Justification

Justification for Non-Substantive Amendment to OMB Control Number 3245-0378

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is requesting approval for non-substantive changes to OMB Control Number 3245-0378 - SBA Form 990A, the Quick Bond Application and Agreement (QuickApp), which expires on September 30, 2022. The changes do not impact the type or amount of information currently collected from applicants to the Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program. A pending final rule (RIN-AH08) will revise 13 CFR 115.30(d)(2) by increasing the maximum amount of the contracts for which a Prior Approval Surety would be permitted to use the Quick Bond Guarantee Application and Agreement (SBA Form 990A) (Quick Bond Application) from $400,000 to $500,000. SBA conducted a risk assessment, considered factors such as the increasing average contract value, and considered the potential decrease in overall application burden on small businesses. SBA determined that increasing the maximum contract value for using the Quick Bond Application would minimally increase program risk while reducing costs to Sureties and small businesses by $36,343 per year. In addition to reducing costs, SBA hopes that this change will result in the additional benefit of increasing overall access to the SBG Program.

This rule change requires a minor revision to SBA Form 990A by increasing “$400,000” to “$500,000” in the subheading of the form as follows:

TO BE COMPLETED BY SMALL BUSINESS AND SURETY FOR SINGLE BONDS NOT EXCEEDING $500,000.

Link to SBA Form 990A: Office of Surety Guarantees - Quick Bond Guarantee Application and Agreement (sba.gov)

Revising the form to change the amount from $400,000 to $500,000 will not have any impact on the burden for this information collection, which is currently approved under OMB Control Number 3245-0378. As noted above, SBA has estimated that this change will reduce costs to Sureties and small businesses by $36,343 per year. SBA requests OMB to approve this slight revision to the form as a non-substantive change.