Economic and Commercial Diplomacy: State and Commerce Could Build on Efforts to Improve Coordination and Effectiveness
Fast Facts
The Departments of State and Commerce work together to help U.S. companies secure business deals overseas.
State and Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to formalize and facilitate their collaboration. However, we found that they did not incorporate all leading collaboration practices into their agreement. For example, the MOU indicates a broad agreement on shared roles and responsibilities, but does not clarify how the agencies will sustain leadership over the long term.
We recommended that State and Commerce more fully incorporate leading collaboration practices into their MOU, and more.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Departments of State and Commerce coordinate on economic and commercial diplomacy efforts to support the work of U.S. businesses to enter or expand in foreign markets through various programs. Through these programs, State provides Commerce services to U.S. businesses abroad in countries where Commerce's Global Markets and U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service does not have a presence and both agencies work together to help U.S. companies secure business deals overseas.
State and Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and issued joint cables to formalize and facilitate their collaboration. As shown below, they incorporated some, but not all, of the leading collaboration practices into the MOU and cables. For example, the MOU indicates a broad agreement on shared roles and responsibilities, but does not clarify how the agencies will sustain leadership over the long term, which can weaken the effectiveness of the MOU. The cables document decisions at a broad level regarding leadership, resources, and roles and responsibilities, but do not establish a method for routinely monitoring and updating the cables. Without regular updating, the guidance in the cables may become outdated. More fully incorporating these and other leading practices could help State and Commerce build on their existing efforts to support the sale of goods and services of U.S. businesses overseas.
Extent to Which State and Commerce Have Incorporated Leading Collaboration Practices
Leading Collaboration Practices |
Memorandum |
Cables |
Defining outcomes and monitoring accountability |
● |
◒ |
Bridging organizational cultures |
◒ |
◒ |
Identifying and sustaining leadership |
◒ |
◒ |
Clarifying roles and responsibilities |
◒ |
◒ |
Including relevant participants |
◒ |
◒ |
Identifying and leveraging resources |
● |
◒ |
Developing/updating guidance and agreements |
● |
◒ |
Legend: Partially incorporates leading practice ◒. Fully incorporates leading practice ●.
Source: GAO analysis of Departments of State and Commerce documents. | GAO-22-105860
State and Commerce have established performance measures to assess the effectiveness of their economic and commercial diplomacy efforts. However, State did not collect sufficient data to determine how well it performed. State did not consistently record two pieces of information relevant to assessing its performance—a target performance level and an actual performance level. For example, State's scorecard did not include any target data for 10 of the 16 performance measures. Consequently, GAO could not evaluate State's performance for those aspects of its economic and commercial diplomacy efforts. Commerce uses nine performance measures to assess the effectiveness of its economic and commercial diplomacy and met most of its performance targets for fiscal years 2016 to 2020. For example, Commerce met its target for the percentage of U.S. exporter clients that achieved their export objectives for the last 5 years.
Why GAO Did This Study
The U.S. government has maintained an economic and commercial diplomacy program to help advance its national interests abroad in the global economy. State and Commerce have key roles in supporting U.S. businesses on foreign markets. The Championing American Business Through Diplomacy Act of 2019 includes provisions focused on the efforts of these agencies to support U.S. businesses abroad through economic and commercial diplomacy.
The act includes a provision for GAO to report on several issues related to State's and Commerce's efforts to support U.S. commercial interests abroad. This report examines the coordination and effectiveness of State's and Commerce's efforts. To examine these efforts, GAO assessed them against leading collaboration practices and federal standards. GAO also reviewed documentation; interviewed agency officials; reviewed program data; and analyzed State and Commerce performance data.
This is a public version of a sensitive report that GAO issued in February 2022. Information that State deemed sensitive has been omitted.
Recommendations
GAO is making 11 recommendations to State and Commerce to more fully incorporate leading collaboration practices into their MOU and joint cables, and one recommendation to State to consistently collect and record performance data. State and Commerce concurred with the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
---|---|---|
Department of State | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should indicate the methods the agencies will use to maintain an effective working relationship in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 1) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should indicate the methods the agencies will use to maintain an effective working relationship in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 1) |
The Department of Commerce provided an action plan in January 2023. In collaboration with the Department of State, the Departments have agreed to update and reissue the standard operating procedures for the Partner Post Program no later than Q4 in fiscal year 2023, and update the MOU to include indicating methods for maintaining effective working relationships, by Q2 in 2024. As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should clarify how Commerce and State will sustain program leadership over the long term, such as with succession planning, in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 2) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should clarify how Commerce and State will sustain program leadership over the long term, such as with succession planning, in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 2) |
As of July 2024, the State and Commerce MOU does not include sufficient guidance on succession planning.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should ensure Commerce and State articulate and agree to a process for making and enforcing program decisions in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 3) |
State and Commerce revised their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Partner Post Program in October 2021 to designate the Program Managers (PMs) and articulate their responsibilities in making program decisions. The revised MOU also includes timelines for how enforcement of dispute resolutions is to be completed. As a result, the effectiveness of the MOU has been strengthened.
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Department of Commerce | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should ensure Commerce and State articulate and agree to a process for making and enforcing program decisions in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 3) |
State and Commerce revised their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Partner Post Program in October 2021 to designate the Program Managers (PMs) and articulate their responsibilities in making program decisions. The revised MOU also includes timelines for how enforcement of dispute resolutions is to be completed. As a result, the effectiveness of the MOU has been strengthened.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should ensure that Commerce and State indicate how they will use client feedback on client experiences in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 4) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State should ensure that Commerce and State indicate how they will use client feedback on client experiences in their Memorandum of Understanding for the Partner Post Program. (Recommendation 4) |
The plan indicates that both the Department of Commerce and the Department of State have agreed to update the Partner Post Program's standard operating procedures to incorporate client feedback/experiences as a review element in the Partner Post Annual Tier Review to continuously improve partner post service delivery. This action is expected to be completed no later than Q4 FY 2023. In addition, the plan indicates that no later than Q2 FY 2024, the Departments will revise the MOU to include indicating how to use client feedback. As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies indicate a method to evaluate outcomes or a way to track or monitor progress toward goals for the program in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 5) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies indicate a method to evaluate outcomes or a way to track or monitor progress toward goals for the program in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 5) |
The Department of Commerce provided an action plan in January 2023 indicating its readiness to assist the Department of State in applying best practices in identifying performance measures and will continue to engage State at the working level on determining performance measures that will help State assess and report on its collaborative measures under the Deal Team Initiative (DTI) program, consistent with but not necessarily duplicative of Department of Commerce metrics. Action supporting the Department of State issuance of guidance cables addressing performance measures is expected to be completed no later than Q4 FY 2023. As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies specify how Embassy Deal Teams should identify and coordinate the use of dozens of U.S. government programs supporting U.S. commercial interests overseas in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 6) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
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Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies specify how Embassy Deal Teams should identify and coordinate the use of dozens of U.S. government programs supporting U.S. commercial interests overseas in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 6) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should clarify how their agencies will sustain program leadership over the long term, such as with succession planning, in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 7) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should clarify how their agencies will sustain program leadership over the long term, such as with succession planning, in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 7) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies articulate and agree to a process for making and enforcing program decisions in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 8) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies articulate and agree to a process for making and enforcing program decisions in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 8) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies' indicate whether Deal Team participants have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities to contribute and, if not, include a plan with timeframes on how they will address this issue in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 9) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
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Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies' indicate whether Deal Team participants have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities to contribute and, if not, include a plan with timeframes on how they will address this issue in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 9) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies include information on whether incentives are available to encourage State and Commerce and their staff to participate in Deal Teams in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 10) |
In response to our recommendation, with which the agencies concurred, in mid-2023 State and Commerce re-instituted the Benjamin Joy Award, a joint State-Commerce annual team award that will honor economic and commercial diplomacy collaborative excellence displayed throughout the year. State and Commerce sent a cable notifying their staff of the new award. The newly re-instituted award should help bolster participation in the Deal Team Initiative .
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Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies include information on whether incentives are available to encourage State and Commerce and their staff to participate in Deal Teams in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 10) |
In response to our recommendation, with which the agencies concurred, in mid-2023 State and Commerce re-instituted the Benjamin Joy Award, a joint State-Commerce annual team award that will honor economic and commercial diplomacy collaborative excellence displayed throughout the year. State and Commerce sent a cable notifying their staff of the new award. The newly re instituted award should help bolster participation in the Deal Team Initiative.
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Department of State | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies establish a method for monitoring and updating the cables in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 11) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of Commerce | The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce should ensure their agencies establish a method for monitoring and updating the cables in their guidance cables for the Deal Team Initiative. (Recommendation 11) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor Commerce's actions in response to this recommendation.
|
Department of State | The Secretary of State should take measures to ensure that staff analysts consistently and reliably record performance goals or targets, performance achieved, and other key information used to measure State's progress in achieving its strategic goals related to economic and commercial diplomacy. (Recommendation 12) |
As of July 2024, we continue to monitor State's actions in response to this recommendation.
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