In consultation
with SBA, instruments revised to better track what exports Ex-Im
Bank is covering with its insurance policy and the extent to which
its support assists U.S. small businesses.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/2015
6 Months From Approved
11/30/2015
310
0
310
465
0
2,480
0
0
72,019
The Export Import Bank of the United
States (Ex-Im Bank) pursuant to the Export Import Bank Act of 1945,
as amended (12 USC 635, et seq), facilitates the financing of
exports of U.S. goods and services. By neutralizing the effect of
export credit insurance and loan guarantees offered by foreign
governments and by absorbing credit risks that the private sector
will not accept, Ex-Im Bank enables U.S. exporters to compete
fairly in foreign markets on the basis of price and product
quality. This collection of information is necessary, pursuant to
12 USC Sec. 635 (a) (1), to determine eligibility of the applicant
for Ex-Im Bank assistance. The "Application for Exporter Short-term
Single-buyer Insurance" form will be used by entities involved in
the export of US goods and services, to provide Ex-Im Bank with the
information necessary to obtain legislatively required assurance of
repayment and fulfills other statutory requirements. The
Export-Import Bank has made a change to the report to have the
applicant provide the number of employees or annual sales volume.
That information is needed to determine whether or not they meet
the SBA's definition of a small business. The applicant already
provides their name, address and industry code (NAICS). These
additional pieces of information will allow Ex-Im Bank to better
track the extent to which its support assists U.S. small
businesses. The other change that Ex-Im Bank has made is to require
the applicant to indicate whether it is a minority-owned business,
women-owned business and/or veteran-owned business. Although
answers to the questions are mandatory, the company may choose any
one of the three answers: Yes/No/Decline to Answer. The option of
"Decline to Answer" allows a company to consciously decline to
answer the specific question should they not wish to provide that
information.
Ex-Im Bank is requesting
an emergency approval to add four questions to this form. This form
is already approved and in use for any identified U.S. exporter or
U.S. supplier as part of their financing application process with
the Bank. The bank wishes to address promptly the Congressional
mandate and concerns raised with respect to the Bank’s current
practice of identifying and classifying small businesses, as well
as minority-, woman-, and veteran-owned businesses. Ex-Im Bank is
under intense scrutiny from Congress as both the House and Senate
consider whether to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank for another five
years. Ex-Im Bank’s current charter is due to expire on June 30,
2015. Failure to reauthorize Ex-Im Bank will mean that Ex-Im Bank
will not be able to meet its mission of supporting U.S. jobs
through financing U.S. exports. In FY14, Ex-Im Bank supported $27.5
billion in U.S. exports and more than 164,000 American jobs. A
similar volume of exports and jobs would be affected if Ex-Im Bank
were not reauthorized in June 2015. Congress has a mandate in Ex-Im
Bank’s charter that it must make available at least 20 percent of
its financing for small businesses. As Congress evaluates the
Administration’s request to reauthorize Ex-Im Bank, it has been
asking for information and data about Ex-Im Bank and the companies
it supports. Recently, an article published by Reuters indicated
that there were problems with Ex-Im Bank’s classification of some
small business exporters. Consequently, various Members of Congress
have been asking what Ex-Im Bank is doing to improve its data
quality, particularly with regard to its identification of small
business exporters. Some Members of Congress have called into
question whether they are willing to support Ex-Im Bank’s
reauthorization in light of the Bank’s perceived “inability” to
correctly identify its small business customers, including
minority-, woman-, and veteran-owned business. Ex-Im Bank needs to
demonstrate that it is quickly addressing the small business
classification concern or run the risk that a number of Members of
Congress will vote against Ex-Im Bank’s reauthorization, thus
throwing into question the extent to which $27.5 billion in exports
will occur in the following year. Ex-Im Bank must ensure that it
has all the necessary information to determine whether or not a
specific customer meets the SBA guidelines for being designated as
a small business. Ex-Im Bank is not changing the methodology for
determining if a company is a small business, rather it is
requesting sufficient information directly from customers to make
an independent determination that a particular business meets the
SBA guidelines. Ex-Im Bank’s practice to date for gathering small
business classification information is to rely on Dun &
Bradstreet for these data points – company ownership (parents,
affiliates, and subsidiaries), NAICS industry code, number of
employees and annual sales volume as well as for woman-owned and
minority-owned. Unfortunately, the quality of D&B’s data on
these points has not been sufficient. The only way Ex-Im Bank can
ensure that it is making an accurate determination is to ask the
customer to provide this information. Thus, the change for which
Ex-Im Bank is requesting an emergency clearance is to add the four
additional questions to this application form for any identified
U.S. exporter or U.S. supplier. Lack of an emergency approval of
this form would limit Ex-Im Bank’s ability to quickly address
Congressional concerns with identifying and classifying small
businesses. This would adversely impact Ex-Im Bank’s reputation on
the Hill and could result in Ex-Im Bank not being reauthorized –
thus threatening future export sales and jobs. Accordingly, Ex-Im
Bank requests emergency approval.
The reduction in the estimated
public burden is due to the following factors: 1) a larger number
of customers using electronic means of applying, 2) the use of the
recent experience with the user time expenditure, 3) correction of
the misattribution of the estimated federal costs to the public
burden.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form EIB 92-64 Application for Exporter Short-Term Single-Buyer Insurance
Supporting Statement EIB 92-64 03-03-2015.doc
Application for Exporter Short-Term Single-Buyer Insurance