Jovita Carranza

Jovita Carranza, administrator of the U.S. Small business administration since January, visited New Hampshire on Oct. 2 to meet with several businesses.

Previously, she served as deputy administrator of the Sba from December 2006 to January 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush. prior to her first Sba appointment, she served as vice president of air operations for United Parcel Service at its facility in Louisville, Ky., and also was president and CEO of the JCR Group, a consulting firm with a focus on business development, profit and loss management, operations, logistics and systems optimization.

Q. The paycheck protection program rollout was pretty rocky. Is there anything that you could have done to make it smoother?

A. At PPP we processed 5.2 million loans about 5,500 lenders. With the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, we have processed over $700 billion. We have $130 billion remaining in the PPP and then a little over $120 billion in the EIDL-Covid loan portfolio.

We have been working feverishly 24/7 to get sustaining capital in the hands of small businesses. I’ve met with four of them in New Hampshire. If it weren’t for those funds, they wouldn’t be able to continue operating. Many are actually expanding their business, like a restaurant may have had sit-down, but now they have curbside, and online ordering and delivery. In New Hampshire, we had 24,000 New Hampshire small businesses and nonprofits that received over $2 billion.

Q. I hear banks can start forgiveness on the ppp loans, but they’re hoping for more guidance to give the simplified — under $150,000 loans — forms. Is that coming soon?

A. The forgiveness will be further reviewed, for those loans that are very, very low, less than $150,000. Otherwise, we’re already beginning to process some of the loan-forgivable applications, and we’re ready to disburse the funds to the banks and lending institutions. I believe all that has been accomplished to this day has been very, very significant.

Q. You did release the names of the companies that got funds of over $150,000, but you didn’t give the exact amounts, and you didn’t give the ones under.

A. Many of them are either home-based businesses, sole proprietors, independent contractors. There’s this competitive proprietary information that we need to protect.

Q. The Sba 7(a) program goes to small businesses as well, and that’s all public information. What’s different about this?

A. The 7(a) portfolio is collateral, not self-certification. We require a lot more stringent documentation of the 7(a). Also, when individuals sign up for that program, they have the understanding that their information would be made public. It’s a different program.

Q. You mentioned there was $130 billion leftover. are you weighing in at all about what you think should be done with it?

A. We ask that it should be kept in the PPP portfolio, s0 that if the applicants who initiated the first application could then apply for more funds.

Q. Would there be any other changes you would support?

A. Yes, a couple of things. There’s word that more funds were going to be included into the PPP program, so that’s a plus because we don’t want to run out of money quickly. What I mean by enhanced, we had a 60-40 split (60% has to be spent on payroll, the rest on operating expenses: mortgage, rent and utilities.) Were that split expanded or adjusted I don’t know, but there has been discussion and we support it, where operating expenses may be expanded.

Small businesses had to retrofit their businesses, purchase property so that they can comply with the social distancing. For every expansion, that means more jobs. With this next PPP, it’s going to recognize those expansions.

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