CBP's Smith 'Really Pleased' with M1 Transition, Allows Agency to Switch Focus
CBP still has not seen any major or minor issues with the move from the rail and sea legacy manifest filing systems to Automated Commercial Environment (ACE): e-Manifest (M1), said Brenda Smith, head of the ACE business office in an interview. Since the transition on Sept. 28, a day earlier than the official cutoff date, all automated manifest system (AMS) filers are using the M1 system for automated filing. The move to M1 marks a significant milestone for ACE, which has proven to be a difficult and expensive process for CBP.
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(See ITT's Online Archives 12100212 for summary of CBP's announcement of a successfully transition to M1.)
A New Focus
The move to M1 will allow the agency to shift its attention to other, smaller pieces of ACE, said Smith. "M1 was a monumental effort," she said. "We were so focused and invested in getting M1 finished and getting people using it, that it blocked a lot of our time and energy from looking over the horizon." With M1 done and having started to use Simplified Entry, an "interactive, small piece methodology," CBP can now see the path forward, she said. Smith admits ACE "has been a very long project," but with CBP's use of new technology and development methodology, the agency will shift to a smaller piece, more rapid deployment approach, she said. There's a lot of risk in taking on a major project like M1, and CBP would like to reduce the risk involved by making smaller additions to ACE, said Smith.
(See ITT's Online Archives 12082729 for summary of CBP's more agile ACE strategy.)
What's Next
CBP is now considering its next move, said Smith. The agency is "taking a deep breath" and is figuring out "what is the functionality we want to deploy, when do we want to deploy it, so that we can communicate that to the trade and the other government agencies, and how much is it going to cost us, because that's the question we keep getting asked by Congress," she said. Planning is still needed, but CBP is focused on building on the Simplified Entry work and expanding cargo release, specifically the participating government agency (PGA) message set, she said. The agency is "pretty close" on deploying the PGA message set and would like to take the final steps to deploy it, she said.
ACE is hoped to modernize the customs processes but may face funding challenges as the ACE program is currently in the Operations & Maintenance phase with no funding for additional development, CBP has said. It is using some carry-over money from previous years to fund some other near-term deployments, but additional appropriations from congress are likely necessary to continue deployment, the agency has said.
The Transition
The smooth transition to M1 was likely helped by CBP's close work with software developers and transmitters, giving them a "break-in period" before the transition date, she said. "In this last week, the functionality that we deployed six months ago is in full use, and the full use hasn't stressed it at all," she said. CBP also had a useful dialog with the trade industry, she said. While the agency didn't "fix every little thing" requested by the trade, they fixed the "main stuff" that was "causing people pain," said Smith. That interaction was helpful in convincing industry that CBP was serious about moving forward, she said. CBP continues to be "really pleased" with the results and recently held a pizza party to celebrate, she said.
The departure of Cindy Allen, who held Smith's job until taking a job with DHL in mid-September, was also of concern given the timing of the personnel switch. The "transition was smother than I expected," said Smith. She said she used her experience in developing and implementing Simplified Entry to help guide her within the M1 process. "I'm learning more every day," she said. (See ITT's Online Archives 12081721 for news of Allen's departure.)