CBP clarifies who’s in charge of ACE office

CBP clarifies whoÆs in charge of ACE office    First, he was. Then, he wasn’t. Now, he’s half-and-half.
   Last Friday, U.S. Customs officials stated that Dan Baldwin would remain as executive business owner for the Automated Commercial Environment project despite being moved from assistant commissioner for international trade to director of cargo and conveyance security on March 15.
   On Wednesday, Maria Louisa O’Connell, Commissioner Alan Bersin’s senior advisor for trade and public engagement, said in a conference call with the Trade Leadership Council and representatives of trade associations that Baldwin would relinquish his job defining the user requirements for ACE development.
   The Trade Leadership Council is a streamlined subset of the Trade Support Network formed to provide more effective feedback on the ACE project to Customs and Border Protection and the rest of industry.

Baldwin

   CBP issued a statement Thursday to clarify the matter, saying that Baldwin and Al Gina, who is replacing Baldwin at the helm of the international trade office, will share responsibility for coordinating the business needs of internal users, other government agencies and the trade community as ACE is built out to process imported goods and communicate necessary information among stakeholders.

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   ‘This transition into the shared responsibility will happen over the next 30 to 60 days, while CBP continues to move forward with merging the trade facilitation and security roles. CBP continues to consider the impacts, if any, to the ACE program, which resides in the Office of International Trade,’ said the statement from O’Connell and Cindy Allen, executive director of the ACE Business Office.
   The change does not indicate any lessening in the priority placed on ACE by CBP and Bersin, it said.

Gina

   The ACE Business Office was created in 2009 in an effort to get the decade-long information technology program back on track by prioritizing key functions for software programmers to develop.
   Al Gina is assistant commissioner for international affairs, but has been detailed to work on special projects for the commissioner in recent months.
   The downgrade of an assistant commissioner is unprecedented in recent memory. Baldwin is considered a smart trade enforcement official who has rubbed some people the wrong way with his management style. ‘ Eric Kulisch