Status Report on Major Crown/Transformational Projects

Air Cargo Security

Description

The primary objective of the Air Cargo Security Program is to develop a comprehensive air cargo security regime in Canada that is in line with international partners, and that will mitigate the risks associated with the introduction of explosives in cargo or mail and the use of cargo aircraft as weapons. Supply-chain programs to identify low-risk cargo will be developed and procedures will be identified to screen high-risk and targeted cargo.

Project Phase

Air Cargo Security is currently in the Implementation Phase.

Leading and Participating Departments and Agencies

Lead Department	Transport Canada (TC)
Contracting Authority	Public Works and Government Services Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency
Participating Departments	Canada Border Services Agency

 

Prime and Major Subcontractor(s)

Prime Contractor	N/A
Major Subcontractor(s)	N/A

 

Major Milestones

Major Milestone	Date
Created Risk Assessment Matrix TC with the aid of the CBSA	2011–2012
Risk assessment and validation of candidate industry participants, and incorporation of new industry participants in system	2011–2012 (ongoing)
Attend and participate in the World Customs Organization Technical Experts Working Group on Air Cargo Security; ensuring compliance with international advance information standards.	2011–2012 (ongoing)
Attend and participate in the interoperability working group; seeks to capitalize on synergies between government departments.	2011–2012 (ongoing)

Project Outcomes

The benefits of this program include:

• Enhanced regulatory regime
• Oversight, training and compliance
• Screening technologies and processes
• Mutual recognition and interoperability
• Support for risk assessments undertaken by Transport Canada
• Screening of air cargo items at small and remote class II and class other airports

Progress Report and Explanations of Variances

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the CBSA and Transport Canada for data sharing was to be completed and approved/signed by March 31, 2012. To date, the MOU has been completed and is currently circulating for approval, however has not been signed.

Industrial Benefits

• Protect the Canadian public and those working in the air cargo supply chain.
• Streamline trade through risk management.
• Promote the movement of goods both domestically and internationally through effective trade supply chains.
• Improve the ability of the CBSA to detect high-risk cargo.
• Improve controls and make better and more efficient allocations of CBSA resources.
• Ensure the efficient flow of goods contributing to Canada’s economic prosperity.

Please note that the lead for Air Cargo Security is Transport Canada. Only CBSA information is included above as a Participating Department.

Temporary Resident Biometric Project

Description

The Temporary Resident Biometrics Project (TRBP) is a major crown project (MCP) led by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The business objective of TRBP is to streamline identity management within the Government of Canada temporary resident program. Against the backdrop of the rise of identity fraud globally and the use of ever more sophisticated means to evade detection, a key challenge in Canada’s immigration program is identifying applicants and managing their identity with confidence. The TRBP is not aimed at a re-engineering of processes and systems, but rather an enhancement to existing processes for visa/study and work permit applications and visitor entry, and leveraging of investment in existing CIC, CBSA and RCMP systems to the maximum extent possible.

Budget 2008 provided the CBSA with funding in the amount of $12.67M. With the received funds, the CBSA will design and develop a photo verification solution at all ports of entry (POE), as well as a discretionary biometric verification solution in Secondary at select POEs. The CBSA is currently on schedule to implement the above noted work components by May 2013.

Project Phase

The TRBP is currently in the Analysis and Design Phase .

Leading and Participating Departments and Agencies

Lead Department	Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Contracting Authority	Public Works and Government Services Canada
Participating Departments	Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

 

Prime and Major Subcontractor(s)

Prime Contractor	Fujitsu Consulting (Canada) Incorporated
Major Subcontractor(s)	n/a

 

Major Milestones

Major Milestone	Date
Business Requirements for Phase 1(Re-scoped option)	April 2010
System Requirements for Phase 1( Re-scoped option)	Fall 2010
Memorandum to Cabinet	December 2010
Effective Project Approval Submission	December 2010
Posting of the Request for Proposal (RFP)	March 4, 2011
Evaluating Responses to the RFP	Spring-Summer 2011
Business Use Cases for Phase 1(Re-scoped option)	February 2011
TBS Approval	March 24, 2011
Country Selection MC	December 12, 2011
Contract Award	February 2, 2012
Delivery of the Beta Software Development Kit from the Contractor required to begin System Development	April 5, 2012

Project Outcomes

• Migration that significantly benefits Canada’s economic, social and cultural development, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians. Related Program activities – Admissibility Determination.
• International recognition and acceptance of the principles of managed migration consistent with Canada’s broader foreign policy agenda, and protection of refugees in Canada. Related Program Activities – Admissibility Determination.
• Successful integration of newcomers into society and promotion of Canadian citizenship. Related Program Activities – Admissibility Determination.
• Canada’s population is safe and secure from border-related risks. Related Program Activities – Admissibility Determination.
• Legitimate travellers and goods move freely and lawfully across our borders. Related Program Activities – Admissibility Determination.

Beneficiaries

• The client groups affected are primarily applicants for temporary resident visas. In 2006, CIC received over 1.2 million applications abroad in the temporary immigration program. The volume of temporary applications has been increasing in recent years and is estimated to reach roughly 1.6 million by 2012.
• Canadian society will be the prime beneficiary of this initiative. Strengthened identity management will provide for increased security and reduced abuse of the immigration program. These are key elements of ensuring the safety, security, and health of Canadian society and maximizing the economic benefits of immigration. A March 2007 survey by Ipsos Reid found that 88 percent of Canadians were supportive of the use of biometrics in verifying the identity of foreign nationals applying for a visa, and 90 percent supported conducting background checks on foreign nationals seeking to enter Canada.

Progress Report and Explanations of Variances

• With the $12.67M that the CBSA received in Budget 2008, the project has been re‑scoped to include only photo verification at all Canadian POEs, and discretionary fingerprint verification in Secondary at selected POEs.
• Amended Preliminary Project Approval was received in April 2010.
• The Memorandum to Cabinet to re-scope the project and secure funds was approved in December 2010.
• Various documents in support of overall project management have been prepared, such as a Project Charter and Business Case. In addition, business requirements, business use cases are complete and system use cases to support the reduced scope are well underway.
• In order to procure required equipment and be ready to implement for March 2013, the RFP was posted on MERX on March 4, 2011.
• The CBSA has completed its business requirements and business use cases and has begun its system requirements. It has also completed its Training Strategy and begun the Statement of Requirements and Statement of Sensitivity (SOR/SOS) and is currently on schedule to design and develop photo verification at all Canadian POEs and discretionary biometric verification at Secondary at select POEs.
• The CBSA is currently operating within budget, as allocated by Finance for the reduced scope project option.
• CBSA will be ready to implement the TRB reduced scope solution by May 2013. The delay of two months from the original implementation and deployment date is due to some minor issues with the RFP Process. An original licensing issue resulted in the need for the reposting of an updated RFP.

The Project Contract has now been awarded to Fujitsu Consulting (Canada) Incorporated.

Industrial Benefits

Given the greater assurance of an individual’s identity due to the addition of biometrics, Canadian society will be the prime beneficiary of this initiative. Strengthened identity management will provide for increased security and reduced abuse of the immigration program. These are key elements of ensuring the safety, security, and health of Canadian society and maximizing the economic benefits of immigration.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) Project

Description

The CBSA has initiated the CARM project to modernize its revenue management and trade programs. The project consists of four components:

1. The Accounts Receivable Ledger (ARL) (reported on separately);
2. Client Identification;
3. Assessment, Reassessment and Client Registration; and
4. Trade Modernization.

It is dependent on, or has linkages to the CBSA’s eManifest and Beyond the Border Action Plan on Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness projects.

The CARM project will re-engineer, streamline, and modernize the CBSA’s revenue management and trade programs by:

• creating a new client account module that will allow the agency to integrate commercial client registration and account information and eliminate inefficiencies caused by maintaining numerous non-integrated systems;
• modernizing assessment and reassessment systems and processes to improve revenue calculations;
• modernizing trade programs and compliance and verification activities to improve revenue collection; and
• replacing several antiquated and failure-prone legacy revenue and commercial systems.
• Due to its size and complexity, the CARM project requires Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) oversight.

Project Phase

CARM is currently in the Initiation Phase

Leading and Participating Departments and Agencies

Lead Department	Canada Border Services Agency
Contracting Authority	Public Works and Government Services Canada
Participating Departments	Canada Revenue Agency, Department of Finance Canada, Statistics Canada and Shared Services Canada

 

Prime and Major Subcontractor(s)

Prime Contractor	n/a
Major Subcontractor(s)	n/a

 

Major Milestones

Major Milestone	Date
Revised project documents and substantiated costing to TBS	June 2012
Interim progress report on project Definition Phase to TBS – unfreeze expenditure authority	January 2013
Component 2 – Definition Phase completed	March 2013
Component 2 – Unique client identifier introduced for all commercial clients	April 2014
Component 2 – Systems used for commercial client registration replaced	April 2014
Component 3 – Assessment/Reassessment & Client Registration implemented	March 2016
Component 4 – Trade Modernization implemented	March 2020

Project Outcomes/Beneficiaries

1. Full CBSA compliance with accounting standards and practices will improve accountability. Beneficiaries include the Government of Canada, Canadian provinces, and the trade community.
2. Accurate assessment and reporting of revenues will support Government of Canada policy development. Beneficiaries include the Government of Canada and Canadian provinces.
3. Modernizing trade programs and Information Management / Information Technology (IM/IT) systems will improve service delivery to importers, exporters and carriers and enable new service options. Beneficiaries include the Government of Canada and the trade community.
4. Risk mitigation by addressing aging information technology systems. Beneficiaries include the Government of Canada and the trade community.

Progress Report and Explanations of Variances

Project approval and expenditure authority of $41.4 million (excluding HST) was granted to the CARM Project in December 2011 for:

• Project Definition work ($25.3 million)
• Development work for Component 2 – Client Identification and Component 3 – Assessment, Reassessment and Client Registration ($16.1 million).

The project is in its early stages and is proceeding according to plan.

Industrial Benefits

The CARM Project will benefit commercial clients by:

• introducing an electronic option for the payment of duties and taxes;
• introducing the ability to register, conduct assessment activities, obtain information and view financial transactions online through a Web portal;
• allowing for the retrieval of statements of account via a secure Web portal; and
• implementing client-based accounting that will improve the financial information flow.

eManifest

Description

One of the strategies that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) employs in managing the border is the use of advance information to identify and stop high-risk people and goods before they arrive in Canada. Having successfully implemented the marine and air components of the Advance Commercial Information (ACI) initiative, the CBSA is now implementing Phase III, known as eManifest.

The eManifest initiative is the next critical step required to improve the ability of the CBSA to detect shipments that pose a high or unknown risk to the safety and security of Canadians. eManifest will further modernize and enhance how the CBSA screens and processes commercial goods coming into Canada. When fully implemented, eManifest will require carriers, freight forwarders and importers in all modes of transportation (air, marine, highway and rail) to electronically transmit cargo, conveyance, house bill / supplementary cargo and importer data to the CBSA prior to loading in the marine mode and prior to arrival in the air, rail and highway modes. eManifest will complement and build upon the risk management strategies currently employed in both the air and marine modes, by enhancing the risk assessment capacity and scoring methodologies for all modes. This initiative focuses on pushing the border out by getting the right information at the right time in order to protect Canadians from health, safety, and security threats related to commercial goods before they arrive in Canada.

eManifest will feature the following:

• acquisition of advance electronic information, using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or eManifest Portal options;
• automated risk assessment;
• an enhanced client notification system;
• a data warehouse and associated business intelligence tools; and
• compliance management and management information reporting.

Project Phase

eManifest has multiple components in different project phases including several items that have been implemented, along with others in the analysis and design, and construction and development phases.

Leading and Participating Departments and Agencies

Lead Department	Canada Border Services Agency
Contracting Authority	Canada Revenue Agency and Public Works and Government Services Canada
Participating Departments	N/A

 

Prime and Major Subcontractor(s)

Prime Contractor	N/A
Major Subcontractor(s)	N/A

 

Major Milestones

Major Milestone	Date
Readiness Activities – IT Prerequisites and deployment of STAR configuration	Implemented November 2007
Readiness Activities – Automated In-Transit pilot project (Phase I)	Implemented June 2008
Rail Reporting (Phase I)	Implemented March 2009
In-Transit Highway Pilot (Phase II) Customs Electronic Commerce Platform Capacity Upgrade	Implemented October 2009
EDI functionality for highway carriers Client Notification Passage (Interim Enhancements for Highway) Infrastructure Capacity Upgrade – Phase I	Implemented October 2010
eManifest Portal functionality for highway carriers Infrastructure Capacity Upgrade – Phase II	Implemented August 2011
Risk Assessment (Phase I) EDI functionality for rail carriers (Phase II) Passage (Interim Enhancements for Rail) Commercial Reporting	Implemented May 2012
Expand functionality and client base of the eManifest Portal Systems functionality for freight forwarders in all modes to transmit pre-arrival house bill data via EDI and Portal, and pre-arrival supplementary cargo data via EDI. Improved Client Notices Electronic Conveyance Arrivals in the Air and Marine Modes Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse	Spring 2013
New Client Notices Systems functionality for importers Enhancements to In-transit functionality Systems functionality for Air and Marine to transmit multi-modal cargo data Enhancements to Risk Assessment and Passage Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse	Summer 2014
Enhancements to Risk Assessment and Passage Enhanced systems functionality	Winter 2014

Project Outcomes

eManifest will feature:

• Implementation of critical Information Technology (IT) Prerequisites activities;
• Advance data on electronic cargo, conveyance, house bill / supplementary cargo and importer information from highway and rail carriers, freight forwarders, and importers;
• An eManifest Portal option for clients to transmit advance information through the Internet;
• Automated risk assessment in advance of the arrival of goods at Canada's borders;
• Streamlined border processing through integration of systems for CBSA officers; and
• Development of a data warehouse and supporting business intelligence software, which will include the centralization and integration of data from various CBSA systems in order to support intelligent risk assessment of eManifest pre-arrival information through pattern detection and trend analysis.

In addition, some of the products and features listed above will also be retrofitted to the air and marine modes.

eManifest will also allow for:

• Enhanced knowledge and capacity for risk assessment of pre-arrival data, and for trade community compliance;
• Enhanced cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection through harmonized commercial processes;
• Enhanced innovative systems and technology to effectively and efficiently assess data;
• Increased success of detection activities to intercept high-risk goods, passengers and crew;
• Increased compliance by trade community to CBSA legislation;
• Enhanced flow of low-risk people and goods; and
• Improved stakeholder satisfaction.

Progress Report and Explanations of Variances

• Subsequent to the Effective Project Approval (EPA), the project completion date was revised to reflect a shift in project funding over two years, as part of the CBSA’s contribution in support of Canada’s Economic Action Plan. The impact of the funding realignment has extended the completion date and has necessitated a realignment of project deliverables and implementation time frames.
• The realignment caused a delay in the implementation of business intelligence and data warehouse infrastructure technology, a delay in end-state Passage functionality at First Point of Arrival, and associated costs related to the uptake of highway carriers. However, staffing realignment amongst CBSA major projects has been realized.
• As a result of the extended time frame, eManifest’s funding profile required a reallocation of funds for 2012–2014 where there was no TB development funding originally allocated.
• Agency reference levels still reflect preliminary project approval funding amounts. This has resulted in yearly internal carry-forwards to align funding to EPA plans.
• eManifest is to be completed by 2015.

Throughout 2011–2012, the eManifest project team has made significant progress in carrying out various project activities including the delivery of the Agency’s first Internet-based service window, the eManifest Portal, made available for the transmission of highway carrier data in August 2011. This secure data transmission option was developed primarily for small- to medium-sized businesses to facilitate their compliance and ease the transition from paper reporting to pre-arrival electronic data transmission.

The 2011–2012 reporting period also included significant stakeholder engagement activities related to the implementation of eManifest in the highway mode, the deployment of the eManifest Portal and the development of communication products.

Industrial Benefits

As eManifest will help provide CBSA officers with the right information at the right time, Canadian industry will benefit from more predictability at the border and from streamlined release processes. This will enable both industry and the CBSA to manage commercial import volumes more effectively. In addition, eManifest functionality will enable the seamless movement of goods through secure cross-border processes. With improved controls along the supply chain continuum, the CBSA can more efficiently allocate resources to ensure that integrated border services support national security and safety priorities, while continuing to facilitate the flow of low-risk people and goods.