CBP Announces New Partnerships for Growth in Cross-Border Trade and Travel
CBP announced Aug. 2 that it had made preliminary selections for five new partnerships towards expanded services at domestic ports of entry. The 2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act allows CBP “to create a reimbursable fee agreement program to increase CBP’s ability to provide new or enhanced services on a reimbursable basis by creating partnerships with five entities,” the agency said. CBP’s selected entities for the partnerships include El Paso, Texas; the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; South Texas Assets Consortium; Houston Airport System; and Miami-Dade County.
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.
CBP also announced that they will continue progress on an additional existing project for the Tijuana Cross Border Terminal. The six total projects in Calif., Fla. and Texas “will allow greater flexibility for CBP to work with our stakeholders to support growth in trade and travel,” said CBP acting commissioner Thomas Winkowski. “Together, we can better facilitate the four to five percent continued growth anticipated over each of the next five years,” he said.
CBP called the reimbursable services authority a “key component” of CBP’s Resource Optimization Strategy. These expanded services will lead to a reduction in wait times and have a positive impact on the nation’s economy, the agency said. CBP will complete negotiations with the five applicants by Dec. 31. According to CBP, these agreements will not replace existing services, and new services “can include all customs and immigration inspection-related matters.”