Description:
H.R. 1648 would direct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a central small business cybersecurity assistance unit within the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in the Department of Homeland Security. The unit would coordinate information sharing on cybersecurity threats and defensive measures between small businesses and the federal government. Under the bill, 63 small business development centers (SBDCs) would be required to establish regional cybersecurity assistance units to work with small businesses and to coordinate with the central small business cybersecurity assistance unit. Using information from the General Services Administration and from the SBA, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1648 would cost about $2 million annually and $11 million over the 2019-2024 period to create and operate the central small business cybersecurity assistance unit and to provide additional federal funding for the operations of regional cybersecurity assistance units at the SBDCs. Such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
