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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Intermediary Relending Program

This USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service's (RBS) program provides low interest loans for community development or to nonprofits who relend to business and community development projects in rural areas. Loan purposes include creating businesses, expanding, creating, or saving jobs, or community development projects

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • The assessment found that the program is well designed and has sound management. However, there is a real need to improve the way in which RBS assesses whether they have met their targets on established performance measures.
  • The Intermediary Relending Program addresses the need for gap financing for many rural small businesses, however Federal programs that assist with economic development are not unique.
  • In FY 2003, RBS commissioned a University of Missouri study to help capture the total effect its business programs have on rural America. Though narrow in scope (5 states), this study has been helping them identify additional annual measures as well as long-term goals. Program results are limited because the main measures continue to be revised and the long term goals are still in development.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Establishing new baselines and ambitious targets once Rural Business-Cooperative Service has finalized the new measurement methodology for job creation.
  • Measuring the quality of jobs and how industries in a region link together.
  • Expanding the University of Missouri study from a state specific to a national study (SEBAS, phase I and II). This will allow RBS to obtain tangible statistics on the effectiveness of the program.

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