The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Small Business Administration (SBA) has not released an assessment on whether minority and other underserved businesses are getting the relief they were guaranteed under the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) since early May.

The OIG found in a May 8 report that improvement was needed in areas including “Prioritizing Underserved and Rural Markets,” “Loan Proceeds Eligible for Forgiveness,” “Guidance on Loan Deferments,” and “Registration of Loans.”

While the report found that the SBA, in practice, was “mostly aligned” with the tasks assigned to it by Congress through the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, the aforementioned shortcomings make for pretty large gaps in the program’s mission statement, and they have been felt acutely by a plethora of small businesses. After all, the law was designed to help underserved businesses owned by women and minorities.

Over at Buzzfeed, reporter Kadia Goba spoke to such small business owners and detailed the bureaucratic labyrinth they have to navigate to apply for relief. While not mentioned in the OIG report, the dizzying array of documentation required to apply is enough to make any small business owner’s head spin, never mind the difficulties faced by business owners who are less computer savvy, such as the elderly.

Compounding all this is that we simply don’t know where we are at. The SBA’s OIG isn’t producing regular reports on the successes and shortcomings of the Paycheck Protection Program: the May 8 report was only filed in response to demands from a handful of Senators. Small businesses are waiting for loans and depleting any savings in the interim, and there simply isn’t enough regular oversight to prevent it. In fact, the OIG hasn’t released any report since May 8.

Credit: National Bureau of Economic Research

But it isn’t just underserved businesses that are suffering -- most are! Just a month before the OIG report, the National Bureau of Economic Research released a shocking study showing an estimated 100,000-plus small businesses closed their doors permanently between January and April. Moreover, “43 percent of businesses [were] temporarily closed, and businesses [had] – on average – reduced their employee counts by 40 percent relative to January.” And meanwhile, “the median business has more than $10,000 in monthly expenses and less than one month of cash on hand.”

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy. To ensure their longevity, Congress should demand regular reporting from the SBA on the status of its vital mission -- or risk sitting back as the crisis worsens.