CBP Posts Most Recent Quarterly Report to Congress on ACE
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its quarterly report on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), entitled Report to Congress: the Automated Commercial Environment. This report is dated October 1, 2003 and covers the period from June 15, 2003 through September 30, 2003.
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(According to CBP, this quarterly report consolidates the reporting requirements contained in the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, 2004; the Trade Act of 2002; and the General Accounting Office's (GAO's) February 2003 report. CBP states that the next quarterly reporting period was to close on December 31, 2003 and that the report for that period would be submitted to Congress on February 1, 2004.)
The following are highlights from the Executive Summary of CBP's October 1, 2003 report:
ACE expected to be 6-year program due to funding levels. CBP states that expanded mission priorities under the Department of Homeland Security and a new direction in ACE development dictated the need to revise the ACE Program Plan. CBP also states that as funding levels to enable a 5-year schedule did not materialize, ACE is expected to be a 6-year program and new capabilities will continue to be introduced every six months.
eCP implemented several changes to address system performance problem. CBP notes that the e-Customs Partnership (eCP) implemented several changes to address a system performance problem that was uncovered during ACE testing. According to CBP, these changes enhanced performance, and remaining improvements were being implemented.
Accomplishments include revision of ACE Program Plan, etc. CBP states that the key accomplishments during the June 15, 2003-September 30, 2003 period included (partial list): (1) revision of the ACE program plan; (2) development of "Selectivity NOW" proposal to accelerate border security capabilities; (3) completion of training and User Acceptance Testing for Release 2 of the ACE Secure Data Portal; (4) prioritization of 24 agencies for ACE/International Trade Data System (ITDS) integration in fiscal year (FY) 2004; (5) etc.
CBP's October 1, 2003 report to Congress on ACE is available at