CBP to Solicit Importer Volunteers for Combined C-TPAT/ISA Program by End of Year
CBP plans to publish an official notice in coming weeks that will begin a pilot program that combines the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Importer Self Assessment (ISA) programs, said Acting Commissioner Tom Winkowski during the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) meeting on Nov. 15. The COAC Trusted Trader subcommittee is reviewing and will provide feedback on a "high level overview" of the coming Federal Register notice, said a report on the program's process from Valerie Neuhart, director of Industry and Account Management at CBP (here).
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Winkowski said he was "happy to announce that we are going to publish by the end of the year the Federal Register notice soliciting volunteers to participate in Phase One of the Trusted Trader pilot." That phase "will be limited to nine volunteer participants from the trade community," he said. "Six months after the beginning of Phase One we'll conduct an interim evaluation on effectiveness, cost savings and lessons learned." The program "is a key piece of our trade transformation efforts here, so we are on our way to begin that process of collecting data and cost savings and learn from the pilots and continue to grow and mature," he said. CBP previously said it planned to begin its test in September (see 13052032).
Despite the government shutdown, CBP was able to make real progress in producing the notice, said Dan Baldwin, executive director of cargo and conveyance security in the Office of Field Operations. After recent discussions with Neuhart, "I think we are very close. It's really just about putting the pen to paper in the FRN, to having that ready to go forward," he said. "And I think that's going to be an exciting new chapter as we approach partnerships." CBP has said it expects the program to allow for more flexible and company-specific understanding of trade compliance and supply chain security (see 13091829).
Success of the pilot "will be measured based on efficiencies gained from program participation and the realization of cost savings associated to program incentives," Neuhart's report said. The agency plans to draft details of Phase Two of the program after the first phase notice is released, it said. Also, a "Trusted Trader unified automated application process, trade partner information submission, and validation tracking system requirements will be included in the C-TPAT Portal 2.0 development schedule to be delivered in the spring 2014," it said.