U.S. CUSTOMS’ PORT-LEVEL STAFF, INDUSTRY REVIEW SHUTDOWN PLANS

   U.S. Customs wants its port-level staff and industry to know what to do if there’s a system meltdown because of year 2000 or other technical
glitches.
   The agency has requested that its staff meet with industry at the ports
by Nov. 1 to review contingency plans if the Automated Commercial System fails.
   "We don’t expect a lot of problems," said Vera Adams, director for
commercial processing at Customs in Washington. "What could happen will likely be localized."
   Last October, the agency reprogrammed more than 6 million lines of code in ACS to prepare for Y2K. Customs has established an Emergency Response Center in Newington, Va., to operate during New Year’s Eve weekend.
   The biggest concern, however, is that local power companies and
communication providers may experience Y2K problems.
   Customs recently simulated ACS crashes in Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C. This gave the agency and industry a better idea of what they need to do if such an event occurs.