Deployment of ACE M1 Pilot for First 3 Ports Set for Dec 5
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, the delayed "limited deployment" testing of M1 (ocean and rail e-manifest) user screens by CBP officers at the ports of Baltimore, MD; Buffalo, NY; and Brownsville, TX is now scheduled to begin on December 5, 2011. This pilot test will allow CBP to assess the use of the ACE M1 system by its officers and early adopters in the trade.
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At least 14 trade parties (mostly carriers and service centers) have completed M1 trade testing and have been certified for M1. Others are still in testing mode, and CBP continues to hear from additional companies ready to prepare for the transition from the Automated Manifest System (AMS) in ACS to M1 in ACE for ocean and rail manifests.
"Limited Deployment" Pilot Now Expected to Complete in Feb/March 2012
According to officials, this test delay will push back the pilot's completion date (CBP's full acceptance of the system) beyond January to a February or March 2012 timeframe.
ACE Would then Replace AMS Six Months Later
Once the pilot is completed, CBP will publish a Federal Register notice announcing that ACE will be the only CBP approved electronic data interchange (EDI) through which rail and sea manifests may be transmitted. The notice will also announce a six-month time frame for the transition to ACE and the decommissioning of the AMS for rail and sea manifests.
ACE to be System of Record for Test Participants, so Creation and Maintenance to Originate in ACE
CBP official state that for test participants, ACE will replace ACS as the system of record for ocean and rail data at all ports upon commencement of the test. As such, the "creation and maintenance" of specified data elements will originate in ACE and will be distributed to other CBP systems.
(The ocean and rail data that will be transmitted to ACE includes the advance cargo information required by Section 343 of the Trade Act of 2002, as amended by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, and the advance data ocean carriers are required to provide pursuant to the importer security filing (ISF) and additional carrier requirements interim final rule (10+2). Currently, this information is required to be transmitted via ACS in advance of arrival through a CBP-approved EDI.)
(See ITT's Online Archives 11110603 for summary stating CBP's deployment of M1 Pilot for first three ports was delayed from a late October 2011 start date. See ITT's Online Archives 11101733 and 11110103 for earlier summaries on the deployment of ACE M1 Pilot, including their plans to deploy to these 3 ports in late October .)