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GCN Home > 01/26/04 issue

DHS bureau organizes to the max

By Richard W. Walker, GCN Staff

Leadership is structured with an eye toward performance

A strong governance structure goes a long way toward maximizing performance—especially when the performance involves a large and complex modernization program.

The Automated Commercial Environment system modernization at the Homeland Security Department’s Customs and Border Protection bureau is a case in point. The $1.3 billion, 15-year ACE project is intended to fully automate the process of tracking U.S. import data, ending reliance on paper and the antiquated, Cobol-based Automated Commercial System. When complete, ACE will expedite the flow of trade data via a single system interface.

“There is need for constant and continuous collaboration,” said Bill Inch, acting deputy director of the CBP Modernization Office. “It sounds sort of fundamental. But it’s not. We all come to this with different backgrounds, expectations and experience. And the key to getting onto the same sheet of music is constant collaboration and feedback.”

The agency has put in place an oversight structure to ensure that all stakeholders work in harmony on the modernization.

The flagship of the structure is its multifarious Executive Steering Committee, which draws members from inside and outside the organization, Inch said.

At the top, the steering committee includes CBP executive leadership—commissioner Robert Bonner, assistant commissioners, representatives of Homeland Security, CBP Modernization Office leaders and representatives of the E-Customs Partnership, which consists of executives from prime contractor IBM Corp. and its subcontractors.

The steering committee also includes the board of directors of the International Trade Data System. ITDS is a federal initiative whose goal is to facilitate information processing and data sharing for federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department, involved in international trade but not served by the current system.

Inside the Modernization Office, the management structure includes a Senior Executive Service business executive who reports directly to CBP deputy commissioner Douglas Browning.

“The business executive is primarily there to ensure that what we’re building is consistent with what CBP needs in the future,” said Jim Wallin, executive consultant for Robbins-Gioia LLC of Alexandria, Va., which handles program management for the Modernization Office.