CBP faces challenge to prepare industry for ACE

CBP faces challenge to prepare industry for ACE The success of the new information technology system for filing trade data to multiple government agencies at once hinges on educating the import community to prepare for big changes in their customs processes and working with industry upfront to ferret out design problems before full rollout, U.S. Customs Deputy Commissioner Deborah Spero said Tuesday.
   Customs and Border Protection is developing the Automated Commercial Environment as a single government portal to replace existing programs that monitor, control and expedite commercial imports and exports. The agency began implementing technical upgrades behind the scenes in 2003, and expects to complete the phased launch of different functions by 2010, and at a cost of more than a $1 billion.
   'If we do not coordinate and test new systems with the trade community it can wreck havoc on international trade operations,' Spero told the Trade Support Network, a group of 150-plus industry professionals providing feedback to CBP on modernization issues. She thanked the TSN, which is meeting in Arlington, Va. this week, for helping the agency debug the complex computer system and spreading the word about the impact on trade functions.
   Spero said ACE will bring profound changes for importers, exporters, customs brokers and carriers, because CBP is taking advantage of the new capabilities to change the way it operates 'not just automating the cow path,' her term for rigid, tradition-bound processes.
      The TSN is worried that CBP is not doing enough to publicize the dramatic changes in business practices that will be forced on the import-export industry as Customs transitions from the current Automated Commercial System to ACE.
   'The actual impact of ACE on the trade community can neither be overstated nor fully anticipated,' according to a white paper authored by a group within TSN and obtained by Shippers' NewsWire. It noted that ACS is the lifeline that supports international trade and the U.S. economy.
   Companies will have to invest resources to change their processes and program their systems to interface with ACE.
   'A clumsy implementation of ACE will cost money, clients and jobs to those who are dependent on these systems to realize their work ' While the transition to ACE will be difficult and costly for some period, it is as necessary as the transition from kerosene lanterns to electricity,' the TSN group said.
   The TSN group urged companies to sign up for ACE accounts as soon as possible to start periodic monthly payment of duties, get an overview of their national transaction activity and eventually use multimodal manifests that were never available before. But it said CBP needs to do more to sell ACE and drive participation.
   The committee recommended that CBP transmit monthly reminder messages to small and large companies, as well as trade associations, about the benefits of the system, with separate requests to customs brokers to spread the word to their customers. A constant stream of detailed information about systems requirements and how to cope with it through seminars, e-mails, mass mailings and other avenues is also necessary, it said.
   'CBP should consider 'marketing' this type of information in the same manner a professional PR firm would,' the TSN group urged. It suggested CBP establish an integrated communication team composed of trade members and CBP officials to work on consistent messages, advertising, press kits and other outreach efforts.
   The priority target audience should be software vendors and those brokers and importers that self-program their IT systems, followed by those who file entries and transportation providers, according to the paper. The toughest audience to reach is the trucking community, which will soon be required to file electronic manifests prior to arrival at the border. CBP also needs to do a better job of educating its employees in the field about the current state of ACE and new developments, the paper said.
   Meanwhile, CBP Commissioner Ralph Basham said in his keynote address that Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson recently voiced strong support for ACE and the Department of Homeland Security's approval of the latest funding plan for the program, according to a text of his prepared remarks.