The file on Customs

The Prime Integration Contract will cover the department's efforts to modernize its systems, initially focusing on trade compliance and later on enforcement and internal systems. The trade compliance portion, called the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), will cost about $1.3 billion and is expected to take about five years. The first release of ACE will take place in about two years, Customs officials said.

The e-Customs Partnership team will also begin a program office and establish an enterprise architecture, along with planning and defining requirements for the first increment of ACE. Customs has allocated $25 million for these tasks.