Customs Establishes ACE Business Office

(Journal of Commerce Online – R.G.Edmonson)

Agency, trade to develop structure for Automated Commercial Environment

Customs and Border Protection is setting up the ACE Business Office to work out the needs of the Automated Commercial Environment. Dan Baldwin, assistant commissioner for international trade, said the business office will work with the trade community to clearly define what they want ACE to do before turning the project over to the Customs information technology office to develop the actual software.

“We decided to create an office to give ACE more structure,” Baldwin said. “Then we can tell the IT people ‘This is what you need to build,’ so we can tell Congress ‘this is what we intend to do and how much money we’ll need to do it.’”

The effort stems from problems Customs has had in getting the $3 billion ACE fully operational. In 2001, Congress put ACE on a 10-year development cycle that runs out in fiscal 2011. Now Customs will have to return to Congress to receive further funding. Customs plans to fund ACE piece-by-piece. The new strategy is to ask Congress for enough money to complete specific projects. Making the business case is what the ACE Business Office will do, Baldwin said. Read more here.