The Advocacy Center

The Advocacy Center exists at the intersection between business and foreign policy, where commercial diplomacy efforts are required to let U.S. business compete fairly.

Our mission is to coordinate U.S. Government resources and authority in order to level the playing field on behalf of U.S. business interests as they compete against foreign firms for specific international public contracts, both civilian and defense sales.

The Advocacy Center also has Commercial Service liaisons to five Multilateral Development Banks to assist U.S. firms and advocate on their behalf when they compete for Bank tenders.

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• Government-to-Government (G2G)

• A counter weight to foreign government political pressure • Intended to promote fairness in the tender processes

The Advocacy Center and Guidelines were developed for project- focused, company specific issues.

USG Advocacy is:

Advocacy vs. Policy

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Issues below are NOT Trade Advocacy:• Market Access Issues• Enforcement of Treaties/Trade Agreements• Overall Business Climate• Judicial/Arbitral Actions• Routine Commercial Assistance

Advocacy Process

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•Advocacy Questionnaire• Anti-Bribery Agreement• Due Diligence• National Interest Determination• Creation of Appropriate Advocacy Strategy • Coordination of the Message and Medium of Advocacy

Advocacy Questionnaire - Defense Advocacy Cases

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•Project Description:•Type of Project / Transaction (Specifies FMS vs. DCS for Defense Sales)•Estimated Total Value•Estimated U.S. Content•Project Partners and/or Bidder-of-Record•Overall Effect on U.S. Economy•USG Export License Information

•Type of Assistance Requested• Expected Decision Date• Foreign Government Decision-Maker• Potential Competitors

Anti-Bribery Agreement

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• Attached to the Advocacy Questionnaire• Signed by the Bidder of Record• Attesting that the company and its affiliates:

Have not and will not engage in the bribery of foreign public officials in connection with the matter for which advocacy assistance is being sought; and Maintain and enforce a policy that prohibits the bribery of foreign public officials• Advocacy Questionnaire and Anti-Bribery Agreement can be accessed at http://www.export.gov/advocacy/

National Interest Determination - Commercial

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• Based on Material Benefit to the U.S. Economy

•When the U.S. content is less than 50% of total value, other considerations include:

• U.S. Materials and Equipment Content;• U.S. Labor Content;• Contribution to the U.S. Technology Base (including R&D);• Repatriation of Profits to U.S. Economy; and• Potential for Follow-On Business Benefiting U.S. Economy.

•All companies that apply for advocacy and whose bids are deemed to be in the U.S. National Interest shall be advocated for equally.

Defense Advocacy Basics

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• In December 2007 certain responsibilities were transferred from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to the Advocacy Center.•Advocacy Center is now the point of contact for defense-related projects and procurements and coordinating advocacy on approved requests.•BIS remains part of the advocacy process by handling the interagency review process and making the national interest determination for defense-related requests.•A “defense-related” project or procurement is generally defined as one where the items being offered by a U.S. company are ITAR-controlled.•If there is more than one U.S. interest, even if that interest hasn’t applied for advocacy, the position is to provide generic advocacy for all U.S. interests.

Department of Defense’s Role

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•DoD assesses impact of the potential sale from national security, foreign policy, national disclosure, and export licensing perspectives, providing input into the national interest determination process for each defense trade advocacy case. •DoD does an intra-agency review of these factors and provides a consolidated position to BIS. •Once an advocacy request is approved, DoD retains a key role in follow-on advocacy efforts. The AC will coordinate these efforts with DoD. •The Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation is a key partner in doing due diligence on defense-related advocacy requests and advocating for companies.

How Do We Advocate?

Engagement by Senior USG Officials with overseas governments that may take the form of:•Official correspondence•Focused meeting / in-person advocacy•Talking point in bi-lateral meeting / dialogue•Press release or meeting with foreign press

Advocacy Strategies

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The Advocacy Center is the gateway to U.S. Government Advocacy at various levels. Advocacy is always government-to-government and typically addressed to the advocating official’s direct counterpart

Senior Commercial Officer

•Staff-level decision-makers•Sub-cabinet officials

Ambassador

•Ministers, Cabinet-level officials•Chief executives at the sub-national-level

Cabinet Secretary

•Ministers, Cabinet-level officials

President

•Heads of State

Advocacy Win-Boeing

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On June 6, India’s Cabinet Committee on Security officially approved an Indian Air Force decision to purchase of 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft, including options to purchase four additional aircraft, through a government-to-government FMS agreement. Without this or other orders, Boeing would have commenced shutdown of its C-17 production facility in Long Beach, CA.  Boeing reports that each C-17 supports 650 suppliers across 44 U.S. states and that this order will support Boeing’s C-17 production facility for an entire year.  This transaction is valued at approximately $4.1B, with 100 percent U.S. export content. President Obama advocated for the Boeing during a November 2010 trip to India. After the President’s public show of support for the transaction, U.S. Government officials, including former Commerce Secretary Locke, State Assistant Secretary Blake and U.S. Ambassador Roemer, urged the Indian Government to expedite approval of the sale. 

For Internal USG Use Only

Advocacy Win-Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin

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On June 16, the U.S. Embassy Canberra informed the Advocacy Center that the Australian Minister of Defense Stephen Smith made a formal announcement that Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Stratford, CT) and Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, MD) have been awarded the contract to supply 24 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters to the Royal Australian Navy, a bid valued at approximately $3.0B, with 100 percent U.S. export content. The Advocacy Center coordinated a number of USG interagency advocacy efforts on behalf of the companies including advocacy from Defense Secretary Gates, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Commerce Locke, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wolin, and ITA U/S Sánchez. In addition, U.S. Ambassador Bleich, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Roughead, and a seven-member CODEL to Australia led by U.S. Representative Don Manzullo (IL) have advocated at the highest levels of the Australian government for the companies.

For Internal USG Use Only

SME Advocacy Win-Global Environmental Services Inc.

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On December 12, 2011, Global Environmental Services Inc (GESI, Lawrence Township, NJ) signed a contract for a 20 year concession to operate and control the Mohammedia Landfill in Morocco.   GESI has been approved for advocacy for this project since October 2010.  The U.S. Chargé d’Affaires sent an Advocacy letter to the Governor of Mohammedia in December 2010, and the Consular General raised this project in November 2011 during a meeting with the Governor. The total value of this project is $40 million, with $30 million in U.S. export content, supporting approximately 166 jobs in the U.S.  GESI is an SME. 

For Internal USG Use Only

http://www.export.gov/advocacy

Main Line: 202-482-3896

Advocacy Center Website•Staff Listing

•Advocacy Guidelines

•Advocacy Questionnaire and Anti-Bribery Agreement