CBP to Reassign ABI Client Reps, Re-Route Some Broker Questions Through Vendors

Upcoming changes to how CBP assigns ACE client representatives will result in many customs brokers and importer self-filers assigned to new representatives, but won’t completely shut off direct communication with client reps as rumored (see 1807310032), CBP officials said on an Aug. 1 call with the trade community to discuss the initiative. Under the new scheme, brokers and self-filers will be assigned to the same client rep as their Automated Broker Interface vendor or service center, said Steve Zaccaro, CBP’s client rep branch chief. Some vendors may also have to be reassigned between client reps to redistribute the current workload. Though CBP will take a case-by-case approach and may allow brokers and self-filers to stay with their current rep in “unique” circumstances,” most brokers and self-filers will be assigned to new client reps as a result of the change, Zaccaro said.

The reorganization mirrors the current system in place for ocean and truck manifest in other CBP systems besides ABI, and will result in greater efficiency because the client rep will know more about the broker or self-filer’s software, Zaccaro said. It “will give us a better view into how to address things overall,” he said.

At the same time, CBP will be pushing more questions previously addressed to client reps to software vendors, CBP policy offices and the ports, Zaccaro said. The agency will release guidance with instructions to brokers and self-filers on where to go for help. Questions related to software issues will need to be sent to the vendors and service centers. On the other hand, questions related to CBP system issues or middleware will still be directed to the client rep. That should reduce the workload on client representatives while making sure questions from brokers and self-filers get answered sooner by making it into the right hands more quickly, he said.

CBP is hoping to make these changes by Oct. 1, though that deadline is just “something to aim for” and the process could take longer, Zaccaro said. First vendors will be reassigned, then brokers and self-filers will be assigned their new client reps. Notifications will likely come from the broker or self-filer’s old client rep, who will introduce the broker or self-filer to the new one, he said, though that process is not set in stone and vendors could be involved in the notification process as well.

As part of the process, CBP is seeking out input on the new scheme, in particular on how questions related to specific situations should be directed, whether to the vendor, client rep or other CBP personnel. Suggestions should be directed to the ABI client reps, who will in turn forward them to their supervisors for consideration. Outstanding issues that still need to be addressed in planning also include timing issues, such as if a West Coast broker gets reassigned to an East Coast client rep that stops answering questions mid-afternoon Pacific time.

Some brokers and self-filers will even be assigned to multiple client reps to cover systems they use from multiple vendors, Zaccaro said. For example, a broker with entry processing and manifest divisions that use different software vendors for their respective systems will likely have different client reps for each, he said.

The changes will help to resolve issues of unbalanced and at times increasing workloads among client reps, Zaccaro said. CBP isn’t looking to restrict broker access to client reps, but is “looking to stop answering questions that are not client rep-related and make sure those are directed properly,” Zaccaro said. Client reps currently attempt to answer questions about policy where they have to seek answers from other offices, questions about field operations that should be directed to import or entry specialists or CBP officers, and questions about software that can only be resolved by the vendor, he said.

At the same time, CBP will attempt to reduce the workload currently faced by its shrinking staff of client reps by improving its messaging. The agency is currently reaching the end of a process to make its Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) messages more clear, timely and accurate, and the trade should see an improvement on that front in the “next couple of months,” Zaccaro said. The agency is also reviewing its ABI messaging and working to update its error code dictionaries so brokers and filers can more easily self-identify errors instead of having to go to the client rep for help.