NCBFAA Lays Out Major Worries for ACE Transition

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America called for further CBP caution ahead of the planned Feb. 28 transition date for use of the Automated Commercial Environment, the trade group said in an "open letter to importers and exporters." The agency is "challenged in having too few trade technical resources that are available to support the transition into the new system, restricting the ability of brokers to successfully implement the ACE system," the group said in the letter (here). The letter also includes a list of what the NCBFAA considers to be criteria for a successful implementation date.

While appreciative of CBP's recent delay to mandatory use dates (see 1509010017), “NCBFAA remains very concerned about the continued reliance on a new date to shut off" the Automated Commercial System, it said in a news release (here). It's far from clear that CBP, the partner government agencies and trade community will be "fully prepared for the complete implementation of ACE," it said. The dates involved seem to be driven by "arbitrary" White House deadlines rather than by software functionality, CBP or the Department of Homeland Security.

Plans to release "functionality across all modes of transportation, in all ports of entry, without using a phased-in approach with adequate testing and training, creates the potential for significant disruptions in the supply chain," it said. The NCBFAA pointed to past problems with CBP's implementation of ACE for Air Manifest as reason for concern (see 1506110007). The problems with ACE Air Manifest "created havoc with air shipments, resulting in an inability to move shipments, lost business for importers, and significant additional costs for everyone in the supply chain,” the NCBFAA said.

The measure of a successful implementation date "must be the same for the government and the international trade community," it said. Criteria for such success should include an improvement in average time of release in ACE compared to ACS, the ability to clearly communicate regarding government cargo exams and adequate CBP and PGA personnel training, it said. Also, the data elements shouldn't add any costs to the supply chain, should face thorough testing ahead of time and "must be established, published, successfully tested and finalized a minimum of 90 days before any piece of functionality is required to be put in production," said the NCBFAA. "Functionality has already changed multiple times and as it continues to change, it is making software programming difficult and more expensive to finalize."

The NCBFAA also released a white paper (here) that it recently presented to the Border Interagency Executive Council on the "Challenges to Industry Readiness for PGA Participation in ACE." The group outlined a number of related challenges to industry adoption of the International Trade Data System, including higher costs for data collection and system stability concerns. The ITDS data requirements should be limited to those necessary to determine admissibility at the border, it said. "The Single Window is no longer seen by the trade as being driven by efficiency, but one that is adding significant time and cost in all parts of the transaction from the sourcing supplier base, to the foreign exporter, to the transportation entity, to the importer, and to the broker for each data element that is added by every PGA in the process."