A contract for the provision of auditing services of pre-shipment inspection activities and verification of low value shipments not subject to pre-shipment inspection was entered into between the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and ICS on November 17, 1999.

As part of its PSI Auditing contract, ICS was responsible for the following activities:

• To select for auditing 15% of the shipments subject to PSI based on risk-analysis techniques (in order to identify problematic importers, exporters, types of merchandise, price ranges, countries of origin and other factors) and also at random (selected by computer).
• To select and verify 15% of all imports with a declared FOB value between USD 2,000 and USD 5,000 using the same risk-analysis techniques and random selection.
• To perform the following services for the selected shipments:
  • To witness the inspection of goods performed by Customs at the point of entry in Tanzania, in order to verify quantity, quality, and classification.
  • To verify the price of goods in the country of export in accordance with the WTO Valuation Agreement.
  • To verify freight, insurance costs and other charges.
• To witness the physical inspection of goods performed by Customs at the clearance points. If the goods did not conform to the customs declaration in terms of the description quality or quantity, ICS reassessed the price of the goods.
• To inspect the records of activities of the PSI companies’ Liaison Office (LO) and the various management reports prepared for the TRA to ascertain the extent of compliance with the terms of the PSI Contract and the standards of performance.
• To study Customs’ internal audit reports and Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) entry processing records to determine the extent of errors or discrepancies in Customs Valuation, Tariff Classification, Customs Procedure Codes, Exemptions, duty and tax calculation.
• To audit the PSI Company’s reports on the reconciliation of import declarations with the PSI company document, the customs clearance document and tax receipts, the outstanding PSI company documents for which no customs clearance documents were generated, as well as the customs clearance documents for goods stored in warehouses that remain outstanding for more than six months.
• To audit the efficiency and security of the ASYCUDA system.
• To provide on-the-job training to Customs staff in price verification, risk analysis, tariff classification and techniques used in the physical examination of goods.
• To audit the remaining shelf life of goods in those shipments selected for auditing.
• To reconcile within 10 working days the PSI Company’s invoices to the TRA (Tanzania Revenue Authority) for services rendered using PSI company/Customs records in conjunction with applicable rates of exchange.
• To notify TRA immediately of any discrepancies found affecting duties and taxes.  For shipments not subject to PSI, the notification had to be made before the goods were released so that the concerned Officer could assess the correct duties and taxes with ICS’ assistance.
• To present to TRA Monthly Reports on the results of the audits. The Reports included details about all the discrepancies and any losses that might have occurred.