Customs Automation

The U.S. Customs Service's automated Entry Summary Selectivity subsystem is used to help import specialists determine whether appropriate duties have been paid and if trade laws are being violated. In developing the subsystem, Customs has failed to (1) follow sound development practices and (2) apply basic management controls, leading to problems that have gone largely uncorrected. Training for the subsystem has been recognized as inadequate, and Customs reports that only one in three users have terminals they can use to access the system. Further, Customs has no assurance that the subsystem is working as intended or is promoting uniform treatment of importers and imported merchandise--a key objective. Until Customs provides adequate management oversight and attention to the subsystem and implements basic controls, the prospects for successfully completing the subsystem remain doubtful.

GAO found that Customs: (1) began developing ESS in 1987 as a subsystem to its Automated Commercial System; (2) has not followed good business practices for system development and operation, and did not prepare requirements analyses, feasibility studies, risk or cost-benefit analyses, or implementation plans; (3) continued phase II ESS development, even though phase I ESS testing identified problems involving Customs' failure to inform import specialists about data for review, select all appropriate teams for data review, and set expiration dates for override criteria; (4) did not provide enough computer terminals or adequate training for specialists to use ESS, and ESS did not provide much useful information to help them perform their duties; and (5) began pilot testing phase II ESS without performing adequate system acceptance testing, and decided not to correct a major problem involving the capture of historical information, but to move forward with further deployment of phase II.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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