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Complementary Hotel Rooms
It is not uncommon for a cooperator arranging for several companies to participate in a project event to receive complementary ("comp") room-nights or airfare from a hotel or airline with which the cooperator has booked several rooms or seats for the event. As a general rule, federal officials who are members of the ITA-MDCP team supporting the cooperator's project pay their own expenses of traveling and lodging to support project events in person. See the brief explanation on the Typical Team Composition page.
Federal officials part of the ITA-MDCP team effort supporting a cooperator's MDCP project may accept a "comp" hotel room or airfare only if the following conditions are fulfilled.
1. The value of the comp hotel room and/or airfare is claimed as part of cooperator's match (non-federal share), and the fair value amount claimed as match includes only the value of the benefit, e.g. room or seat, and not the value of the time of federal staff traveling to support the event.
2. The cooperator submits in GrantsOnline a declaration addressing the six points below. Example 1, below, and example 2 give you an idea of what a declaration should look like.
Enter: In GrantsOnline/Award Action Request/Other/Description [example 1]: "AWA wishes to let ITA employee Sally Jones use a complementary ("comp") hotel room provided to AWA by the Sands Hotel in Singapore for the nights to June 12-15, 2019. AWA had contemplated using comp hotel rooms as part of its match and intends to claim the value of the comp hotel room for Sally as part of its MDCP project budget match. See the attached document for details."
Attach: In GrantsOnline/Award Action Request/Other/Description: Attach a document describing the use of the comp hotel room in detail. See example 1 below or example 2.
| # | Point | Example 1, American Widget Association (AWA) |
|---|---|---|
| a | Description of specific project activity | WidgAsia in Singapore, June 12-15, 2019, is part of AWA's approved MDCP project work plan. AWA will bring a group of 12 U.S. firms to exhibit at WidgAsia in order to meet buyers from around the world. |
| b | Purpose for the ITA-MDCP team member's participation (showing a nexus to the MDCP project purpose) | ITA-MDCP team member Sally Jones, of the Commercial Service's Phoenix office, has recruited four Arizona-based companies to participate in WidgAsia. She will facilitate matchmaking and provide export counseling for all 12 U.S. firms in the AWA group at WidgAsia. |
| c | Method of payment--cash or in-kind (for air travel only US-flagged carrier is allowed as match) | In-kind. The Sands Hotel in Singapore has provided to AWA four complementary hotel rooms that The Sands lists at $234 per night. |
| d | Amount to approve as a non-federal cost (match) under the award | Sally will arrive the day before the show and depart the day after, June 11-16. The six days of comp hotel room are worth $1,404 (234 x 6). |
| e | Will funds will be reallocated from the approved budget? | No. AWA had contemplated using comp hotel rooms as part of its match (non-federal share). |
| If yes, provide a brief description of how the funds will be reallocated | ||
| f | If yes, describe the impact resulting from any such reallocation |
The federal program officer will convey the cooperator's declaration along with their recommendation to the grants officer for approval or disapproval.
More background about the administration of this policy is available to ITA staff on this MDCP wiki page.
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