U.S. EXPORTS AND COMMERCIAL BENEFITS
U.S. exports attributed to USTDA's funding must have a credible and significant linkage to the Agency-funded activity. USTDA defines U.S. exports as the amount of U.S. content associated with goods manufactured in the United States or services provided by U.S. companies. This definition enables USTDA to make the best estimation of its impact on U.S. jobs based on the U.S. exports attributed to its funding. Given this type of analysis, USTDA is confident that its program has a direct and immediate benefit to U.S. companies and supports the creation of U.S. jobs. The following measurements are calculated and maintained by the Program Evaluation Office, to determine whether the Agency's objectives are being met:
At the heart of USTDA's program evaluations strategy is the calculation of the export multiplier. It quantifies the amount of U.S. exports generated for every program dollar obligated by USTDA. It is calculated by dividing the dollar value of U.S. exports USTDA identifies by the dollar value of USTDA's funding commitments. In general terms, it is the "export return on USTDA's investment." Given the nature of USTDA's activities – early project planning and development – results are typically realized over the long-term. As such, a ten year rolling average (TYRA) is the interval of time used to capture a meaningful and relevant representation of the results of USTDA's programs. For the current TYRA- which includes all USTDA activities completed between 2000-2009- USTDA has obligated $312 million, which has helped to generate $19.7 billion in U.S. exports. Thus, for every $1 dollar USTDA invested in its programs, $63 in U.S. exports were generated. This return on investment demonstrates the Agency's ability to help achieve the President's goals for the National Export Initiative, meet the needs of developing and middle-income countries, and support the U.S. industry through the export of U.S. goods or services.
Since 1992, the year USTDA was established as an independent agency, the Agency's programs have contributed to over $32.9 billion in U.S. exports. To date, in FY 2012, USTDA has identified $2.2 billion in new exports. Of this $2.2 billion, $313.8 million in U.S. exports are a result of projects completed in the Agency's post-TYRA years (2010-to-the-present). These recent U.S. export successes show early wins for U.S. businesses and commitments by the host country to the implementation of USTDA supported activities. It is expected as the post-TYRA period projects are implemented USTDA will be able to identify additional U.S. export success which will enable the Agency to better understand where funding has been most successful.
Over the past ten years, more than 72% of USTDA's program related activities have been awarded to small businesses. These project related activities include FAR contracts, as well as grant program activities. 88% of FAR contracts and 43% of grant activities were awarded to small businesses.