The ITA Bronze Medal Award

The Bronze Medal is the International Trade Administration’s highest award. Recipients will have demonstrated both excellence in individual, unit or group achievement and effective cooperation with others in the furtherance of ITA goals. In addition, contributions must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Unusually significant contribution, direct or indirect, to the achievement of an important ITA program goal;
• Unusually significant contribution in support of ITA’s efficiency and effectiveness in accomplishing its missions;
• Unusually effective leadership or management, resulting in significant improvements in productivity, program effectiveness or the quality of ITA’s service; or
• Unusually outstanding authorship, editorship, analysis or research that significantly advances knowledge in an area directly relevant to an ITA program.

One or more Bronze Medals may be awarded in each of the following categories. (No award will be made for categories where there are no nominees that fully meet the applicable criteria.)

• Outstanding ITA Technical, Secretarial or Clerical Employee
• Outstanding FSN Technical, Secretarial or Clerical Employee
• Outstanding ITA Professional Employee
• Outstanding FSN Professional Employee
• Outstanding ITA Supervisor or Manager
• Outstanding ITA Organization
• Outstanding ITA Group

Technical, Secretarial or Clerical Employee

Examples:
• The employee is unusually thorough, well organized and consistently able to complete critical assignments in an excellent fashion under tight deadlines while maintaining a positive attitude.

• The employee is eager to participate fully in achieving the unit’s mission, fosters a sense of teamwork among members of the unit, promotes the exchange of ideas and is considerate of the contributions and ideas of colleagues, thereby greatly enhancing the performance of the unit.

• The employee develops creative solutions to problems encountered on the job, significantly contributing to the unit’s productivity.

• The employee is thoroughly aware of ITA’s organizational structure and functions, is thoroughly familiar with ITA’s techniques and procedures, and is unusually effective in communicating information to others inside and outside the organization, thereby greatly contributing to the unit’s accomplishment of its mission.

Professional employee

Examples:
• The employee demonstrates an unusual command of diverse and complex issues within a given task and guides the assignment to a highly successful conclusion, e.g., a Secretarial Trade and Investment Mission.

• The employee develops unusually creative and effective marketing strategies with senior business representatives and demonstrates excellence in providing both practical and effective counseling to U.S. and local business visitors in support of ITA programs.

• The employee produces superlative market surveys and other types of comprehensive reports in support of ITA programs which have a significant impact on continuing or new programs.

• The employee demonstrates ability to assume extraordinary responsibilities or demonstrates outstanding leadership in furthering the ITA mission.

• The employee demonstrates outstanding ability to organize and efficiently execute promotion campaigns related to U.S. commercial interests.

• The employee shows unusual dedication and superior performance during an emergency which threatens or interrupts the operation of the unit.

Supervisor or Manager

Examples:
• The manager’s unusually effective supervision enables the unit to achieve critical program goals that otherwise would not have been met.

• The manager’s unusually creative leadership results in significant cost savings and/or improvements in the unit’s service to its internal or external customers.

• The manager initiates and manages to fruition a major action that significantly contributes to an ITA program.

• The manager’s insightful and coolheaded leadership in an emergency or crisis enables the unit to respond quickly and effectively, minimizing any damages and maximizing the positive outcome to ITA program goals.

Group

-- An eligible Group consists of no more than ten ITA employees.
-- Each member of the Group will have made a Bronze-medal-caliber contribution to the Group’s accomplishment.

Examples:

• A group successfully accomplishes a comprehensive policy analysis of such magnitude and complexity that significant recognition is received by the Department and ITA.

• A group is under extreme pressure to reduce a case backlog or to revise Department of Commerce policy in a very sensitive regulatory area. The group is successful and brings credit and recognition to ITA and themselves.
• A group spearheaded or accomplished a major initiative to obtain changes in a foreign government's policies affecting American business interests.

• A group mounts a successful major promotional activity of such magnitude and complexity that significant recognition is received by the Department and ITA.

• A group initiates or implements a major administrative activity leading to significant improvement in the management of programs in ITA.

Organization(s)

--An eligible Organization may be either (1) an office, division, or subunit which is formally recognized as a separate entity (as in organization orders or charts) or (2) an ad hoc organization assembled for the purpose of working on a specific project. A Single Organization award may be made to one such organization in which all or most of the people in the organization worked together to achieve the accomplishment being recognized. A Joint Organization award may be made to two or three offices, divisions or subunits who work together to produce an achievement for which they are substantially responsible for the outcome and in which each participated fully in the achievement being recognized.

Since this award recognizes the contribution of the organization as a whole, not the individual members per se, a Single Organization will receive only one framed certificate and medal. Joint Organizations will receive one framed certificate and medal for each constituent organization. All members of the organization will come to the stage to receive the award for the organization. Each member of the organization will receive a somewhat smaller (and less expensive) framed individual certificate, without a medal. Eligible organizations will normally consist of no more than twenty individuals, although somewhat larger organizations may be recognized in unusual circumstances. In such cases, the receiving organization will be responsible for the cost of individual certificates after the first 15.

Examples:

• An office is under extreme pressure to reduce a case backlog or to revise Department of Commerce policy in a very sensitive regulatory area. The office is successful and brings credit and recognition to ITA and themselves.

• A Commercial Service foreign post, a Trade Development division, and a Market Access and Compliance division jointly accomplish a major initiative to obtain changes in a foreign government's policies affecting American business interests.

• An ad hoc organization consisting of representatives of several ITA units cooperates to plan and implement a successful major promotional activity of such magnitude and complexity that significant recognition is received by the Department and ITA.

• A division initiates or implements a major administrative activity leading to significant improvement in the management of programs in ITA.

• An ad hoc organization consisting of specialists from several ITA offices accomplishes a comprehensive policy analysis of such magnitude and complexity that significant recognition is received by the Department and ITA.

• An ITA division, to an unusual and exemplary degree, displays consistent excellence in its work during the year. Its entire staff and management are always helpful and responsive; its work products are outstanding in their timeliness, relevance and quality; it accomplishes much with few resources; it initiates and follows through on significant activities benefitting U.S. industry in the global marketplace; and its accomplishments bring credit and recognition to the Department and ITA.