CBP Releases its December 31, 2005 Quarterly Report to Congress on ACE (Part I)

CBP states that this report provides an update on ACE accomplishments, challenges, fiscal status, and upcoming program milestones.

CBP notes that this report also addresses the ongoing CBP efforts to integrate ACE with other systems and engage other government agencies to participate in the ACE/International Trade Data System (ITDS).

This is Part I of a multi-part series of summaries on CBP's quarterly report to Congress on ACE and highlights CBP's efforts to address various open recommendations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

According to CBP, it has taken the following actions regarding several open GAO recommendations:

Explore use of ACE infrastructure to support other DHS applications. CBP states that, to date, no expenditures have been planned for ACE to support other homeland security applications. However, CBP states that the ACE program continues to coordinate with other homeland security system programs in four areas:

1. the overall Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cargo screening information technology architecture will be coordinated by a DHS Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council subcommittee, which is chaired by the CBP CIO;
2. ACE Screening and Targeting (S&T) capabilities are being integrated with the Automated Targeting System (ATS);
3. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is coordinating ACE implementation with the existing support for the Container Security Initiative (CSI) via existing production systems, including the Automated Manifest System (AMS) and the ATS; and
4. CBP continues to coordinate with other Federal agencies through the International Trade Data System (ITDS) and the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, in particular.

Preparation of a Modernization Measurement Plan. CBP states that its OIT has completed a Modernization Measurement Plan that provides a comprehensive description of how it will measure the Modernization Program and the work of contractors contributing to modernization efforts. The plan consists of three key elements - measures, management approach, and enabling technologies. As such, it details the types of measures that will be applied to the Modernization Program, the alignment of these measures with department and agency goals, how the measures will be managed, what software tools will be used, and how measurement data will be used to manage the ACE program.

Define and implement an ACE program accountability framework. Highlights of CBP's progress include (partial list):

CBP has developed an accountability framework that will be used by CBP leadership to help manage the ACE program and report its status to various stakeholders;

the fiscal year (FY) 2006 Modernization Expenditure Plan is consistent with the ACE Program Plan;

OIT has combined Problem Trouble Report (PTR) tracking under a development team, which has greatly improved establishing, assessing, and reporting on data that assists in measuring the progress of ACE development;

CBP has added a section to the FY 2006 Expenditure Plan that ties back to and tracks milestones and other program commitments made in all prior expenditure plans; and

A responsibility matrix and attendant narrative to delineate roles and responsibilities between the Government and the e-Customs partnership has been developed and has been provided to DHS for review and routing to the GAO.

Immediately develop and implement a Human Capital Management (HCM) strategy. OIT has completed the second and final phase of a reorganization that established six program offices aligned to major mission areas.

CBP states that the reorganization has strengthened the Government's oversight of ACE by significantly expanding the number of government personnel responsible for ACE development activities and augmenting functional and program management expertise.

December 31, 2005 ACE quarterly report available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/ace/newsletters/quarterly_reports/ace_report_to_congress_122005.ctt/ace_report_to_congress_122005.pdf.