U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced 24 tentative selections for new reimbursable services agreements that will promote cross-border trade and facilitate essential travel to the United States.
These public-private partnerships will allow approved private sector and state and local government entities to reimburse CBP for expanded services for incoming commercial and cargo traffic and international traveler arrivals in Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Idaho; Illinois; Louisiana; Maryland; Nevada; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; Texas; the U.S. Virgin Islands; Utah; and Washington.
Since the Reimbursable Services Program began in 2013, CBP has expanded it to include 316 stakeholders. The program has provided more than 1.1 million additional processing hours at the request of CBP’s partners—accounting for the processing of more than 16.7 million travelers and more than 2 million personal and commercial vehicles.
Authorized by Section 481 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, reimbursable services agreements increase CBP’s ability to provide new or enhanced services on a reimbursable basis by creating partnerships with private sector and government entities. Reimbursable services under this authority include customs, agricultural processing, border security services, immigration inspections and support services at ports of entry.
The statute includes several limitations at CBP-serviced airports. Reimbursable services are limited to overtime costs and support services for airports with 100,000 or more arriving international passengers annually. Airports with fewer than 100,000 arriving international passengers annually may offset CBP for the salaries and expenses of not more than five full-time equivalent CBP officers. Reimbursable services agreements will not replace existing services.
The entities selected for reimbursable services agreements in the air environment were:
- AEG Fuels, LLC (Charleston International Airport; Bradley International Airport; Austin–Bergstrom International Airport; Will Rogers World Airport; Teterboro Airport; Reno-Tahoe International Airport; Salt Lake City International Airport; and Tampa International Airport);
- Allegheny County Airport Authority (Allegheny County Airport; and Pittsburgh International Airport);
- Austin FBO LLC, dba Million Air Austin (Austin–Bergstrom International Airport);
- Aviation Consultants Inc dba ACI Jet (Palm Beach International Airport; Oakland International Airport; and San Francisco International Airport);
- Discovery Air – The Water Valley Company (Northern Colorado Regional Airport);
- Exxon Mobil Corporation (George Bush Intercontinental Airport);
- Gilead Sciences, Inc. (San Francisco International Airport; and San Jose International Airport);
- Google, LLC (San Jose International Airport);
- Hallmark Jet Center, Inc dba Million Air San Antonio (San Antonio International Airport);
- Jackson Jet Center LLC (Boise International Airport);
- Lowe’s Companies LLC (Charlotte Douglas International Airport);
- Mente LLC (Midway International Airport; Palm Beach International Airport; and King County International Airport – Boeing Field);
- Netflix, Inc. (Los Angeles International Airport; Teterboro Airport; San Francisco International Airport; and San Jose International Airport);
- Pivotal Ventures, LLC (Midway International Airport; Palm Beach International Airport; and King County International Airport – Boeing Field);
- Pronto LLC (Wiley Post Airport);
- Signature STT, LLC (Cyril E. King International Airport);
- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (Austin–Bergstrom International Airport; and Los Angeles International Airport);
- Stephens Investments Holdings LLC (Clinton National Airport);
- TSMC Leasing, LLC (Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport); and
- White Plains Aviation Partners LLC, dba Million Air (Westchester County Airport).
The entities selected for reimbursable services agreements in the sea environment were:
- Alaska Marine Lines, Inc (Seattle, WA);
- John S. Connor, Inc. (Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; Wilmington, NC; Baltimore, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Wilmington, DE; Providence, RI; and Port of New York and New Jersey);
- Magical Cruise Company Ltd. dba Disney Cruise Line (San Diego, CA); and
- The Port of Vancouver (Vancouver, WA).
CBP used a rigorous, multi-layered process to evaluate selectees’ proposals and ensure compatibility with CBP’s mission priorities. The reimbursable services authority is a key component of CBP’s Resource Optimization Strategy, and will allow CBP to provide new or expanded services at domestic ports of entry reimbursed by the partner entity.
