This indicator measures the extent to which NOAA's Office of Space Commerce and the Department influence space policy decision processes at the agency, national, and international levels. It tracks the amount of positive outcomes effected for the U.S. commercial space industry due to concerted efforts by the Office of Space Commerce and DOC.

A key element of BIS policy formulation and implementation toward other key countries is conducting end-use checks (EUCs) to verify that targeted dual-use exports will be or have been used properly by the appropriate end-users. EUCs consist of both pre-license checks (PLC) and post shipment verifications (PSVs). PLCs are used to determine if an overseas person or firm is a suitable party to a transaction involving controlled U.S. origin goods or technical data. A PSV confirms whether goods exported from the U.S. actually were received by the party named on the license or other export documentation, and whether the goods are being used consistent with the provisions of that license.

The Information Triage Unit (ITU), for which Export Enforcement (EE) provides the majority of intelligence product outputs, drafts bona fides information reports on foreign transaction parties to license applications. The reports are requested at the direction of a licensing officer or may be self-selected by EE. EE must, within the established Executive Order (EO) timeframe, complete such reports in 10 days from referral to enable timely interagency review of license applications. This metric is designed to measure the effectiveness of BIS in meeting the target of completing 90% of ITU reports produced by EE within 10 days of referral.

This performance indicator measures the number of EDA grants made to communities and regions to help build the capacity to support the manufacturing-related activities and needs of businesses.

This performance indicator captures the number of Export Enforcement deterrence actions, cases resulting in a prevention of a violation, criminal or administrative actions, and administrative settlement orders. The number will reflect the actual number and type of preventive enforcement actions conducted, including: detentions of suspect exports, seizures of unauthorized shipments, industry outreach, issuance of warning letters, recommended denials of license applications based on enforcement concerns, and recommendations for parties to be added to the Entity List and Unverified List.

An Economic Benefit is a dollar value of all financial/contractual transactions, capacity investments and increases in sales to MBEs via the asisstance of MBDA programs, services and resources.

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) was established by the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 and provides for day-for-day adjustment of patent term (i.e., the period of time a patent is in force) for certain USPTO administrative delays (“the 14-4-4-4-36 timeframes”) for certain patent applications.  The specified timeframes are to:  issue an Office Action within 14 months after application filing, respond to a reply or appeal within four months, act on the application within four months after a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) or from a Federal court, and issue the patent within four months after payment of the issue fee. Additionally, a 36-month timeframe applies if the USPTO does not issue a patent within three years of the filing date or national stage commencement, with certain exceptions.  Further, time consumed by interference or derivation proceedings, delays caused by placing the application under a secrecy order under 35 U.S.C. 181, or time consumed by a successful appellate review may result in positive patent term adjustment (PTA). Any positive PTA is offset by any period that an applicant failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution. This measure reports the PTA for all mailed actions.

This indicator reflects the value, relevance, and usefulness of NIST research facilities to industry users. NIST research facilities are unique capabilities that can be leveraged through partnerships with businesses, especially manufacturers, to accelerate discovery and commercialization of innovative products. This indicator counts the number of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements between industry and NIST laboratories, as well as the number of industrial institutions that use the NIST user facilities (NIST Center for Neutron Research and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology).

This indicator provides the number of successful case conclusions (usually barriers removed) in trade agreements compliance cases. The measure tends to fluctuate over time as the outcome (foreign governments agreeing to voluntarily honor trade agreement obligations) is dependent on actions by sovereign nations outside of direct United States Government control.

This indicator illustrates ITA’s reach into the U.S. business community. Historical data indicates that over 75 percent of companies assisted are small and medium–sized enterprises. This measure illustrates Global Markets’ annual effectiveness in providing export counseling and assistance to additional
U.S. companies.