U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has officially announced the postponement of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) single window pilot program.

Originally scheduled for implementation this month, the deadline for the pilot program has been moved to February 28, 2016 after several shippers’ groups, including the Trade Leadership Council voiced concerns that the program is not entirely ready for a roll-out and that many of the importers, exporters, customs house brokers, freight forwarders and carriers they represent simply aren’t prepared.

“While significant capabilities have been deployed to date, concerns about stakeholder readiness have necessitated a reassessment of our current timelines,” the CBP said in a bulletin distributed to logistics services providers.

November “will represent the beginning of a transition period for CBP,” said Deborah Augustin, acting executive director at the ACE Business Office. The postponement, she said, “means more time to test the system and for agencies and industry partners to provide feedback.”

The single window ACE system, the agency has said, is an electronic portal designed to be the primary system through which the trade community reports imports and exports “with manual processes streamlined and automated, paper eliminated, and the international trade community more able to easily and efficiently comply with U.S. laws and regulations,” the CBP said.

In addition to the delay, the agency said an updated timeline for the mandatory use of ACE will be phased-in through July of next year while the December 2016 deadline for full implementation will remain in place.