CBP Announces Launch of ACE Account Revenue Pilot Test
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice announcing that on June 14, 2004 it launched a pilot test of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Periodic Payment features and other account revenue capabilities.
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Pilot Tests New Monthly Account Statement, Monthly "Credit Card" Payment, Etc.
According to CBP, approximately 350 CBP personnel and trade community representatives are involved in the pilot test.
CBP states that the features being tested in this pilot include new monthly account statement and payment capabilities, as well as ledger integration, notification, alerts, and other enhancements. Similar to commercial credit card payment processes, ACE participants will be able to receive a monthly listing of their daily account statements and make one monthly payment via the Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) electronic funds transfer system.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 02/05/04 and 02/06/04 news, 04020505 and 04020605, for previous BP summaries of CBP's February 2004 general notice announcing its intent to conduct this pilot test.)
According to U.S. government sources, the first group of trade and CBP pilot participants will begin their training during the week of June 14, 2004. Subsequent training sessions for other trade and CBP participants will be held on a weekly basis through the first week in August 2004. According to sources, after a trade participant in the pilot receives its training, that participant then begins a period of user acceptance testing (UAT) which lasts approximately one month.
Sources state that after all of the trade participants have completed their UAT and if an assessment of the pilot indicates that it was a success, ACE Release 3 will be considered "deployed" and will be open to additional trade participants. Various sources indicate that CBP expects ACE Release 3 to be deployed at the end of August/beginning of September 2004.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 05/12/04 and 05/21/04 news, 04051205 and 04052105, for previous BP summaries.)
Enhancements to ACE Secure Data Portal Also Expected in Mid-June 2004
According to CBP, through the ACE Secure Data Portal government and the trade community are connected through a single, centralized, on-line access point and that in mid-June 2004 there will be significant enhancements to the entire portal for all users, even those not participating in the Periodic Payment pilot test.
CBP notice (dated 06/14/04) available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/pilot_test_launches.xml.
BP Note
See today's ITT, 04061599 6 for further details on CBP's notice.