U.S. Commercial Service Seeks Comments on Proposed Fee Increase

Federal Register Notice details proposal for fee increases

The U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (U.S. Commercial Service) within the U.S. Department of Commerce recently published a notice in the Federal Register to solicit public comment from the business community and stakeholders on proposed user fee increases.

The U.S. Commercial Service intends to use this information to evaluate whether the proposed user fee schedule should be implemented; to evaluate options for seeking an exemption from the full cost recovery requirements of OMB to offer a discount to small and medium businesses; and to request for OMB approval of the pricing methodology.

The user fee for both Standard Services and Customized Services will be set at one flat rate per hour multiplied by the estimated number of hours for service delivery to determine full cost. Therefore, the cost of each Standard Service previously offered at one global price will increase, but the service will continue to be delivered in the same manner throughout U.S. Commercial Service global operations.

The pricing methodology developed by the U.S. Commercial Service was designed to bring the organization into compliance with full cost recovery requirements set forth by the Office of Management Budget (OMB). The process of developing the pricing methodology involved analysis of actual costs as defined by OMB and level of effort required to deliver each service.

The proposed percentage increase on affected services would range from 11 percent to 171 percent, depending on the type of service provided. Standard Services that will no longer be offered at one global price include: Business Service Provider; Featured U.S. Exporter, Gold Key Service; International Company Profile; International Partner Service; and Quicktake.

For more information and to comment on the proposed user fee changes, visit the federal register notice weblink at www.regulations.gov and enter ITA-2012-0001-0001 in the search engine: or go directly to the link at
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