Booz Allen to review Customs Integrated Cargo System

 

Australian Financial Review 16/2/2006 –

Emma Connors.

 

Customs chief executive officer Michael Carmody has moved to mop up the mess left by the botched introduction of new [Integrated Cargo System] computing systems by launching an independent review of the troubled project.

 When Customs went live with the import element of the Integrated Cargo System in October, goods were left stranded because difficulties in using the new software slowed clearances to a crawl.

 An industry group is still working to resolve lingering problems with the new system while Customs processes requests for compensation lodged by businesses hit by storage fees of up to $200 per container per day.

 The Australian National Audit Office~ is reviewing the $202 million Cargo Management Re-engineering project that includes the new computer systems. Industry groups, including the Customs Brokers and forwarders Council of Australia, welcomed the announcement yesterday that Boos Allen Hamilton would conduct an independent renew of ICS.

 "Hopefully, it will get the damn thing fixed," CBFCA chairman Bob Wallace said. "Let's hope it clears the air and shows the way forward for both industry and the ACS (Australian Customs Service]."

 Moving forward is exactly what Mr Carmody, who moved into the CEO post at Customs last month after 13 years running the Australian Taxation Office, appears to have in mind. "The primary purpose of the review is to identify opportunities to `maximise the benefits of ICS to both industry and Customs?' be said in a statement released yesterday.

 The review is expected to be completed by the end of April. Third-party software providers, carriers, stevedores, cargo terminal operators1 brokers and forwarders will all take part.

 The last group of consultants to run the ruler over Customs came from Ernst and Young. after the Department of Finance and Administration commissioned a review of Customs finances. That review discovered Customs would need an additional $100 million over five years, due in part to the Cargo Management Re-engineering project Meanwhile the ANAO, which noted last year that the CMR project had been hit by delays and cost overruns, hopes its audit will uncover the "lessons that could be learned from undertaking such a major information technology project".

 That audit is expected to lie tabled next January.

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