A Government Accountability Office report on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism finds that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made progress in addressing various shortcomings identified in previous GAO studies. CBP has taken steps to improve the C-TPAT validation process, strengthened its policies for granting benefits to participating importers, created a plan for ensuring adequate staffing, implemented a records management system for documenting program decisions and put additional performance measures in place. Nevertheless, the report states, CBP continues to face challenges in ensuring that participants’ security practices meet minimum criteria and in effectively managing the program.
Program Benefits. According to the GAO, CBP has strengthened its policies for granting benefits to importers (which account for 48 percent of total C-TPAT membership) and has efforts underway to improve its policies for granting benefits to members in other sectors. CBP has established requirements for C-TPAT members in nine trade sectors (importers, sea carriers, highway carriers, rail carriers, air carriers, foreign manufacturers, customs brokers, U.S. and foreign maritime port authorities and terminal operators, and long-haul highway carriers in Mexico) to meet minimum security criteria for their specific sectors and plans to issue such criteria for the one remaining sector (freight consolidators/ocean transportation intermediaries and non-vessel-operating common carriers) by mid-2008. CBP has also introduced a three-tiered benefits process for importers that addresses a previous GAO concern that companies were being granted full C-TPAT benefits before their security procedures were verified. (The report notes that while participants in other sectors continue to be eligible for all available benefits before validation, CBP has not pursued a tiered benefits system for them because it has been unable to identify any additional benefits it could offer them under such a system.)
Validations. The GAO states that while CBP has taken steps to improve the C-TPAT security validation process it remains challenged to verify that C-TPAT members have security practices consistent with the minimum criteria established for their particular sector.
• There are problems with the portable data-gathering instrument that CBP has provided to its security specialists to help ensure that validation information is consistently collected, documented and uniformly applied to decisions regarding the awarding of benefits. In particular, the usefulness of this instrument is limited by the fact that it provides default “no” responses, which fails to sufficiently indicate whether a response was an automatic default or intentionally answered in the negative by the security specialist. CBP says it is developing a second-generation tool that will eliminate the use of default “no” responses and address all security criteria.
(According to the GAO, CBP has indicated that it plans to eventually use the data collected by these instruments, as it relates to C-TPAT member benefits, for direct input into the Automated Targeting System for identifying containerized shipments for inspection based on risk.)
• While the validation instrument allows security specialists an opportunity to collect data on the results of internal or third-party audits and inspections of C-TPAT members’ supply chain security practices, CBP does not require this data to be used in validating those practices. At the GAO’s recommendation, CBP stated that it will issue a policy memo to security specialists by June 30 instructing them to request such information and to consider it during the validation process.
• CBP lacks a systematic process to ensure that appropriate actions are taken in response to security specialists’ recommendations in validation reports. CBP responded that by June 30 it plans to issue a policy memorandum and revise its standard operating procedures to ensure that all actions required/recommendations are implemented. It also plans to explore ways to capture and quantify this information, either in the C-TPAT Portal (see below) or via other means, and to make appropriate system changes by Dec. 31.
Management and Staffing. CBP has developed a human capital plan to address long-term C-TPAT staffing and resource needs. It has also developed and implemented C-TPAT Portal, a centralized electronic records management system that has the capability to track the status of C-TPAT applicants and members to ensure that they are certified, validated and revalidated in accordance with SAFE Port Act requirements. However, certain data are missing from this system, including interim processing dates (e.g., the date the security specialist sends the 30-day validation notification letter), and this inhibits management’s ability to determine compliance with its requirements for managing and operating C-TPAT. The report recommends that CBP enhance the system so that key data elements needed to track compliance are completely documented, and CBP said it plans to make such changes by June 30.
With respect to measures to evaluate the performance of the program, the report notes that CBP’s efforts have focused on program administration and participation and the internationalization of C-TPAT principles. Assessing the effectiveness of the program in improving supply chain security, however, continues to be hindered by the difficulty of determining the deterrent effect of security practices and the fact that CBP has not collected data on the results of C-TPAT members’ actions to enhance supply chain security. As a result, the GAO states, CBP should identify and pursue opportunities in information collected during C-TPAT member processing activities (e.g., certification and validation) that may provide direction for developing appropriate performance measures. In response, CBP said only that it will strive to complete an analysis of this issue by Dec. 31.
World Trade/Interactive
