Special Olympics Taps Vastera to Comply with PATRIOT Act

Solution provider donates software to help global nonprofit screen against restricted party lists

Solution provider donates software to help global nonprofit screen against restricted party lists

Dulles, VA — January 20, 2005 — The Special Olympics is set to use a global trade management (GTM) solution from Vastera to ensure that the organization complies with the various U.S. federal laws regarding restricted party screening.

The PATRIOT Act passed in the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks requires charitable organizations such as Special Olympics to perform due diligence to screen customers, partners or donors. Vastera said its TradeSphere Restricted Party Screening (RPS) software can provide real-time screening of names against more than 40 international "denied party lists."

This automated screening process will save Special Olympics staff from manually checking names against the ever-changing lists containing thousands of names and entities, according to the solution provider. In addition, the software will help Special Olympics avoid non-compliance penalties and maintain an audit trail, Vastera said.

"As our movement continues to grow throughout the world, Vastera's software will enable us to focus our efforts on our mission of providing sports training and competition to our athletes with confidence that we are in compliance with government screening requirements," said Drake Turrentine, chief legal officer for Special Olympics.

Vastera also said it would make a no-charge contribution of its Trade Management Consulting expertise, which Special Olympics could leverage to assist in the identification and resolution of possible Restricted Party Screening matches. "We appreciate the generous donation and assistance from Vastera to ensure that the Special Olympics movement continues to adhere to federal laws," Turrentine said.

"Per the PATRIOT Act, even charitable organizations such as Special Olympics are required to perform due diligence to the highest possible level when screening customers, partners or donors," said Tim Davenport, president and CEO of Vastera. "Vastera is pleased to offer our unique trade expertise as an in-kind contribution to automate the screening process."

For a look at how Tyco Fire & Security is tackling trade compliance issues in its global supply chain, see "Turning Global Trade Compliance Into a Competitive Advantage," in the August/September 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

For more information on the challenges and opportunities presented by increasingly global supply chains, see the special in-depth report in the August/September 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive, which includes the following articles:

For more information on the global supply chain, with a focus on security issues, see "Building the Secure Supply Chain," the Net Best Thing article in the June/July 2003 issue of iSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive) magazine.
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