M1 Remains CBP's Top ACE Priority, Followed by Cargo Release
During the August 4, 2010 meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Related Homeland Security Functions (COAC) in Detroit, MI, a CBP official provided an update on various Automated Commercial Environment and the International Trade Data System issues.
Highlights of the automation issues discussed (as found in CBP’s “draft” minutes of the meeting) include:
M1 Remains Top ACE Priority, Next Priority to be Cargo Release
CBP’s top priority for ACE (that is currently in development) is M1 (e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail) . A pilot and full implementation are expected in early 2011.
CBP shifts focus to cargo release. Based on CBP’s original program plan, the next top priorities would be air manifests and cargo release. However, because air manifests will depend on the infrastructure that M1 will lay down, CBP’s focus will shift primarily toward cargo release in the interim.
CBP says that a cargo release document identifying high-level business needs, in large part built off of the International Trade Data System (ITDS) concept of operations, has been built.
Advancing toward the single window. Advancements on the following issues identified by the ITDS Board of Directors are expected to be made very soon:
- data warehouse structure,
- document imaging capabilities, and
- verified interfaces for communication with a variety of government agencies
According to CBP, these advancements will demonstrate that there are resources available that can be better leveraged to achieve the single window concept. The October 21, 2010 import safety conference should provide more opportunities for such leveraging in the form of declarations of principles and memorandums of understanding.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 08/06/10 news, 10080621, for earlier BP summary of this COAC meeting stating that CBP officials plan to focus on “low hanging fruit” involving ITDS such as interoperability, a data warehouse, and imaging, rather than on e-Manifest: Air (M 2.1).
See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/25/10 news, 10082514, for BP summary on the October 21, 2010 conference.)
CBP Review of COAC ACE Survey Results due in Fall 2010
An interim deliverable that analyzes COAC’s ACE survey is being worked on by CBP’s contract economists and is expected in the fall of 2010. According to the COAC minutes, the survey results are expected be useful.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 05/25/10 news, 10052527, for BP summary of the results of COAC’s survey.)
COAC stated that it welcomes an official response back from CBP on its ACE survey. CBP stated that an attempt will be made to give COAC an opportunity for consultation on the survey results so that its point of view can be shared with the attendees of the interagency import safety conference being held on October 21, 2010.
COAC Wants More Data on OGA Releases, Holds, and Samples on the ACE Portal
COAC noted that now that CBP Forms 28 and 29 are available on ACE, it would be helpful if CBP would start utilizing it. The ACE portal has been a valuable tool for industry, and would be more so if it had more data on releases, holds, or sample requirements from other agencies. COAC encourages CBP to make efforts to verify interfaces with PGAs.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/06/10 news, 10080621, for previous BP overview of the August 4 COAC meeting which discussed automation issues.)