This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

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examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

9816

Vol. 66, No. 29

Monday, February 12, 2001

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Commodity Credit Corporation

Announcement of the Quality Samples

Program

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation,

USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: Commodity Credit

Corporation is inviting proposals for the

FY 2001 Quality Samples Program.

Approval criteria are being revised for

FY 2001.

DATES: All proposals must be received

by 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, March

12, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Marketing Operations Staff, Foreign

Agricultural Service, Room 4932–S,

Stop 1042, U.S. Department of

Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave.,

SW., Washington, DC 20250–1042, or

telephone: (202) 720–4327.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

The Commodity Credit Corporation

(CCC) announces that proposals may be

submitted for participation in the

Quality Samples Program (QSP) during

FY 2001. The QSP is a pilot program

designed to encourage the development

and expansion of export markets for

U.S. agricultural commodities, under

the authority of the CCC Charter Act, 15

U.S.C. 714c(f). The QSP is designed to

assist U.S. entities in providing

commodity samples to potential foreign

importers to promote a better

understanding and appreciation for the

high quality of U.S. agricultural

commodities. CCC will consider

providing funds on a reimbursement

basis to U.S. entities to assist them in

providing such samples if a proposal

has been submitted by the interested

U.S. entity and accepted by CCC. QSP

participants will be responsible for

procuring (or arranging for the

procurement of) commodity samples,

exporting the samples, and providing

the technical assistance necessary to

facilitate successful use of the samples

by importers. CCC will review all

proposals it receives against the

evaluation criteria contained herein and

award QSP funds on a competitive

basis. CCC is currently allocating $1.25

million to fund the QSP.

Under the QSP, CCC will enter into

agreements with those entities whose

proposals have been accepted. The QSP

agreement between CCC and the

participant will include the maximum

amount of CCC funds that may be used

to reimburse certain activity costs which

have been approved by CCC and paid by

the QSP participant. A QSP participant

will be reimbursed after CCC reviews its

reimbursement claim and determines

that the claim is complete. CCC will not

reimburse the costs of providing

technical assistance. QSP agreements

will be subject to verification by the

Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS)

Compliance Review Staff. Upon request,

a QSP participant shall provide to CCC

the original documents which support

the participant’s reimbursement claims.

CCC may deny a claim for

reimbursement if the claim is not

supported by adequate documentation.

Cash advances will not be made

available to any QSP participants.

The QSP will be administered by FAS

personnel. CCC will carefully monitor

the operation of the pilot QSP through

Fiscal Year 2001. This notice

supercedes any prior notices concerning

the QSP.

General Scope of QSP Projects

QSP projects are the activities

undertaken by a QSP participant to

provide an appropriate sample of a U.S.

agricultural commodity to a foreign

importer, or a group of foreign

importers, in a given market. The

purpose of the project is to provide

information to an appropriate target

audience regarding the attributes,

characteristics, and proper use of the

U.S. commodity. A QSP project

addresses a single market/commodity

combination. As a general matter, QSP

projects should conform to the

following guidelines:

• Projects should benefit the

represented U.S. industry and not a

specific company or brand;

• Projects should develop a new

market for a U.S. product, promote a

new U.S. product, or promote a new use

for a U.S. product, rather than promote

the substitution of one established U.S.

product for another;

• Sample commodities provided

under a QSP project must be in

sufficient supply and available on a

commercial basis;

• The QSP project must either subject

the commodity sample to further

processing or substantial transformation

in the importing country, or the sample

must be used in technical seminars

designed to demonstrate to an

appropriate target audience the proper

preparation or use of the sample in the

creation of an end product;

• Samples provided in a QSP project

shall not be directly used as part of a

retail promotion or supplied directly to

consumers; and

• Samples shall be in quantities less

than a typical commercial sale and

limited to the amount sufficient to

achieve the project goal (e.g., not more

than a full commercial mill run in the

destination country).

QSP projects shall target foreign

importers and target audiences who:

• Have not previously purchased the

U.S. commodity which will be shipped

under the QSP;

• Are unfamiliar with the variety,

quality attribute, or end-use

characteristic of the U.S. commodity

which will be shipped under the QSP;

• Have been unsuccessful in previous

attempts to import, process, and market

the U.S. commodity which will be

shipped under the QSP (e.g., because of

improper specification, blending, or

formulation; or sanitary or

phytosanitary (SPS) issues);

• Are interested in testing or

demonstrating the benefits of the U.S.

commodity which will be shipped

under the QSP; or

• Need technical assistance in

processing or using the U.S. commodity

which will be shipped under the QSP.

Major Changes From the Initial Pilot

Program

CCC announced its initial pilot

program in the Federal Register (64 FR

61814) on November 15, 1999. During

FY 2000, CCC was only able to enter

into QSP agreements with 10

participants. CCC is modifying the pilot

program to allow more organizations to

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 29 / Monday, February 12, 2001 / Notices 9817

participate. This will be achieved by

expanding the types of commodities

which can be shipped under the QSP,

limiting the amount which a participant

can be reimbursed per project, and

limiting the number of countries which

an organization can target.

The initial program allowed only

sample commodities which were subject

to further processing or substantial

transformation in the importing country.

Proposals under this announcement

may also include commodity samples to

be used in technical seminars designed

to demonstrate, to an appropriate

audience in the importing country, the

proper preparation or use of the sample

in the creation of an end product.

Sample commodities provided in a QSP

project may not be directly used in retail

promotions or supplied directly to

consumers. However, the end product;

that is, the product resulting from

further processing, substantial

transformation, or a technical seminar;

may be provided to end use consumers

to demonstrate to importers consumer

preference for that end product.

The initial program did not limit the

number of projects which could be

undertaken by a participant. Under this

announcement, participants will be

allowed no more than three projects,

that is, no more than three market/

commodity combinations.

The initial program did not limit

funding to individual participants.

Under this announcement, projects will

be limited to $50,000 of QSP

reimbursement. Projects comprised of

technical preparation seminars; that is,

projects which do not include further

processing or substantial

transformation; will be limited to

$10,000 of QSP reimbursement, as these

projects require smaller samples. Under

the QSP, participants may be

reimbursed for certain costs of

purchasing and transporting commodity

samples. Although providing technical

assistance is required for all projects,

costs of providing the actual technical

assistance will not be reimbursed under

the QSP. Both the funding and project

limitations are intended to increase the

number of participants that will receive

QSP funding.

The initial program allowed

participants to seek reimbursement for

costs of sample procurement, shipping,

and incidental costs. Participants that

are funded under this announcement

may seek reimbursement for the sample

purchase price and the costs of

transporting the samples domestically to

the port of export and then to the

foreign port of entry. Transportation

costs from the foreign port, or point, of

entry to the final destination will not be

eligible for reimbursement under this

notice. Costs incidental to purchasing

and transporting samples, for example,

inspection or documentation fees, will

not be eligible for reimbursement under

this notice.

Finally, the initial pilot program

placed no priority on targeted countries.

In an effort to support the USDA’s

primary export objective of increasing

the U.S. share of world agricultural

trade, priority under this announcement

will be given to proposals which target

countries which meet either of the

following criteria:

• Per capita income less than $9,360

(the ceiling on upper middle income

economies as determined by the World

Bank [World Development Indicators

2000]); and population greater than 1

million. Proposals may address suitable

multi-country regional groupings, for

example, the island countries of the

Caribbean Basin; or

• U.S. market share of imports of the

commodity identified in the proposal is

10 percent or less.

Proposal Process

In order to be considered for

participation in the QSP, interested

parties should submit proposals to FAS

as described in this notice. QSP

proposals must contain complete

information about the proposed

projects. This notice is complemented

by concurrent notices announcing four

other foreign market development

programs administered by FAS,

including the Market Access Program

(MAP), the Foreign Market Development

Cooperator (Cooperator) Program, the

Emerging Markets Program, and the

Section 108 Foreign Currency Program.

The MAP and Cooperator Program

notices detail a Unified Export Strategy

(UES) application process which

provides a means for interested

applicants to submit a consolidated and

strategically coordinated single proposal

that incorporates funding requests for

any or all of these programs. Some

applicants to the QSP, particularly those

who also are applying for funding under

the MAP or Cooperator Program, are

encouraged to use the UES application

process. The Internet-based UES

application, including step-by-step

instructions for its use, is located at the

following URL address: http://

www.fas.usda.gov/cooperators.html.

Other applicants should follow the

application procedures contained in this

notice, and can request a suggested

format for proposals from the contact

listed above.

Organizations which submitted QSP

proposals in their UES applications in

March 2000 must resubmit those

proposals as they will not automatically

be considered. Such applicants are

encouraged to modify and resubmit

their proposals, or submit new

proposals, based on the details provided

in this announcement.

Entities interested in participating in

the QSP are not required to submit

proposals in any specific format;

however, FAS recommends that

proposals contain, at a minimum, the

following: (a) Organizational

information, including:

• Organization’s name, address, Chief

Executive Officer (or designee), and

Federal Tax Identification Number

(TIN);

• Type of organization;

• Name, telephone number, fax

number, and e-mail address of the

primary contact person;

• A description of the organization

and its membership;

• A description of the organization’s

prior export promotion experience; and

• A description of the organization’s

experience in implementing an

appropriate trade/technical assistance

component;

(b) Market information, including:

• An assessment of the market;

• A long-term strategy in the market;

and

• U.S. export value/volume and

market share (historic and goals) for

1998–2003;

(c) Project information, including:

• A brief project title;

• Request for funding;

• A brief description of the specific

market development trade constraint or

opportunity to be addressed by the

project, performance measures for the

years 2001–2003 which will be used to

measure the effectiveness of the project,

a benchmark performance measure for

2000, the viability of long term sales to

this market, the goals of the project, and

the expected benefits to the represented

industry;

• A description of the activities

planned to address the constraint or

opportunity, including how the sample

will be used in the end-use performance

trial, the attributes of the sample to be

demonstrated and their end-use benefit,

and details of the trade/technical

servicing component (including who

will provide and who will fund this

component);

• A sample description (i.e.,

commodity, quantity, quality, type, and

grade), including a justification for

selecting a sample with such

characteristics (this justification should

explain in detail why the project could

not be effective with a smaller sample);

• An itemized list of all estimated

costs associated with the project for

9818 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 29 / Monday, February 12, 2001 / Notices

which reimbursement will be sought;

and

• The importer’s role in the project

regarding handling and processing the

commodity sample;

(d) Information indicating all funding

sources and amounts to be contributed

by each entity that will contribute to

implementation of the proposed project.

This may include the organization that

submitted the proposal, private industry

entities, host governments, foreign third

parties, CCC, FAS, or other Federal

agencies. Contributed resources may

include cash, goods, and services.

Review Process

Proposals will be evaluated by the

applicable FAS commodity division.

The divisions will review each proposal

against the factors described below. The

purpose of this review is to identify

meritorious proposals, recommend an

appropriate funding level for each

proposal based upon these factors, and

submit the proposals and funding

recommendations to the Deputy

Administrator, Commodity and

Marketing Programs.

FAS will use the following criteria in

evaluating proposals:

• The ability of the organization to

provide an experienced staff with the

requisite technical and trade experience

to execute the proposal;

• The extent to which the proposal is

targeted to a market in which the United

States is generally competitive;

• The potential for expanding

commercial sales in the proposed

market;

• The nature of the specific market

constraint or opportunity involved and

how well it is addressed by the

proposal;

• The extent to which the importer’s

contribution in terms of handling and

processing enhances the potential

outcome of the project;

• The amount of reimbursement

requested and the organization’s

willingness to contribute resources,

including cash and goods and services

of the U.S. industry and foreign third

parties; and

• How well the proposed technical

assistance component assures that

performance trials will effectively

demonstrate the intended end-use

benefit.

Highest priority for funding under

this announcement will be given to

meritorious proposals which target

countries which meet either of the

following criteria:

• Per capita income less than $9,360

(the ceiling on upper middle income

economies as determined by the World

Bank [World Development Indicators

2000]); and population greater than 1

million. Proposals may address suitable

regional groupings, for example, the

islands of the Caribbean Basin; or

• U.S. market share of imports of the

commodity identified in the proposal of

10 percent or less.

Agreements

Following approval of a proposal,

CCC will enter into an agreement with

the organization that submitted the

proposal. Agreements will incorporate

the details of each project as approved

by FAS. Each agreement will identify

terms and conditions pursuant to which

CCC will reimburse certain costs of each

project. Agreements will also outline the

responsibilities of the participant,

including, but not limited to,

procurement (or arranging for

procurement) of the commodity sample

at a fair market price, arranging for

shipment of the commodity sample

within the time limit specified in the

agreement (organizations should

endeavor to ship commodities within 6

months of effective date of agreement),

compliance with cargo preference

requirements (shipment on United

States flag vessels, as required), timely

and effective implementation of

technical assistance, and submission of

a written evaluation report within 90

days of expiration of the agreement.

Evaluation reports should address all

performance measures which were

presented in the proposal.

Closing Date for Proposals

All proposals must be submitted in

triplicate and received by 5 p.m. Eastern

Standard Time, March 12, 2001, at one

of the following addresses:

Hand Delivery (including FedEx,

DHL, etc.): U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural

Service, Marketing Operations Staff,

Room 4932–S, 14th and Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250–

1042.

U.S. Postal Delivery: Marketing

Operations Staff, STOP 1042, 1400

Independence Ave., SW., Washington,

DC 20250–1042.

Dated: January 31, 2001.

Mattie R. Sharpless,

Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural

Service, and Vice President, Commodity

Credit Corporation.

[FR Doc. 01–3572 Filed 2–9–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–10–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Foreign Agricultural Service

Section 108 Foreign Currency Program

AGENCY: Foreign Agricultural Service.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Foreign Agricultural

Service invites proposals from

interested parties to use certain foreign

currencies acquired by the United States

for activities to expand markets for U.S.

agricultural commodities and for

technical assistance activities. All

proposal submitted under the UES must

be received by 5 pm Eastern Standard

Time, March 12, 2001.

DATES: All proposals submitted under

the UES must be received by 5 pm

Eastern Standard Time, March 12, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Director, Marketing Operations Staff,

Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, STOP 1042,

1400 Independence Ave., SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–1042, (202) 720–

4327.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

The Foreign Agricultural Service

(FAS) will use available currencies of

Costa Rica, Dominican Republic,

Jamaica, and Tunisia, to provide

assistance in the implementation of

market development and agricultural

technical assistance activities. This use

of foreign currencies is commonly

referred to as the ‘‘Section 108 foreign

currency program.’’ These foreign

currencies were acquired by USDA

pursuant to agreements made under

Title I of the Agricultural Trade

Development and Assistance Act of

1954, (Pub. L. 480).

Title I, Pub. L. 480 authorizes the U.S.

government to finance the sale and

exportation of agricultural commodities

to foreign governments on concessional

terms. Between 1986 and 1991, the U.S.

entered into various Title I, Pub. L. 480

agreements with foreign governments,

on terms which allowed repayment to

the United States in local currencies.

Pub. L. 480 authorizes the U.S.

government to use these foreign

currencies to implement market

development and agricultural technical

assistance activities.

This announcement supersedes all

previous announcements regarding this

program. On July 8, 1998, FAS

published a notice in the Federal

Register (63 FR 36872) inviting

proposals to use Tunisian or Moroccan

currencies for market development

projects and technical assistance