ABCs offer American companies a broad range of business development and facilitation services on a user-fee basis. Their emphasis is on helping small- and medium-sized U.S. firms including: Business counseling and market research; screening and assessing partners; trade mission and event planning; business appointment scheduling; office and conference room rental; international telephone, fax and e-mail; secretarial assistance; and interpretation and translation services. As an example: ABC St. Petersburg provided telecommunications and mail box services to a small-medium sized U.S. company that resulted in a $400,000 per month contract with the largest distributor of picture frames in the Northwest Russia. CRITERIA FOR SELECTING PROPOSALS: Consideration for financial assistance under the program will be based on the following evaluation criteria: (1) Quality of Work Plan: Core commercial activities, marketing strategy, management/staffing, cooperation with ITA and outreach programs to NIS firms; (2) Qualifications of Applicant: Financial history personnel's experience in region and in delivering commercial products/services; (3) Market Knowledge of Locations: Applicant's demonstrated familiarity with the market conditions in the proposed city and/or region; (4) Project Timetable: Ability of applicant to complete major stages in the scope of work quickly, particularly 418 bringing an ABC into the fully-operational stage; (4) U.S. Small Business
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