Federal and State Export Promotion Efforts Have Key Similarities but Vary in Staffing and Budgetary Resources, Performance Metrics, and Extent of Collaboration

The federal government and state trade offices across the country work to  promote exports, offering similar services to similar types of clients,  primarily small businesses. Overlap of Federal and State Services

Like the state trade offices in the five states we visited, most of the 28  state trade offices that responded to a 2013 SIDO survey also provide  export promotion outreach, counseling and training, and trade leads. SBA, by law, offers services  exclusively to small businesses. Commerce has 930 staff in offices in 72 countries abroad. TPCC Initiatives to Promote Federal- State Collaboration Have Had Limited Results, Due in Part to Inconsistent Use of Key Practices

Three TPCC initiatives utilize networks of state and local governments  and other partners to advance federal-state collaboration in promoting  U.S. exports. In prior work, we found that collaboration is enhanced when  collaborating partners follow certain key practices, such as articulating  common outcomes; agreeing on roles and responsibilities; monitoring,  evaluating, and reporting on results; and leveraging resources. In states  we visited, we found weaknesses in the implementation of Export  Outreach Teams, a TPCC initiative that was to be co-led by Commerce  and SBA. Similarly, we found that TPCC’s involvement in a Brookings  Institution effort to engage metropolitan area economic development  groups in export promotion has unknown implications for federal export  promotion efforts and resources. Finally, an agreement between  Commerce (the TPCC Chair) and a national group representing state  trade offices expired without achieving its collaboration objectives and  without Commerce addressing ways for it to share within legal restrictions  more information about its clients with state trade offices. The enhanced federal-state collaboration in export promotion envisioned  in the NEI calls for the implementation of some of these key collaboration  practices. Accordingly, the TPCC identified three initiatives intended to  increase U.S. exports under the NEI and enhance collaboration between  federal and state efforts: (1) Export Outreach Teams, created to increase  local awareness of export promotion resources and facilitate collaboration  among local networks of export promotion service providers; (2)  collaboration with the Brookings Institution to support its Global Cities  Exchange (initially referred to as the Metropolitan Export Initiative), as  part of TPCC efforts to expand export promotion activities in metropolitan  areas; and (3) a memorandum of intent (MOI) with a national organization  that represents state trade offices from across the country, as part of  TPCC efforts to work with national organizations with common interests. First, the team memberships and activities were inconsistent with the  guidance. However, to date, Commerce has not  requested these data. Commerce has no plans to monitor results, which is  inconsistent with key collaboration practices. Instead, this official stated that Commerce lawyers assess  information-sharing requests on a case-by-case basis and offer informal  guidance. Nevertheless,  collaboration is a two-way street, and the nature and extent of the federal  and state relationship varies widely by state, depending on the unique  factors in each state. Recommendations for Executive Action

To improve federal-state collaboration in providing export promotion  services in accordance with the National Export Initiative, and the Export  Enhancement Act of 1992, we recommend that the Secretary of  Commerce, as Chair of the TPCC, take the following three actions:  Improve implementation of the Export Outreach Teams to better  achieve their intended outcomes. Take steps consistent with key practices for collaboration to enhance  TPCC agencies’ partnering on export promotion with nonfederal  entities, such as SIDO and Global Cities. Take steps consistent with key practices to enhance, where possible,  federal information sharing with state trade offices on Commerce’s  export promotion activities. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

In this report, we examine (1) the main characteristics of federal and state  export promotion efforts, including their collaboration, and (2) the extent  to which the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) has  advanced collaboration between state and federal efforts to promote U.S.  exports. In states we visited, we interviewed  staff at state trade offices, federal officials from Commerce and the SBA  District Offices.
Why GAO Did This Study

The 2010 National Export Initiative calls for the federal government to coordinate more with state and local governments and other public and private partners on export promotion. Recently, the TPCC identified three key initiatives to enhance collaboration among federal, state, and other partners. Congress requested that GAO review federal and state collaboration in export promotion.
This report examines (1) the main characteristics of federal and state export promotion efforts, including their collaboration, and (2) the extent to which the TPCC has advanced collaboration between state and federal efforts. GAO analyzed federal and state documents and data from 2012 and 2013; interviewed officials from federal, state, and other export promotion organizations; and visited federal and state trade offices and other relevant organizations in five states selected as a nongeneralizable sample based on their participation in the TPCC initiatives and other factors.

What GAO Found

Federal and state governments share a common interest in promoting exports as a tool for economic growth and creating jobs. Both provide similar and overlapping export promotion services to similar clients, but their staffing, budgetary resources, and ways of measuring performance vary. Located across the country, Department of Commerce (Commerce), Small Business Administration (SBA), and state trade offices provide outreach, counseling and training, and trade leads, mostly to small businesses. In some states, state trade offices have more domestic staff than Commerce offices do. However, Commerce provides more overall coverage abroad, with offices in 72 countries, 15 of which have no state trade office representation. In the five states GAO visited, federal and state collaboration on export promotion varied from working closely in the same location to not collaborating at all, depending on unique factors in each state.
The federal interagency Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) has three initiatives designed to advance federal-state collaboration in promoting U.S. exports by strengthening and expanding networks of state and local governments and other partners. Results of these efforts have been limited, however, in part because their implementation has not consistently followed key collaboration practices. In prior work, GAO found that collaboration is generally enhanced by following key practices, such as articulating common outcomes; agreeing on roles and responsibilities; monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on results; and coordinating resource planning. In the states it visited, GAO found weaknesses in the implementation of Export Outreach Teams, a TPCC initiative. For example, in some cases, activities were missing key participants and were inconsistent with the activities' objectives, in part because SBA is not fully monitoring implementation of the teams across its 68 district offices. Similarly, GAO found that TPCC's involvement in a Brookings Institution initiative to engage metropolitan areas in export promotion has unknown implications for federal export promotion efforts and resources because Commerce lacks a means to monitor the initiative's results. Finally, an agreement between Commerce (the TPCC Chair) and a national group representing state trade offices expired without achieving its collaboration objective or enhancing client information sharing so states can share credit with Commerce for helping companies make export sales. According to Commerce, by law, it cannot release its clients' confidential commercial information, and its policy is to make determinations on releasing information case by case, but it does not provide formal guidance to staff on what information sharing is allowable.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that the TPCC take steps consistent with key practices for collaboration to (1) improve implementation of the Export Outreach Teams to better achieve their intended objectives; (2) enhance TPCC agencies' collaboration on export promotion with nonfederal entities; and (3) enhance federal information sharing with state trade offices, where possible, on Commerce's export promotion activities, for example, by providing formal guidance to staff on allowable information sharing. Commerce and SBA agreed with GAO's recommendations.