Customs and Border Protection lacks the data necessary to assess a program launched in 2002 to speed up processing for pre-vetted, low-risk shipments at points along the 5,525-mile US-Canada border, GAO has said.
It said CBP does not collect data that would allow it to assess the effect of staffing and infrastructure constraints on wait times, although CBP officials and stakeholders report that wait times have decreased through the Free and Secure Trade program.
While CBP calculates and reports wait times hourly for 28 of 122 northern border land ports, agency officials and the 13 border stakeholders, importers, and trade organizations GAO interviewed about wait times questioned the accuracy and reliability of CBP’s data, according to GAO-10-694.
For example, it said CBP officers at three crossings questioned the methods used to estimate wait times, such as inherently subjective driver surveys.
Training is also a concern, as some field officials do not require the mandated 12 to 14 weeks of on-the-job training at certain posts, though CBP has launched a training-tracking system, GAO said.
It said CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment collects data on freight processing but does not differentiate between FAST and non-FAST shipments, making it difficult for CBP to determine the extent to which participants experience intended benefits.
GAO called on CBP to develop milestones for enhancing the database to capture data on FAST program benefits and conduct a study to determine if program benefits are being realized. DHS concurred.
