ITDS Board Report Says Funds Lacking for All ACE Cargo Release PGA Features
The International Trade Data System Board's fiscal year 2010 report on the status of ITDS states that while there is funding for the FY 2011 top three priorities, additional funds will be needed for the Participating Government Agency “shared requirements” envisioned for ACE Cargo Release.
(ITDS is an ACE project to build an electronic “single window” for reporting imports and exports to the government.1 According to one government official, the success of ITDS is tied to Cargo Release, which is slated to be delivered on an accelerated schedule -- in 1 1/2 to 2 years -- due to ACE’s status as a high risk investment.)
Unassigned ITDS Monies to Fund Top 3 Priorities, Etc.
ITDS receives funding from two sources -- its program budget, a component of CBP’s Automation Modernization appropriation, and PGAs via interagency agreements. In addition, the ITDS account at the time of the report had $36.5 million in “no-year money.”
According to the report, a relatively small portion of that $36.5M should be sufficient to cover expenditures for the three ITDS priorities currently being pursued for FY 2011: (1) adding PGA data elements to major import reporting messages (manifest, entry, and entry summary), (2) the document imaging system (DIS), and (3) the completion of CBP’s plans for ITDS and decisions related to technical interoperability.
(Work such as enhancing export functionality, or using system-to-system communication functionality to transfer manifest data, may also be done relatively inexpensively.)
But More Funding Needed to Build Cargo Release ITDS Admissibility Functions
Additional funds are likely to be needed, however, to build functions that have been contemplated for Cargo Release. This phase of the ACE project involves functions related to admissibility, which is of importance to a number of ITDS agencies, particularly those with import safety missions.
As the $36.5M in funds will not be sufficient to fund development of all the “shared requirements” envisioned by the PGAs, the report suggests this funding should at least be managed to assure completion of the three priority projects noted above.
Further Use of Existing Systems Could Advance the ITDS Vision
According to the report, advancing the ITDS vision for imports can also occur by using automated tools that already exist. For example, the prototype document imaging system (DIS) that CBP deployed is based upon technology originally developed for another purpose. In addition, ITDS agencies are beginning to use targeting functionality already existing in CBP’s Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC).
For exports, the Automated Export System and AESDirect are tools already deployed and in use by the government and the private sector. Enhancing these systems appears to be the quickest and most cost-effective approach to meeting ITDS agencies export function requirements.
Cargo Release “Key” for ITDS, Risk Segmentation and Trade Facilitation
According to a CBP official, “ITDS will only be delivered with Cargo Release,” and from the White House on down, it is viewed as a critical program for segmenting risk and facilitating all types of trade in cargo that has little or no risk.
It will incorporate risk segmentation, standard data sets (SDS), and DIS, among other components. CBP is working with PGAs to determine all of their needs, so Cargo Release can try to address them. Cargo Release is scheduled for delivery in 1 1/2 to 2 years.
1ITDS is not a separate computer system but consists of functionality being built and funded through the ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) project, a modernization and expansion of automated systems for processing imports and exports operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/02/11 news, 11030232, for initial BP summary on ITDS priorities and the recommendations made in the report.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/15/11 news, 11031521, for BP summary on the report’s sections on ITDS export functionality.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/08/11 news, 11030832, for BP summary stating that CBP is developing ACE on an accelerated schedule, including cargo release, dued to its designation as a high risk investment.)