Additional Details from CBP's March 31, 2004 Quarterly Report to Congress on ACE
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recently 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 March 31, 2004 and covers the period from January 1, 2004 through March 31, 2004.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
This is Part II of a multi-part series of summaries of CBP's March 31, 2004 report and provides additional highlights of the status of CBP's efforts to resolve outstanding audit recommendations made by the General Accounting Office (GAO). See future issues of ITT for additional summaries.
According to CBP's report, CBP has closed (i.e., resolved) two of GAO's outstanding recommendations and is working aggressively to address the GAO recommendations that remain open, three of which are highlighted below:
Open GAO Recommendation - Cost-Estimating Program
GAO has recommended that CBP develop and implement a rigorous and analytically verifiable cost-estimating program.
In response to this recommendation, CBP states that its Modernization Office has established an independent cost-estimating capability using a Life-Cycle Cost Model (LCCM) which enables the analysis and validation of contractor cost and schedule estimates and helps determine whether the proposed costs and schedule for specific pieces of work are realistic and reliable.
CBP states that to date, the CBP Modernization Office has successfully used the LCCM to provide Independent Government Cost Estimates for 11 procurement efforts. According to CBP, the GAO has indicated that CBP actions are fully consistent with its recommendations and that CBP is making progress regarding the GAO cost-estimating recommendation.
Open Recommendation - Independent Verification and Validation
GAO has recommended that CBP establish an independent verification and validation (IV&V) function to assist in overseeing systems integration contractor efforts.
Among other things, CBP states that a Strategic Implementation Plan for Integrated IV&V was approved on December 12, 2003. CBP states that it has also designated a Special Assistant for Audit Issues and Quality as the government representative to oversee the IV&V effort and to help ensure the independence of the reporting. In addition, CBP states that its Modernization Office continues to coordinate with the GAO to identify any remaining concerns and to collect artifacts from existing processes to demonstrate the effectiveness of IV&V activities.
Open GAO Recommendation - Human Capital Management
GAO has also recommended that CBP immediately develop and implement a CBP Modernization Office Human Capital Management (HCM) plan and missing HCM practices, and report quarterly on progress.
In response to this recommendation, CBP states that its ongoing HCM initiatives and activities include:
a revision of the Modernization Strategic Human Capital Management Plan, which is currently in draft form;
a Modernization Staffing Plan describing the number of personnel required, new positions proposed for the organization, and how those positions will be staffed, which is currently in the final stages of the review process;
recruitment, selection, and performance management toolkits, developed as part of an Effective Manager's Handbook, to assist supervisors and managers in their leadership; and
a detailed job analysis to thoroughly define each government position and a resultant report which will define duty areas and tasks in areas such as CBP interfaces, communications, planning, contract management, project management, etc.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 09/07/04 news, 04090705, for Part I which focused on CBP's efforts to resolve another open GAO recommendation regarding the use of ACE infrastructure for the Department of Homeland Security.)
CBP's March 31, 2004 quarterly report (CBPMO-RPRT-010) is available at