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Advocacy Center Services
How the Advocacy Center Works

Advocacy Center Services

Advocacy Center Services

How Advocacy Can Help

The Advocacy Center helps U.S. companies to win foreign government contracts across the globe. We work with your company to pursue foreign government contracts when you are competing against foreign firms. Advocacy assistance is provided to businesses of all types and sizes, but you must apply and qualify to receive advocacy services.

Advocacy assistance may involve:

  • Meetings between key foreign decision-makers and high-ranking U.S. Government (USG) officials
  • Direct support from USG officials stationed abroad
  • Letters to foreign decision-makers
  • Coordinated action by USG agencies 

Our mission is to marshal USG resources and authority in order to level the playing field on behalf of U.S. business interests as they compete against foreign firms for specific international contracts or other U.S. export opportunities. In doing so, the Advocacy Center helps create and retain U.S. jobs through exports.

Contact the Advocacy Center

We recommend you contact us early:

Benefits to U.S. Firms

Advocacy Center services offer a competitive advantage to U.S. companies by:

  • Centralizing commercial advocacy services in one office
  • Mobilizing resources in support of U.S. company proposals and business opportunities
  • Offering an institutionalized process in support of the U.S. national interest, creating and retaining US jobs, and expanding the U.S. export base

How We Work With You 

The Advocacy Center coordinates the actions of 14 USG agencies involved in international trade. Once a company’s application has qualified for Advocacy assistance, we work with relevant agencies to devise an appropriate advocacy strategy. 

  • USG advocacy ranges from U.S. Embassy and Consulate assistance to Sub-Cabinet and Cabinet messages delivered through a variety of media (e.g., letters, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings).
  • We work in unison with the U.S. company, and often play a prominent role in coordinating both the message and the medium.
  • We work with EXIM Bank, the Trade and Development Agency, and the International Development Finance Corporation to marshal USG financial support, where appropriate, to relevant and qualified U.S. companies.
  • We have Commercial Liaison Officers at the five major Multilateral Development Banks to assist U.S. firms and advocate on their behalf when they compete for Bank tenders. 

Why We Advocate

USG advocacy:

  • Promotes U.S. exports, supports U.S. employment, and increases global market share for U.S. businesses
  • Counters foreign government advocacy and political pressure, thus “leveling the playing field” for U.S. companies
  • Encourages transparency, promotes fair treatment of U.S. companies, and addresses bribery and corruption in tender processes

Outside the Center’s Scope of Work

The Advocacy Center’s mission specifically focuses on procurements with foreign government decision-makers, and business-to-business transactions and commercial policy are outside of our purview.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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