U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS)
U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS)
The U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS) is the unit most frequently used by exporters. It is responsible for the overseas trade officers at 126 foreign posts (formerly part of the State Department), representing 66 countries who are in touch with 48 DOC district offices plus 19 branches. The Omnibus Trade Bill intended to strengthen the US&FCS, but has not yet had much effect, beyond the excellent development of the National Data Bank (NTDP) with the exception of formalizing the unit by statute and placing a US&FCS officer in each multilateral development bank. The latter is intended to help American businesses make use of the export business development banks. (See Exporters-sources.com - index page - 13 on "International Bid Opportunities.") Every exporter has direct access to these DOC district offices, operated by the US&FCS, whose main objective is to assist and inform, whether you are a new-to-export or experienced exporter. Sometimes the foreign trade officers overseas, or the trade specialists in the district offices, do an outstanding job and sometimes their efforts leave much to be desired. People are what makes it work or not work, but it is always hampered by budgetary considerations. Currently these offices are seriously understaffed, so do not let a less than satisfactory experience prevent you from trying again, for these offices are the primary point of DOC contact, both here and abroad. The US&FCS office can be reached at (202) 377-5777. See also Appendices A and B.
Many of the US&FCS programs are individually emphasized in EXPORTERS-SOURCES.COM - INDEX PAGE -in connection with various stages of the export process, from product and target determination to country assessment and prospect search, to prospect credibility and qualification. (See Exporters-sources.com - index page - 7, 8, 9, and 12. Exporters-sources.com - index page - 9 also contains a brief description of most of the ITA or US&FCS services.) The US&FCS programs range from trade fairs and missions to export statistics. The research and reporting services call on the resources of all ITA units and foreign posts, as well as on theWashington desk officers in the International Economic Policy unit and the industrial sector offices in Trade Development. They provide reports covering Industry Sector Analysis, Overseas Business Reports, Foreign Economic Trends, and International Market Research, the latter being prepared by contract researching in the subject country or region. This wealth of information can be accessed through the National Trade Data Bank (NTDB), which was mandated in the 1988 Omnibus Trade Bill.
The NTDB has acquired the salvageable portions of the Commercial Information Management System (CIMS), which contained considerable market research and foreign intelligence but never lived up to its promise of timeliness and accessibility. The new NTDB facility combines DOC market research reports and information in its database supplied by more than 15 federal agencies, in addition to all the divisions of the DOC. Two software programs are furnished that permit pyramid style search from general menus to sub-topics or system-wide searches for specifics. The database contains 46 programs, covering everything from "how to" guides to the complete 1991 Industrial Outlook. It contains the 1990 World Factbook; market research; world stock prices; indices; information on agricultural production; investments; import and export statistics by country, commodity and exports by state, as well as the Foreign Trade Index.
The database is offered only on CD-ROM and is sent monthly on a disc containing more than 90,000 updated and current documents. Each issue replaces all earlier issues, eliminating the need for updating records. It can be viewed on screen or placed on spreadsheets and/or packages.
The Comparison Shopping Service and the World Traders Data Reports (WTDRs) originate from US&FCS, who also assists ITA in publishing the international trade magazine, Business America, and the Basic Guide to Exporting. Another US&FCS publication, Commercial News USA, is directed to overseas importers and features new U.S. products as offered by our exporters. The US&FCS also maintains the Export Counseling Center in Washington, DC, and the Caribbean Basin Information (CBI) Center. Many of US&FCS's past products, programs, data, and efforts were updated and new products added while attempting to develop the CIMS system. It is hoped that the original concept of an on-line system will continue to be developed to link the U.S. district offices and the foreign posts with their nonsecret foreign commercial intelligence for one common base.
Relative
multilateral development bank fcs programs representing 66 international bid development banks omnibus trade budgetary considerations satisfactory experience trade specialists target country assessment main objective prospect search ntdp american businesses export business direct access index page brief description ita
The U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS) is the unit most frequently used by exporters. It is responsible for the overseas trade officers at 126 foreign posts (formerly part of the State Department), representing 66 countries who are in touch with 48 DOC district offices plus 19 branches. The Omnibus Trade Bill intended to strengthen the US&FCS, but has not yet had much effect, beyond the excellent development of the National Data Bank (NTDP) with the exception of formalizing the unit by statute and placing a US&FCS officer in each multilateral development bank. The latter is intended to help American businesses make use of the export business development banks. (See Exporters-sources.com - index page - 13 on "International Bid Opportunities.") Every exporter has direct access to these DOC district offices, operated by the US&FCS, whose main objective is to assist and inform, whether you are a new-to-export or experienced exporter. Sometimes the foreign trade officers overseas, or the trade specialists in the district offices, do an outstanding job and sometimes their efforts leave much to be desired. People are what makes it work or not work, but it is always hampered by budgetary considerations. Currently these offices are seriously understaffed, so do not let a less than satisfactory experience prevent you from trying again, for these offices are the primary point of DOC contact, both here and abroad. The US&FCS office can be reached at (202) 377-5777. See also Appendices A and B.
Many of the US&FCS programs are individually emphasized in EXPORTERS-SOURCES.COM - INDEX PAGE -in connection with various stages of the export process, from product and target determination to country assessment and prospect search, to prospect credibility and qualification. (See Exporters-sources.com - index page - 7, 8, 9, and 12. Exporters-sources.com - index page - 9 also contains a brief description of most of the ITA or US&FCS services.) The US&FCS programs range from trade fairs and missions to export statistics. The research and reporting services call on the resources of all ITA units and foreign posts, as well as on theWashington desk officers in the International Economic Policy unit and the industrial sector offices in Trade Development. They provide reports covering Industry Sector Analysis, Overseas Business Reports, Foreign Economic Trends, and International Market Research, the latter being prepared by contract researching in the subject country or region. This wealth of information can be accessed through the National Trade Data Bank (NTDB), which was mandated in the 1988 Omnibus Trade Bill.
The NTDB has acquired the salvageable portions of the Commercial Information Management System (CIMS), which contained considerable market research and foreign intelligence but never lived up to its promise of timeliness and accessibility. The new NTDB facility combines DOC market research reports and information in its database supplied by more than 15 federal agencies, in addition to all the divisions of the DOC. Two software programs are furnished that permit pyramid style search from general menus to sub-topics or system-wide searches for specifics. The database contains 46 programs, covering everything from "how to" guides to the complete 1991 Industrial Outlook. It contains the 1990 World Factbook; market research; world stock prices; indices; information on agricultural production; investments; import and export statistics by country, commodity and exports by state, as well as the Foreign Trade Index.
The database is offered only on CD-ROM and is sent monthly on a disc containing more than 90,000 updated and current documents. Each issue replaces all earlier issues, eliminating the need for updating records. It can be viewed on screen or placed on spreadsheets and/or packages.
The Comparison Shopping Service and the World Traders Data Reports (WTDRs) originate from US&FCS, who also assists ITA in publishing the international trade magazine, Business America, and the Basic Guide to Exporting. Another US&FCS publication, Commercial News USA, is directed to overseas importers and features new U.S. products as offered by our exporters. The US&FCS also maintains the Export Counseling Center in Washington, DC, and the Caribbean Basin Information (CBI) Center. Many of US&FCS's past products, programs, data, and efforts were updated and new products added while attempting to develop the CIMS system. It is hoped that the original concept of an on-line system will continue to be developed to link the U.S. district offices and the foreign posts with their nonsecret foreign commercial intelligence for one common base.
Relative
multilateral development bank fcs programs representing 66 international bid development banks omnibus trade budgetary considerations satisfactory experience trade specialists target country assessment main objective prospect search ntdp american businesses export business direct access index page brief description ita
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