Certain lenders have been delegated the authority to make loan decisions without prior approval from SBA under certain circumstances. SBA plans to formalize such delegated authorities in this proposed rule.  Several minor modifications to the 504 Loan Program and governance rules for Certified Development Company (CDC) are also proposed in a follow-on to the Final Rule: 504 and 7(a) Loan Program Updates (March 21, 2014), along with alignment of terminology for 7(a) lenders that are federally regulated to synchronize with existing industry requirements.  SBA plans to propose several other miscellaneous amendments to improve oversight and operations of its finance programs.   

This rule proposes to make four changes to the Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program.  The first would change the threshold for notification to SBA of changes in the contract or bond amount.  Second, the change would require sureties to submit quarterly contract completion reports.  Third, SBA proposes to increase the eligible contract limit for the Quick Bond Application and Agreement from $250,000 to $400,000.  Finally, SBA proposes to increase the guarantee percentage in the Preferred Surety Bond program to reflect the statutory change made by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016.  The guarantee percentage will increase from 70% to 80% or 90%, depending on contract size and socioeconomic factors currently in effect in the Prior Approval Program.