[Federal Register: February 5, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 24)] [Notices] [Page 5756-5758] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr05fe99-33] ======================================================================== Notices Federal Register ________________________________________________________________________ This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency statements of organization and functions are examples of documents appearing in this section. ======================================================================== [[Page 5756]] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Foreign Agricultural Service Notice of FY 1999 Emerging Markets Program and Solicitation of Private Sector Proposals AGENCY: Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA. SUMMARY: The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) invites proposals for using technical assistance to promote the export of, and improve the market access for, U.S. agricultural products to emerging markets in fiscal year (FY) 1999 under the Emerging Markets Program (the Program). The Program is authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, as amended (the Act). Proposals will be considered under this announcement from any U.S. private agricultural or agribusiness organization, with certain restrictions as indicated below. Under the Act, up to $10 million are available to fund the Program. All agricultural products except tobacco are eligible for consideration. This notice complements a notice published February 1 announcing the Unified Export Strategy (UES) of FAS. FAS published on February 1, a Federal Register notice on its FY 1999 UES. The UES will provide a means for interested applicants to apply for Program funds. Some applicants may wish to use the UES process and apply under that announcement or to apply under this announcement. The Program will consider all requests whether based on this announcement or the UES announcement. However, the deadline for all applications to the Program is the close of business Friday, March 26, without exception. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To ensure that proposals submitted to the Program under this announcement qualify for funding, it is strongly recommended that any organization considering applying to the Program for FY 1999 funding assistance first obtain a copy of the 1999 Program Guidelines. The Guidelines contain additional information, including eligibility for funding under the Program, details of project budgets, and certain funding limitations that must be taken into account in the preparation of proposals. Requests for Program Guidelines and additional information may be obtained from and applications submitted to: Emerging Markets Office, Foreign Agricultural Service, Room 6506 South Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250- 1032, Fax: (202) 690-4369. The Guidelines are also available on the FAS Home Page on the Internet: http://www.fas.usda.gov/excredits/em- markets/em-markets.html. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Program Definitions: The purpose of the Program is to assist U.S. organizations, public and private, to improve market access and to develop and promote U.S. agricultural products and/or processes in low- to middle-income countries that offer promise of emerging market opportunities in the near- to medium-term. This is to be accomplished by providing U.S. technical assistance through projects and activities in those emerging markets. The Act defines an emerging market as any country that the Secretary of Agriculture determines: (1) Is taking steps toward a market-oriented economy through the food, agriculture, or rural business sectors of the economy of the country; and (2) Has the potential to provide a viable and significant market for United States agricultural commodities or products of United States agricultural commodities. Because funds are limited and the range of potential emerging market countries is worldwide, proposals will be considered which focus on those countries with (1) per capita income less than $9,655 (the ceiling on upper middle income economies as determined by the World Bank [World Development Indicators 1998]); and (2) population greater than 1 million (may encompass suitable regional groupings, e.g., the islands of the Caribbean Basin). Program Priorities and Determining Factors: The underlying premise of the Program is that there are distinctive characteristics of emerging agricultural markets that necessitate or benefit significantly from U.S. governmental assistance before the private sector moves to develop these markets through normal corporate or trade promotional activities. The emphasis is on marketing opportunities where there are risks that the private sector would not normally undertake alone, with funding provided for successful activities on a project-by-project basis. The Program complements the efforts of other FAS marketing programs. Once a market access issue has been addressed by this Program, further market development activities may be considered under other programs such as GSM-102 or GSM-103 credit guarantee programs, the Facilities Guarantee Program, the Suppliers' Guarantee Program, the Market Access Program (MAP), or the Foreign Market Development Program (FMD). In general, priority consideration will be given to those proposals that identify and seek to address specific problems and/or constraints in rural business systems and/or food and agribusiness systems in emerging markets through technical assistance to expand or maintain U.S. agricultural exports. The following will be used to determine the suitability of projects for funding by the Program: 1. Low U.S. market share and significant market potential. Is there a significant lag in U.S. market share of a specific commodity in a given country or countries? Is there an identifiable obstacle or competitive disadvantage facing U.S. exporters (e.g., competitor financing, subsidy, competitor market development activity) or systemic obstacle to imports of U.S. products (e.g., inadequate distribution, infrastructure impediments, insufficient information, lack of financing options or resources)? What is the potential of a project to generate a significant increase in U.S. agricultural exports in the near-to medium-term? (Estimates or projections of trade benefits to commodity exports, and the basis for evaluating such, must be included in proposals submitted to the Program.) 2. Recent change in a market. Is there, for example, a change in a sanitary or phytosanitary trade barrier; a change in an import regime or the lifting of a trade embargo; a shift in the [[Page 5757]] political or financial situation in a country? In order to qualify for Program funding, proposals must also include cost-sharing, the willingness of private agribusiness to commit its own funds along with those of the Program to seek export business in an emerging market. No proposal will be considered without the element of cost-sharing. The Program is intended to complement, not supplant, the efforts of the U.S. private sector. The percentage of private funding proposed for a project will therefore be a critical factor in determining which proposals are funded under the Program. While no minimum or maximum is specified, the absolute amount of private sector funding proposed may also affect the decision to fund a proposal. The type of cost-sharing provided by private industry is also not specified; it may be professional time of staff assigned to the project or actual cash invested in the proposed project. However, proposals in which private industry is willing to commit actual funds, rather than contributing such in-kind items as staff resources, will be given priority consideration. Subject areas for technical assistance activities which promote markets for U.S. agricultural product exports which will be given priority consideration for funding under the Program are: --Projects and activities which use technical assistance designed specifically to improve market access in emerging foreign markets. Examples: activities intended to mitigate the impact of sudden political events or economic and currency crises in order to maintain U.S. market share; responses to time-sensitive market opportunities; --Marketing and distribution of more value-added products, including new products or uses. Examples: food service development; market research on potential for consumer-ready foods or new uses of a product; --Studies of food distribution channels in emerging markets, including infrastructural impediments to U.S. exports; such studies may include cross-commodity activities which focus on problems, e.g., distribution, which affect more than one industry. Examples: grain storage handling and inventory systems development; distribution infrastructure development; --Projects that specifically address various constraints to U.S. exports, including sanitary and phytosanitary issues and other non- tariff barriers. Examples: seminars on U.S. food safety standards and regulations; assessing and addressing pest and disease problems that inhibit U.S. product exports; --Assessments and follow up activities designed to improve country-wide food and business systems, to reduce trade barriers, to increase prospects for U.S. trade and investment in emerging markets, and to determine the potential use for general export credit guarantees, including especially the Facilities Guarantee Program, for commodities, facilities and services. Examples: product needs assessments and market analysis; assessments for using facilities credits to address infrastructural impediments; --Projects that help foreign governments to collect and use market information and to develop free trade policies that benefit American exporters as well as the target country or countries. Examples: agricultural statistical analysis; development of market information systems; policy analysis; --Short-term training in broad aspects of agriculture and agribusiness trade that will benefit U.S. exporters, including seminars and training at trade shows designed to expand the potential for U.S. agricultural exports by focusing on the trading system. Examples: marketing seminars; transportation seminars; training keyed to opening new or expanding existing markets. Ineligible activities include in-store promotions, restaurant promotions, branded product promotions (including labeling), advertising for any of these activities and for the preparation and printing of brochures, flyers, posters, etc. Administrative and operational expenses for trade shows are also ineligible. There are other, related items precluded from Program funding detailed in the FY 1999 Program Guidelines. All agricultural products except tobacco, but including multi- commodities, are eligible for consideration. Additional criteria to be considered in approving projects are outlined under ``Applications'' below. Funding of Proposals: Funding for technical assistance projects is made on the basis of proposals to the Emerging Markets Office. In general, each proposal submitted in response to this announcement will compete against all such proposals received under the same announcement. Proposals will be judged not only on their ability to provide benefits to the organization receiving Program funds, but which also represent the broader interests of the industry which that organization represents. The limited funds of the Program and the range of emerging markets worldwide in which the funds may be used preclude EMO from approving large budgets for single projects. The Program is intended to provide appropriate USDA assistance to projects which also have a significant amount of financial contributions from other sources, especially U.S. private industry. There is no minimum or maximum amount set for EMO- funded projects; however, most are funded at the level of less than $500,000 and for a duration of one year or less. Funding is normally made available on a cost-reimbursable basis. The EMO may consider proposals on an accelerated basis depending on the technical and time requirements of the proposal. These would be covered through the Technical Issues Resolution Fund, and the Quick Response Market Fund. For details concerning these funds, see the Program Guidelines. Multi-year Proposals. These may be considered in the context of a strategic plan and detailed plan of implementation. Funding in such cases is normally provided one year at a time, with commitments beyond the first year subject to interim evaluations. Projects Already in Progress. Funding may be considered for technical assistance projects that have already begun with the support and financial assistance of a private entity, and for which government funding for continuation of the project is requested. Such proposals must meet the criteria of the Program, including cost-sharing for the portion of the project for which government funding is requested. Project Reports: Results of all projects supported financially by the Program must be reported in a performance report to EMO. Because public funds are used to support the project, these reports will be made available to the public by the EMO. Eligible Organizations, Activities: Any United States agricultural and/or agribusiness organization, university, or state department of agriculture, is eligible to participate in the Program. Priority will be given to those proposals that include significant support and involvement by private industry. Proposals from research and consulting organizations will be considered if they provide evidence of substantial participation by U.S. industry. U.S. market development cooperators may seek funding to address priority, market-specific issues and to undertake activities not already serviced by or [[Page 5758]] unsuitable for funding under other FAS marketing programs, e.g., FMD and MAP. Applications: To assist FAS in making determinations under the Program, FAS recommends that all applications contain complete information about the proposed project and that the applications not be longer than ten (10) pages. The recommended information includes: name of person/organization submitting proposal; date of proposal; organization affiliation and address; telephone and fax numbers; full title of proposal; precis of the proposal, including objectives, proposed activities, benefits to U.S. agricultural exports, target country/countries for proposed activities, projected starting date for project, and funding amount requested; summary and detailed description of proposed project; statement of problem (specific trade constraint) to be addressed through the proposed project; benefits to U.S. agricultural exports as a result of the proposed project; supporting market analysis of the target market(s)--brief economic analysis for each commodity and country, including current market conditions and relevant trade data--and existing percentage of U.S. export market share, and the basis or source(s) for this data; information on whether similar activities are or have previously been funded in target country/countries (e.g., under MAP and/or FMD programs); a clearly stated explanation as to why participating organization(s) are unlikely to carry out activities without Federal financial assistance; time line(s) for project implementation; detailed project budget, including other sources of funding for the project and contributions from participating organizations (additional requirements are contained in the Program Guidelines); and Federal tax ID number of the responsible organization. Qualifications of applicant(s) should be included, as an attachment. Applications must be submitted in both printed form and on computer diskette, preferably using Word or WordPerfect, or a compatible format. Signed at Washington, D.C. on February 2, 1999. Tim Galvin, Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service. [FR Doc. 99-2914 Filed 2-4-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3410-10-P