Ranking Member Joyce Emphasizes Flexibility for Small Businesses in STEP Program

Press Release

Today, Members of the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Agriculture, Trade, and Entrepreneurship heard from a panel of small business owners and experts on states' perspectives on the Small Business Administration's (SBA) State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) and its effectiveness in providing export promotion opportunities for small businesses.
"Today, we reinforce our commitment to seeing that SBA fulfills its goals relating to this program and maximizes every dollar to help small businesses reach their significant potential on the international market," said Subcommittee Ranking Member John Joyce (R-PA). "In the small business world -- and I come from the small business world -- one size does clearly not fit all. When federal dollars are involved, there needs to be a happy medium which accommodates program flexibility and accountability."

A Need for Program Flexibility

"Even for a larger state program like ours -- with an experienced team working on the STEP grant and a comprehensive performance metrics and reporting system already in place -- keeping up with STEP reporting is a challenge," said Ms. Jennifer Black, Executive Director, Export Development, PA Department of Community & Economic Development, Office of International Business Development in Harrisburg, PA. "We encourage SBA to collaborate with states and the Committee to identify and define the most important data points and performance indicators needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the STEP program and optimize the reports to capture and compile that data more efficiently.

"The STEP program directly supports two of our core functions and allows us to extend our resources and be more inclusive -- and expansive -- in our product offerings," said Mr. Wade Merritt, President and State Director of International Trade, Maine International Trade Center, in Portland, ME. "We do need some flexibility in our ability to redeploy resources as they come in and recognizing that the plan that we lay out in the spring of 2019 is probably not going to look [the same] by the time we get to 2021."

"The STEP program not only allows us to grow through export and create jobs, but to actively stimulate our economy and enhance financial security for our communities and families," said Ms. Jennifer Bacon, Co-Founder, FlapJacked in Westminster, CO.

"Over the past 6 years or so, 30% of our sales have been generated overseas," said Mr. Clifton Broumand, Founder and CEO, Man & Machine, Inc., in Landover, MD. "Programs such as STEP help prime the pump to develop export markets and export sales."

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