[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 191 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53125-53127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26416]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


International Trade Data System Project Office; International 
Trade Data System

AGENCY: Department of the Treasury, International Trade Data System 
Project Office.

ACTION: General notice.

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SUMMARY: This document announces the availability of a draft report 
recommending the design and implementation of the interagency 
International Trade Data System (ITDS), solicits public comments on 
that draft, and announces a public briefing on the ITDS 
recommendations.

DATES: The public briefing will take place on Thursday, November 5, 
1998, beginning at 9 a.m. Requests to appear to present views at the 
briefing must be received on or before October 21, 1998. Requests to 
attend the briefing must be received on or before November 2, 1998. 
Written comments must be received on or before November 12, 1998.

ADDRESSES: The public briefing will take place in the Department of 
Commerce Auditorium located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC. Requests to appear at or attend the briefing must be 
submitted to the ITDS Project Office by telephone at (202) 216-2760, or 
by e-mail at the ITDS Web Site (www.itds.treas.gov). Comments may be 
submitted in writing to the Department of the Treasury, International 
Trade Data System Project Office, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 
4000, Washington, DC 20229, or by e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard A. Kuzmack, Deputy Director, 
ITDS Project Office (202-216-2760).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The International Trade Data System 
(``ITDS'') is a Federal Government information technology initiative of 
the National Performance Review. The ITDS will provide the public with 
a single window through which to submit data and make payments required 
by all Federal Government agencies that regulate international trade 
transactions. It will also provide the public with a single, convenient 
point for accessing data on international trade. The ITDS will 
contribute to the creation of a government that works better and costs 
less by: (1) Reducing the cost and burden of processing international 
trade transactions for both the private trade community and the 
government; (2) improving the enforcement of and compliance with 
government trade regulations (such as those addressing public health 
and safety, animal and plant health, consumer protection, etc.); and 
(3) providing access to international trade data and information that 
are more accurate, complete, and timely.
    The ITDS initiative is led by a Board of Directors chaired by the 
Department of the Treasury and composed of representatives from 
government agencies that are major participants in government 
international trade data processes. Agencies represented on the ITDS 
Board of Directors include the Treasury Department, Agriculture 
Department, Customs Service, Food and Drug Administration, Immigration 
and Naturalization Service, Transportation Department, Commerce 
Department, International Trade Commission, and the Office of the U. S. 
Trade Representative. The initiative is also supported by a project 
office hosted by the Department of the Treasury.
    The ITDS Board of Directors has reviewed and approved for public 
comment a draft project plan for implementing the ITDS system. Although 
agency reviews and other work continue on the draft, the ITDS Board has 
determined that it is appropriate at this point to seek public comment 
as part of the review process. Toward this end, the Board is posting 
major portions of the ITDS Draft Design Report on the Internet for 
public review and comment. The report can be accessed from the link on 
the ITDS Web Site at http://www.itds.treas.gov. The report consists of 
a series of sections each serving a specific purpose with the objective 
of satisfying government guidelines and requirements for the design, 
development, and administration of the scope of the ITDS.
    The various sections of the ITDS Design Report are as follows.

Concept of Operations

    The Concept of Operations is central to the Draft Design Report. It 
provides an overview of ITDS and forms the basis for the contents of 
the other sections. The conceptual basis for the Design Report was 
derived from the IT-06 Task Force Report dated May 1995. The key 
components outlined in the IT-06 Report that form the foundation of 
ITDS are: Border Operations, including commercial cargo and conveyance 
processing; License and Permitting, including the accounting for goods 
processed against specific licenses or permits; Statistics, Analysis, 
and Policy Development; and Trade Promotion. Another important factor 
regarding the functional content of the Concept of Operations is the 
design principles adopted by the ITDS Board of Directors.

Information Technology Architecture Guidelines

    The guidance contained in OMB Memorandum (M-97-16), Information 
Technology Architectures, and the recommended Department of the 
Treasury Information Technology Architecture (ITA), were used in the 
development of the ITA Guidelines for the proposed system. The 
technical section of the ITA identifies the various rules, government 
directives, and standards to which agency systems must adhere in 
developing information systems. Collectively, the sections contained 
within the Design Report are intended to fulfill the guidelines 
outlined in M-97-16 in addition to satisfying the requirements of the 
Clinger-Cohen Act, OMB Circular A-130, and OMB Policy on Funding 
Information Systems Investments.

Hardware and Software Alternatives

    The Hardware and Software alternatives section describes the 
alternative approaches (centralized, distributed, or a completely 
outsourced system). This section of the Design Report discusses how 
each alternative would be addressed: including transaction processing, 
network communications, security, ITDS applications, data warehouse, 
backup power supplies, and a backup data center. The ITDS is looking 
for the most cost-effective means of operating the system over the long 
term and, toward this end, is seriously considering designing the 
system to facilitate outsourcing.

Risk Management

    The Risk Management section describes a systematic approach to 
identifying and controlling factors that could adversely affect the 
implementation of ITDS. It includes the procedures and automated tools 
to be used in tracking risks, assessing the likelihood of their 
occurrence, their consequences, and mitigating plans. The ITDS Project 
Office has identified ten risks, which are included in this section.

Configuration Management

    The Configuration Management section provides a framework for 
identifying and managing changes to the

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ITDS. It recommends policies, methodologies, and processes for the 
design control and includes the use of automated tools and review 
boards, It establishes the mechanism for identifying and evaluating 
costs, schedule, and performance impacts of proposed changes against 
established baselines.

Data Standardization

    This section details the efforts undertaken by the ITDS Project 
Office to arrive at a set of common data elements for imports, exports, 
and in-transit shipments, including data specific to the conveyance, 
cargo, and people (drivers and crews of commercial conveyances). 
Conditional data elements are also included that are specific to a 
particular commodity, country, or agency. Optional data elements have 
also been identified that are accepted and stored by ITDS at the option 
of the filer. Government provided data that is generated as a result of 
internal ITDS system processing complete the standard data set.

Cost/Benefit

    The Cost/Benefit section begins the work of estimating the 
financial impact of implementing the ITDS. Using available data, this 
section currently includes estimates of the effects of reducing the 
burden on the trade community associated with filing government forms 
required by the import and export processes. Though hard numbers are 
difficult to obtain and methodologies for determining costs and 
benefits can be challenged, initial estimates indicate that the 
international trade community could save $8.9 billion of filing costs 
over the expected life of the ITDS (through 2005). This translates to a 
net benefit of $2 billion, or a benefit of $9 for every $1 spent. 
Initial cost estimates for the implementation of the ITDS are 
approximately $256 million through the end of 2005. This section also 
applies sensitivity tests to the estimates and reaches a confident 
conclusion that, even at this initial stage, it is clear that the 
benefits for the ITDS implementation substantially exceed the expected 
costs.
    Interested parties (importers, exporters, brokers, carriers, and 
others) are encouraged to review and comment on the ITDS Draft Design 
Report. Comments should be submitted in writing by November 12, 1998. 
Delivery is preferred in electronic form, e-mailed to the following 
address: [email protected]. Comments submitted on paper can be sent to the 
Department of the Treasury, International Trade Data System Project 
Office, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 4000, Washington, DC 20229.
    A public meeting regarding the ITDS project proposal will be held 
on Thursday, November 5, 1998 from 9 am to 1 p.m. The public meeting 
will take place at the Department of Commerce Auditorium located at 
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The meeting 
will provide a briefing on and high-level overview of the proposed 
system, an opportunity for presentation of representative points of 
view of industry participants, and a panel discussion of selected 
questions submitted by the audience. Those attending the meeting are 
encouraged to review the Draft Design Report before the public meeting.
    The November 5 public meeting is open to all, however advance 
registration is required. To register, contact the ITDS Project Office 
on (202) 216-2760, or register by e-mail at the ITDS Web Site: 
www.itds.treas.gov, on or before November 2, 1998. If registering by e-
mail, please include name, title, organization, phone number, fax 
number and email address. Requests to make a presentation should also 
be submitted to the project office by email or on paper, no later than 
October 21, 1998. Owing to limited time and the value of including a 
representative range of perspectives, the project office reserves the 
discretion to select and limit oral presentations.
    The ITDS Board of Directors welcomes any and all comments on the 
ITDS project as proposed. The Board is also especially interested in 
feedback by public comment on the following issues:
    (1) Single electronic face for government in the collection of 
trade data. One overall goal of the ITDS initiative is to consolidate, 
streamline, integrate, and organize government information collection 
and storage processes to provide the trade with a single, common, and 
electronic interface with the federal government for purposes of 
collecting information and financial charges (e.g. duties, fees, and 
other charges) with respect to international trade transactions. To 
what extent is our perception correct that elimination of redundant 
transactions with multiple agencies will benefit private firms, and 
international trade processes, by reducing direct and indirect 
administrative costs?
    (2) Standardized data elements, definitions, and declarations 
across government. Another major area of emphasis of the ITDS 
initiative is to simplify and speed up the process of submitting and 
using information required by the government in connection with 
international trade transactions by: limiting information submitted to 
that needed by documented requirements of government agencies; 
developing common data elements and definitions based to the fullest 
extent possible on appropriate commercial standards already in use 
within the international trade community; and standardizing 
declarations made in connection with imports and exports, across all 
federal agencies, and ideally, over the longer term, as an 
international standard acceptable for all governments. Data elements 
are divided into two categories, ``common'' and ``conditional;'' common 
data elements would be submitted in connection with all international 
trade transactions, and conditional elements would be submitted on a 
conditional basis, depending on the nature of the specific transaction. 
Although such standardization will in some instances require some 
parties to submit more information in a single submission than they 
have provided to any one agency in the past, the overall effect of the 
new approach will be to dramatically reduce the number of different 
places to which information is submitted (to one), and the total amount 
of information actually provided (the goal is to move from duplication 
that is massive to no duplication). What are your reactions to the data 
elements and definitions as they are proposed, and their classification 
as common and conditional? Will collection of these data allow the 
Federal Government to enforce effectively the laws and regulations in 
which you are interested? What further improvements would you suggest?
    (3) Shared database for shared access and dissemination across 
agencies. The ITDS initiative will also simplify and change current 
government processes by creating in ITDS a single system of 
international trade data records that is disseminated to and accessible 
by federal agencies in accordance with their authorized missions. 
Although private parties will always have access to their own data, 
strict security controls will be implemented to assure that 
confidentiality of individual corporate transactions is respected. We 
seek advice as to which parties (brokers, forwarders, carriers, 
importer, exporters, others) need access to the record of a 
transaction, and what should be the limitations of access. For example, 
to what extent should importers have access to data filed by their 
customs brokers, carriers, and other service providers, and should the 
importer be able to alter these data?

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    (4) Coordination with the trade in completing ITDS design report 
and transition planning. The ITDS Board is committed to coordinating 
with the trade to receive and consider feedback in shaping the final 
design report recommendations, and working with other agencies and 
organizations and their ongoing activities in doing so. The potential 
of the ITDS initiative will most likely be realized through assistance 
from the trade in designing the system and developing plans for 
transition to the new environment in the future. What recommendations 
would you make as to the best means for the trade to coordinate with 
the government in moving to the new ITDS environment? What suggestions 
would you make as to strategies the government should pursue to 
minimize the costs and facilitate the changes required to make this 
transition?

    Dated: September 25, 1998.
John P. Simpson,
Chairman, International Trade Data System Board of Directors.
[FR Doc. 98-26416 Filed 10-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4820-02-P