The Commerce Department’s Office of Export Administration,...

The Commerce Department’s Office of Export Administration, which grants licenses for sensitive U.S. high-technology exports, will open its first office outside Washington in Southern California this spring.

The move is designed to facilitate the government’s lengthy licensing requirements--subject of increasing criticism--over a variety of products, which are restricted because of national security interests or other factors. The Commerce Department receives about 110,000 license requests annually.

Daniel J. Young, district director of the Commerce’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, said the office will be in Orange County in April.