Quality Samples Program

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Unified Export Strategy (UES)

The new UES interface is streamlined in a
way that you may now make claims from
the same interface.

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Advances
Participants may request advance funds for the Emerging Markets Program (EMP), Market Access
Program (MAP), and the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops Program (TASC). Participants can
not request advances for the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program (FMD) or the Quality
Samples Program (QSP).
You may request advances as lump sums in increments totaling no more than 40 % of your approved
generic budget for MAP, no more than 40% of activity budget for EMP and no more than 85% of
your approved activities for TASC.
MAP and TASC Advances
To add an advance, choose the appropriate program, year and select the „Add Advance‟ button to launch
the add advance page.

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The system calculates 40% of the total generic approved amount for MAP and 85% of your approved
activities for TASC and displays that number on the row labeled 'Allowable Advance'. 'Remaining
Allowable Advance Funds' reflects the remainder of advance funds that you can request. ‘Advances
Balance ($)’ displays the sum of advances previously requested. In the field labeled 'Amount ($)' at the
bottom of the page, enter a valid numeric amount with two decimal places, if desired. Click 'Save and
Submit' button to submit the advance for FAS approval. Note that you may direct the payment to a
particular Subgroup, if applicable.
Note: Your advance request will be offset by the line items on the next reimbursement(s) that is
processed after the advance.

Payback

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To refund an advance, locate the original advance request on the list page. Select the „Payback‟ link next
to the approved advance to launch the advance payback screen.

In the field labeled „Amount‟, enter a negative amount using a minus (-) sign preceding the number and
without inserting a dollar sign or commas. The negative amount reflects how much of the advance you
would like to refund. Select the „Save and Submit‟ button to submit the payback to FAS for approval.
Advances and their paybacks cannot be deleted. You may view the advance or the payback details by
selecting the „View‟ link against the advance on the list page.
A refund check made out to the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) must be sent to FAS
simultaneously with the submission of the advance repayment. Send the refund check to the Marketing
Operation Staff, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 1042, Washington, D.C., 20250-1042.

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EMP Advance
A participant may request for advances up to 40% of the approved funding amount of an EMP activity.
EMP claims are at the activity level and hence claims will contain single EMP activity. To add an EMP
advance, choose the appropriate year, EMP for program and select the „Add EMP Advance‟ button.
An EMP advance is created and the claim line item page is displayed where the advance line items can
be added. EMP advances are requested as expense claim line items similar to reimbursements. The
process of EMP advances is the same as that of EMP reimbursements. Follow the guidelines provided in
EMP reimbursements section.

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Claim Tab
Claim information is displayed on the tab named „Claim‟. Click directly on the tab to see the total of claim
line items, claim status, etc. You can direct the payment to a particular subgroup here, if applicable. Note
that this claim is indicated as an EMP advance with the checkmark.

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Line Items Tab
This is the tab that shows up right after claim creation. Line items can be added here using the „Create
New‟ link.
Line Items can also be copied from a spreadsheet using the „Add in Spreadsheet Mode‟ or by directly
accessing the „Add in Spreadsheet‟ tab.
For line item creation follow the same steps as in EMP Reimbursements.

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Reimbursements
To add a reimbursement, navigate back to the claims list page. Select the appropriate program and year,
choose „Reimbursement‟ for claim type and select the „Add Reimbursement‟ button.
A reimbursement for the selected program is created and the claim line item page is displayed where the
reimbursement line items can be added.

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Claim Tab
Claim information is displayed on the tab named „Claim‟. Click directly on the tab to see the total of claim
line items, claim status, etc. You may direct the payment to a particular subgroup here, if applicable.
An EMP advance is indicated by a checkmark in the „EMP Advance‟ field on the Claim tab.
Line Items Tab
This is the tab that shows up right after claim creation. Line items can be added here using the „Create
New‟ link. Enter the following details and select „Save‟ button to find the line item in the list.
Activity Code – Select from dropdown, the activity which you want to claim against.
Activity Market – The market associated with the chosen activity will be displayed here and is not
editable.
Spent-In Country – Indicate the country in which the investment being reimbursed was spent.
Benefited Country – Indicate the country that will benefit from the investment being reimbursed.
Cost Category – Choose from dropdown, an appropriate cost category. Only cost categories
applicable to the concerned program will appear in the list.
Amount ($) – Enter in US dollars, a reimbursement amount without inserting a dollar sign or
comma. A decimal point is permissible for entering cents. Use a minus (-) sign in front of the
number to enter negative amounts. Do not use parentheses.
Use the appropriate links in the action column on the line items list page to view or delete a line item.
Important Note:
1. Participants can request reimbursement of expenses up to 100% of the total approved budgets
for the MAP, FMD and TASC programs.

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2. Participants can request reimbursement of expenses up to 100% of the approved project
activity budget for the QSP program.
3. For EMP, the reimbursement requests are initially limited to 85% of the approved project
activity budget. Participants can request the remaining 15% of funds as a reimbursement after
submitting a Final Report and FAS approves it. All final reports must be received no later than
60 days after the activity expiration date and all expense claims must be received no later than
150 days after completion of the project.
Note: You can enter multiple activities in an expense claim for the MAP, FMD and QSP programs.
EMP and TASC program proposals limit multiple activity entry to the project activities specific to a
proposal. [Inconsistent information from legacy help, according to previous statements, it should
be QSP and EMP being restricted to single activity, but as per requirements and implementation, it
is only EMP, I believe]

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Alternately, multiple line items can be copied from a spreadsheet. Select the „Add in Spreadsheet Mode‟
link on the line item list page or select the „Add in Spreadsheet‟ tab. Copy-paste line items from a
spreadsheet directly into the table provided. Any unwanted lines can be removed using the „Delete‟
button. Select the „Submit‟ link at the bottom and navigate back to the line item tab to see them listed.
Sample records for spreadsheet entry are shown below to indicate the spreadsheet format. Note that you
may use the FIPS code instead of the country name. Enter negative amounts with a minus (-) sign not
parentheses. Follow the guidelines quoted in General Instructions, „Spreadsheet Entry‟ section.

Activity Code

Activity Market

Spent In
Country

Cost
Category

Amount
($)

Benefited
Country

T11GX88888

EASTERN EUROPE

GG

TECH

23000

US

T11BX65656

CENTRAL EUROPE

PL

ADMIN

57000

US

T11GX62626

TEST MARKET DEF

RO

PUBLIC

11000

SE

T11GX51515

TEST MARKET DEF

KT

TRAVEL

39600

HA

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A claim can be edited or line items added as long as the claim is in „Draft‟ status. Once submitted, editing
the claim is not possible.
Reimbursement Submission
Once the desired line items are added to a claim, navigate back to the claim list page using the
breadcrumb links and locate the claim in the list. Select the „Submit‟ link in the action column against the
claim to submit to FAS for approval. The claim status changes to „Pending‟.

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Repayment of Compliance Review Findings
To repay a compliance review finding, follow the steps to create a reimbursement (expense) claim for the
relevant program detailed earlier in the manual. Enter line items as credits by entering data as negative
numbers. Save and submit the expense claim to FAS. A refund check made out to the Commodity
Credit Corporation must be sent to FAS simultaneously with the submission of the repayment claim.
Send the refund check to the Marketing Operation Staff, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 1042,
Washington, D.C., 20250-1042. An alternate method for repayment of a compliance finding is to offset
the next expense claim. Enter the credit amounts (negative numbers) along with the expense claim line
items (positive numbers) in the expense claim. The total will reflect the offset amount. You are not
required to send a check if you offset the entire amount.
Cost Categories – See Appendix A for applicable cost categories by program.

Electronic Reimbursement (Expense) Claim Tips

1. Do not create a new reimbursement claim if you are experiencing difficulty with submitting a
reimbursement claim. Contact your appropriate MOS program specialist for assistance.

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2. Do not use parentheses to enter negative expense amounts; use the minus sign.
3. To prevent delays in receiving reimbursement payment, program participants must notify their
MOS program specialist when their banking information has changed.
4. Contact your appropriate MOS program specialist if you are experiencing difficulty accessing the
on-line Reimbursement Claim website.

3.3.2. Actual Contributions
Participant‟s actual contributions towards the programs can be reported here. Select „Actual Contribution‟
under Financial menu to reach here.

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