FOUR AGENCIES COULD BE INTEGRATED INTO CUSTOMS? ACE IN 2003

FOUR AGENCIES COULD BE INTEGRATED INTO CUSTOMSÆ ACE IN 2003    By fall of 2003, the U.S. Customs Service hopes to have four U.S. government agencies integrated into the early phases of the its Automated Commercial Environment and its International Trade Data System, a Customs official said Friday.
   Charles Armstrong, executive director of Customs’ Modernization Program, told Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner and industry executives at the U.S. Treasury Advisory Committee on the Commercial Operations of Customs (COAC) that the his office hopes to have the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition all integrated into the initial stages of ACE, Customs’ computer-generated trade monitoring system. Armstrong said he viewed such systems as ACE and ITDS as good information integration points for government agencies and trade. Such implementation, he said requires funding and research.
   “We see ACE and ITDS as being able to fulfill the vision.” Armstrong said.
   Bonner said that additional funding is necessary to see the completion of ACE, and that he was prepared to approach the Office of Management and Budget to that end.
   Arthur Litman, vice president of regulatory affairs for Tower Group International, agreed with Bonner and Armstrong that research and development for ACE and ITDS required diligence and funding. “The development of a system is not simply applying new technology to an old process,” he said.