DHS Lays Out Vision for Single Window in Coming Years

Although the executive order set some "helpful parameters," it's useful to establish what a successful Single Window would look like, she said. "While the U.S. Government as a whole has not finalized all aspects of the strategic vision for this project, DHS is committed to supporting a Single Window system and associated customs modernization program that will result in the delivery of a simplified and more cost-efficient process for imports and exports," she said. Brzozowski provided an update on work on the Single Window, also known as the International Trade Data System (ITDS), in a series of blog posts (here).

The government must work closely with industry to build an "on ramp," she said. Ideally, that two year ramp will allow "businesses and agencies to develop the necessary capabilities, conduct operational tests in real-world environments, and then incrementally ratchet-up utilization of the system while addressing the inevitable technical glitches and operational complications without disrupting shipments for pilot participants."

The initial "small-scale" pilot programs, so far involving the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food Safety and Inspection Service, have been successful and DHS would like to increase the breadth of pilots. The next step will be to expand the pilots to "involve multiple agencies, a range of different commodities, and major industry partners," she said. The expanded pilots "would, first, promote the processing of an ever-increasing volume of trade through the Single Window by prioritizing engagement with businesses in key industry sector clusters; and second, test a priority set of agency-to-agency operational enhancements (such as coordinated targeting and unified messaging of holds and releases). DHS and other agencies are finalizing a tactical plan for Single Window pilot activities, to include target metrics and milestones and key stakeholders." The involved agencies will provide more details on the pilots "very early next year," she said.

Several concerns, from both the government and the industry sides, have come up, said Brzozowski. From the industry perspective, there's some worry about the differing paces among the agencies in the move toward automation, and the concern that "diversity of current risk management cultures and inspection processes may complicate efforts to streamline operations at the border," she said. At the same time, "agencies express concern with attracting early business adopters willing to undertake the system updates and software conversions necessary for pilots. Managing these challenges will require active and sustained engagement from agency and company/trade association leadership and from the operational, legal, policy, and technical experts within those organizations." DHS will consider options for adding business expertise through "loaned executive" programs or other partnerships, she said.

Brzozowski listed several goals considered to be essential to successful implementation of ITDS by 2016. The goals include a reduction in the time it takes to communicate with the trade when there's inaccurate or incomplete data submissions, allowing the government to make decisions on shipments faster and more accurately, and to "be well positioned for future interoperability with other national or regional Single Window systems." DHS also hopes the ITDS will be able to provide for unified messaging to industry stakeholders on shipment statuses and to enable expedited cargo movement for trusted traders, she said.

As part of this work, the Border Interagency Executive Council (BIEC) established some "strategic solution statements," said Brzozowski in another post (here). The strategic solutions say:

• Agencies (particularly those with the ability to hold cargo at the border) should have access to, and use, advance information to target high-risk cargo prior to arrival or departure.
• Agencies should develop a harmonized identification mechanism for data elements (e.g., product, entity) included in the entry filing and message set.
• Agencies should build early system validations that electronically and automatically reject submissions of missing or inaccurate data.
• Agencies should develop mechanisms or capabilities to enhance communication of agency-specific risk factors, and build “business rules” in the system to automate targeting for common risk factors.
• Agencies should establish a coordinated, consolidated messaging capability to provide hold, detention and release status updates to trade.