The procedures used by Trade Development's Office of Planning, Coordination and Resource Management (OPCRM) in evaluating and selecting winners of Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) awards are set forth below. The text below was published in the Federal Register on May 3, 1999. See 64 F.R., No. 84 at 23603 to 23604.

OPCRM staff will review each application for completeness as soon as practicable after the application is received. If the application deadline has not passed, OPCRM staff will endeavor to notify the applicant of any deficiency in the application that it has found. The applicant may submit additional information to correct the deficiency. ITA, however, must receive any additional information before the deadline for applications. Responsibility for submitting a complete application in a timely manner remains with the applicant.
 

Prior to selection, each complete application receives a thorough evaluation. The steps of the evaluation and selection process are set forth below.
 

(1) OPCRM staff, in consultation with the Department of Commerce's Office of General Counsel, reviews all applications to determine the eligibility of each applicant. If an applicant's eligibility is in question, the applicant is contacted to supply additional information or clarification.
 

(2) When the eligibility review has been completed, the OPCRM Director invites comments on applications from relevant offices within ITA (e.g,. Trade Development (TD), Market Access & Compliance (MAC), and US&FCS). This review allows ITA experts in the industry sector or geographical region to assess the claims made in the applications. The ITA staff comments also provide insights into both the potential benefits and the potential difficulties associated with the applications.
 

(3) At least three representatives of OPCRM review and comment on all applications. The comments of these OPCRM reviewers will include a score for each application based on the evaluation criteria identified above. The MDCP Manager prepares a summary of OPCRM staff comments and organizes all comments by ITA staff and applications for the Selection Panel. The scores, the summary, and the staff comments afford the Selection Panel the insights and breadth of experience of ITA professionals. However, they have no official weight, and the Selection Panel is free to consider or disregard them as it sees fit.
 

(4) The MDCP Manager forwards all of the applications, along with all related materials, to a Selection Panel of senior ITA managers. This panel is chaired by the OPCRM Director and typically includes three other members, one each from ITA's TD, MAC, and US&FCS bureaus. Panel members are Office Directors or higher.
 

(5) Each Selection Panel member reviews each eligible application and assigns a score for each of the five criteria stated above. The individual criteria scores are averaged to determine the total score for each application.
 

(6) Based on the scores assigned by Selection Panel members and deliberations by the Selection Panel, the Selection Panel forwards the applications with the ten highest total scores to the Assistant Secretary for Trade Development and recommends which of the ten proposals should receive funding. The Selection Panel's recommendation will not deviate from the rank order. This means that the Selection Panel cannot recommend funding for the application ranked 7^th without recommending funding for applicants ranked 1 through 6. The Selection Panel recommendation includes the Panel's written assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the top ten applications.
 

(7) From the top ten applications recommended by the Selection Panel, the Assistant Secretary for Trade Development selects those applications which will receive funding. In addition to the evaluation criteria stated above, the Assistant Secretary for Trade Development may consider the following in making his decision:
 

(a) The evaluations of the individual reviewers of the Selection Panel;
 

(b) The degree to which applications satisfy ITA priorities as established under the Project Funding Priorities listed above;
 

(c) The geographic distribution of the proposed awards;
 

(d) The diversity of industry sectors and overseas markets covered by the proposed awards;
 

(e) The diversity of project activities represented by the proposed awards;
 

(f) Avoidance of redundancy and conflicts with the initiatives of other federal agencies; and
 

(g) The availability of funds.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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