Special American Business Internship Training Program
Published on AidPage by
IDILOGIC on Jun 24, 2005
Purpose of this program:
The SABIT program awards funding to qualified U.S. companies for training business executives and scientists from Eurasia. SABIT exposes Eurasian business managers and scientists to a completely new way of thinking in which demand, consumer satisfaction, and profits drive production. Mid to senior level managers and scientists visiting the U.S. for internship programs with public or private sector companies will be exposed to an environment which will provide them with practical knowledge for restructuring their enterprises. The program provides first-hand, eye-opening experience to managers and scientists which cannot be duplicated by American managers traveling to their territories.
Possible uses and use restrictions...
ITA will reimburse recipient firms for the round-trip international travel of each intern from the intern's home city in the NIS to the U.S. internship site. ITA will also reimburse recipient firms for the $34 per day stipend per intern for the awarded period, up to six months. ITA will reimburse recipient firms up to $750 per month per intern for housing cost. In general, each award will have a cap of $13,700 per intern for total cost of airline travel, stipend, and housing, although companies can sponsor more than one intern.
Who is eligible to apply...
Any profit or nonprofit U.S. corporation, association, organization or other public or private entity. Agencies or divisions of the Federal government are not eligible.
Credentials/Documentation
None.
Note:This is a brief description of the credentials or documentation required prior to, or along with, an application for assistance.
About this section:
This section indicates who can apply to the Federal government for assistance and the criteria the potential applicant must satisfy.
For example, individuals may be eligible for research grants, and the criteria to be satisfied may be that they have a professional or scientific degree,
3 years of research experience, and be a citizen of the United States. Universities, medical schools, hospitals, or State and local governments may also be eligible.
Where State governments are eligible, the type of State agency will be indicated (State welfare agency or State agency on aging) and the criteria that they
must satisfy.
Certain federal programs (e.g., the Pell Grant program which provides grants to students) involve intermediate levels of application processing, i.e., applications
are transmitted through colleges or universities that are neither the direct applicant nor the ultimate beneficiary. For these programs,
the criteria that the intermediaries must satisfy are also indicated, along with intermediaries who are not eligible.
How to apply...
Application Procedure:
Competitive Application Kit. Standard Forms 424, 424B and the CD-511, Certifications regarding Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility Matters; Drug-Free Workplace Requirement and Lobbying must be completed. These forms are available from the SABIT program; telephone: (202) 482-0073, or SABIT homepage: www.mac.doc.gov/sabit
Note: Each program will indicate whether applications are to be submitted to the Federal headquarters, regional or local office, or to a State or local government office.
Award Procedure:
Each application will receive an independent, objective review by one or more ITA review panels (composed of three or four members) qualified to evaluate applications submitted under the program. Applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis in accordance with the evaluation criteria. ITA review panel(s) reserve the right to reject any application; to limit the number of interns per applicant; to waive informalities and minor irregularities in applications received; and to consider other than competitive procedures to distribute assistance under this program and in accordance with the law.
Note: Grant payments may be made by a letter of credit, advance by Treasury check, or reimbursement by Treasury check.
Awards may be made by the headquarters office directly to the applicant, an agency field office, a regional office,
or by an authorized county office. The assistance may pass through the initial applicant for further distribution by
intermediate level applicants to groups or individuals in the private sector.
Deadlines and process...
Deadlines
Proposals must be submitted by mail or courier (no facsimile copies will be accepted) to the SABIT Office on or before 5:00pm (Eastern) on the deadline date which is published in the applicable Federal Register Notice which will be 30 to 90 days after publication.
Note:
When available, this section indicates the deadlines for applications to the funding agency which will
be stated in terms of the date(s) or between what dates the application should be received.
When not available, applicants should contact the funding agency for deadline information.
Range of Approval/Disapproval Time
Approximately 3 or 5 months.
Preapplication Coordination
None. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.
Note:
This section indicates whether any prior coordination or approval is required with governmental or nongovernmental units
prior to the submission of a formal application to the federal funding agency.
Appeals
All award decisions are final. There is no appeal process.
Note:
In some cases, there are no provisions for appeal. Where applicable, this section discusses appeal procedures or allowable rework time for resubmission
of applications to be processed by the funding agency. Appeal procedures vary with individual programs and are either listed in this section or
applicants are referred to appeal procedures documented in the relevant Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Renewals
Recipients may be eligible, pursuant to approval of an amendment of an active award to extended the award length.
Note:
In some instances, renewal procedures may be the same as for the application procedure, e.g., for projects of a non-continuing nature renewals will be treated as new, competing applications; for projects of an ongoing nature, renewals may be given annually.
Who can benefit...
Any profit or nonprofit U.S. corporation, association, organization, or other public or private entity.
Beneficiaries
About this section:
This section lists the ultimate beneficiaries of a program, the criteria they must satisfy and who specifically is not eligible. The applicant and beneficiary will generally be the same for programs that provide assistance directly from a Federal agency. However, financial assistance that passes through State or local governments will have different applicants and beneficiaries since the assistance is transmitted to private sector beneficiaries who are not obligated to request or apply for the assistance.
What types of assistance...
Project Grants
The funding, for fixed or known periods, of specific projects. Project grants can include fellowships, scholarships, research grants, training grants, traineeships, experimental and demonstration grants, evaluation grants, planning grants, technical assistance grants, survey grants, and construction grants.
How much financial aid...
Range and Average of Financial Assistance
$8,400 to 40,400; Average est. $18,000 per company seeking assistance. Note that companies can have multiple interns.
Note:
This section lists the representative range (smallest to largest) of the amount of financial assistance available. These figures are based upon funds awarded in the past fiscal year and the current fiscal year to date. Also indicated is an approximate average amount of awards which were made in the past and current fiscal years.
Obligations
(Operations and Administration Assistance) FY 03 $1,500,000; FY 04 $1,500,000; and FY 05 $500,000.
Note:
The dollar amounts listed in this section represent obligations for the past fiscal year (PY), estimates for the current fiscal year (CY), and estimates for the budget fiscal year (BY) as reported by the Federal agencies. Obligations for non-financial assistance programs indicate the administrative expenses involved in the operation of a program.
Account Identification
13-1250-0-1-376.
Note:
Note: This 11-digit budget account identification code represents the account which funds a particular program.
This code should be consistent with the code given for the program area as specified in Appendix III of the Budget of the United States Government.
Examples of funded projects...
Three to 6 months training for managers or scientists in areas including agribusiness, defense conversion, energy, environment, financial services, construction, medical supplies and services, product standards, and quality control, telecommunications, transportation, and biotechnology. SABIT specialized programs include Standards, Regional, Association Development and Transportation Infrastructure.
About this section
This section indicates the different types of projects which have been funded in the past. Only projects funded under Project Grants or Direct Payments for Specified Use should be listed here. The examples give potential applicants an idea of the types of projects that may be accepted for funding. The agency should list at least five examples of the most recently funded projects.
Program accomplishments...
To date, the SABIT program has trained over 3500 interns in over 2,500 U.S. host companies. Recent survey results indicate that over 75 percent of U.S. company hosts that participate in SABIT, maintain some form of ongoing business relationship with their SABIT intern. Not only has the program exposed managers and scientists to American ways of innovation and management, but also assisted U.S. business to gain allies who can become their best customers in Eurasia. Over $260 million in business revenues have been generated by American companies based solely on their SABIT interns.
Criteria for selecting proposals...
Consideration for financial assistance will be given to those SABIT proposals which: present a realistic work plan describing, in detail, the training to be provided to the intern(s); exhibit commitment to the intent and goals of SABIT by providing practical, on-the-job, non-academic, non-classroom, training; provide a section of application that identifies the logistics of the internship, the internship coordinator, the divisions in which the intern will be placed, anticipated housing arrangements, and a statement that notes applicant's commitment to intern's return to Eurasia; and provide a general description of the profile of the intern(s) the applicant would like to host. Evaluation criteria are listed in decreasing importance. That is, evaluation criterion 1 is most important, followed by criterion 2, etc.
Assistance considerations...
Length and Time Phasing of Assistance
The cooperative agreement is valid for 1 year. Funds are reimbursed to recipients upon submission of SF 270, SF 269, Final Report, proof of insurance, and airline ticket receipt.
Formula and Matching Requirements
None. Any costs beyond those covered by the award, including visa fees, housing costs exceeding $500 (or $750 in high cost-of-living areas) per month, insurance, and food and incidentals beyond $34 per day, any training-related travel within the U.S., medical insurance, visa reimbursment-and provision of the hands-on training will be covered by the grantee.
Note:
A formula may be based on population, per capita income, and other statistical factors. Applicants are informed whether there are any matching requirements to be met when participating in the cost of a project. In general, the matching share represents that portion of the project costs not borne by the Federal government. Attachment F of OMB Circular No. A-102 (Office of Management and Budget) sets forth the criteria and procedures for the evaluation of matching share requirements which may be cash or in-kind contributions made by State and local governments or other agencies, institutions, private organizations, or individuals to satisfy matching requirements of Federal grants or loans.
Cash contributions represent the grantees' cash outlay, including the outlay of money contributed to the grantee by other public agencies, institutions, private organizations, or individuals. When authorized by Federal regulation, Federal funds received from other grants may be considered as the grantees' cash contribution.
In-kind contributions represent the value of noncash contributions provided by the grantee, other public agencies and institutions, private organizations or individuals. In-kind contributions may consist of charges for real property and equipment, and value of goods and services directly benefiting and specifically identifiable to the grant program. When authorized by Federal legislation, property purchased with Federal funds may be considered as grantees' in-kind contribution.
Maintenance of effort (MOE) is a requirement contained in certain legislation, regulations, or administrative policies stating that a grantee must maintain a specified level of financial effort in a specific area in order to receive Federal grant funds, and that the Federal grant funds may be used only to supplement, not supplant, the level of grantee funds.
Post assistance requirements...
Reports
End of Internship Report, Submission of SF 270, SF 269, proof of medical insurance, market survey for the type of housing provided, and airline ticket receipts.
Note:
This section indicates whether program reports, expenditure reports, cash reports or performance monitoring are required by the Federal funding agency, and specifies at what time intervals (monthly, annually, etc.) this must be accomplished.
Audits
The grants officer has the discretion to require by the terms and conditions of SABIT awards that recipients have an audit conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. In Accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), recipients that are States, Local Governments, Non-profit organizations (to include Hospitals), and Institutions of Higher Learning shall be subject to the audit requirements contained in the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (31 U.S.C. 7501-7507). Commercial organizations shall be subject to the audit requirements as stipulated in the award document.
Note:
This section discusses audits required by the Federal agency.
The procedures and requirements for State and local governments and nonprofit entities are set forth in OMB Circular No. A-133.
These requirements pertain to awards made within the respective State's fiscal year - not the Federal fiscal year,
as some State and local governments may use the calendar year or other variation of time span designated as the fiscal year period,
rather than that commonly known as the Federal fiscal year (from October 1st through September 30th).
Records
All documents related to the award 3 years after submitting the final financial report, SF 269.
Note:
This section indicates the record retention requirements and the type of records the Federal agency may require.
Not included are the normally imposed requirements of the General Accounting Office.
For programs falling under the purview of OMB Circular No. A-102, record retention is set forth in Attachment C.
For other programs, record retention is governed by the funding agency's requirements.
Regulations...
Authorization
Foreign or Assistance Act of 1961, 632(a) and 735(b).
Note:
This section lists the legal authority upon which a program is based (acts, amendments to acts, Public Law numbers, titles, sections, Statute Codes, citations to the U.S. Code, Executive Orders, Presidential Reorganization Plans, and Memoranda from an agency head).
Regulations, Guidelines, And Literature
Federal Register Notice: Docket No. 011123281-1281-01, SABIT brochures, SABIT Exchange Newsletter, Competitive Application Kit; All can be obtained free of charge from the SABIT office by telephone: (202) 482-0073 or visiting the SABIT homepage: www.mac.doc.gov/sabit.