The BFTP retained Nexus Associates, Inc. – an economics and management consulting firm – to conduct an independent, objective evaluation of the economic impact of the program from 1989-2001, focusing on its role in providing financing and related services to private firms in Pennsylvania. This evaluation represents the second impact analysis conducted by Nexus Associates for the BFTP. The first study, conducted in 1999, covered the period from 1989-1996 and its methodology and results were accepted by both the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) and the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC).

This study utilizes the same rigorous methodology as the 1999 evaluation, extending the study period through 2001. Similar to the first study:

• The analysis makes use of in-depth case studies to assess the specific role of the BFTP in the success of participating companies.
  
• Rather than relying on client reported impacts, the analysis compares the performance of BFTP clients to a “control” group of similar companies that have not received BFTP assistance. Known as a quasi-experimental design, this approach enables program impacts to be isolated from other factors affecting company performance including firm size, geographical location, industry trends and general economic conditions.
  
• This comparative analysis provides a solid foundation for estimating the additional value added, employment and tax revenues in Pennsylvania as a whole that resulted directly from the BFTP program between 1989 and 2001.

The usefulness of this study is twofold: it provides a measure of the impact of the BFTP to date, and, in so doing, it also presents information that will enable the BFTP to consider refinements to its strategies and services as it enters its third decade of service to the Commonwealth.