NCBFAA Tells OMB to Declare Trade Compliance Staff 'Essential' Employees in Government Shutdown
Federal employees of CBP and other partner government agencies who are involved with import compliance should be designated with “excepted” or “essential” employee status in the event of a government shutdown, the head of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently urged Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
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Such a designation "will help to ensure that unsafe or illegal products are kept out of the U.S. At the same time, domestic manufacturers rely on efficient import supply chains for essential components and materials to maintain productivity. They also require smoothly functioning export processing to meet worldwide demand for their finished products," said the Sept. 17 letter signed by NCBFAA President J.D. Gonzalez.
While inspectors at agencies such as USDA and the Fish and Wildlife Service are user-fee funded and continue to operate in a shutdown, other staff at agencies' headquarters and regional offices who handle document reviews, oversee automated systems and processes and respond to issues also are important, according to Gonzalez. In the last shutdown, a lack of these employees caused congestion at the ports and resulted in demurrage from inefficiencies in processing imports and exports, he said.
NCBFAA offered other suggestions to OMB, including providing points of contact at federal agencies for importers, exports and customs brokers and ensuring that agency websites are available and updated so that users may continue to apply for permits, look at compliance tools and conduct other essential business.
Other measures involve continued agency interaction with the trade, such as setting up a "war room," as CBP did in the shutdown in 2018 and 2019, to enable PGAs to hash out trade processing challenges; conducting calls with businesses and the trade wherein CBP can learn about trouble spots from the private sector and troubleshoot potential issues; and working with NCBFAA to relay guidance or other important information on import and export processing to customs brokers and forwarders.
Separately, Gonzalez told ITT: “NCBFAA believes it is of utmost importance that OMB give good guidance on who within the federal agencies is exempt in the event of a government shutdown. We will continue to advocate on behalf of our membership to ensure that trade continues to move.”