CBP Requests Increased Funding for ACE Maintenance, TFTEA Implementation

Previous estimates on how much it would cost to maintain ACE core functions have fallen short, CBP said. “The previous funding profile for ACE sustainment is insufficient to maintain core functionality for the system, based on a recently updated Life Cycle Cost Estimate (LCCE),” it said. Of the $45.1 million, $9.1 million would fund six additional software sustainment teams that would “support bug fixes, software obsolescence, and data warehouse/report support,” the budget justification said. Other portions of the ACE core funding would go to the creation of a disaster recovery system to recover ACE data in the event of a system failure, replacing the “outdated tape backup process,” as well as the decommissioning of outdated ACE manifest programming.

On the other hand, the budget request includes a decrease of nearly $35 million for non-recurring ACE expenses, and the elimination of an ACE procurement account funded at $26.2 million in fiscal year 2017. The budget request highlights truck manifest and foreign trade zone capabilities as “priority initiatives” for ACE in FY 2018.

In its overall budget request of $11.6 billion, CBP is also requesting $29.8 million in additional funding for the creation of 150 new positions “to provide for new services mandated by TFTEA.” That includes implementation of Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) antidumping and countervailing duty evasion investigations, as well as the creation of the Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Division, set to be the primary contact for EAPA investigations (see 1602230080). Among the newly created positions would be 20 auditors “who conduct compliance audits of importers and customs brokers to evaluate risk and address enforcement issues involving high-risk trade areas,” including forced labor, 15 additional lawyers to draft TFTEA implementing regulations and 10 new national import specialists to handle the increased volume of commodity ruling requests.

An increase of $14.5 million would fund 93 new positions at an expanded National Targeting Center, the budget justification said. The agency’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program would see a 10 percent increase in funding, up from $36.5 million in FY 2017 to $40 million in FY 2018, though the document gives no explanation of the reason for the increase. Citing the failure of COBRA fees to recover the costs of services provided by CBP officers, the budget request said “CBP intends to submit a legislative proposal” to raise fees for customs inspection by $2 and other COBRA fees “by a proportional amount.” The legislation “will also include the authority to increase fees annually, as needed, to adjust them for inflation,” CBP said.

Declining FDA Funding Could Reduce Import Exams

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration will seek to rein in spending by reducing food safety program staff through attrition, it said in its FY 2018 budget justification (here). “Not backfilling critical vacancies may lead to a loss of some specialized expertise,” it said. "FDA will also make targeted reductions to lower public health impact areas. This will include reduced funding for imported food safety through decreased international capacity building,” FDA said. The agency anticipates conducting the same number of import field exams for food in FY 2018, 168,200, as in FY 2017, it said. But that means the percent of import lines physically examined will fall from about 2% in FY 2016 to a projected 1.39% in FY 2017, and 1.32% in FY 2018.

FDA also anticipates less import-related activity for medical devices, it said. “At proposed budget levels FDA will support at lower funding levels regulated product field exams, import entry review, investigations, sample analysis, and inspections for surveillance, compliance, and follow up activities, both domestically and abroad.” It said. “Risk assessments will be impacted along with sharing information with regulatory partners. FDA will reduce investment in lab equipment, maintenance, and operating expenses will limit capacity to analyze samples for surveillance and compliance purposes as well as detecting emerging threats or potential outbreaks from product contamination or adulteration,” it said.

CPSC to Continue Work on RAM, No Funds From Import User Fee

The Consumer Product Safety Commission budget justification (here) outlines $7 million for import surveillance, about 6 percent of its total request for FY 2018. The agency’s budget request says CPSC will work with CBP and other federal entities to expand its Risk Assessment Methodology (RAM) system to include PGA two-way messaging features to better allow CPSC and CBP to electronically coordinate detention requests, exam findings and disposition results to “improve import safety efforts at U.S. ports.” CPSC also plans to add automated functionality to periodically refresh HTS codes under the agency’s jurisdiction that are a key data element in the RAM system. The budget request makes no mention of an import user fee proposed in recent years that some commissioners have said is necessary to develop the RAM system (see 1506180034).

According to its budget justification, CPSC plans to maintain its current port presence of being able to staff about 6 percent of U.S. ports covering about 62 percent of all consumer product import entry lines. CPSC also intends to “implement full-production RAM compliant with the U.S. government’s ‘Single Window’ initiative,” it said. The budget justification also says that the agency will work to “streamline” compliance notification to importers of noncompliant products through CPSC’s RAM system, to be integrated into the single window initiative. CPSC’s budget also indicates that the agency plans to reduce its target for import examinations by 12.5 percent, from 40,000 for FY 2017 to 35,000 for FY 2018.

USDA Intends to Transfer Catfish Inspection Back to FDA

The Agriculture Department budget request (here) anticipates the retransfer of catfish inspection responsibilities from the Food Safety and Inspection Service to FDA. The proposed budget zeroes out funding for the FSIS Siluriformes Inspection Program, proposing that FDA absorb that program next fiscal year. The transfer of catfish inspection responsibilities was mandated by the 2008 Farm Bill. FSIS in the budget also proposes legislation to implement a user fee starting in 2019 to cover all import re-inspection, domestic inspection, and most central operations for international, federal and state inspection programs for meat, poultry and eggs. But the user fee wouldn’t cover federal functions such as investigation, enforcement, risk analysis and emergency response, the proposed budget says.