Case Studies
PREDICT- US Food and Drug Administration
“PREDICT represents a significant enhancement to FDA’s targeting ability by enabling the Agency to use data from a much wider range of sources to inform our entry decisions.”
The FDA processes over 40 million critical imports per year, including food, pharmaceuticals, and components for medical devices and PPE. The vast majority are safe and secure, but inspections to identify dangerous, fraudulent or dual-use items can strain resources and bog down needed shipments. NTELX provided a new approach to risk assessment that combined comprehensive multi-factor risk assessments and contextual analytics to generate adaptive insights for FDA staff. Using PREDICT, the majority of import transactions are processed automatically. Those requiring additional review are presented to FDA Compliance Officers along with NTELX’s detailed risk assessment.
RESULTS
By improving the targeting of risky imports and increasing the rate of automated, straight-through processing, NTELX enabled the FDA to keep up with the enormous growth in the volume and complexity of imports while improving the effectiveness of its surveillance and enforcement efforts. With PREDICT, FDA staff make faster, more accurate risk-based determinations to clear, inspect, sample, or reject products. Products that are likely to be FDA-compliant and safe to use make it to the market faster, and FDA resources are used more efficiently—14 times more efficiently, according to one independent analysis—to achieve better public safety outcomes. These new efficiencies save money, time, and resources at the best of times; during a crisis, they could save lives.
STEP- Security and Trade Efficiency Platform
“We see the value and long-lasting implications of the STEP project and the impact of its unique design thinking approach for securing trade, particularly in this changing environment. . . . We look forward to continuing to work with the STEP team at this critical juncture as actionable and operational solutions that also facilitate cohesive political coordination are essential.”
Supply chains that handle “dual-use” items are often vulnerable to exploitation both locally and globally. Public and private stakeholders often see inherent conflicts between protecting supply chains from malicious actors and efficiently managing millions of tons of valuable cargo. NTELX, with the Stimson Center, created the STEP program that enables the balance between global trade security and supply chain efficiency. Using risk management assessments and operational implementation experience in the global trade space that aligns with regulatory and economic objectives, NTELX has helped develop strategies that improve security while boosting trade.
RESULTS
Through the STEP program, NTELX has been able to help the country of Jamaica enhance its security and improve operational efficiency to lay the groundwork for the country to migrate from a transshipment to a global logistics hub.
In the Philippines, NTELX helped operationalize many of the key regulatory processes of the Strategic Trade Management Office (STMO) in a manner that also supports economic capacity building. The STMO is responsible for overseeing strategic materials including chemicals, semi-conductors and certain intellectual property.
The STEP program has also been shared regionally to allow further implementations in the Caribbean and ASEAN regions. Future traders, maritime security specialists, and other regional stakeholders have new strategic insights into supply chains, trade interactions, communication gaps, and regulatory inefficiencies, and are working together to expand and fortify their trade space and close gaps. The result is safer, more efficient supply chains throughout the region and for their trading partners throughout the world.
Global TRADER
Every day, millions of cargo containers move around the world via ocean, truck and rail. Stackable and interchangeable, these standardized containers make global trade dramatically easier. They also make it more challenging for authorities to isolate and track the movement of sensitive technologies or contraband. To make things even more complicated, ports use widely varying processes to create and store the data that could identify shipments of interest, and that data varies substantially in quality and timeliness.
NTELX was among the first to identify this challenge and to define the information paradigm used to address it. NTELX has given the US government greater insight into global trade by using the NTELX information paradigm to understand and address supply chain risks. Our approach emphasizes readiness and responsiveness: turning the enormous quantities of worldwide data into timely, actionable intelligence.
RESULTS
The US government’s Global TRADER system is the pinnacle of this improved approach, collecting information on over two-thirds of containerized cargo globally and uniting it with both innovative and traditional civil maritime intelligence methods. Analysts collate and interpret the compiled data using innovative decision maps, processes, and procedures. NTELX also provided critical architectural leadership in the overall project design, ongoing technical operational support and data and industry subject matter expertise. The result is the most robust cargo intelligence system in the world, untangling an anonymous web of container movements to identify and track high-interest shipments, activities, organizations, and individuals while streamlining ordinary trading traffic.
LOGX- DARPA
The LogX research and development prototype program focuses on discovering and responding to data disruptions in the global supply chain that could impact US Department of Defense logistics. NTELX is one of several partners working under a grant from DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office to develop and execute a test and evaluation framework for the LogX research program. Led by LMI, the team will examine the risks of data disruptions to the global supply chain and evaluate possible technologies to mitigate those risks.
Predicting, understanding, and responding to disruptions in the global logistics network is fundamental to mission success for the Department of Defense. The right technologies—including mission-centered applications and cloud-based microservices—are a fundamental component of that success, and the overall responsiveness and resilience of the Department’s global logistics enterprise. NTELX is proud to be a major contributor to the LogX R&D program, helping to develop the experimental data environment, create and integrate scenarios, and evaluate vendor technologies alongside the Strategic Technology Office, and laying the groundwork for future capabilities.
Read the LMI Press Release about the DARPA LogX project>>
Nafith International
Thousands of shipments move through Middle Eastern seaports and land crossings every day, and both local governments and international trading partners have a vested interest in safe and efficient traffic management. NTELX created a local subsidiary, Nafith International, and partnered with local governments and international agencies to identify systemic issues and develop a new approach to freight transportation and trade logistics. Beginning in Jordan’s Port of Aqaba, Nafith established public-private partnerships to modernize logistics and supply chain operations, including new marshalling yards, capacity controls, coordinated route optimization, and automated checkpoints. NTELX also advised on redesigned processes to improve efficiency, and sensitive change management to ensure all stakeholders bought in to the new system.
RESULTS
NTELX and its (now former) subsidiary, Nafith, working with regional and international stakeholders, helped Aqaba create an overall process and information framework that helped clarify and normalize the total trucking supply chain process for cargo moving in, around and out of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone. The system optimized trade movement, improved transparency, and enabled more efficient data collection. It facilitated end-to-end tracking for all containerized cargo, boosting confidence in the supply chain and improving trade efficiency. The Port of Aqaba and the trucking community reduced costs by about 20% while increasing port container processing speeds by over 50%, dramatically reducing traffic jams and enabling sustainable trade and economic growth. The system also created hundreds of jobs, increased regional investment and positively impacted the environment by reducing truck idling and more investment in clean trucks. The system also created increased transparency, compliance and accountability which significantly improved security across the overall trade process. The Aqaba system NTELX designed won an innovation award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.