SUMMARY: The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announces that it is inviting applications for the 2020 Market Access Program (MAP). The MAP is administered by personnel of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) on behalf of CCC. The intended effect of this notice is to solicit proposals from eligible applicants for fiscal year 2020 and to set out the criteria for the awarding of funds under the program. DATES: All applications must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, June 28, 2019. Applications received after this date will not be considered. FAS anticipates that the initial funding selections will be made by theend of October 2019, with the initial award dates estimated to be by the end of December 2019. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Applicants needing assistance should contact the Program OperationsDivision, Office of Trade Programs, Foreign Agricultural Service by courier: Room 6512, 1400 IndependenceAve, SW, Washington, DC 20250, or by phone:(202) 720–4327, or by fax: (202) 720–9361,or by e–mail:
[email protected]. Information, including a copy of the program regulations, is also available on the FAS website at the following URL address:http://www.fas.usda.gov/programs/market–access–program–map. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A. Funding OpportunityDescription Announcement Type: New. AwardInstrument: Grant. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 10.601. Authorizing Authority: The MAP isauthorized under Section 203(b) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5623(b)), as amended. MAP regulations appear at 7 CFR Part 1485. Appropriation Authority: Funding for the MAP is provided under 7 U.S.C. 5623(f). Purpose: The MAP is designed to encourage the development, maintenance, and expansion of commercial export markets for United States agricultural commodities and products through cost–share assistance. Under the MAP, FAS enters into agreements with eligible Participants to share the cost of certain overseas marketing and promotion activities. Financial assistance under the MAP is made available on a competitive basis, and applications are reviewed against the evaluation criteria contained herein and in the MAP regulations. All U.S. agricultural commodities, except tobacco, are eligible for consideration.