GAO recommends that CBP finalize a plan to improve, maintain Automated Commercial Environment

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommended the creation of a finalized interagency approach to the post-core management of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the information system used for import processing.

The study recommended that the Secretary of Homeland Security ensure that the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collaborate with partner agencies to finalize this plan. While the GAO report found that the system has many benefits, users also reported problems that make working with system difficult.

The plan to improve and maintain the system, GAO said, should include processes for prioritizing improvements to ACE. It should also prioritize sharing ACE operations and maintenance and development costs, including the costs of suggested enhancements among partner agencies and time frames for implementing such processes.

Twenty-two agencies require documentation to clear or license cargo and are authorized to access ACE. GAO found considerable variation in their use of the system.

CBP began developing the system in 1994 and, in 2006, Congress mandated the creation of a “single portal” International Trade Data System. Performance problems prevented implementation of ACE from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, the President set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2016, for completing the system. Most key functions of the system are now in use.