Dear APAP Members and Colleagues,

First of all, the SBA is hosting it's SVOG "Office Hours" TODAY at 2:00 p.m. (EDT). At this session, the SBA will review common hurdles and technical correction issues by eligible entity type, as well as answer your specific questions. Here is the link to join today's session, which is open to all applicants.

As always, we want to keep you updated on the latest SBA news on the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, including providing the latest SVOG numbers, which are at the end of this email.

THE SBA'S PROGRESS REPORT: In case you missed it, on Monday, the SBA released its latest program report. While many numbers have since been updated, it does provide more detail that may be of interest. The SBA also released the most recent awardee data.

In today's stakeholder briefing, the SBA reported that it is "driving hard to decision all initial applicants as fast as [it] can". Initial applicants are those who applied in the first sixty days of the portal opening on April 26, 2021. To that end, they note the following:

  • More than 500 applications are awaiting applicant action.
  • More than 300 applications are awaiting a tax process by the IRS or regional tax authorities.
  • Fewer than 1000 are left to process by the SBA.
  • You can scroll down to see all of the latest numbers provided by the SBA.

STARTING NEXT WEEK: DECLINE APPEALS AND AWARD RECONSIDERATIONS:
The SBA also confirmed today the beginning of the decline appeals and award reconsideration processes.

  • On Monday, August 2, appeal invitations will be sent to all applicants who have received a decline notice. If you have been declined and would like to appeal, you will have two weeks to submit your appeal. This process will not be first-come, first-served.
  • On Wednesday, August 4, award reconsideration invitations will be sent to to all applicants who were granted an amount that was lower than their requested amount by $100 or more. If you would like the SBA to reconsider your award amount, you will have two weeks to submit your reconsideration request. This process will not be first-come, first-served.
  • If you have not yet received a notification of the decision made on your application, you will have an opportunity to appeal a decline or request reconsideration of your award amount, if you fall into one of these categories. Once you are notified of a decision, you will be sent an invitation for the applicable process, and your two-week window would begin at that time.

PORTAL CLOSING TO NEW APPLICATIONS: The SBA announced today definitively that the application portal will close to new applications at 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) on August 20, 2021.

SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING: The week of August 23 (specific date TBD) invitations will be sent to all eligible applicants, defined as "recipients of first, second, and third priority round awards who suffered a 70% or greater revenue loss for the most recent calendar quarter (as of April 1, 2021, or later). Also, the SBA reported:

  • The supplemental funding application period will be open for two weeks (starting on a date TBD the week of August 23), after which the SBA plans to "award rapidly" after Labor Day. This process will not be first-come, first-served.
  • The SBA will allow all applicants who received an initial award to adjust 2021 figures before the invitations go out, in order to identify the largest pool of eligible applicants defined by the statute. (For example, if the figures you initially submitted need updating to meet the 70% threshold, you would have the opportunity to do that.)
  • While the SBA may not be able to deliver a "one-click" application as it had originally hoped, the SBA aims to make the supplemental funding application as simple as possible.
  • Given the amount of funding still available, the SBA expects to be able to fund the supplemental phase fully.

FAQs for APPEALS, RECONSIDERATIONS and SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING: We highly encourage you to review the latest (released last week) FAQs for more guidance on these processes.

THE NUMBERS:

As of earlier today, 15,077 applications have been "decisioned" of which 13,167 applicants have been notified of their status.

  • Of the 15,077 "decisioned", 10,249 applicants have been notified of their awards, and 798 are queued for award notification.

  • Thus far, award notifications represent $7.8 billion of which $6.7 billion has been disbursed.

  • 2,927 applications have been declined, and 101 are queued for decline.

  • 1,002 have been sent requests for technical correction, and the technical corrections queue has been cleared.
If you have a question for the SBA, you can send it to [email protected]. Currently, given the volume of email, it may take 72 hours or more for the SBA to respond.

Do you have a specific SVOG application issue you'd like us to submit to the SBA on your behalf? If so, please submit your case (along with your grant #, if applicable) to Jenny Thomas, APAP Director of Marketing and Communications, at [email protected].

APAP continues to advocate on your behalf. We are stronger together.

Sincerely,
The APAP Team