CBP Posts Update on ITDS to its Web Site
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site an update on the International Trade Data System (ITDS) which appears to have been prepared for the May 5, 2005 meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Functions (COAC).
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Participating government agencies (PGAs). According to CBP, ITDS is a forum for coordinating government needs for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). CBP notes that it and the ITDS Board of Directors have identified more than 80 federal agencies that would benefit from integrating or interfacing with ACE. The table below lists the 24 PGAs that CBP characterizes as "actively engaged" in ITDS. CBP has previously noted that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the only PGA to have become operational in ACE/ITDS (as part of ACE Release 4 (Truck Manifest).
| Initial PGAs: | |
| Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration | U.S. International Trade Commission |
| Food and Drug Administration | Maritime Administration |
| Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Federal Communications Commission | Bureau of Census |
| New PGAs in 2004: |
| Agricultural Marketing Service |
| Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives |
| Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Bureau of Transportation Statistics |
| Environmental Protection Agency |
| Federal Maritime Commission |
| Food Safety Inspection Service |
| Foreign Trade Zones Board |
(See ITT's Online Archives or 03/29/05 news, 05032910, for CBP's most recent update on ITDS, including its list of PGAs, which did not reflect the pending status of the U.S. Transportation Command and Federal Aviation Administration and did not include the ITA- Trade Development.)
CBP workshops with PGAs. CBP states that it is helping PGAs prepare for integration with ACE through workshops that provide an ITDS program overview, explanation of the PGA integration process and the ACE/ITDS program scope, defining the scope for future ACE capabilities, identifying agency touch points with ACE and documenting the required functionality for the ACE releases.
Within these workshops, CBP states that ITDS members are defining data elements per agency to create a single data set according to the World Customs Organization (WCO) standards. Approximately 52 workshops have been held, with 1,422 business requirements submitted from the government agencies; thereby creating 71 business process documents.
Screening and targeting pilots. CBP states that it is also coordinating with several agencies on Screening and Targeting pilots which are demonstrating that, in addition to agreeing on a common set of data to be captured, there is great potential to work from a common set of risk-based rules for making real-time decisions on actions impacting the flow of cargo.
For example, CBP is coordinating with the Transportation Security Administration on development of an operational prototype to meet the agency's needs for a domestic cargo targeting system by the end of fiscal year 2005.
CBP states that the next steps for ITDS include continuing to gather PGA needs for additional releases, including Screening and Targeting, and e-Manifest. In addition, the ITDS board will continue to develop ACE PGA portal access requirements.
CBP ITDS overview (dated 05/05/05) available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/briefings_info/inter_trade_datasys.ctt/inter_trade_datasys.pdf.