U.S. Industry Sector Advisory Committee on Small
and Minority Business
for Trade Policy Matters (ISAC No. 14)
The following information was assembled on the U.S. Trade and
Development Agency (TDA) for the benefit of ISAC members and the
U.S. business community. For further information please visit the
TDA home page at: http://www.tda.gov/
U.S. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
I. Mission Statement
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) assists in the
creation of jobs for Americans by helping U.S. companies pursue
overseas business opportunities. By funding feasibility studies
and related support activities, TDA directly assists American
firms with market entry efforts through early involvement in the
planning stage of infrastructure and industrial projects in the
difficult to penetrate middle-income and developing countries.
II. International Funding Activities
A. Description
TDA provides funding for feasibility studies, definitional
missions and desk studies, orientation visits, trade-related
training, conferences, and symposia that support U.S. business
participation in specific overseas projects.
Feasibility Studies are TDA's primary funding activity. They
evaluate the technical, economic, and financial aspects of a
proposed public or private sector project. The average TDA grant
for feasibility studies is $320,000. The costs associated with
feasibility studies for private investor projects are shared
between TDA and the U.S. firm developing the project. While
public sector project studies can be fully funded by TDA, certain
projects may also require cost sharing.
Definitional Missions or Desk Studies almost always precede the
feasibility study. These efforts entail a quick review of the
proposed project, either in the host country or the U.S., to
better define its scope and the terms of reference to be used in
undertaking the feasibility study. TDA contracts with small and
minority owned U.S. businesses for these reviews.
Other Support Activities are funded by TDA to assist in
positioning U.S. goods and/or services as the option of choice by
the host country if the development project goes forward. These
activities include:
-Orientation Visits to familiarize foreign officials with U.S.
capabilities to meet their project needs;
-Trade-Related Training and Technical Assistance to provide
foreign officials with direct exposure to U.S. technological
capabilities or to assist in overcoming technical issues
associated with the development project in question;
-Conferences and Symposia are undertaken to bring together
foreign and U.S. business leaders to better familiarize them on
the available business opportunities that can best be met with
U.S. goods or services.
-Projects under consideration by Multilateral Development Banks
(e.g. The World Bank) have utilized TDA funds to support U.S.
private sector consultants' participation in the design works and
thus open the door for other U.S. firms to participate in the
follow-on implementation works.
Note: In addition, TDA maintains a comprehensive library of all
completed feasibility and sector studies for reference by U.S.
firms interested in doing business in a particular country or
sector. Copies of these studies are also available through the
National Technical Information Service.
B. Eligibility Criteria for Development Projects
In order for a foreign development project to be eligible for TDA
support, it must meet the following four basic criteria:
1. The project in question must be a development priority of the
"host" country as evidenced by a formal request to TDA
from that country and must be endorsed by the local U.S. Embassy;
2. The project must demonstrate an export potential for U.S.
goods and services that is many times greater than the cost of
the TDA assistance;
3. It must be demonstrated that follow-on financing would be
available to implement the project and that the procurement
process would be open to U.S. firms to supply their goods or
services;
4. The project must present a situation in which it is likely
that U.S. companies will face strong competition from foreign
companies that receive subsidies and other support from their
governments.
C. Key TDA Contacts for Accessing Support
The Trade and Development Agency is run with a small staff of 38
personnel. It is divided by geographic regions of the World with
a Regional Director and staff assigned to each. To learn more
about the TDA programs and available data, U.S. businesses should
contact one or more of the following Regional Directors at the
TDA phone number (703) 875-4357 or Fax number (703) 875-4009:
Africa & Middle East |
East Asia & Pacific Islands |
Central, Eastern & Southern Europe |
Latin America and the Caribbean |
New Independent States, South Asia & Mongolia |
TDA can be reached at the following addresses:
Mailing Address Room 309, SA-16 Washington, D.C. 20523-1602 |
Delivery Address 1621 North Kent Street Suite 309 Arlington, VA 22209 |
III. Funding and Level of Company Participation
A. Allocation of Funds for Fiscal Years 1993 Through 1996
*Other TDA related activities include:
Orientation Visits ($2.4Mil. in FY 1993 and $2.3Mil. in FY 1994);
Technical Assistance ($2.9 and $3.7); Trade-Related Training
($2.1 and $2.4); Multilateral Development Bank Grants ($1.1 and
$0.6); Technical Symposia ($1.5 and $1.0); and Definitional
Missions ($1.1 and $1.2).
For the current operating Fiscal Year 1995, TDA was provided a
total of $65 million, which includes $45 million for overall
programs, $17 million for the Newly Independent States (NIS) of
the former Soviet Union, and $3 million for Eastern Europe. For
Fiscal Year 1996, requested funding is $67 million: $50 million
for overall programs and $17 million for the NIS. Allocations of
funds between Feasibility Studies and Other Activities is
determined by project demands.
B. Geographic Distribution of Participants
From the start of the program in Fiscal Year 1981 until mid
January 1995, TDA has provided $218.0 million for 854 feasibility
studies. In direct support of those efforts, it also provided
$78.7 million for 1,655 other related activities. TDA has
recently assessed the impact of the key components of its program
on small and minority-owned U.S. companies. They found that more
than half of all TDA-funded activities are carried out by small
and minority-owned businesses, who receive approximately 25
percent of all disbursements of TDA funds. The geographic
distribution of these amounts and activities are shown on the
attached two maps of the U.S.
It is TDA's policy that only small or minority-owned U.S.
companies (less than $3.5 million gross revenue by the Small
Business Administration standard or 8(a) firms) may compete for
definitional mission contracts.
Small or minority-owned U.S. businesses are encouraged to
register in the TDA data base and to bid on Definitional Mission
work as well as to pursue subcontracting opportunities on newly
approved feasibility studies announced in the TDA newsletters.
TDA has found that small U.S. companies have participated as
prime contractor or joint venture partner in over 17% of
TDA-funded feasibility studies.
A small Pennsylvania family owned firm, for example, was
subcontracted under a TDA-funded feasibility study to review the
modernization options for Poland's thermal power plants. The
study found that Poland could achieve considerable savings with
only a small investment in the increased efficient use of
electricity. The study opened a new market for this small
business that manufactures tools to clean power plant tubing and
it has realized sales to Poland of over $500,000.
IV. Outreach Efforts
A. Current Efforts
In addition to the outreach efforts already noted, TDA undertakes
the following activities to provide information to new U.S.
businesses that would like to participate in its programs:
-Requests for Proposals (RFP) to conduct feasibility studies are
published in the Commerce Business Daily;
-Information on definitional mission (DM) opportunities reserved
for small or minority-owned businesses are obtainable by calling
TDA's DM Hotline at (703) 875-7447;
-Small and minority U.S. firms who wish to be included in TDA's
consultant database for future DM solicitations should contact
Ms. Della Glenn in the Contracts Office.
-Two newsletters that are available by subscription, TDA
Bi-Weekly and TDA Early Bird, provide U.S. suppliers with
information on TDA supported projects, including RFPs for
feasibility studies;
-TDA publishes its Update that contains current items of interest
on a quarterly basis;
-Regional "Fact Sheets" that summarize TDA activities
by sector are also available.
The library, located at the Agency's offices, maintains final
reports on all TDA activities: feasibility studies, definitional
missions, desk studies, technical symposia, orientation visits,
trade-related training, and technical assistance. Final reports
are available for public review Monday through Friday from 8:30
a.m.-5:30 p.m. Copies of completed feasibility studies must be
purchased through the Department of Commerce's National Technical
Information Services.
B. Planned Areas for Emphasis
TDA plans to continue its traditional range of outreach
activities with an eye toward making them even more productive.
TDA funded feasibility studies contain detailed project/market
information, and the Agency plans to host more business
conferences in the U.S. to share the results of these studies
with American companies. TDA also plans to increase the
sponsorship of visits to the U.S. by delegations of foreign
officials. These efforts have been successful in providing U.S.
companies the opportunity to market their goods and services for
specific projects to the people who will be making the
procurement decisions.
The Agency also plans to expand its outreach efforts noted above
to make more companies, especially small and minority-owned
firms, aware of its programs and how best to participate.
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