CBP's Smith Tells NCBFAA 'I Know We're Not Done' With ACE

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- The completion of "core" ACE was a proud moment for Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner-trade, but she's aware of the remaining needs for the system, she said during a May 2 speech at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference. "I know we're not done," she said. "Let me say that again. I know we're not done."

The updated CBP Form 5106, which will be called the Create/Update Importer Identity Form, "is actively on our list," she said. "We've got a little bit of regulatory work to do, we have some ACE programming to do," she said.

The agency is working from multiple industry and governmental "wish lists" for how it will spend the $34 million in new funding for ACE, she said. CBP will be asking about each proposal whether it reduces work for the government and industry and increases the ability to manage risk, she said. "We try to put each request through that same screen and then we vote," she said. The most important things, including the programming for the Form 5106, "have flowed to the top," she said.