Program Essentials

Program Description

Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) awards include financial and technical assistance from the International Trade Administration (ITA) to support projects that enhance the global competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and services industries. An MDCP award establishes a partnership between ITA and non-profit industry groups such as trade associations and chambers of commerce. Such groups are particularly effective in reaching small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The non-profit groups compete for a limited number of MDCP award partnerships by proposing innovative projects that enhance the global competitive position of their industry with a special emphasis on SMEs. Industry groups pledge to pay a minimum of two-thirds of the project cost and to sustain the project after the MDCP award period ends.

Individual award limit of $250,000.

Funds may be expended over the period of time required to complete a project, but the period cannot exceed three years.

Matching Funds Requirements

Each dollar of federal funding requested must be matched on a 2-to-1 basis. The applicant must put up the first dollar of match. The second dollar of the match may be in-kind contribution by the applicant or it may be contributed by other organizations.

The match provided by the applicant must include at least one dollar of cash outlays for the project for each federal dollar requested. The balance of the applicant's support may consist of in-kind contributions, as noted above, or cash.

Partnership with ITA

MDCP awards are cooperative agreements, not grants. The program is designed so that ITA staff and other federal professionals as needed, can work with MDCP award winners. A federal team typically includes an industry specialist from ITA's Manufacturing and Services (MAS), a specialist from the Commercial Service (CS) Export Assistance Center where the MDCP award winner is located, other U.S. or foreign-posted CS staff as needed, and one or more country specialists from ITA's Market Access and Compliance (MAC).

What An Application Must Include

Click on Application Kit on the window banner above for details on preparing an application.

Legislative History

In the program's enabling legislation, the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, Congress cited the MDCP as a unique way to "develop, maintain and expand foreign markets for nonagricultural U.S. goods and services." Congress included the program in the Jobs Through Exports Act of 1992 to generate new jobs, and in the Freedom Support Act of 1992 to help provide technical assistance to the Newly Independent States. The first MDCP awards, totalling over $2 million, were made in fiscal 1993 .