Minister of State for Finance the Hon. Michael Halkitis said, recently, that The Bahamas has arrived at a significant milestone in implementing the Bahamas Electronic Single Window in the "action phase" of a Trade Sector Support Program.
"The procurement of the electronic single window commenced in 2016 using the “Best of Breed” approach," Minister Halkitis said, at a press conference, January 30, 2017 at the Ministry of Finance. "There were 17 Expressions of Interests and seven were shortlisted. Three of the shortlisted firms submitted proposals and a contract awardee has been identified."
He noted that the electronic single window environment will be constructed on the following five core system components: the Customs Automated Management System, Horizontal Risk Management System, Other Government Agency (OGA) Information Management Systems, Application Integration Platform, and Management Information System (MIS).
Minister Halkitis said that, after a "very competitive" tendering process, the consultancy firm, Crimsonlogic Panama, Inc., has been selected to carry out that activity.
"They are here today and they have started their 'on-site' work from last week," Minister Halkitis said. "This activity is scheduled to be completed within the next 15 months. The contract is valued at approximately US$13 million, with a duration of 111 months."
He added, that included 15-month project implementation, 12-month warranty and 84 months of support and maintenance. The contract’s duration will facilitate domestic participation, transference of knowledge and currency, he noted.
"I believe that this, what we are doing today, is an important signal to the trading community that, one, we are committed to the reform and modernization of Customs operations; two, we are investing to improve our ‘Ease of Doing Business’ international ranking and International Trade Facilitation Metrics; three, the evolution of Customs from “Tax Collection” to “Trade Facilitation”; four, the harmonization of IT system harmonization with other Government agencies to reduce bottlenecks; five, the engagement of stakeholders to improve service levels; six, the use of business intelligence to drive developmental goals; and seven, Customs commitment to its progressive legislative and operational mandate."
Minister Halkitis said that the Single Window initiative will provide the following benefits: further reduction in clearance time of imported goods and declarations; reduction of the administrative cost of collecting revenue; Improved electronic reception of advance and total cargo manifests; facilitate ‘One-time Submission’ of documents and online payments; facilitate information interchange with our Port Community Systems; Real Time Data harmonization, Information, Statistics and Reports; risk management approach to Border Management and Interventions; and International and Regional Systems Interoperability.
"We look forward to the implementation of the single window solution and its transformative impact," Minister Halkitis said. "This is the Digital Age and we must be modernized to remain relevant."
By Eric Rose
Bahamas Information Services
