WEISE: COALITION FOR CUSTOMS AUTOMATION FUNDING LOSING STEAM

   Former Customs Commissioner George Weise warned executives yesterday at an industry meeting in Washington that an industry effort to seek funding for Customs’ future automated system may be losing momentum.
   Earlier this year a group of 200 industry associations and companies,
known as the Coalition for Customs Automation Funding, has been lobbying Congress to fund Customs’ Automated Commercial Environment. The cost of the system is estimated at $1.8 billion.
   Congress has yet to issue funding for the new system. But it has
appropriated $67 million to the agency to maintain the current Automated Commercial System.
   "There seems to be no more concern that the current system will crash," Weise said at the American Association of Exporters and Importers conference. "We need to redouble our efforts to get this issue across to the Administration and Congress."
   It’s still uncertain whether Customs will receive $40 million to run its
ACE development program through 2000. Customs hopes to select a prime contractor by June to start building ACE.
   Weise said that the only way that Customs stands a chance at receiving any automation funding by 2001 is if the industry raises the issue to a "crisis" level. "We have 535 members in Congress that need to be educated," he said.