User Fee Schedule for Trade Promotion Services, 35355-35357 [2012-14472]
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 114 / Wednesday, June 13, 2012 / Notices
• In the case of a trade association or
trade organization, the applicant must
certify that for each company to be
represented by the association or trade
organizations, the products and/or
services the represented company seeks
to export are either produced in the
United States or, if not, marketed under
the name of a U.S. firm and have at least
fifty-one percent U.S. content.
Selection Criteria for Participation
Contacts
U.S. Commercial Service Domestic
Contact
Aileen Nandi, Senior Commercial
Officer, San Jose U.S. Export
Assistance Center, 408–535–2757, ext.
102, Aileen.Nandi@trade.gov.
Gabriela Zelaya, International Trade
Specialist, San Jose U.S. Export
Assistance Center, 408–535–2757, ext.
107, Gabriela.Zelaya@trade.gov.
Elnora Moye,
Trade Program Assistant.
Timeframe for Recruitment and
Applications
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Selection will be based on the
following criteria:
• Suitability of a company’s (or in the
case of a trade association or trade
organization, represented companies’)
products or services to the mission’s
goals
• Company’s (or in the case of a trade
association or trade organization,
represented companies’) potential for
business in Australia, including
likelihood of exports resulting from the
trade mission
• Consistency of the applicant’s (or in
the case of a trade association or trade
organization, represented companies’)
goals and objectives with the stated
scope of the trade mission
Referrals from political organizations
and any documents containing
references to partisan political activities
(including political contributions) will
be removed from an applicant’s
submission and not considered during
the selection process.
AGENCY:
Mission recruitment will be
conducted in an open and public
manner, including publication in the
Federal Register, posting on the
Commerce Department trade mission
calendar (https://export.gov/
trademissions/) and other Internet web
sites, press releases to general and trade
media, direct mail, notices by industry
trade associations and other multiplier
groups, and publicity at industry
meetings, symposia, conferences, and
trade shows.
Recruitment for the mission will
begin immediately and close on July 15,
2012. Selection decisions will be made
on a rolling basis until 10–12
participants are selected. Although
applications will be accepted through
July 15, 2012, interested U.S. firms and
trade associations are encouraged to
submit their applications as soon as
possible. We will inform applicants of
selection decisions as the decisions are
made. Applications received after July
15, 2012 will be considered only if
space and scheduling constraints
permit.
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14:45 Jun 12, 2012
Jkt 226001
U.S. Commercial Service Australia
Contacts
Joe Kaesshaefer, Senior Commercial
Officer, American Consulate
General—Sydney, Tel: +61–2–9373–
9201, Joe.Kaesshaefer@trade.gov.
Monique Roos, Commercial Specialist,
American Consulate General—
Sydney, Tel: +61–2–9373–9210,
Monique.Roos@trade.gov.
[FR Doc. 2012–14452 Filed 6–12–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–FP–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[Docket No. 120216141–2141–01]
RIN 0625–XA17
User Fee Schedule for Trade
Promotion Services
U.S. & Foreign Commercial
Service, International Trade
Administration, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and request for comment.
The U.S. & Foreign
Commercial Service (US&FCS) within
the International Trade Administration
(ITA) publishes this notice to announce
its intent to adjust user fees in light of
an independent cost of service study
finding, which concluded that the
US&FCS is not fully covering its costs
for providing trade promotion services
under the current fee structure. ITA
provides a wide range of trade
promotion information and services to
U.S. businesses that are exporting or
seeking to export. The services
considered here are a subset of ITA
activities that involve relatively more
intensive time engagements with
particular client firms; ITA will
continue to provide its core information
and services without charge. The
primary objective of the adjustment to
the User Fee Schedule is to ensure that
the fees for the more intensive services
reflect, to the extent possible, the actual
SUMMARY:
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Fmt 4703
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35355
costs incurred by the United States for
providing these more intensive trade
promotion services. The fee revenue is
expected to continue to contribute to
ITA’s capabilities for assisting U.S.
businesses in accessing export markets.
In addition, in revising the user fees,
the US&FCS proposes to revise the
small & medium-sized enterprises
(SME) hourly rate discount as well as
the SME incentive program piloted in
2008. The US&FCS has historically
offered a discount to SME’s, defined as
those which employ 500 or less persons.
Under the User Fee Schedule proposed
in this notice, US&FCS will offer a
discount of 50 percent per hour to
SMEs.
The purpose of this notice is to align
user fees and authorized activities with
actual program costs; and improve our
ability to properly recover direct and
indirect costs associated with service
delivery.
DATES: We will consider all comments
that we receive on or before 60 days
after publication in the Federal
Register.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal:
www.Regulations.gov.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery:
Docket No. ITA–2012–0001 U.S. &
Foreign Commercial Service, Office of
Strategic Planning & Resource
Management, 1400 Constitution Avenue
NW., Rm. C125, Washington, DC 20235.
Supporting documents and any
comments we receive on this docket
may be viewed at https://
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail; D
ITA–2012–0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The statutory mission of US&FCS is to
‘‘place primary emphasis on the
promotion of exports of goods and
services from the United States,
particularly by small businesses and
medium-sized businesses, and on the
protection of United States business
interests abroad * * * through activities
that include assisting United States
exporters.’’ 15 U.S.C. 4721(b). The
statute further defines the term ‘‘United
States exporter’’ at 15 U.S.C. 4721(j) as
a U.S. citizen, U.S. corporation, or
foreign corporation that is more than
95% U.S.-owned that ‘‘exports or seeks
to export, goods or services produced in
the United States.’’ User fees may be
collected from U.S. exporters that meet
the Service Eligibility Policy issued in
FY 2011.
The Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) Circular A–25 encourages the
E:\FR\FM\13JNN1.SGM
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35356
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 114 / Wednesday, June 13, 2012 / Notices
full recovery of costs through user fees
for an appropriate share of goods and
services provided to recipients of
benefits beyond those accruing to the
general public. Specifically, section 6 of
Circular A–25 states that ‘‘when a
service (or privilege) provides special
benefits to an identifiable recipient
beyond those that accrue to the general
public, a charge will be imposed (to
recover the full cost to the Federal
Government for providing the special
benefit, or the market price).’’ A ‘‘user
fee’’ is the amount paid by a recipient
of a special benefit beyond those
benefits accruing to the general public.
A ‘‘special benefit’’ may accrue and a
user fee be imposed when a government
service: (a) Enables the beneficiary to
obtain more immediate or substantial
gains or values than those that accrue to
the general public; (b) is performed at
the request or for the convenience of the
recipient, and is beyond the services
regularly received by members of the
same industry or group or by the general
public; or (c) provides business stability
or contributes to public confidence in
the business activity of the beneficiary.
The direct or indirect cost of a service
provided by the Federal Government
includes, but is not limited to, the
following:
• Direct and indirect personnel costs,
including salaries and fringe benefits
such as medical insurance and
retirement. Retirement costs should
include all (funded or unfunded)
accrued costs not covered by employee
contributions as specified in Circular A–
11.
• Physical overhead, consulting, or
other indirect costs including material
and supply costs, utilities, insurance
travel, and rents or imputed rents on
land, buildings, and equipment.
• The management and supervisory
costs.
• The costs of enforcement,
collection, research, establishment of
standards, and regulation, including any
environmental impact statements.
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User Fee Schedule
The US&FCS offers Trade Promotion
Services to U.S. businesses that consist
of Standard Services and Customized
Services. For each of these services, the
US&FCS collects fees according to the
User Fee Schedule that is made
available on its Web site and agency
publications. The ‘‘Standard Services’’
VerDate Mar<15>2010
14:45 Jun 12, 2012
Jkt 226001
listed in the User Fee Schedule are
services that are performed in the same
manner by all US&FCS field units.
Other ‘‘Customized Services,’’ not
shown in the chart below, entail
substantive variation of the scope of
work.
The US&FCS proposes to modify the
user fees for both Standard Services and
Customized Services. The Standard
Services described below will no longer
be assigned a standard global price. The
proposed new User Fee Schedule
provided below lists each standard
service and the estimated number of
hours for completion of service delivery.
To determine the fee for any service, a
flat hourly rate of $55.33 is multiplied
by the estimated workload hours. Direct
costs, such as transportation or an
interpreter, will be discussed with the
client and assessed in addition to the
user fee. For Customized Services, the
estimated workload hours will vary but
the user fee will be calculated based on
the flat rate of $55.33 per hour.
The Standard Services that will be
assessed under the new fees are
described below.
1. Business Service Provider is a
program where the US&FCS offers both
U.S. and non-U.S. professional service
providers the opportunity to introduce
their services to U.S. exporters via the
web. This service helps U.S. or foreign
firms promote services which facilitate
export transactions, such as market
assessments, financing, accounting or
legal services. The duration of the web
promotional message is one year.
2. Featured U.S. Exporter is a service
where the US&FCS provides a virtual
directory of U.S. products featured on
USFCS Web sites around the world. It
enables U.S. exporters an opportunity to
target specific markets in the local
language of business. The duration of
the advertisement is one year.
3. Gold Key Service is a service where
the US&FCS arranges meetings in
foreign markets to match U.S. exporters
with prospective sales agents or
distributors, manufacturers, licensees,
franchisees or strategic partners. The
U.S. exporter identifies the type of firm
it desires US&FCS to identify, screen,
and evaluate according to criteria
established by the U.S. exporter. The
number of firms to be identified is
determined by the client. A market
briefing is provided.
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
4. International Company Profile is a
service where the US&FCS provides a
research report on a prospective
business partner’s commercial viability
and financial circumstances, which
includes topics such as business
registration, credit rating, profit and loss
data, pending litigation, reputation, and
US&FCS opinion about the firm and
export prospects.
5. International Partner Service is a
service where the US&FCS provides a
report concerning prospective sales
agents or distributors, manufacturers,
licensees, franchisees or strategic
partners. The U.S. exporter identifies
the type of firm it desires US&FCS to
identify, screen, and evaluate according
to criteria established by the U.S.
exporter. The number of firms to be
identified is determined by the client.
6. Quicktake is a service where the
US&FCS assists U.S. exporters to
quickly determine which among more
than 30 European markets offer the best
export opportunities for a specific
product or service and provides
direction on how to enter those markets.
Pricing Discounts
The US&FCS currently offers various
discounts to SMEs. For all SMEs, the
hourly rate is discounted 65 percent. In
addition, the SME Incentive Program
offers new-to-exporting firms a 50
percent discount from the full rate on
the first Gold Key service, International
Company Profile service or International
Partner Search service, provided the
firm meets the following criteria: (1) The
firm’s products are eligible for US&FCS
fee-based assistance; (2) the firm has not
exported in the prior 24 months; and (3)
the firm has not previously received
assistance from US&FCS. Other
discounts involving bundling or bulk
service orders were also offered in the
past.
Under this notice, US&FCS proposes
to eliminate the SME incentive program.
A SME discount of 50 percent per hour
will be offered as an exception to the
OMB full cost recovery guidance,
resulting in a hourly rate of $27.66 for
all SMEs.
Full cost rates and SME discount rates
are provided on the next page so that
the public can comment upon the
implications of full and SME rates.
E:\FR\FM\13JNN1.SGM
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35357
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 114 / Wednesday, June 13, 2012 / Notices
PROPOSED USER FEE SCHEDULE
Standard service
Average
service
delivery
hours
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Business Service Provider ........................
Featured U.S. Exporter ......................
Gold Key Service .......
International Company
Profile ......................
International Partner
Search ....................
Quicktake ...................
Proposed fee for
average workload
Full
14:45 Jun 12, 2012
Full
Dollar change in
pricing
SME
Full
Percentage change in
pricing
SME
Full
SME
12
664
332
600
300
64
32
11
11
6
64
332
3,541
166
1,771
300
2,300
150
700
32
1,241
16
1,071
11
54
11
153
23
1,273
636
900
600
373
36
41
6
49
15
2,711
830
1,356
830
1,400
750
500
750
1,311
80
856
80
94
11
171
11
Determining the Cost of Performing
Each Service
The cost of service methodology
developed by US&FCS was designed to
bring the organization closer to full cost
recovery guidance set forth in OMB
Circular A–25. To set prices that are
‘‘self sustaining,’’ the US&FCS had to
determine the true cost of providing
various trade promotion services.
Federal Accounting Standards permit
US&FCS to use an activity-based costing
model to determine the true cost of
services listed in the proposed User Fee
Schedule. The activities were defined in
accordance with the US&FCS list of
eleven (11) services offered by US&FCS,
including both standard (6) and
customized (5) services.
As part of the cost of service study,
the US&FCS conducted a workload
survey to obtain a more accurate
estimate of the true cost for delivery of
specific services. The workload survey
was designed and distributed to all
US&FCS international and domestic
field units. An operational audit
technique was used for this workload
survey. The operational data is based on
level of effort exerted by a cross-section
of staff members who are subject matter
experts and practitioners. The
independent contractor commissioned
for the cost of service study reviewed
the workflow process for delivery of
standard and customized services,
breaking out the discrete steps of each
activity to obtain the estimated time to
complete each step, then combined the
step workload to determine the total
workload estimate per service. The data
submitted by various US&FCS field
units was then aggregated to determine
the global average of workload for each
standard or customized service.
The proposed global average hourly
rate of $55.33 was based on actual
staffing data and payroll for staff
specifically engaged in the delivery of
trade promotion services, rather than
data aggregated from US&FCS staff as a
VerDate Mar<15>2010
SME
Current fee
schedule
Jkt 226001
whole. This resulted in a weighted
average hourly rate that did not include
overhead, benefits and other burdening
factors. (These burdening factors were
later added to produce the burdened
hourly rate of $55.33.) Using FY2010
ITA budget data, fringe benefits and
non-labor related costs (e.g. materials,
supplies, rent, utilities, equipment)
were prorated to determine the
burdening rate that was to be added to
the hourly rate. This resulted in an
hourly rate that accounts for all
applicable labor and non-labor costs
specifically related to the delivery of
services, which is consistent with
federal accounting standards.
Conclusion
Based on the information provided
above, the US&FCS believes its
proposed fees are consistent with the
objective of OMB Circular A–25 to
‘‘promote efficient allocation of the
nation’s resources by establishing
charges for special benefits provided to
the recipient that are at least as great as
the cost to the U.S. Government of
providing the special benefits * * * ’’
OMB Circular A–25(5)(b).
Ms.
Erin Sullivan, U.S. & Foreign
Commercial Service, Office of Strategic
Planning & Resource Management, 1400
Constitution Avenue NW., Rm. C125,
Washington, DC 20235, Phone: (202)
482–1539.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Elnora Moye,
Trade Program Assistant.
[FR Doc. 2012–14472 Filed 6–12–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–FP–P
PO 00000
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Sfmt 4703
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XC051
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species;
Commercial Atlantic Region NonSandbar Large Coastal Shark Fishery
Opening Date
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; fishery opening date.
AGENCY:
NMFS is announcing the
opening date of the commercial Atlantic
region non-sandbar large coastal shark
fishery. This action is necessary to
inform fishermen and dealers about the
fishery opening date.
DATES: The commercial Atlantic region
non-sandbar large coastal shark fishery
will open on July 15, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Karyl Brewster-Geisz or Guy DuBeck,
301–427–8503; fax 301–713–1917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Atlantic shark fisheries are managed
under the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic
Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery
Management Plan (FMP), its
amendments, and its implementing
regulations found at 50 CFR part 635
issued under authority of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (16
U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).
On January 24, 2012 (77 FR 3393), the
National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) published a final rule that
established quota levels and opening
dates for the 2012 Atlantic commercial
shark fisheries. In the final rule, we
stated that the 2012 Atlantic nonsandbar large coastal shark (LCS) fishery
would open on either the effective date
of the final rule implementing the
Atlantic HMS electronic dealer
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\13JNN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 13, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35355-35357]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-14472]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[Docket No. 120216141-2141-01]
RIN 0625-XA17
User Fee Schedule for Trade Promotion Services
AGENCY: U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade
Administration, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS) within the
International Trade Administration (ITA) publishes this notice to
announce its intent to adjust user fees in light of an independent cost
of service study finding, which concluded that the US&FCS is not fully
covering its costs for providing trade promotion services under the
current fee structure. ITA provides a wide range of trade promotion
information and services to U.S. businesses that are exporting or
seeking to export. The services considered here are a subset of ITA
activities that involve relatively more intensive time engagements with
particular client firms; ITA will continue to provide its core
information and services without charge. The primary objective of the
adjustment to the User Fee Schedule is to ensure that the fees for the
more intensive services reflect, to the extent possible, the actual
costs incurred by the United States for providing these more intensive
trade promotion services. The fee revenue is expected to continue to
contribute to ITA's capabilities for assisting U.S. businesses in
accessing export markets.
In addition, in revising the user fees, the US&FCS proposes to
revise the small & medium-sized enterprises (SME) hourly rate discount
as well as the SME incentive program piloted in 2008. The US&FCS has
historically offered a discount to SME's, defined as those which employ
500 or less persons. Under the User Fee Schedule proposed in this
notice, US&FCS will offer a discount of 50 percent per hour to SMEs.
The purpose of this notice is to align user fees and authorized
activities with actual program costs; and improve our ability to
properly recover direct and indirect costs associated with service
delivery.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 60
days after publication in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.Regulations.gov.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Docket No. ITA-2012-0001 U.S. &
Foreign Commercial Service, Office of Strategic Planning & Resource
Management, 1400 Constitution Avenue NW., Rm. C125, Washington, DC
20235.
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may
be viewed at https://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail; D ITA-2012-
0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The statutory mission of US&FCS is to ``place primary emphasis on
the promotion of exports of goods and services from the United States,
particularly by small businesses and medium-sized businesses, and on
the protection of United States business interests abroad * * * through
activities that include assisting United States exporters.'' 15 U.S.C.
4721(b). The statute further defines the term ``United States
exporter'' at 15 U.S.C. 4721(j) as a U.S. citizen, U.S. corporation, or
foreign corporation that is more than 95% U.S.-owned that ``exports or
seeks to export, goods or services produced in the United States.''
User fees may be collected from U.S. exporters that meet the Service
Eligibility Policy issued in FY 2011.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-25 encourages
the
[[Page 35356]]
full recovery of costs through user fees for an appropriate share of
goods and services provided to recipients of benefits beyond those
accruing to the general public. Specifically, section 6 of Circular A-
25 states that ``when a service (or privilege) provides special
benefits to an identifiable recipient beyond those that accrue to the
general public, a charge will be imposed (to recover the full cost to
the Federal Government for providing the special benefit, or the market
price).'' A ``user fee'' is the amount paid by a recipient of a special
benefit beyond those benefits accruing to the general public. A
``special benefit'' may accrue and a user fee be imposed when a
government service: (a) Enables the beneficiary to obtain more
immediate or substantial gains or values than those that accrue to the
general public; (b) is performed at the request or for the convenience
of the recipient, and is beyond the services regularly received by
members of the same industry or group or by the general public; or (c)
provides business stability or contributes to public confidence in the
business activity of the beneficiary.
The direct or indirect cost of a service provided by the Federal
Government includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Direct and indirect personnel costs, including salaries
and fringe benefits such as medical insurance and retirement.
Retirement costs should include all (funded or unfunded) accrued costs
not covered by employee contributions as specified in Circular A-11.
Physical overhead, consulting, or other indirect costs
including material and supply costs, utilities, insurance travel, and
rents or imputed rents on land, buildings, and equipment.
The management and supervisory costs.
The costs of enforcement, collection, research,
establishment of standards, and regulation, including any environmental
impact statements.
User Fee Schedule
The US&FCS offers Trade Promotion Services to U.S. businesses that
consist of Standard Services and Customized Services. For each of these
services, the US&FCS collects fees according to the User Fee Schedule
that is made available on its Web site and agency publications. The
``Standard Services'' listed in the User Fee Schedule are services that
are performed in the same manner by all US&FCS field units. Other
``Customized Services,'' not shown in the chart below, entail
substantive variation of the scope of work.
The US&FCS proposes to modify the user fees for both Standard
Services and Customized Services. The Standard Services described below
will no longer be assigned a standard global price. The proposed new
User Fee Schedule provided below lists each standard service and the
estimated number of hours for completion of service delivery. To
determine the fee for any service, a flat hourly rate of $55.33 is
multiplied by the estimated workload hours. Direct costs, such as
transportation or an interpreter, will be discussed with the client and
assessed in addition to the user fee. For Customized Services, the
estimated workload hours will vary but the user fee will be calculated
based on the flat rate of $55.33 per hour.
The Standard Services that will be assessed under the new fees are
described below.
1. Business Service Provider is a program where the US&FCS offers
both U.S. and non-U.S. professional service providers the opportunity
to introduce their services to U.S. exporters via the web. This service
helps U.S. or foreign firms promote services which facilitate export
transactions, such as market assessments, financing, accounting or
legal services. The duration of the web promotional message is one
year.
2. Featured U.S. Exporter is a service where the US&FCS provides a
virtual directory of U.S. products featured on USFCS Web sites around
the world. It enables U.S. exporters an opportunity to target specific
markets in the local language of business. The duration of the
advertisement is one year.
3. Gold Key Service is a service where the US&FCS arranges meetings
in foreign markets to match U.S. exporters with prospective sales
agents or distributors, manufacturers, licensees, franchisees or
strategic partners. The U.S. exporter identifies the type of firm it
desires US&FCS to identify, screen, and evaluate according to criteria
established by the U.S. exporter. The number of firms to be identified
is determined by the client. A market briefing is provided.
4. International Company Profile is a service where the US&FCS
provides a research report on a prospective business partner's
commercial viability and financial circumstances, which includes topics
such as business registration, credit rating, profit and loss data,
pending litigation, reputation, and US&FCS opinion about the firm and
export prospects.
5. International Partner Service is a service where the US&FCS
provides a report concerning prospective sales agents or distributors,
manufacturers, licensees, franchisees or strategic partners. The U.S.
exporter identifies the type of firm it desires US&FCS to identify,
screen, and evaluate according to criteria established by the U.S.
exporter. The number of firms to be identified is determined by the
client.
6. Quicktake is a service where the US&FCS assists U.S. exporters
to quickly determine which among more than 30 European markets offer
the best export opportunities for a specific product or service and
provides direction on how to enter those markets.
Pricing Discounts
The US&FCS currently offers various discounts to SMEs. For all
SMEs, the hourly rate is discounted 65 percent. In addition, the SME
Incentive Program offers new-to-exporting firms a 50 percent discount
from the full rate on the first Gold Key service, International Company
Profile service or International Partner Search service, provided the
firm meets the following criteria: (1) The firm's products are eligible
for US&FCS fee-based assistance; (2) the firm has not exported in the
prior 24 months; and (3) the firm has not previously received
assistance from US&FCS. Other discounts involving bundling or bulk
service orders were also offered in the past.
Under this notice, US&FCS proposes to eliminate the SME incentive
program. A SME discount of 50 percent per hour will be offered as an
exception to the OMB full cost recovery guidance, resulting in a hourly
rate of $27.66 for all SMEs.
Full cost rates and SME discount rates are provided on the next
page so that the public can comment upon the implications of full and
SME rates.
[[Page 35357]]
Proposed User Fee Schedule
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Average Proposed fee for Current fee schedule Dollar change in Percentage change in
service average workload ------------------------ pricing pricing
Standard service delivery ------------------------ -----------------------------------------------
hours Full SME Full SME Full SME Full SME
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Business Service Provider................... 12 664 332 600 300 64 32 11 11
Featured U.S. Exporter...................... 6 332 166 300 150 32 16 11 11
Gold Key Service............................ 64 3,541 1,771 2,300 700 1,241 1,071 54 153
International Company Profile............... 23 1,273 636 900 600 373 36 41 6
International Partner Search................ 49 2,711 1,356 1,400 500 1,311 856 94 171
Quicktake................................... 15 830 830 750 750 80 80 11 11
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Determining the Cost of Performing Each Service
The cost of service methodology developed by US&FCS was designed to
bring the organization closer to full cost recovery guidance set forth
in OMB Circular A-25. To set prices that are ``self sustaining,'' the
US&FCS had to determine the true cost of providing various trade
promotion services.
Federal Accounting Standards permit US&FCS to use an activity-based
costing model to determine the true cost of services listed in the
proposed User Fee Schedule. The activities were defined in accordance
with the US&FCS list of eleven (11) services offered by US&FCS,
including both standard (6) and customized (5) services.
As part of the cost of service study, the US&FCS conducted a
workload survey to obtain a more accurate estimate of the true cost for
delivery of specific services. The workload survey was designed and
distributed to all US&FCS international and domestic field units. An
operational audit technique was used for this workload survey. The
operational data is based on level of effort exerted by a cross-section
of staff members who are subject matter experts and practitioners. The
independent contractor commissioned for the cost of service study
reviewed the workflow process for delivery of standard and customized
services, breaking out the discrete steps of each activity to obtain
the estimated time to complete each step, then combined the step
workload to determine the total workload estimate per service. The data
submitted by various US&FCS field units was then aggregated to
determine the global average of workload for each standard or
customized service.
The proposed global average hourly rate of $55.33 was based on
actual staffing data and payroll for staff specifically engaged in the
delivery of trade promotion services, rather than data aggregated from
US&FCS staff as a whole. This resulted in a weighted average hourly
rate that did not include overhead, benefits and other burdening
factors. (These burdening factors were later added to produce the
burdened hourly rate of $55.33.) Using FY2010 ITA budget data, fringe
benefits and non-labor related costs (e.g. materials, supplies, rent,
utilities, equipment) were prorated to determine the burdening rate
that was to be added to the hourly rate. This resulted in an hourly
rate that accounts for all applicable labor and non-labor costs
specifically related to the delivery of services, which is consistent
with federal accounting standards.
Conclusion
Based on the information provided above, the US&FCS believes its
proposed fees are consistent with the objective of OMB Circular A-25 to
``promote efficient allocation of the nation's resources by
establishing charges for special benefits provided to the recipient
that are at least as great as the cost to the U.S. Government of
providing the special benefits * * * '' OMB Circular A-25(5)(b).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Erin Sullivan, U.S. & Foreign
Commercial Service, Office of Strategic Planning & Resource Management,
1400 Constitution Avenue NW., Rm. C125, Washington, DC 20235, Phone:
(202) 482-1539.
Elnora Moye,
Trade Program Assistant.
[FR Doc. 2012-14472 Filed 6-12-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-FP-P
