Most Remaining ACE PGA Message Set Pilots to Begin Aug. 19, Says CBP Official

The bulk of the remaining Automated Commercial Environment pilot tests of partner government agency (PGA) message sets will begin on Aug. 19, said Cynthia Whittenburg, CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) held July 29 in Chicago. A total of 13 PGA message set pilots will begin on that date, including the Food and Drug Administration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Lacey Act, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, she said.

The first phase of each of the 13 pilots will consist of talking through transactions with filers “one by one” at 12 ports, said Whittenburg. On Sept. 2, two weeks after the pilots’ Aug. 19 launch date, CBP will roll out the pilots to another 75 ports, she said. On Sept. 16 the pilots will be expanded to an additional 120 ports, with all remaining ports joining the pilots on Sept. 23, said Whittenburg. “It’s going to be a pretty quick rollout,” she said.

The pilots had been scheduled to begin in July, according to a CBP schedule of PGA message set pilots last updated in April (here). However, CBP had to shift the pilot schedule “in part due to the shift in deployments” of some capabilities that were originally supposed to be deployed on June 27 (see 1507130027).

With the pilots set to begin in three weeks, agencies have only a “limited number of participants,” and “some agencies have found no partners yet,” said Timothy Skud, deputy assistant secretary-tax, trade and tariff policy at the Treasury Department. Skud urged “anyone who’s in position to participate in a pilot involving a particular agency to contact that agency and let them know of your willingness.” Although there are costs involved in being an early adopter, the pilots also present the chance to learn and the opportunity “to be in a position to serve your customers ahead of anybody else,” said Skud.