For implementation, this plan relies on the resources of myriad Federal, State, local, and private entities. Project planning, design, and funding remain the domain of the partner agencies and private stakeholders identified. Successful implementation of this plan requires coordination and collaboration among the following:
DOT agencies, including the Office of the Secretary, Maritime Administration, Federal Highway Administration and ITS Joint Program Office, US Coast Guard, Federal Railroad Administration, and Federal Aviation Administration.
Department of Defense Agencies, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Transportation Command.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice, the US Customs Service of the Treasury Department, and the Department of Agriculture.
The Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratory, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
State and local freight agencies, trade associations, and academic organizations, including the American Association of Port Authorities; private rail, water, and truck carriers (such as the American Trucking Association); intermodal trade associations (such as the Intermodal Association of North America); universities; and consortia created through collaborative efforts.
Partners in the gateways initiative will implement the strategies discussed in Section 3 through a three-pronged approach: (1) technology development; (2) technology deployment and diffusion; and (3) technology dissemination and outreach. Appendix A contains brief descriptions of several case studies currently being conducted that illustrate these strategies.
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These activities involve the identification of enabling technologies that will enhance the efficiency of international border movement of cargo. Specific actions would be to:
- Identify technologies that represent modifications or enhancement of the existing systems, as identified by the users. For instance, the US Customs has recognized the inadequacy of the Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) systems at the border. Customs requirements for "oral declaration" and a technology that allows the border agent an "authentication capability" are not met by the existing test systems. The DSRC remote vehicle identification capability does not allow the customs or immigration agent at the border to provide voice command for the border clearance operation. The USCS is thus seeking to add some form of voice communications capability, such as a cellular phone, to the DSRC system.24
- Identify technologies that would offer parallel capabilities and/or serve as a backup system. Such parallel systems would serve to meet multiple border requirements and ensure that unforeseen circumstances during field application do not jeopardize border security standards. For instance, railroads have discovered that it is not adequate to install Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) tags on all the rail cars and chassis. They have begun supplementing the AEI applications with optical character recognition (OCR) devices. They realized the need for a parallel equipment identification system because AEI does not perform well in a mixed environment where some containers are tagged and some are not.25 OCR would also be needed for rail equipment inventory operations, as AEI does not recognize stationary equipment, as the wayside detectors work only when the equipment is moving.
- Identify technology enhancements that are needed in the dual-use Federal technologies in response to the advances in the private sector. For instance, after demonstrating the capabilities of the DSRC, the USCS concluded that private carriers have made significant enhancements to the basic equipment identification capabilities of a transponder. GPS/DGPS and on-board computers to add functionality and improve fleet management operations are being used. As the USCS representatives point out: "To go back to a transponder is a step backwards. [A]ny system that is in place is going to have to accommodate DSRC plus other things that are already out there, being used in the industry."26 Similar challenges are presented by the new generation of medium and heavy vehicles having a built-in SAE standard data bus that are put to use for in-cab monitoring of driver fatigue, hours-of-service, engine/brake performance, and fuel use. The implications of these changes for the dual use of advanced technologies are significant. The extent to which the private-sector fleet management capabilities can be integrated in the regulatory border applications should be investigated.
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This element of the strategy would promote deployment of advanced border technologies by identifying funding areas such as incentive grants and other direct funding programs. Since the Partnership does not have specifically identified funding, the extent of support for deployment efforts is limited to identification of solutions applicable to specific problem areas. Specific actions include:
- Identify end-users and technology applications areas–facilities, infrastructure linkages, or carriers—that have not traditionally been targets of intensive technology use. These targets would represent the downstream end-users where market penetration of advanced technologies is low, and consist of small and medium-fleet carriers, and shippers seeking to integrate their supply chain. This group stands to gain most from border clearance technologies such as electronic commerce, EDI, internet access, and fleet management software. Identification and development of technologies would maximize the downstream benefits from freight technologies, allowing these small operators greater cost control and a more rapid equipment turnaround time.
Ensuring access and interoperability is pivotal to greater market penetration of the advanced border clearance technologies. Access by small carriers is critical, as the freight industry in the US is highly fragmented, with the majority of the operators in the small fleet operations. There is also a great diversity of operating capabilities, and a large mix of tags and identification systems on the market. The new immigration law has the potential to aggravate the border congestion problem and place a greater burden on the small carriers for credentials and paperwork compliance. Ensuring access and interoperability will alleviate the burden and help reduce congestion.
- Identify technology diffusion strategies that would closely couple the technology promotion process with product marketing and production practices in the market. This would require working closely with the carriers, port authorities, and terminal operators to identify the best investment strategies that generate the greatest impacts.
- Identify areas of strategic alliances among railroads where businesses can capitalize on the gains from shared resources and joint operations critical to the success of deploying new technologies. For instance, the current rail merger negotiations have provided a greater urgency for collaborative programs for improved train operations and performance. One of the requirements of the recent rail mergers has been the open access issue. For a railroad to allow its competitors on its trackage system would make the tracks a joint operation. Railroads need timely data on schedules and track use. Interoperable technologies and train scheduling systems that allow joint trackage use is critical.
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As technology transfer is a primary purpoe of this Partnership, this strategic plan will be implemented by identifying opportunities for capitalizing on an array of available resources. The technology transfer strategies include the delivery of shared knowledge and identification of solutions to remove the institutional barriers to an efficient application of advanced technologies at the nation’s border gateways, as follows:
- Promote greater interagency and international collaboration by championing efforts to coordinate training, research and outreach efforts. The Border Gateway Partnership is in a position to effectively leverage R&D payoffs by establishing a network of research, training and public outreach. Such a network would establish close ties among the Federal technology labs and training facilities, and would help build global alliances to take advantage of research laboratories located abroad. As research and innovation functions have shifted away from multinational corporations and centralized laboratories to smaller centers, development of such linkages would help leverage the outcomes with input from international sources. Through targeted access to such sources of research, the Federal role would then be focusing more clearly on infrastructure capacity building, promotion of enabling technologies, and coordination across agencies.
- Develop an information clearinghouse on industry best practices and lessons learned. Information on advanced technologies, often of great value for private sector investment planning and performance benchmarking, is often not readily available to the private sector–partly because of the secrecy that can accompany new product development, and partly because of the high degree of product differentiation that prevails in the high technology environment, thus making the Federal role more critical.
- Identify the areas where Federal leadership is pivotal to establishing technology standards and protocols. In the area of standards, some of the applications require strong Federal coordination. Others will evolve through the market. For example, spectrum allocation is an inherently Federal responsibility. Standards for radio communications are affected by such allocation decisions. Ensuring interoperability has been emphasized as a key Federal role in technology development. Allowing market competition to work is the justifying argument. Where there is interoperability but not adherence to a given performance standard the situation is problematic. A USCS representative recently illustrated the distinction between the two when speaking about the DSRC. The interoperability of the Mark IV and Hughes transponders was demonstrated at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, but the tags did not meet the performance standard required by the Customs. At 95 percent reliability, customs fails to identify thousands of trucks.27 Interoperability would pose another problem, as tags could interfere with different applications of each tag (e.g., a truck with multiple tags for toll payment, border clearance, and container inventory).
- Identify strategies that would promote greater compatibility and synergy among private fleet operations and border regulatory operations. The synergies created due to complementary functions of the two systems would help increase the adoption rate for electronic border clearance technologies. Data on such synergies would alleviate the perceived lack of complementary functions as illustrated by the comments from industry observers to the effect that the time savings from automated roadside clearance services are overestimated. The prevailing industry perception is that the only "real" benefits from ITS/CVO are in fleet management, and that the private sector would not buy into automated clearance programs solely for the inspection time savings.28
- Engage in outreach efforts to create a greater exposure to, and market acceptance of, the border technology program and its collateral benefits. The prevailing concern that automation will result in a less than level playing field is partly related to the fears that automation places greater compliance burden on small fleet carriers who are not EDI-capable and who need technical assistance. Carriers are also concerned that electronic inspection technologies would result in fewer inspections for unsafe carriers, placing the compliance burden on the good carriers who are tagged. Since the installation of the electronic transponders is voluntary, the prevailing perception is that the untagged carriers can avoid inspection.29 Presenting statistics on the effectiveness of electronic compliance check and success rates in identifying violators would be effective in allaying the concerns.
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