A customs union says that a Canada Border Services Agency plan to digitize $32 billion in yearly tariff collections could end up becoming a costly mistake it likened to the ArriveCan application.
“It seems to follow the same pattern established by previous projects, notably ArriveCan, where a rushed system is deployed as a solution to a non-existent problem.”
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)’s Assessment and Revenue Management System (CARM) has been planned since 2016, according to Blacklock’s. While the project was originally budgeted at $370 million, it has cost $526 million to date, according to agency estimates.
In its letter to the trade committee, the Customs and Immigration Union said that despite years of planning among front-line border officers “there appears to be a near-universal consensus about the lack of sufficient training.” It said customs officers were being given inadequate guidance from managers “who have little experience with commercial operations.”
The union cited concerns that costly mistakes would be made, which it argued could be avoided through proper training.
“Errors can have a wide range of impacts on schedules, money lost and people’s standing with the Agency,” they wrote.
The union also wrote that CARM was not designed for the CBSA, and that it is based on an accounting solution originally developed by the Canada Revenue Agency. “Little effort was made to properly adapt it for the Agency,” it said.
The union also cited concerns that CARM does “not let officers know about prior enforcement actions” and “weakens” their ability to enforce laws and regulations.
During March 24 testimony, CBSA Executive Vice-President Ted Gallivan acknowledged that only 56,000 of 200,000 Canadian shippers had registered for digitized tariff payments, though the system was to be mandatory. “We understand transitioning to CARM is a big change,” he said.
“With any big change there is apprehension and we acknowledge there are partners in the business community who are concerned about this coming change,” said Mr. Gallivan. A total of $564 billion worth of goods crosses the Canadian border annually.
The Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters earlier told MPs the program would not work. “The system is not ready,” testified Kim Campbell, past chair of the Association. “We have no confidence in where we are now.”
The $59.5 million ArriveCan application, which was used to check the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers during the pandemic, has been the subject of several committee studies and an RCMP investigation due to its exorbitant costs. An auditor general’s report on the app earlier this year found that standard contracting and management procedures were not followed in its development.
