71632 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 230 / Friday, November 29, 2013 / Notices 

• HSIN Optimization and Development 

Vision 

Æ Improving System Performance and 

Service Operations—A summary of 

the steps the program has and will 

be taking to ensure the current 

platform meets user service 

requirements and agreements. 

Æ Interoperability and Federation—A 

discussion of the program’s plans to 

link HSIN to a series of partner 

networks that will provide all users 

with greater access to new 

collaborative partners and their 

content. 

Æ Large List—A summary of how the 

program is implementing new ways 

to ensure the validation of users is 

fast and efficient. 

Æ New Development Environments— 

A discussion on how HSIN is 

creating a set of new virtual 

environments for its new 

development team to use that are 

stable and accurately replicate the 

actual network, to ensure, final, 

new developments work as planned 

and meet requirements. 

Æ DHS Suspicious Activity Reporting 

(SAR)—An introduction to how 

HSIN is developing a new 

capability for the quick and 

efficient delivery and sharing of 

suspicious activity reports by users 

of all kinds including those from 

the private sector. 

• Portal Consolidation Update—A 

review of HSIN’s efforts to save 

resources across the Federal 

government by consolidating a 

series of systems into the single, 

HSIN platform. 

• Public comment period 

• Deliberation/Voting/Obtain guidance 

from HSINAC on: 

Æ Stakeholder Management 

Strategy—A review of HSIN’s new 

strategy for ensuring managed 

growth, user self-sufficiency, and 

prioritized engagements with 

critical partners in the coming year. 

Æ Messaging/Communications 

Strategy—An update on HSIN’s 

work to define its place in the 

information sharing market, what 

defines it, its value proposition, and 

the best way to communicate these 

terms. 

Æ HSIN Mobile Use/Application 

Policy—An opportunity for 

HSINAC members to comment on 

the development of a new policy 

that will define the rights, duties 

and privileges to use HSIN on 

mobile devices ensuring security 

and accessibility. 

• Closing remarks 

• Adjournment of the meeting 

James Lanoue, 

HSIN Acting Program Manager. 

[FR Doc. 2013–28703 Filed 11–27–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9910–9B–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

[Docket No. DHS–2013–0078] 

Cooperative Research and 

Development Agreement (CRADA) 

Opportunity With the Department of 

Homeland Security for the Testing of 

Reusable Electronic Conveyance 

Security Device (RECONS) Solutions 

AGENCY: Borders and Maritime Security 

Division (BMD), Homeland Advanced 

Research Projects Agency, Science and 

Technology Directorate, Department of 

Homeland Security. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: BMD is initiating a project to 

demonstrate that commercially available 

conveyance security solutions can be 

utilized with a common data 

management system in the following 

Government operations (described in 

detail later): 

• Centralized Examination Station 

(CES) 

• In-bond 

• National Capital Region Secure 

Delivery 

• Cross-border Commerce 

BMD is looking to enter into a 

Cooperative Research and Development 

Agreement (CRADA) with interested 

partner(s) to test the interoperability and 

conveyance security capabilities of their 

solutions in a lab environment and then 

assess their ability to support CES, Inbond, National Capital Region Secure 

Delivery, and Cross-border Commerce 

operations in a technology 

demonstration. 

The results of the project are intended 

to serve as a data point for the standard 

under development for reusable 

electronic conveyance security devices 

(RECONS). The RECONS Standard will 

support certification of partner solutions 

to be used by industry for their crossborder commerce shipments (described 

in detail later) in addition to the 

Government in their aforementioned 

operations. 

The proposed term of the CRADA can 

be up to twenty-four (24) months. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

December 30, 2013. 

ADDRESSES: Mail comments and 

requests to participate to Jonathan 

McEntee, (ATTN: Jonathan McEntee, 

245 Murray Lane SW., Washington, DC 

20528–0075). Submit electronic 

comments and other data with the 

subject line ‘‘RECONS Notice of Intent’’ 

to jonathan.mcentee@dhs.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Information on DHS CRADAs: 

Marlene Owens, (202) 254–6671. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Ensuring cargo security as it flows 

through supply chains is a challenge 

faced by industry and governments, 

both domestically and internationally. 

There is a need to identify illegal 

activity introduced into the supply 

chain while facilitating the flow of legal 

commerce. 

A solution that provides greater 

security and facilitation of legal 

commerce is tracking the cargo 

conveyance as it moves through the 

supply chain and reporting any security 

breaches. The additional data is critical 

in assessing the risk level of cargo 

shipments and determining which 

shipments require more scrutiny rather 

than expedited processing. 

Operational Context 

Each operation requiring conveyance 

security is slightly different and it is 

important to understand the 

environment in which they will be 

employed to ensure understanding of 

the unique characteristics. 

Centralized Examination Stations 

(CES) Operations: Ports of entry (POEs) 

often are constrained in the physical 

space and resources available to 

conduct physical inspections at the 

facility. In order to prevent arriving 

conveyances awaiting inspection from 

negatively impacting the flow of 

shipments through the POEs, shipments 

selected for physical inspection are 

often directed to a facility (i.e. CES) 

located away from the POE. The 

shipments are secured with high 

security International Organization 

Standard (ISO) bolts while they are en 

route between the two facilities and 

legally remain within custody of CBP 

until they are cleared at the CES. 

Using RECONS in CES Operations 

will increase security by providing 

tracking between the POE and CES and 

ensuring they do not deviate from the 

designated route and/or compromise the 

integrity of the conveyance and the 

shipment. In addition, using RECONS 

for repeated trips rather than single-use 

ISO bolts will automate processes 

resulting in cost savings and efficiencies 

in operations. 

In-bond Operations: Duties are 

nominally assessed when a shipment 


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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 230 / Friday, November 29, 2013 / Notices 71633 

1 Development work may be needed to ensure 

solutions meet interoperability or other 

requirements validated through testing 

arrives at a POE and is then cleared to 

enter into U.S. commerce. Some 

shipments pass through the U.S. while 

in transit to another country and never 

enter the U.S. commerce. Additional 

shipments are allowed to travel within 

the U.S. and defer their payment of 

duties until they are entered into U.S. 

commerce at their formal port of entry. 

These shipments (in-bond shipments) 

are required to post a bond which CBP 

can collect against to insure the 

shipments do not enter U.S. commerce 

without paying the requisite duties. CBP 

secures some of these shipments with 

ISO bolts when they initially arrive at a 

U.S. POE and verifies the integrity of the 

ISO bolt when the shipment either exits 

the U.S. via a POE or enters U.S. 

commerce. 

Using RECONS in In-bond Operations 

will allow for the collection of data that 

can be used to determine if any cargo 

was illegally off-loaded into U.S. 

commerce resulting in collecting against 

the insurance bond as well as serving as 

a deterrent to illegal activity. In 

addition, RECONS will automate 

processes leading to efficiencies while 

also saving money over time than 

employing single-use ISO bolts. 

National Capital Region (NCR) Secure 

Delivery: Trucks making deliveries to 

buildings managed by GSA within the 

National Capital Region are first 

screened at a central facility and then 

secured with mechanical seals before 

delivering the cargo. 

Using RECONS in NCR Secure 

Delivery Operations will increase 

security by providing tracking between 

the FPS scanning facility and the 

delivery and ensuring they do not 

deviate from the designated route to 

introduce illegal or dangerous cargo. 

The tracking data also verifies delayed 

deliveries and the reasons cited for 

arriving outside of the designated 

window thus avoiding the need for 

them to return to the FPS scanning 

facility to be re-inspected. In addition, 

RECONS will automate processes 

leading to efficiencies and cost savings. 

Cross-border Commerce: Conveyance 

security extends beyond just CES, Inbond, and National Capital Region 

Secure Delivery within the Government, 

with other agencies such as DOE and 

DOD requiring conveyance security 

solutions. 

There is a much larger need for 

conveyance security solutions for 

commercial cross-border commerce 

with over $1 trillion of goods being 

imported every year. Currently the only 

approved solutions are ISO bolts 

although there are much better solutions 

already in the commercial market. The 

impediment to adopting these enhanced 

solutions is they are not certified for use 

and the root cause of that is there is no 

standard to certify conveyance security 

solutions against. 

The development of a RECONS 

Standard will be conducted by BMD in 

parallel with this project along with 

efforts to update CBP systems and 

policies to accept and use the data 

provided by RECONS for cross-border 

shipment processing. A spiral approach 

is being pursued with additional 

capabilities added to the RECONS 

Standard and CBP systems, supported 

by updated CBP policies, as the use of 

RECONS in cross-border operations 

evolves. 

Period of Performance 

If CRADA collaborator(s) is (are) 

selected, laboratory testing is expected 

to take 2 months. Contingent on 

laboratory testing, operational testing is 

expected to take an additional 6 months 

and data consolidation, analysis, and 

results finalization is expected to take 

another 3 months. 

Selection Criteria 

The Borders and Maritime Security 

Division (BMD) reserves the right to 

select CRADA collaborators for all, 

some, or none of the proposals in 

response to this notice. BMD will 

provide no funding for reimbursement 

of proposal development costs. 

Proposals (or any other material) 

submitted in response to this notice will 

not be returned. Proposals submitted are 

expected to be unclassified. 

BMD will select proposals at its sole 

discretion on the basis of: 

1. How well the proposal 

communicates the collaborators’ 

understanding of and ability to meet the 

CRADAs goals and proposed timeline. 

2. Ability of the collaborator to 

provide equipment and materials for 

proposed testing. 

This includes the ability of the 

collaborator to provide a sufficient 

number of RECONS for laboratory and 

operational testing within two months 

of CRADA agreement. 

3. Ability of the collaborator to invest 

in system and RECONS development 

costs to ensure interoperability with 

government system. 

4. How well the proposal addresses 

the following criteria: 

a. Ability of the collaborator to meet 

the requirements for development ,1

validation testing and analysis, and 

submission of supporting data and 

documents fulfilling the RECONS 

laboratory and operational testing. 

b. Ability of the collaborator to 

provide RECONS that are hardened to 

prevent tampering and have had 

environmental testing performed 

consistent with the operational 

conditions the RECONS will be 

employed. 

c. Ability of the collaborator to 

provide documentation of the entire 

system required to operate RECONS and 

the all the associated costs throughout 

the lifecycle for procuring, operating, 

and maintaining RECONS. 

d. Ability of the collaborator to 

provide RECONS that provide intrusion 

detection and tracking along with secure 

data exchanges, while maintaining a 

low false alarm and failure rate. 

Participation in this CRADA does not 

imply the future purchase of any 

materials, equipment, or services from 

the collaborating entities, and nonFederal CRADA participants will not be 

excluded from any future BMD 

procurements based solely on their 

participation in this CRADA. 

Authority: CRADAs are authorized by the 

Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, as 

amended and codified by 15 U.S.C. 3710a. 

DHS, as an executive agency under 5 U.S.C. 

105, is a Federal agency for the purposes of 

15 U.S.C. 3710a and may enter into a 

CRADA. DHS delegated the authority to 

conduct CRADAs to the Science and 

Technology Directorate and its laboratories. 

Dated: November 21, 2013. 

Stephen Hancock, 

Acting Director, Office of Public-Private 

Partnerships. 

[FR Doc. 2013–28531 Filed 11–27–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–9F–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

[Docket No. USCG–2013–0522] 

Tank Vessel Oil Transfers 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice; reopening of comment 

period 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard issued a 

notice in the Federal Register of 

October 23, 2013, concerning new 

measures to reduce the risks of oil spills 

in oil transfer operations from or to a 

tank vessel. In response to public 

comments requesting an extension of 

the original comment period ending on 

November 22, 2013, the Coast Guard is 

reopening the comment period for an 

additional 30 days. 


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