Survey Reveals Low CBP Officer Satisfaction with ACE's e-Manifest: Truck Capabilities

(CBP explains that these ACE capabilities, currently in use at 95 of the 99 land border ports in the U.S., consolidate previously separate cargo release systems into a primary officer interface and allow truck carriers to prepare and submit electronic truck manifests, which are pre-screened to ensure the security of incoming cargo.)

Survey Shows Low Satisfaction with ACE Reliability, Data Accuracy, Reports, Etc.

The voluntary survey, completed April 1-June 19, 2007, by 139 CBP officers in Arizona, Washington, and eastern North Dakota, reveals low satisfaction levels with the system's reliability, data accuracy, help-desk response times, report utility, etc. Results of the survey include the following statistics:

1. were satisfied with ACE response time;
2. were satisfied with the system's reliability due to outages;
3. were satisfied with data accuracy, citing communications problems with the Automated Commercial System (ACS) and software defects or "bugs;"
4. rely on the ACE help desk due to slow response or long wait times on hold;
5. agree that the ACE reports function is useful; and

Overall, 22% said ACE made them more confident of their decisions to release trucks.

While Satisfaction Levels Are Low, CBP Sees Improvement

CBP states that compared to a similar survey conducted in 2005, the overall satisfaction of CBP officers with ACE truck processing capabilities has improved four points to 36%.

Officers whose satisfaction had increased over the past year was reported at 38%, compared with 21% whose satisfaction had decreased. Respondents who agreed that processing trucks at the primary booth is faster in ACE than ACS was 49%, and 22% of respondents commented that e-Manifests speed truck processing.

(CBP notes that based on data previously collected by CBP in March 2007, the average processing time for an e-Manifest was 33.2 seconds faster than a traditional paper manifest.)

CBP Intends to Improve Satisfaction, Notes Recent System Improvements

CBP states that it initiated this user survey as part of its continuous improvement efforts, and that clearly, they have more work to do to ensure that ACE truck capabilities are meeting the needs of its front line officers. CBP states that it continues to fine-tune ACE to reduce system down-time and is working aggressively to resolve system defects.

Hardware upgraded during survey. During the survey period, CBP notes that it was performing computer hardware upgrades that slowed system processing during periods of peak user demand. Since the completion of these upgrades, CBP states that officers at several ports have indicated that ACE processing speed is exceptional.

Other recent improvements. CBP believes that a recent consolidation of system databases has addressed previous system problems that often necessitated multiple system queries to obtain truck-related information in ACE. It has developed a portal-generated "cover sheet" that can be used as proof of filing an e-Manifest and should facilitate cargo processing in the event of system difficulties. CBP believes that the implementation of a new ACE reporting tool should make generating reports within the ACE Secure Data Portal faster and easier for CBP users.

CBP states that it is taking steps to improve the availability and responsiveness of ACE e-Manifest: Truck user support, by increasing the number of customer support staff. To further reduce caller wait times, the ACE Help Desk plans to refer more complex inquiries to support specialists from the ACE Account Services Desk so that help desk phone lines remain open to serve more users. Automated response recordings will also be used to provide alerts about system problems so that callers can quickly obtain information about the nature and duration of any system problems.

CBP press release, dated 08/14/07, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/whats_new/survey_cbp_officers.xml