Supporting Statement
Application to Use Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)
1651-0105
The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the new trade processing system that will eventually replace the Automated Commercial System (ACS), the current import system for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations. ACE supports government agencies with border-related missions, as well as the business community, with respect to moving goods and people across the border efficiently and securely. Once ACE is fully implemented, all related CBP functions and the trade community will be supported from a single common user interface. The CBP transition to ACE began in October 2003 with the launch of the ACE Secure Data Portal, a customized web page that provides a single, user-friendly gateway to access CBP information via the internet for CBP, the trade community and Participating Government Agencies.
The implementation of ACE will occur in phased stages of deployment consisting of various business process based "releases," such as account processing; periodic payment; truck manifest; entry summary, accounts and revenue (ESAR); and ocean and rail manifest. CBP will initially conduct pilots to test each "release,”, which will involve participation by many industry sectors, including importers, brokers, carriers, sureties, service providers, facility operators, foreign trade zone operators, cart men and lighter men. In order to participate in the various ACE pilots, companies and/or individuals will be required to submit basic information to CBP such as: their name; their employer identification number (EIN) or social security number, standard carrier alpha code (SCAC), and if applicable, a statement certifying their capability to connect to the internet.
CBP will also need basic information from companies electing to establish an ACE Secure Data Portal account in order to establish an account structure for each company. This information is also needed by CBP for enforcement and security purposes. Once respondents submit the required information to CBP, they will be able to update and maintain that information via the ACE Secure Data Portal.
Respondents can submit their information using the ACE Secure Data Portal. This can be accessed at CBP.gov at
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/automated/modernization/ace_app_info/ace_portal_app.ctt/ace_portal_app.pdf
4. This information collection is unique and not duplicated elsewhere.
1651-0105
- 2 -
5. This information collection does not have an impact on small businesses or other small entities.
If CBP does did not collect this information, we would not have enough information to establish accounts for companies or individuals choosing to use ACE. In addition, CBP would not be able to evaluate the functionality of ACE.
7. This information collection is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(c)(2).
Public comments were solicited in Federal Register notices dated March 16, 2009 (Volume 74, Page 11126) and on May 21, 2009 (Volume 74, Page 23878). No comments were received.
There is no offer of a monetary or material value for this information collection.
10. There are no assurances of confidentiality provided to the respondents for this information collection.
11. There are no questions of a personal or sensitive nature associated with this collection.
12. Estimated Annualized Burden on the Public The estimated burden for this information collection is 6,930 hours, based on 21,000 respondents submitting information, with each response estimated to take approximately 20 minutes (.33) to complete.
Estimated Annualized Cost to the Public Based on the information received the annualized cost to the respondents is $152,460, based on a total of 6,930 burden hours at a estimated hourly rate of $22 for preparation of responses.
13. Estimated Record Keeping Burden on the Public. There are no record keeping costs associated with this information collection.
Estimated Capitalization Cost Burden on the Public. There are no capitalization costs associated with this information collection.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government.- The estimated cost to the Federal Government associated with collecting, analyzing, and processing 21,000 applications is approximately $136,080. This is based on 13 minutes (.216) per for a total of 4,536 hours at an average rate hourly rate of $30.
15. There are no increases or decreased to the burden hours for this information collection.
1651-0105
- 3 -
16. This information collection will not be published for statistical purposes.
CPB will display the expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection.
18. CBP does not request and exception to the certification of this information collection.
B. No statistical methods were employed.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | Preferred Customer |
| Last Modified By | tyrone.huff |
| File Modified | 2009-06-29 |
| File Created | 2009-06-29 |