ATF/TTB Deploy First Electronic Government Filing System

WASHINGTON - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) have deployed COLAs Online, the first completely paperless, electronic system for filing Certificates of Label Approval (COLAs) for alcohol beverage products.

The new web-based system will enhance customer service, and allow for completely paperless filing and processing of more than 90,000 COLAs received each year by the Treasury Department's TTB.

COLAs Online was developed under a contract between ATF and Idea Integration, a Fairfax, Va., software company specializing in web-based systems. Responding to the needs of the alcohol beverage industry to develop an electronic filing solution for COLAs, ATF hired Idea Integration in the summer of 2001, and collaborated with the regulated industry throughout the project.

Marguerite Moccia, ATF's Chief Information Officer, said, "We're very proud of this accomplishment. COLAs Online reflects ATF's most technically complex undertaking. The challenges we overcame with this effort helped pave the way for several other e-Gov applications that will be deployed later this year."

TTB Administrator Arthur J. Libertucci commented, "We are excited about the development of this new electronic filing system. It not only represents the work of a lot of dedicated people over the last two years, but it is in keeping with our commitment to provide quality customer service while reducing the amount of paperwork required of our customers."

The state-of-the-art electronic filing system is a fully compliant J2EE thin-client application. The product leverages a 3-tier architecture using Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) and the Jakarta Struts framework. COLAs Online is deployed on the Oracle 9i application server running JDK 1.3.1. Since much of the information transmitted through COLAs Online is proprietary data, the system is secured by using 128-bit encryption over an Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection.

Each COLA submission, whether filed on paper or electronically, must be accompanied by a graphic representation of the actual label that will be affixed to the beverage container. COLAs Online accepts the label graphic images as attached jpeg files.

Users of the system must register with TTB to obtain user ID's and passwords. To access the COLAs Online system, users may visit the TTB web site at www.ttb.gov or www.colasonline.gov. The site contains all of the instructions and forms necessary to become a registered COLAs Online user.

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Note: The Homeland Security Act split the functions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) into two agencies. The alcohol and tobacco regulatory and revenue collection functions were incorporated into the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) as a new agency within the Treasury Department. The arson, firearms, explosives and alcohol and tobacco diversion functions moved to the Department of Justice under the newly named Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).