Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service's (US&FCS) foreign operations and progress in revitalizing U.S. export promotion efforts.
GAO found that: (1) US&FCS was more responsive to overseas governments and businesses than the Department of State; (2) although the US&FCS budget remained constant, its program costs increased, resulting in staff reductions at overseas posts and reductions in some export promotion activities; (3) the level of participation by some small- and medium-sized business firms decreased because of the elimination of previous government subsidies that encouraged firms to exhibit their goods overseas, and the privatization of some events; (4) a 1980 reorganization of the International Trade Administration (ITA), along with a major realignment, resulted in a substantial number of new assistant-secretary-level positions, compartmentalization of trade activities, and a lack of coordination on trade events requiring joint efforts; (5) ITA had not established formal guidelines outlining various units' duties and responsibilities for planning and executing trade events; (6) the absence of central management authority resulted in poor event selection and inadequate support for some events; (7) overseas posts wasted time in planning and arranging events that were cancelled, resulting in continuous rescheduling; (8) US&FCS developed an automated trade information database with current marketing and trade information, and expected full implementation by February 1989, with costs totalling $39.9 million through 1993; and (9) the US&FCS trade information system would not be fully operational because it was in various stages of development and had many technical, management, and resource problems.
