see also: on ITDS:   Vice President's Memorandum   National Performance Review   Board of Directors on the web:   ACE: Modernization Information Systems

The FACET Report included the following key recommendations:

• Original commercial data should be used as the basis for government trade processing.

• Import and export requirements should be standardized and integrated.

• Integrated government oversight of trade.

An integrated trade database and processing infrastructure should address both the needs of the various government agencies as well as the public’s need for international trade information.

1995: ITDS Established
In June 1994, the Office of the Vice President issued a report of the National Performance Review entitled Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less - Reengineering Through Information Technology. That sub-report identified thirteen Information Technology initiatives expected to provide "the essential infrastructure for government of the 21st century...and give citizens broader, timelier access to information and services through efficient, customer-responsive processes."

A multi-agency task force was formed representing 53 agencies to address the sixth recommendation that calls for the implementation of an International Trade Data System. This system is to meet the needs of the Federal Government agencies involved in international trade, those of the business community, and the general public.

This report led to Vice Presidential Memorandum IT-06 ( National Performance Review ) on September 15, 1995, which chartered the ITDS Project Office in the Department of the Treasury. The project office oversaw the federal government information technology initiative that was tasked to implement an integrated, government-wide system for the electronic collection, use, and dissemination of international trade data. ITDS would provide a single window through which the trade community would submit its commercial data, promising to create a government that works better and costs less by:

• Reducing the cost, and burden of processing international trade transactions for both the private trade community and the government

• Improving the enforcement of and compliance with government trade requirements (e.g., public health, safety, export control, etc.)

• Providing access to more accurate, thorough, and timely international trade data and information

A memorandum from Vice President Gore chartered the ITDS Board of Directors (ITDS BoD) ( Vice President's Memorandum ) . The ITDS BoD was charged with the responsibility of implementing the ITDS vision by working with federal agencies with missions tied to international trade and transportation on policymaking, planning, and management activities. The ITDS BoD charter was reaffirmed in the February 1997 report “Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology”. The ITDS BoD reported to and received authority from, the Government Information Technology Services Board.

1999: ITDS Project Office is Transferred to the U.S. Customs Service
By September 1998, significant progress had been made in understanding and documenting ITDS requirements, and a formal Design Report and Concept of Operations (CONOPS) (along with many other documents) were produced. The multi-agency ITDS BoD gave approval to begin work on a pilot system. The ITDS pilot was called the North American Trade Automation Prototype (NATAP) and was the proof of concept for ITDS demonstrating not only domestic harmonization/sharing but also international harmonization with Canada and Mexico. As the work began, it became obvious that ITDS would provide benefits to multiple federal agencies, especially the U.S. Customs Service. As a result, in November 1999, the ITDS Project Office was transferred from the Department of the Treasury headquarters to the U.S. Customs Service.

2001: The Short-lived ITDS Pilot Goes Live
ITDS design and implementation were integrated with Customs modernization and the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) design and development in early 2000, under the joint oversight of the Customs Modernization Office (CMO) and the ITDS BoD. Under this arrangement, the goals for the ITDS pilot were refined to fit better into the Customs operational environment and to reduce the impact on filers who needed to continue to use the Automated Commercial System (ACS) for the vast majority of their electronic interactions with Customs. In August 2001, the ITDS pilot project went live in Buffalo, New York. However, it was suspended on September 11, 2001 due to operational considerations at the port following the terrorist attacks, and not re-implemented.

2003 & Going Forward: The ITDS Vision to be Fulfilled Through PGA Integration into ACE
In March 2003, Customs moved from Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and became U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The ITDS BoD and CBP are working together to aid these PGAs in making use of ACE ( ACE: Modernization Information Systems ) to support their border security, national safety and international trade missions. Today, ITDS is the program that assists the PGAs as they prepare for, integrate their business requirements into, deploy, and sustain ACE. In addition, the program provides guidance on the legal implications of PGA integration into ACE and serves as a forum for agency issues. True to its domestic and global harmonization roots, the ITDS program also spearheads the development and maintenance of the ACE/ITDS Standard Data Set (SDS). This SDS is intended to comprise the data needs of the collective PGAs within the ACE development effort as it applies to the collecting and processing of import, export and transportation-related transaction information. The SDS will be aligned to the international standards set by the World Customs Organization (WCO). The goal is to eliminate redundant and obsolete reporting requirements. This allows ACE to offer single window filing to the trade community and supports the WCO’s efforts to facilitate the exchange of information between those government agencies that regulate international trade worldwide. Going forward therefore, the ITDS vision will be attained through the full implementation of ACE across all relevant federal agencies.