitive environment. every ceo is fighting for their project and they have to have it as clear and as concise and as tight as they can and move it up to me at my level and the process that admiral smith articulated through a regional mission integration group is very valuable. we have warfighter representation at the regional level. we have it at the i.t. level as well so it's not like we are doing it without them. another process that admiral smith has continued in his tenure as installations command to something called the warfare and a price flag officer climate in which he has regional commanders usually tied to their

warfare specialty finds the linkage with that warfare enterprise to for myself i'm i must surface worker officer so i support warfare enterprise and i have a regular drumbeat to talk globally, not just my region, about those projects and those things that are going on in cn i see that should be of interest to service worker at a price and vice versa. they talk to me about what they're concerned about so again we get that from the front in that war. warfare enterprise exist for strategic programs to which i also have. naval aviation information dominant and undersea enterprise , so that is another means, it's another layer by which we are able to make sure we understand the requirements. >> captain? >> thanks for the question and is a mentioned before i was the recipient of customer service many menus and now i'm a

provider fat and around my installation when i talk about it i talk about providing great customer relationships not just surface and communicating with the warfare commanders in leadership whether it's the commodore of the air wing. if they had a bad day and even irrespective of facilities it was a it was a bad weather day amid the flood of the weekend i am aware of that day. a mentioned example about the intelligence school which was having a lot of fire alarm goes off and how that was affecting the training. i put that in my calculus when the regional mission integration group meets. i bring those topics up and i can speak eloquently because i've spoken to those folks and their leadership is also in that position process. so through that i think i'm culpable that the requirements that are tenants are looking to achieve our articulated on our side so we can provide facility necessary prioritizing as such.

>> so i'm gathering that the systems are working. i have another question quickly. this is to rear admiral jackson or perhaps the captain. earlier you gave an example of hangar maintenance and how the lack of predictable funding can impact the facility maintenance plan. can you provide similar examples on the base operating support program and specifically how repeated reliance on continuing resolutions, late appropriation and the lack of editable funding and impact -- has impacted base operating support? >> i can start maam, thank you. when someone from my family for example we talk about going to war and doing combat missions. the think about the aircraft and going to fly but there's a lot more to it. when you mention base operating

support to the sailors have a room to go back to that's comfortable and heated with hot water? do you they have a galley that's ready and do they have a family support center providing services to it's not just the runway. so the full spectrum of support affects readiness and as we have spoken and admirals have articulated we are taking risks. the mission is to bing but i do think if it's not properly funded in years out i think the risks are going to get greater. >> and in a timely manner. rear admiral. >> maam, we started decreasing because of continuing rest -- resolutions cluster the areas were in ground support, t.r. transportation vehicles and also utilities. and so our customers feel the affects of that and more than just cosmetic grade to give an

example and grounds maintenance. the higher grasp may mean the increased pest control and naming greater risk and the program for aviators that are flying. for t.r. it may mean they have less ability to get vehicles to move things around that they need to do and so that is where we have felt it in terms of -- and as we have been able now to increase those, and operating levels and articulate that back to our customers that is good. >> thanks. fisa admiral. >> yes maam, so the cr, it just makes the process harder. it creates certainty for our workforce. we can't execute projects. we can't do design through the cr so now you are doing things you are rewarding contracts on

top of each other and we can't spread work -- our workload over the years so we are doing it nine months or six years requirement and that increased work load, increased stress so it just makes the job harder. we still get it done but it just makes it harder. >> every time you have to change a contract that takes time. it's not free so as you decrease operating levels it's not like he can stop cutting the grass. you have to go in and contract and that's people and that's time so that has a drain as well. >> thank you very much and i yield back mr. chairman. >> think you miss bordallo. i want to thank her witnesses. thank you for joining us and thanks for your response is today. we asked the provide written responses that we have asked for and we will be using them as we put together this year's national defense authorization act which by the way will take place earlier this year by a three-week window so we will

push things to the left and hopefully get our jobs on mark rich and so we can get the appropriations part of the steinmark wrigley too. again thanks for your service and thanks for your perspective today. this is very helpful to us and we will continue the conversation. our subcommittee hearing is adjourned.

>> i'm working on my state of the union address. it's my last one and as i'm writing a keep taking about the road we have traveled together these past seven years. that's what makes america great our capacity to change for the better. our ability to come together as one american family and pull ourselves closer to the america we believe in. it's hard to see sometimes in the day-to-day of washington but it is who we are and that is what i want to focus on in this state of the union address.

>> next the house small business committee holds a hearing on efforts of the small business administration to address concerns of the government accountability office greater recent report by the gao cited numerous difficulties in management at the agency and made several recommendations for changes including those to improve cybersecurity and ways to help small businesses affected by natural disasters. this is almost two hours. >> i think everyone here wants the same thing and that's to

serve america's small businesses the best we can. those of us up here on the dais have i think an advantage our constituents let us know how we are doing all the time in an ongoing basis. as the head of an agency i sometimes worry that too often you mostly hear from your own folks in other washington bureaucrats. that's the only explanation for why the 69 gao identified concerns and problems haven't been addressed. yesterday wasn't the first time these issues have been raised. yesterday we heard some pretty serious concerns both by members of this committee and from our gao witness who testified here yesterday about the management of the sba. administrator contreras-sweet since you weren't with us yesterday i will recap those briefly with you although i'm sure your staff has probably are they given you a rundown.

i told the gao witness yesterday that this kind of reminds me of being a parent. if your teenager's room is a mess and they have stuff thrown all over the place, let's say there are 70 items shown on the floor, 69 to be exact it may only pick up seven those items you don't look at the 62 remaining on the floor and raised their allowance for having made some progress. the ongoing problems at the sba as gao identified span the entire breadth of the agency from information technology and security to staff management issues from disaster response to fraud in your lending and contracting programs. it's a safe bet the small businesses in our districts on both sides of the aisle are paying the price for your agency's failures. what we have here is a failure of confidence in the sba and unfortunately for good reason.

before this hearing is over i hope to hear commitment from you to resolve as many of these problems as possible by june 30 this year. to appreciate how accessible you been to members of this committee and a requester office to start providing monthly updates to our staff documenting your progress. if i were you i would start with these i.t. and cybersecurity deficiencies. that is what worries me the most and i will tell you why. we have seen the irs hit, the state department opm and even the white house packed. small businesses trust the sba, your agency with their information. oftentimes very sensitive information that they don't want to rival business or their business or the chinese government they have access to. yesterday gao told us this information is not adequately secured and i cannot continue. i want to make this simple.

we are not asking you to defend the sba. we are asking you to do your best to fix fix it fix it and iw yield to the ranking member for her opening statement. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you for holding this important hearing. the only agency in the federal government is typically charged with helping small businesses grow the small business administration is critical to our nation's overall economic health. all the functions are to strengthen and preserve the entrepreneurial foundation of our economy. for small businesses to fully reap the benefits from sba's program is important for the agency to operate efficiently and effectively investing taxpayers dollars wisely. as such one of the most important roles of these communities conducting vigorous oversight of the sba and its activities so we know the agency serving the small business as well while spending taxpayers

dollars wisely. .. there needs to be more attention, not just to check the box, but truly improve the agency. with that said, i understand the changes in political leadership create real difficulties for management. that is not an excuse, but

rather a reality of the sda function. so, here you are in the hot seat. you would thar-- you are the administrator and you will be asked to respond for 64 recommendations that have been made, not only under your leadership, but for previous administration and i feel optimistic of your commitment to tackle those issues and we are here to discuss with you how do you intend to execute those recommendations by gal. first and foremost, the agency complex organizational structure may be impeding its ability to perform its mission effectively. yesterday, it was raised time

and time again the sba or per-- corporation resulting in an inefficiency and duplication. there also continues to be significant information technology problems as well. the agency has yet to implement more than their american-- recommendations made by the office of inspector general related to it security and this raises concerns about whether sba data and systems are potential vulnerable to breaches the sba standard operating procedure also needs updating. by the agency's own admission, 74 of the provisions require revision and a 31 should be counseled while another nine still need to be issued. just-- yet, we have not heard a timeframe as to when all of this will be accomplishment and it is my hope that today the administrator can clarify where the agency stands on these procedural notices.

these are just some of the long-standing issues raised in gao analyses where there is always room for improvement, i was heartened to hear the sba has accepted most of the gao recommendations and i look forward to learning how the administrator is instituting change. i recognize that a political appointee, she is in the difficult position of often having to answer for the work of her predecessors as well as the career officials that often drives many key agency decisions and without it would like to think the administrator for being here. i know your schedule is busy, so as always we appreciate your persistent patient-- precipitation. >> if committee members have opening statement i asked that they be submitted for the record and a brief explanation of our time rules out here, which i know you are familiar with and

we basically operate under the five-minute rule. you will be given five minutes to testify and if you need more we will give you a little witness. we are not asking that you limited to less than five minutes. we will go back and forth between the public and the democrats and we on the flu are and so i'm not going to get a long explanation of his administrator is, but she's the 24th administrator of the us small business administration. we welcome you here this morning and you're recognized for five minutes or perhaps a bit longer if you need it, thank you. >> lets me just thank you and ranking member velasquez and all of the members of the committee for engaging in the work and giving me this opportunity to testify before you today. it's nice to see you. i would like to open quickly with the review of the skull

your 2015. it was one of the most successful years in our agencies history. sba reached historic levels for small business lending under our flagship 781 guarantee program extending a whopping 23-point $5 billion in growth approval and misrepresents a 22% increase in the number of loan approvals to prior last year. a 23% increase in the dollar value compared to 2014. these games matter because sba data shows that conventional small business lending has only returned to 84% of pre-recessionary levels. filling those gaps in the marketplace is the purpose for which sba was created and we make notable progress increasing loans to businesses with the greatest difficulty accessing

capital, which is important emphasis. the dollar value loan was up euro in your 22% to women, 23% to minorities and 103% to veterans. our number of loan approvals was up by 29%, again come i just said that in these successes would not have been possible if not for the swift work of your committee. due to our record-breaking-- breaking your sba we have evidence are statutory lending limits this august, 60 days before the end of our fiscal year end at the urging of our stakeholders, in less than a week, i want to repeat that, in less than a week you passed a $4.5 billion increase in error 78 lending authority and ushered its passage onto the house floor. or leadership allowed people across the country to continue to access the capital they need to start repair and grow their businesses. sba also shattered our record for small businesses investment under our sbic program and grew

our portfolio by 10% to a record $25 billion. in fy 16, the seven a, five oh port and sbic program share an important common thread and i know you will appreciate this, all of these programs are expected to operate at zero subsidy the cisco year. thanks to this committee for working across the aisle to include a bill, the permanent reinstatement of 504 and an increase in sbic family a fundamental and both of these policy changes will inject much-needed capital into our small business ecosystem. another priority for the sba federal contracting. the us government awarded an all-time high of 24.99%, well over our mandated congressional

mandate of 23% of government contracts to small businesses, supporting about 550,000 american jobs. we reached historic levels for small disadvantaged businesses and firms owned by women and veterans. to summarize, sba achieved a record year of small business lending, a record year in investment and a record year in contracting with no tax or subsidy needed to maintain this momentum. this is the context in which our hearing takes place today. let me take this opportunity to recognize the government accountable the office to help confirm the areas of concern and offering suggestions to address them and for my first days in office i have prioritized the need to monetize sba operation enterprisewide to respond to technological him a demographic changes that are transforming our small business economy and to that end i agree with many of the recommendations and

appreciate the opportunity to address them to fully bring, mr. chairman, the sba into the 21st century. my corporate, government and community banking experiences will be brought to bear to make sure that you feel comfortable and the american people feel confident in our system whether it be the enterprise risk management board that i have established and all of the other systems i have put in place. with implemented a number of mitigation members i will get into met-- later, but my background starting three businesses also impressed upon me the importance of optimizing roi, return on investment when putting precious taxpayer dollars to use. we had to take every measure to use those dollars wisely, based on the best available data. in july of 2014, i established an impact evaluation working group charged with initiating and refining programming annihilation for entrepreneurial dimona programs.

i held numerous meetings with key partners, and so on stressing the importance of collecting meaningful metrics and we are currently performing in-depth program evaluation across agency. this includes the most comp rents and assessment of the sbic program in our history in collaboration with, yes, i want to make sure you have competence so we went to the library of congress to do this work. our report is due out this spring and we've also made significant strides in addressing information challenges included in the gao report. we are well underway of a major upgrade of our it system. it starts with a conference of network infrastructure modernization to give our systems greater capacity, transparency and reliability. we are in the final stages now of moving our entire e-mail system into the cloud for more security and reliability and capacity.

we are investing in mobile technology, recognizing our sba staff must go beyond the walls of the federal offices and go to consumers and small businesses where they are. we also launched project to modernize our lending and contracting systems to reengineer our disaster credit management system, something i care deeply about. this entire modernization agenda complements our work to update our lending platform, our facing credit sba i bringing advances such as automation, digital signatures-- yes, i said he signatures and online matchmaking to the punch viewers that we serve. these are time-saving and cons saving enhancements that have encouraged community bankers to come back to sba in many instances or expand their lending. we have taken important steps on our human capital management effort, and i am proud work alongside the thousands of

hard-working dedicated public servants at sba and our resource partners and i'm committed to ensuring the agency has the talent, required to effectively service america's entrepreneurs and we are curly crafting a conference of work plan that will include a skill gap assessment and a gap closure plan. we had taken steps to address the sba's aging workforce not just you need to sba, but across the federal government challenge and as the launch of the program i understood that we wanted to offer employees an opportunity to make decisions to create opening so we could begin to fill those competency gaps. sba is organizing our presidential management fellow program to increase-- increase our impact and we are working with our veterans, attracting more peace corps to our program and i know you will love this, we installed the first-ever key learning officer at sba.

i have been on the job for 20 months and i am proud of the progress at this time, but the truth is that i could not done this without your commitments and i am grateful for your support and as a result of your leadership and the daily efforts of our dedicated staff i inherited an agency highly leveraged, operating it effectively and focused on advancing and fulfilling our statutory mission. again, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, the eating and i think the record of our historic achievement. >> guest: that. there is always room to improve and that is what we are here to talk about today and so yes, i am committed to working with you to improve the services and give small businesses the agency that they deserve and that taxpayers expect. thank you. >> inc. you very much and i will yield to myself. madame administrator, as i mentioned in my opening statement, the gao witnessed-- witness testified that sba it security and it security believes that the sensitive information of small businesses

and their owners vulnerable to hackers, theft, fraud and get the sba has failed to implement more than 30, more than 30 of the office of inspector general recommendations rail-- related to it security, leaving small businesses and individuals exposed. what is being done to address those problems and when will it be completed? >> i think that is a fair question, chairman. i think technology drives increasingly more and more relies, you know, from our mike went to our smoke funds so it has to be an essential part of our strategy at sd-- sba and as example to show you the progress i've made since i arrived and i was here, the last time i was here you asked me about the loan management accounting system. that is the main body with which we interact with our lending partners, unimportant function and purpose and it had been there for a while working its way through and i committed to you that i would get that done and we did.

that is to say that we are now off the mainframe and that we haven't inter- operable, a compatible system with today's technology where we can unplug in place systems is a wonderful achievement that even many fortune companies don't achieve and many in government. i am proud to sba has already achieved .-dot. >> let me ask you this then in my time is limited as i'm sure you know. your commitment to resolving the outstanding gao recommendations by june 30, and having our staff briefed on that progress on a monthly basis. do i have that commitment? >> i commit to you to reporting to you on a regular basis and we will work with godspeed to make your deadline. >> we are shooting for the 30th. there are 30 things, so let's get it done-- >> mr. chairman, i was able to touch the pope while i was here and i'm hoping it infused me-- >> you got closer than i did, then. when the gal-- gao interviewed

your district personnel, your folks insisted on having a lawyer present. now, when this came up yesterday, when the gao was here , trent kelly, a member of this committee who happens to be a former prosecutor and a district attorney himself made, i think, unimportant opt serve asian and he said in his experience that when people bowyer up as your folks did it often means they have something to hide. who made the decision to have a lawyer present x the need to do that when the gao, on arm of congress was just performing its duty at the request of this body and at the request of a former chairman and the ranking member, so this was a bipartisan request. >> you know, i again think that is a fair comment. i do not know that was happening. i wasn't briefed and i don't know. honestly, that's one thing i want to say end of the second thing is that if you have ever met our district staff, nothing

intimidates these people. i meet with them and they have lawyers in room and they still tell me all the challenges and wonderful things-- >> with all due respect, shouldn't you know who in your agency gave a were order like this to conduct an investigation that again, the gao is a branch-- we are all-- we all get a paycheck and taxpayers pay for it. we shouldn't have to bowyer up. >> if i may just respond, what i really wanted to say is i have no idea if it was the reverse, the reciprocal and i will look into it and get back to you. it could have been that employees felt intimidated by an investigation and may be wanted someone present, but i understand and what i did get briefed on is that the ig, said that he had independent ability to follow through e-mails and was able to get information and clearly by this report you can see that nothing was hidden-- >> it should not take until june 30, so please get back to

us soon and i have limited time so i only have time for one more question. the gao review of the sba stated and i quote, in the september 2015, report we found that the sba has not resolved many of its long-standing management challenges due to lack of sustained priority intention over time. gao went onto say that this raises questions about the sba's sustained commitment to addressing management challenges. in other words, dealing with the sba shortcomings in deficiencies and many cases failures, apparently isn't a priority to some of your folks. well, it's a priority to this committee. why should we not question the sba's sustained commitment to improving a cell that you indicated you are willing to do that and i appreciate that. so, it concerns the needs of america small businesses all across this country. >> let me just say that i was--

when i read the report that these issues had begun in the '90s and some as far back in the 80s. so, i appreciate that i have been here for about 20 months and i think you will see progress we've made is quite remarkable, but as i mentioned i'm committing to keep this momentum going and with the good lord making the progress with your expectations, but i am absolutely committed to making sure people understand that this sba's affective and as i said, the numbers prove it out. sometimes it's not pretty and it should be prettier in terms of our documentation and our processes, but when you think of the technology-- we started a program called link in this amount of time that we are able to start a program like match.com. , i don't know if any of you are familiar with match.com. , and you don't have to tell me if you are,-- >> just for the record, i know nothing about it. >> i just want you to know that without system, we are now able to get dates for prospective

borrowers, but this date is with that lender, 22000 people have already been connected in a few short months and that's a remarkable accomplishment. sba, where we are now introducing a new platform with our lenders, so i understand that there are challenges and documentation and i commit to you to working better on that, but i want you to know that the work is getting done. >> thank you, my time has expired and to reiterate our number one priority is with the interest of the american businesses. we need to do our best for them and i will now recognize the ranking member for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman and i would just like to enter into the record as a mayor-- matter of clarification the fact that in sop 40002, it is a requirement for legal counsel to be present when district staff

is being interviewed and so here it is. it's part of the sop. i would like to ask the administrator-- i would like to recommend to you that you start with 40002, to remove barriers to gao access, so you could start with this sop, updating it so that it reflects that there is no intention to prevent staff from speaking to gao or gao to have access to documents of the small business administration. with that said, in the report administrator, gao found the sba still has not implemented disaster problem airport reforms. this committee offered when i was chair in 2008. i asked the same question to gao

yesterday i'm a but i would like to hear your answer as well. what are the many reasons why sba has not established immediate disaster cysts-- assistance program? >> you and i talked about that off-line and i heard you loud and clear and i little-- did a little bit of homework on that and so number one, i learned that we actually had promulgated that in terms of rules and then when we were recruiting banks and institutions, quite frankly, you and i could hold a roundtable and what they said is that the eyed app, the immediate disaster assistance program-- >> because my time is limited and i know you're talking to lenders, so what is the timeline for doing so? >> i am saying we already have a in term rule that we can use and appoint to start using that and what we are trying to do now is recruit banks. when you ask a bank to amortize it $25000 loan and a

10000-dollar loan over 10 years, it's something that is not attractive especially because it has a low interest limit, so we have to make it more attractive and in the spirit of what you want i want to assure you that the office of disaster does provide loans and we already did a non- collateralized $25000 loan that is now being processed -- >> as you know we have been dealing with the issue of sandy in new york and so many people, businesses who applied for those loans didn't get it, so we passed legislation now to reopen and for people to be able to have businesses reapply, but if you see some issues where you feel that there has to be some legislative fixes, we need to hear about it. so, let's have that discussion and get this program up and running because we cannot wait until the next natural disaster strikes and come back here to be on the same position asking the

same questions. >> when i looked into that i agree with you and i didn't want to rely on hearsay, so that's why i put out a formal notice of rulemaking and that is out and available and as soon as we get that formal comment we will respond back to you with those remedies, but in the interim i'm pushing forward to make sure that all of the complements that you intended are executed in the way that you imagined and i just want to add, if i may, that disaster assistance has been something very important to both of us and that's why the day that i was sworn in i committed to find to the state of washington to look and i went to the state of north carolina, to meet with nikki haley when she was experiencing hers and i am committed to going to missouri, and our team is there and we have a dozen employees in missouri examining the disaster to determine the appropriate response and records show that now once we are given permission and declare a disaster, we are there within 24 hours, madam.

>> thank you. i just want to congratulate you on the many successes including the seven a lending dollars, goals exceeded, sbic is up to 10%, but we could do better and that is the reason why we are here today. we need to update those sop's because if the agency cannot hold its resources and partners accountable and there is confusion as to how the program is supposed to operate, that will impede the success and for businesses to be able to get the assistance that they need, so what you have done so far and what are you planning to do to further address the sop problem? i do not want to impose upon you that you provide a report every month, but a what a commitment that tells us that you are really-- that you are going to

do everything you can because, you know, the next administration will be in place pretty soon, a year and a half from now and we need to see what type of energy and resources you going to put into place and if there is a lack of adequate resources for you agency to do the work, we need to know, so that in the next budget submission is included that you need more funding. >> thank you for that-- >> the gentle lady time has expired and you can answer the question, but i want to make sure on behalf of the committee we do want a monthly update on what progress is being made towards deficiencies that the gao has set out in the review. >> i heard you, mr. chairman and with great remedy and lets me just say for those of you that has not seen sop, this is a complete review an overhaul of the department way of operating

and some of these are, you know, inches tall and this is an important bodywork and i want you to that we have completed more sop's in it-- the 20 months that i have been than the prior five years combined, so that is to show you the momentum with which i have taken it so seriously because i'm working hard to make up lost time, but i also want to have it institutionalized, so when someone comes in that this is work that has been harnessed and seized and to that point we already have over 30 more sop's that we are interacting with an impending with interaction we think will show great progress in, so just know that i take the -- those sop's seriously and for the institutionalization of our legacy. >> the gentleman from new york, mr. gibson, is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. i appreciate this hearing. with a due respect, i will say right up front, i'm a little disappointed so far in the

approach of the hearing in terms of the responses. the chairman set a tone at the outset that we really want to work together going forward, identifying all the deficiencies and shortcomings, but the opening remarks i certainly appreciate how you have pointed out what you did with the resources to support small businesses and i want to state that clearly in a sincerely, but really the focus here is on improving what our very disturbing findings from the gao , supports that in, my colleague from new york, mr. hannah leads a subcommittee and they did, i think, very strong work on behalf of the american people with regard to pick hermit reform, this was incorporated into the national defense authorization act in 2013.

but, yet among the findings from the gal there has been no action taken. the lie was very clear that action was to be taken within six months of the implementation of that law. so, my question to you is what explains why nothing has been done on this? did you disagree with us on what was done and if you do, it would have been nice to know that before now, but if you agree with us then why has nothing been done? >> first of all, let me just thank you for your service. i know you are an admirable veteran and i salute the work you have done in particularly difficult zones in our world. but, let me just speak to if i have not shown or exhibited the level of seriousness with which i take this work, i apologize, but let me just say, when i looked at the moment it because i thought i should stress this to you, under prior

administrations like in 2002, for example, there had been one, in 2004, zero. under my term i have already completed 47 of these just to show you though momentum with which i am approaching this work , so please do not-- don't underestimate the commitment with which i make this commitment to you. i came from the state of california. i had in california i had 42000 employees to work with in one state. do you know here to the ranking member's question i have fewer than 2000 employees, you know, so in pitcher matt, we have two partner and we were closer with our strategic partners. if you just took the air force alone, do you know the air force has 22000 captains? 2200 captains, excuse me, captain's alone. again, i have fewer-- fewer than

2000 employees across agency and we are managing the most complex system of networks. we are peak your we are redirecting 23% of the largest picture in the world to small businesses successfully and yes, we are pushing to the bar because i don't want any fraud, waste or abuse in when i started my home personal business i could-- could knock it certified as a woman. i could not confirm our was a woman owned business, so it for me to make sure we are doing those certifications, but more importantly to make sure the people that don't deserve to be in the program and people are taking advantage-- [inaudible] >> up against the department of defense officials, our small business advocates are pcr or in those places where people don't like them to be because we are sharp elbowing them to make sure every appropriate small business opportunity goes to a small

business the next zero, thank you and appreciate the passion that you bring in, the leadership to the organization. one quick follow-up. as the chairman mentioned we will anticipate reports, a monthly reports and i would hope in the first one, we will see unofficial-- a official response to the fy 13 national defense authorization act as it relates to requirements that we levied on the sba and i have very little time remaining and let me just say from my experience eating formations, one of the things that concerns me is the level of turnover in the sba and so we will not have time to respond, but also for the record i would like to know from your vantage point as the leader, what are you doing to ensure continuity in terms of transition periods-- really two points, one is are you taking any executive action to lessen the turnover and then to, given

those reality, what sop do you have in place to ensure when new folks, board that there is a good and effective transition? mr. chairman, i am sorry i am over and i yield back. >> the gentleman's time has expired and if you could answer and we will receive her sports-- reports and you can go in depth more, but if you could respond. >> one of the most important things to show people what their job is to give them 30 of purpose and to reward them appropriately and provide an environment where they are well resourced and their scope of work is clearly defined and they are well resourced, as i said. i have put in the first ever sba chief learning officer. i have up scaled the chico function in our office, where now i have someone who actually has the theoretical and practical experience. ..

>> >> i had an opportunity to

work with her when she was secretary in california and as administrator what i really appreciated what is your word district's staff and you both have come to my district we have held a round tables and from their own constituents i see you have heard the problem yourself and what that is the recommendations responded and reformed in to invest in in contracting what i care about.

i know the priorities may be different but that is my priority and what i always heard and certainly you are addressing those previous weaknesses in that agency is is clear the sba has been around since a 1953 with many issues that have existed long before you or this administration but whether or not you can address every single one i don't know i have no doubt you can try but one of the issue that was important to me is the women's small business program.

and then to compete for federal contracts. there are problems resulting in contracts being awarded. i know you are working on this. can you tell us where you are in the process to make sure they are being awarded to women owned businesses? >> as you know, to be mitigated with a 5% goal in to my great moment we have not that they are 50 percent of the population and it should be achievable and so we came to you again as a

brand new tool is the sole source of authority to certify any fraud wait and abuse. to get the proper feedback in not just implementing something willy-nilly so i am pleased to tell you already getting comments with the process for cert to understand what is no woman around small business to have them properly trained to certify. >> we have more women owns businesses than any other county in the country so we are proud of that been for me that is a priority

clearly we are supporting the minority owned business. >> you have been a stalwart thank you for your leadership. >> i will yield back my time. the gentlelady from the american samoa is recognized for five minutes. >> considering the recent new offices built that could provide redundant roles in close proximity was there any thought given to the u.s. territories? can you explain your rationale? >> i'm sorry for what?

>> i will give you the question again. the u.s. territories. considering the new offices built that may or may not have duplicate rules had you given thought to the u.s. territories? >> gsa her the question ever is trying to understand are you saying that we are building offices? i am not aware we are building an office there. i am trying to understand the context of the question but i would be delighted to understand if you're not getting the surface level that you expect to come back with the plan. >> the queue. >> what functions are performed by the agency's regional offices by the

personnel? >> in headquarters we have policy offices so the office of general contracting and office development and capital access we have those that operate the various programs and in the district offices and to have a lending relation specialist with education and development services and all these people work together to create a sense of community for the full complement of services that i entreprenuers mean where we can be a program provider

to the small business formation. and then to put the of nine responses without coming through a labyrinth of regulations. >> thank you. >> either at headquarters or the district offices to provide additional full-time equivalent personnel for functions such as an increase in the number of procurement center representatives? >> to be an entrepreneur and a community banker is a tough call.

and then not connected to a community but i decided it was more important to be part of the community to understand those nuances and that is working well. >> you don't have the chief information officer i assume you consider that critical where are you in the process i appreciate you have a chief learning officer. >> that is more of a human-resources function i should say but i went to silicon valley and the east coast to find a thoughtful and successful person and i think have some talents i am not an expert in technology and wanted to make sure with the top level of a vice lead

a strong person and is a dedicated employee that i call the chief design and saree chief digital officer to fully complement that team to go find the right people to attract top technology talent. but i think we will be successful to do that. >> 18 q. do need a chief information officer. i yield back. >> by statute it is required so we encourage you to get that done. >> now to the real key member of the trade

subcommittee a lng think the chair and the ranking member end your response to the questions with leaders of government that shows a commitment to end enthusiasm about that responsibility but they kenyan answered with a proactive response

and that is refreshing and i appreciate that we do have reviews of departments and there are areas we can approve or but the commitment and focus would be to move forward. i am very encouraged by your own leadership. with the women or the minority-owned businesses. end date grew by more than 25% between 2007 and 2012.

is on the women known to minority-owned businesses of america so we should be very committed and focused on that area. the majority of women own businesses has been in health care and social assistance how is the sba promoting women and minorities to open businesses in technology and manufacturing? we are planning to move forward with the skill set that america really need so i appreciate where you were going. the first answer is to make sure those that have not been given access to capital we have some aggressive steps.

under $150,000. just so that cost structure is better for the bar were. i have recruited credit unions that they can be gauged for nonprofits or paying taxes or agreeing into a partnership in then added another bank and another bank and then to answer some simple questions and as a reference to earlier and the last time i was in this room there was a woman sitting in the audience said the results she could take the rate to make it more attractive to

go across the country but second so to have the outreach initiative but those that we don't see in silicon valley it is a national effort to reach out to women to say hack and disrupt and invent and change industries you can be in position medicine. but the effort to roll this out is winning gauge. and those that begin to disrupt the industries they belong to.

and also to participate in women's history month in march.

collaborative leave with the gao said that momentum is strong we will double what we did last year. i guarantee that. >>. >> i have a couple of questions lung of line of the cio you have been there 20 months in this is a critical position i've understand somebody is overseeing this position as an assistant we believe they would have the same responsibilities as the cio would they respond to your expectations if they would

be hired at a future date with a still continue to respond to you or the c00? >> that is a fair question. as we had it the operation and not one to use the term but the up piles of the organization in then they report through that function and to present an entire town hall and that is

important way to distribute information. now getting laptops for field operations people to participate in the growth accelerator. >> but this still comes to you what some point. >> sure. i participate in weekly senior staff meetings in with the process works such to be sure that is clear in those items that people have made a lot of talk about as

a leader such as yourself there must be prepared jersey shouldn't and you must put out fires first with the issues you think number one through 69. would you say any of these items are not on that list? to say i have looked in yes there are some good items but there are some by one of the statements that they may not be needed. could you explain? or you might not work on. >> i receive this report on

regular basis. in that gao stated it stems from the '80s and '90s. but i am doing backed they're all important and vital but i am prioritizing. there were two that were a disaster oriented. >> go want to get to have up prioritization to knock these out. and there is no more difficult industry than the information and technology industry producing 150,000 jobs per year and it is very

difficult to get them into government jobs with the 2230 year-old. an avid like to have if he would put those commercials that our fantastic so i feel their pain. and then reaching out to the peace corps types and traveling to the other part of the state in the hope

that you felt -- built our efforts with small business saturday. also is trying to make it attractive place to work. i just retained a fabulous producer a gentleman i partner with anybody who is willing to help me amplify that opportunity. but i also need to write the correct job description. is meant to speak to a future in what i have right now to give them opportunities to be mentored

>> i know my time is expired >> thank you madam administrator for being here today all throughout the country from small businesses to hear about their concerns and also to appreciate your passion in the enthusiasm and your great efforts. in response is currently restricted from collected data to not have adequate information collected to make those program

evaluations difficult. and what efforts can congress undertake with those data collections a bad is fundamental assessment and strategic planning. i employees in each of reach effort, stop me if i use to many acronyms but i don't like jargon but the resources partners they are collecting data there is a natural agreement in homage

they give to was to the encounters and capital formation so the data is collected and utilized and also with qualitative factions and round tables around the country with the chairman and ranking member and others that a critical data point is a unique identifier. if someone says they have served 100 people in a day i know somebody came in twice

or 100 different people so i need a unique identifier what those accomplishments are. i am beginning tulu discuss this and with your help we can get there. >> last question is about human capital. from yesterday's hearing talking about the gao report in looking at human capital do you agree in what is being done? >> asia have mentioned more to the point of your prior concern will have put together the interagency evaluation working group not

just working with resource partners but what measures mattered to them to mind the correct data with a proper evaluation to be more responsive to those challenges we are addressing today. with respect to human capital talk about the district offices as the congress would engender earlier because they have one of the best leverage agency around common to set this for the world we do leverage up. with those people that need help it reach homes that with 500 is a lot of lifting.

so any time we can take a serious look at the size of the sba will go along way. >> said gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. >> the queue for being here today and also for visiting south florida as it was a pleasure for one of the complaints that it is dysfunctional or government is accountable and to yesterday in the testimony one of the things that struck me the most was the gao perceives of breakdown in communication that

employees don't have forums to express their frustrations or their views on how things could be done differently. do you perceived there is a culture that the sba that employees don't feel that freedom to express that used to share their concerns and their contributions with regards to how it could be run more efficiently or effectively? and then to stand by the fountain to not communicating does challenge an organization where we

bring the entire field operations together and then we follow-up with the weekly engaged in. and then to engage with us on a daily basis i know it is not a great name but people are drawn to us for everything bad is happening. and then a full round tables

and for heaven's sakes on thanksgiving that was passing out tangerines. we're lined up for festivities in formals or formal the special as needed defense like town halls. but i have to tell you again these people are fighting and in the district and don't be shy about communicating. >> italy flows from the top down you are comfortable lead the agency right now but there is an environment in which employees from the rank-and-file and leadership positions can express their views and frustrations with their superiors to really create that culture of information sharing that i think is the central -- essentials.

du field confident that exist? could there be improvements? you find any validity of the concerns expressed from ga0 regarding communication? >> somebody must have said there was the challenge so i have to take that seriously no question. my reality is they step forward at town halls i take people out to lunch to say what is going on? i get emails i feel that it is but if they make that comment i will look into it. there must be a challenge. >> you're recognized for five minutes. >> thanks to the ranking

member and to the administrator number one for being engaged on the front lines for the small business marketplace to be a change agent for small businesses across the nation i can attest you have been out you were in the ninth congressional district or you have demonstrated here today with the drive and to display the response of the 21st century sba. i appreciate the creative approach to do more with

less that has not been drilled down or has been struck deep is you have 2,000 employees for the united states of america and its territories think about the numbers of small businesses. you are doing a mammoth task there is always room for improvement but today m.a.c. your commitment to meet the challenges head on the that is critical in then to leave that legacy for whoever is next in your shoes will take us a long way to make sure the 21st century sba is meeting all the goals that we have in our communities. what i would like to do i have heard the answers i

have wanted to hear and to make sure your pay attention to the recommendations look at how you can do more engagement with it ecosystems to strengthen them quite frankly. like p.r. because of that challenge they face economically and to the extent to be a part to help them stabilize in then go to

a. a lot to say you are focused like a laser on what needs to be done and i encourage you to keep up that stride. >> i yield back. >> may i respond? >> i just want to again complement you on the of reach from new york can your district it was superb. but you raise an important point we have a program called the hudson on historically underutilized so i traveled to p.r. to meet with the governor and communities and local officials to understand that rate of debt that every member is assuming large as they are in a serious issue.

i have some tools and wanted to deploy those so we went there to contact relationships. we said we want to make sure we want to procure from the small business year in the federal government is showing up we brought a conference of 30 procurement people to focus on p.r. but i did not want to stop there if they get a contract sometimes it takes the government too long to pay. in that instance we have two programs with the white house one is called supplier pay where we say we will pay you in two weeks if you pay small business in two weeks we do that with a quick pay program.

and then it gives them more cash flow to grow their business. >> and also thank you to answer questions. it seems like you want to fix these things but that being said and whether a district attorney or prosecuting a murder case which was of a department i have found priorities are so important regardless not just for overall by have heard a lot of talk about what you have done and i am impressed with that also for your response to mississippi after the tornados were our

victims' lives and billions of dollars of profit so i hope you will keep checking on my folks to make sure sba to is all they can with disaster relief which has been declared a federal emergency. have you prioritized the objectives that gao has provided? you can do something simultaneous sometimes not until the other is done. is there a matrix or a church of the competency task for the strategic plan to save this is the task, this is when we accomplish or the person who has the rose and the suspense or deadline or plan of action and you have to

get that cio hired to address the it issues appropriately. i encourage you do those 30 that are outstanding. >> a lot was stated in that but i will just say as i mentioned earlier a look at them and prioritize them to start with what i think is the priority son you cannot achieve until the other is complete that is my focus on investment funds and that is

the why we put in the evaluation program but let me continue i came in and left my small business and a left mind to do something here. if not in during then what is the point? that is why i am here in a collegial fashion i understand and constitutional memory and documentation that the next person i hand this over to so i thank you for your e engagement and consideration. >> a came here with a different attitude than i have now i thank you are a great leader if you don't put it in writing its if it is not written it doesn't

matter how good your organization is the end you have talked a lot about sop that is so important we cannot operate without sop but they have to be current and active and applicable. i gsa you put 41 new sop into prod -- practice but how many of the old sop and the duplicative ones have you taken out of action because of people are confused which one to use? i would like to hear if you have a dress that the duplicative or otherwise? >> one of the last business is i started was a community bank i would present things to my board about the above the line metrics and imf

below the line metric solyndra stan what your talking about if i have the bogeyed county sales numbers were sales calls it is always below the mine metrics to manage a proper organization night respect your training with liens start-ups in manufacturing i have been through so many training's so i appreciate what you are saying it is important to prioritize to make sure we do what matters within 80 / 20 rule. >> the lady from north carolina is recognized for five minutes. >>