Inter-Agency Process

Guidelines to Shorten Processing Time

  Many businesses have learned the hard way that pushing a Licensing Officer at DTC, or going above their heads to supervisors, high ranking military officials, or their Congressman or Senator to get an application moved faster has backfired and only sent their application to the bottom of the pile. DTC is notorious for pushing back when an organization attempts to circumnavigate the process they have set up. DTC has strict internal guidelines and the Licensing Officers are required to follow them. Upsetting your Licensing Officer will only make your life more difficult. Resist the temptation to push.

If you want your application to move quickly and smoothly there are a few things you can do to help make that happen.

Apply for your application as soon as possible — the earlier your organization makes an application, the earlier you will get your approval and avoid missing costly deadlines.

Make your application as complete and detailed as possible. Add all supporting documentation including brochures, pictures, white papers, anything that will help your licensing officer understand what you are asking permission for. Be clear in your writing — the general rule of thumb is if your grandmother could read your application and fully understand what you are asking for, then you have done a good job explaining. The better a job your organization does at explaining your request, the less chance it will be routed through some of the other agencies. If you are clear and outline what you are and are not going to do you will be able to prevent additional review.

If your project or contract is supported by the U.S. Government — add your contact person's information on the application and remind them that the State Department may call and ask questions about the activity being requested. Make sure your point of contact knows you have used them and is really part of your project.

Return phone calls from licensing officers immediately. If a licensing officer calls your organization with a question — be prepared to answer that day. A failure to answer questions could lead to the rejection of your application or place your application at the bottom of the pile while the licensing officer moves on to an organization that is more responsive.

Do not call your licensing officer for status. Use the electronic systems for daily tracking of your application, the systems will let you know where your license is and what agencies it has been staffed to. If you cannot locate your application on the electronic system — contact the DTC helpdesk — not the licensing officer. Any time you take away from a licensing officer with questions that could be researched on your own, or by the response team, it time they could have spend approving and releasing your application.

Finally, if you have had prior approvals, licenses or agreements, include those as precedents to your current request. By demonstrating the same or similar activity has been approved before, you will be able to skip some of the extra agency reviews.