Letter to The Honorable Isabel Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (August 14, 2023)

Summary

The House Committee on Small Business writes to Administrator Isabel Guzman of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to inquire about SBA's plan to return workers to the office. The letter says the Committee says that SBA's continued use of extreme work from home policies is ineffective and potentially detrimental to small businesses, and it cites a recent Government Accountability Office report and an email from White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients calling for an aggressive return to federal offices. It requests information no later than August 28, 2023, including a copy of SBA's plan and the number of days in a pay period that headquarters and field office staff may work from home. The signature block names Roger Williams as Chairman and Blaine Luetkemeyer as Vice Chairman.

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Issuer: Congressional materials
Document type: 2023 08 14 Housesbc Majority Letter To Sba Re Return To Work Prattach
Date: 2023-08-14
Case: 2023 08 14 Housesbc Majority Letter To Sba Re Return To Work Prattach

Cite this document

“Letter to The Honorable Isabel Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (August 14, 2023).” Original at smallbusiness.house.gov, dated 2023-08-14. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2023-08-14-2023-08-14-housesbc-majority-letter-to-sba-re-return-to-work-prattach/, SHA-256 d66e9259a7f50a575c5a9090f0c26e5000e1f45a359cb8418b5d497b03ec4577.

Full text

August 14, 2023

The Honorable Isabel Guzman
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 3rd St., SW
Washington, DC 20416

Dear Administrator Guzman:

The House Committee on Small Business (the Committee) writes to inquire about the
Small Business Administration’s (SBA) plan to return workers to the office. The Committee has
long held that the SBA’s continued utilization of extreme work from home policies are
ineffective and potentially detrimental to America’s small businesses. Even though the Biden
Administration appears desperate to walk back these disastrous policies, it seems the SBA has
failed to implement an aggressive return-to-work policy.

The Committee expressed concerns about your work from home policies in our March
23, 2023, hearing titled “Oversight of the Small Business Administration.” During the hearing,
you responded that SBA’s policy of requiring employees to work in the office just two days a
pay period, or once a week, under your leadership were “mission-based” and claimed SBA’s
performance was “remarkable.”1 In reality, a recent report by the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) and new efforts by the White House prove this claim to be questionable, at best.

Not only have these work from home policies potentially harmed small businesses, but
they have also wasted American taxpayers’ dollars. The GAO rated SBA’s office utilization in
the lowest, most underutilized group of all federal agencies.2 Additionally, in a recent email,
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients called for an “aggressive return” to federal offices citing
that it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable better results for the American
people.

We are not the only committee concerned over SBA’s extreme work from home policies.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer requested detailed information on work

1
Oversight of the Small Business Administration: Hearing Before H. Comm. On Small Bus., 118th Cong. 24 (Mar.
23, 2023) (statement of Admin. Guzman, Adm’r, Small Bus. Ass’n).
2
U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, GAO-23-106200, PRELIMINARY RESULTS SHOW FEDERAL BUILDINGS
REMAIN UNDERUTILIZED DUE TO LONGSTANDING CHALLENGES AND INCREASED TELEWORK (Jul. 13, 2023).
The Honorable Isabel Guzman
August 14, 2023
Page 2 of 3

from home and telework policies.3 A request that appears to have gone unanswered, requiring a
follow up request by Chairman Comer.4 Our Committee similarly remains deeply concerned at
SBA’s dedication to enacting a return-to-work policy that will benefit America’s small
businesses. To that end, the Committee requests the following information as soon as possible
but no later than August 28, 2023:

1. A copy of SBA’s plan to aggressively implement a return-to-work policy including but
not limited to:
a. A timeline for return to work;
b. The number of days in a pay period will SBA HQ staff be allowed to work from
home; and
c. The number of days in a pay period will SBA field office employees be allowed
to work from home.

2. The number of GS level employees that utilize work from home and receive pay other
than base levels including the number of these employees that receive DC/DMV locality
pay and the steps SBA takes to ensure SBA employees are not unjustly receiving higher
locality pay.

3. The number of Senior Executive Service (SES) employees that utilize work from home.

4. The average amount of days SBA employees spend in telework status in a pay period.

5. The number of unique PIV card scans at SBA Headquarters over the last four pay periods
broken out by:
a. Number of unique scans by week;
b. Number of unique scans that scanned twice in one week; and
c. Number of unique scans that scanned at least once each week during all four pay
periods.

6. The current number of employees with SBA’s Headquarters as their main office.

7. The number of disciplinary actions that have been taken against employees failing to
comply with the current work from home policy.

8. The number of instances where an SBA laptop was accessed through the VPN outside of
an employees home base area more than three days in a row within the last four pay
periods, when an employee was not on official travel for the Agency.

To schedule the delivery of your response or ask any related follow-up questions, please
contact Committee on Small Business Majority Staff at (202) 225-5821. The Committee on

3
Letter from Chairman James Comer, et al, H. Comm. on Oversight and Accountability to Isabel Guzman, Admin.,
U.S. Small Business Admin. et.al. (May 18, 2023).
4
Letter from Chairman James Comer, et al, H. Comm. on Oversight and Accountability to Isabel Guzman, Admin.,
U.S. Small Business Admin. (Aug. 4, 2023).
The Honorable Isabel Guzman
August 14, 2023
Page 3 of 3

Small Business has broad authority to investigate “problems of all types of small business” under
House Rule X. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this inquiry.

In God We Trust,

_________________________ _________________________
Roger Williams Blaine Luetkemeyer
Chairman Vice Chairman
Committee on Small Business Committee on Small Business

_________________________ _________________________
Pete Stauber Dan Meuser
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Committee on Small Business Committee on Small Business

_________________________ _________________________
Beth Van Duyne Jake Ellzey
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Committee on Small Business Committee on Small Business

_________________________ _________________________
Mark Alford Aaron Bean
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Committee on Small Business Committee on Small Business

_________________________
Nick LaLota
Member of Congress
Committee on Small Business

cc: The Honorable Nydia M. Velasquez, Ranking Member
Committee on Small Business

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Original: smallbusiness.house.gov