Customs Transforms Its Approach

MITRE is working with the U.S. Customs Service to transform its approach to processing goods and merchandise imported into the Unites States.

June 2000

Custom's new technology and business practices will allow it to process trucks at the border more efficiently.

The U.S. Customs Service—guardian of the country's borders since 1789 and collector of billions of dollars in trade revenues—has embarked on an enterprise-wide modernization of its business processes and associated IT systems. MITRE is providing a broad range of skills and expertise to help Customs improve its ability to handle the legislative, business, trade, and enforcement demands that drive the modernization program. The first step will be the transformation of Customs' approach to processing goods and merchandise imported into the United States. This transformation will be supported by an integrated automated information system that will efficiently collect, process, and analyze commercial data to meet the current and future needs of Customs and the trade community.

This long-term modernization program will affect all Customs' business processes and associated systems. MITRE is helping the organization develop the processes and acquire the technology required to achieve its ambitious modernization goals. Our contributions involve systems architecture and engineering, program management and process improvement, and business and economic analysis. We are also helping Customs develop an overall transition plan and communications strategy.

"Customs has a talented and dedicated staff that built and continues to maintain and enhance their current systems. We are partnering with Customs to provide expertise that supplements the domain knowledge and current systems expertise of the Customs staff," said MITRE Senior Principal Engineer David Hubley. "For example, hiring and working with a prime systems development and integration contractor is new territory for them. As a result, our people are providing specialized expertise in large-scale government acquisitions and source selection. We have also helped Customs take a broad view of its modernization program and develop it from the ground up with structure and processes. This has included helping Customs develop a strategy for the prime contractor acquisition and establish a governance framework that defines roles and responsibilities for this large program."

"MITRE is providing strategic guidance," said MITRE Principal Engineer Glenn Himes. "We are able to leverage what we've learned in the past on similar projects, particularly the IRS modernization program. And we're able to draw expertise from across MITRE to provide the customer with the best solutions."

Customs' Strong Sense of Mission

Customs plays a much bigger role in the United States than most of its citizens realize. The agency has the broad mission of enforcing more than 400 U.S. laws—safeguarding revenue and fostering lawful international trade and travel. It is the guardian of the nation’s borders (as evidenced in December when Customs agents apprehended an individual attempting to bring bomb-making equipment into Washington state). On a typical day Customs processes 550 vessels, 45,000 trucks, 344,000 vehicles, and 1.3 million passengers. It also seizes 4,000 pounds of narcotics and $1.2 million in drug money and arrests 67 criminals. In addition, with its roughly $23 billion in annual revenue, Customs is second only to the IRS as a revenue source for the United States.

The modernization program will address a number of challenges that Customs is facing: proliferating trade agreements, increased enforcement activities, growing international travel, and an explosion in electronic commerce. Commercial entries into the United States have grown 100 percent in the past 10 years, while Customs' workforce has grown only 7 percent. Modernized business processes and IT systems are becoming increasingly essential in order to meet mission demands.

Being able to effectively overtake criminals on the water is a critical advantage to U.S. Customs enforcement efforts.

In the initial stage of the modernization effort, Customs will develop and field the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). This will replace systems that were built by Customs 16 years ago, but are not capable of handling the complexities and sheer volume that today's growth in trade entails. The current system is being taxed to the limit and has experienced "brownouts" and shutdowns. In an importation process in which seconds count, such disruptions can affect international commerce.

"When I started working on this project, I knew about Customs' role in law enforcement, but I wasn't aware of the strong role it plays in facilitating American commerce," said Himes. "For example, the Detroit automakers use just-in-time inventory. Rather than warehousing a large supply of parts, they order them as they need them. Keeping a lean inventory may mean a four-hour time period before running out of parts. Many of these parts come from Ontario, Canada, which is across the river from Detroit—just 10 miles away. But if Customs' IT systems are down for any reason, and it takes more than four hours to process a truckload of parts, a manufacturing line could be shut down. Customs' systems and processes affect all industries involved in imports—from electronics companies waiting for just-in-time parts to food companies with agricultural goods sitting on a dock somewhere waiting for processing. You can see how Customs' efficiency affects America's competitiveness.

"Because of this responsibility, Customs' staff demonstrate a strong sense of mission—to enable international trade, to stop drugs and pornography from coming into the country, and to protect the health and safety of Americans," Himes added. "That sense of mission carries over to the MITRE staff working on the project. We feel we are having an impact on an area of national significance."

Benefits of Modernization

ACE and other modernization projects will address Customs' challenges by better leveraging its workforce through the application of new technology and streamlined business practices that more closely conform to industry practices. The programs will enable the agency to comply with new trade legislation and will save time and money for all stakeholders. Some of these benefits have already been demonstrated through use of an ACE prototype in Detroit, where truck processing time at the border has been reduced from over three hours to just fifteen seconds.

Benefits of ACE will include processing accounts rather than individual transactions (i.e., allowing hundreds of transactions to be processed under one umbrella account from which data can be extracted, repackaged, and analyzed). ACE will also allow Customs and the trade community to track shipments anytime, anywhere. It will improve processes in terms of consolidation of operations, reduced paper handling, and timeliness. It will also play an important role in support of Customs' enforcement responsibilities.

Today, goods and their related data must move quickly in the competitive environment of express deliveries, just-in-time inventories, and intense business rivalry. Working in partnership with Customs, MITRE is helping the organization transform into a highly adaptable, knowledge-based organization that can meet the business challenges of the future.

Developing a Customer Relationship

While the MITRE team members are sharing their expertise with Customs staff, the Customs staff members are educating MITRE people on their work, challenges, and goals so that MITRE staff can become domain experts. This knowledge exchange enhances the partnership.

"It's important that our customers understand the role MITRE plays," said Hubley. "Customs CIO Woody Hall, who had worked with MITRE in the past on DOD work, understood the type of contributions an FFRDC can provide. For a lot of Customs managers, however, this was their first FFRDC experience. We have shown them—through our approach and performance—how MITRE provides specialized expertise and unbiased advice."

"We have a collaborative relationship with Customs," said MITRE Principal Engineer Nadine Bounds. "Our attitude is do whatever it takes to ensure that Customs' modernization program is successful. We have made considerable progress, but there are still many challenges to be met in this project—the biggest, of course, is funding approval—but the need for this modernization is clear. And thus the motivation to move forward is high among Customs and MITRE staff."

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