Export Promotion

Problems in Commerce's Programs Gao ID: NSIAD-89-44 January 26, 1989

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service's (US&FCS) foreign operations and progress in revitalizing U.S. export promotion efforts.

GAO found that: (1) US&FCS was more responsive to overseas governments and businesses than the Department of State; (2) although the US&FCS budget remained constant, its program costs increased, resulting in staff reductions at overseas posts and reductions in some export promotion activities; (3) the level of participation by some small- and medium-sized business firms decreased because of the elimination of previous government subsidies that encouraged firms to exhibit their goods overseas, and the privatization of some events; (4) a 1980 reorganization of the International Trade Administration (ITA), along with a major realignment, resulted in a substantial number of new assistant-secretary-level positions, compartmentalization of trade activities, and a lack of coordination on trade events requiring joint efforts; (5) ITA had not established formal guidelines outlining various units' duties and responsibilities for planning and executing trade events; (6) the absence of central management authority resulted in poor event selection and inadequate support for some events; (7) overseas posts wasted time in planning and arranging events that were cancelled, resulting in continuous rescheduling; (8) US&FCS developed an automated trade information database with current marketing and trade information, and expected full implementation by February 1989, with costs totalling $39.9 million through 1993; and (9) the US&FCS trade information system would not be fully operational because it was in various stages of development and had many technical, management, and resource problems.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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