KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has renewed the maintenance and look after contract of the Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) with the world famous IBM, Customs Today has learnt.
The decision to this effect was held in a meeting chaired by FBR Chairman Nisar Mohammad Khan that discussed in detail the reasons for shutdown of WeBOC in the recent past, suspending the clearance system at the Appraisement-West and East.
It is mentioned here that the state-of-the-art WeBOC became dysfunctional following some software problems. Pakistan Customs, has developed IT-based WeBOC for paperless filing of the goods declaration and other functions, however the same has been shut down due to reasons best known to the FBR high ups.
According to the sources, the WeBOC support and maintenance contract with IBM had expired over a year ago and the board approved it in recent days. The incident of WeBOC shutdown occurred due to the fact that hard discs were not replaced after completion of warranty life. As a result, the entire Storage Area Network (SAN) collapsed, suspending all WeBOC operations.