Knowledge and Insights

SBA Awards $20 Million Contract to Mercadien JV for Risk Mgmt. of 504 Loans

October 2019

The Mercadien Group is pleased to announce that its affiliate company, Kingstonville-Mercadien JV, LLC, has been awarded a five-year contract with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide risk-based review and risk oversight support services for the Certified Development Company (CDC)/504 Loan Program, administered through the Offices of Capital Access and Credit Risk Management.

The contract, effective immediately, is the second consecutive $20 million award that Mercadien has participated in for risk management of the SBA’s 504 loan portfolio, which involves approximately $5 billion in gross loan approvals each year and hundreds of CDCs, banks and lenders located throughout the continental U.S., Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The CDC/504 loan program promotes economic development by helping small businesses acquire fixed assets with long-term fixed-rate financing through third-party lenders, which are primarily banks.

Mr. Salvatore Zerilli, CPA, CAMS, a managing director and chair of Financial Institutions Services at the Mercadien Group, stated, “Mercadien has worked with the SBA and 504 loan providers since October 2014. We, and our partner companies, which include Guidehouse, are proud to be vetted and selected again by the Offices of Capital Access and Credit Risk Management to fulfill the 504 program’s risk oversight needs. The re-award of this contract validates our firm’s commitment to helping the SBA and all clients achieve their mission by delivering advisory and operational excellence. It also confirms the quality of our team’s performance in assisting banks and financial institutions with numerous, complex regulatory compliance, risk management and technical issues.”

The Mercadien Group is a family of entities that provides a full spectrum of accounting and consulting services, including traditional audit and financial reporting, tax compliance and planning, compliance oversight, risk assessment, litigation support, management and board consulting; as well as technology and wealth management solutions. Founded in Princeton in 1963, the firm serves privately-owned companies of nearly every type and industry, as well as financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, government entities, and wealthy individuals and families. Mercadien provides forward-thinking, relationship-driven, financial and strategic services that maximize wealth and profitability, minimize taxes and risk, evaluate systems and processes, and increase efficiencies for its many diverse and valued clients.