Drawback claims now route to the PNGM Center: who to email
ACE drawback claims route to the Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Minerals Center. Use the IOR first-character table to reach the right specialist.
Drawback claims transmitted in ACE now route to the Petroleum, Natural Gas and Minerals Center of Excellence and Expertise. CSMS #68577428 is the routing memo importers and brokers needed after the October 2025 program consolidation.
If you are still emailing a legacy port drawback inbox out of habit, update the distribution list. Specialist assignment now follows Team FDK and the first character of the importer of record number.
What consolidated, and when routing changed
On October 6, 2025, CBP consolidated the drawback program and Drawback Specialists under the Petroleum, Natural Gas and Minerals Center of Excellence and Expertise (PNGM Center).
Effective April 22, 2026, drawback claims transmitted in ACE route directly to PNGM for workload processing. Filers still transmit through ACE under CATAIR requirements. The change is where ACE sends the work after acceptance into the processing queue.
Program consolidation: October 6, 2025 under the PNGM Center.
ACE routing effective: April 22, 2026 to PNGM, Team FDK, with specialist routing by first IOR character.
Team FDK and the email routing table
CBP assigns drawback claims to Team FDK and routes them internally to the appropriate drawback specialist team based on the first character of the importer of record. When you need to reach the specialist team, use the email addresses from the CSMS:
- #s, N, O, P, Q, Y → ChicagoDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov
- A, H, T, Z → SanFranciscoDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov
- B, I, U, V, W → NewYorkDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov
- C, E, K, S → HoustonDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov
- D, L, M, R → OaklandDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov
- F, G, J, X → NewarkDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov (DetroitDrawback@cbp.dhs.gov)
That Team FDK assignment also fits CBP's Centers team-code scheme. The Centers of Excellence and Expertise Directory lists Petroleum, Natural Gas and Minerals as CEE006 with F## team codes. FDK is an F-family team code under PNGM. The same directory lists Thomas J. Kendrick in PNGM Revenue Collections, matching the CSMS transition contact.
CBP also says trade stakeholders should use the same chart for privilege applications, general ruling requests, and correspondence: take the first character of the account and submit new requests to that office's drawback email.
What stays at the old office
Claims filed before April 21, 2026
Drawback claims, privilege applications, and ruling applications submitted prior to April 21, 2026 remain at the drawback office location where they were initially filed and will be processed by that office. Do not assume every open matter moved with the April 22 routing cutover.
Paper (pre-ACE) claims
Any remaining paper pre-ACE claims stay at the drawback office where they were initially filed. Additional documentation for those claims goes to the processing office the filer already communicates with.
You may have new ACE claims at PNGM/Team FDK and older claims or paper claims still sitting at legacy offices. Keep both contact maps until the backlog clears.
Who to email for what
- Drawback specialist communication on routed ACE claims: use the IOR first-character table above.
- PNGM Center questions on these changes: Thomas.J.Kendrick@cbp.dhs.gov
- Drawback policy or ACE technical issues: OTDRAWBACK@cbp.dhs.gov
That split matters. Specialist email is for claim-file communication. PNGM leadership email is for the transition itself. OTDRAWBACK is for policy and ACE tech. Sending everything to one inbox slows response.
Operational checklist for compliance teams
- Update broker and in-house SOPs with the April 22, 2026 ACE routing effective date.
- Rebuild the contact sheet from the CSMS table; remove stale port-only aliases from default templates.
- Tag open matters as pre-April 21, 2026 versus post-cutover so staff do not chase the wrong office.
- Keep paper-claim documentation flowing to the historical processing office.
- Route ACE technical rejects and policy questions to OTDRAWBACK, not only to the specialist team inbox.
Filers should continue transmitting drawback claims via ACE in accordance with CATAIR. The routing change is not a license to invent a new transmission path.
Why the first character of the IOR matters
CBP is not asking filers to guess which legacy port "owns" the importer. The CSMS replaces that folklore with a deterministic key: the first character of the importer of record number. That character may be a letter or, for the #s bucket, a leading numeric or symbol class as listed in the bulletin.
Before you email Chicago, Houston, or Newark, look at the IOR on the claim, not the physical location of the plant, the broker office, or the historical drawback port preference. Multi-entity companies with different IOR prefixes may need more than one specialist inbox.
Privilege applications and ruling requests
The CSMS expressly extends the same chart to privilege applications, general ruling requests, and correspondence. New requests should go to the office email that matches the first character of the account. Do not send a new privilege package to a legacy inbox because that is where last year's manufacturing drawback approval lived.
If you have a privilege or ruling package submitted before April 21, 2026, leave it with the office that already has the file unless CBP instructs otherwise. Parallel emailing to PNGM and the old office creates duplicate threads and version confusion.
Broker and software configuration notes
Update claim cover sheets, ACE notes templates, and CRM contact fields. If your drawback software stores a default "drawback office email," replace static values with an IOR-prefix lookup. The Newark line in the CSMS also lists DetroitDrawback in parentheses; preserve both addresses in the SOP footnote exactly as CBP published them.
Train staff that OTDRAWBACK remains the policy and ACE technical channel. Specialist inboxes are for file communication after routing. Mixing those lanes is how policy questions sit unanswered in a claim mailbox.
For the first 60 to 90 days after April 22, 2026, label every outbound email with claim number, IOR, and whether the matter is pre-April 21, 2026 or post-cutover. That one line prevents half of the misroutes.
What not to change
Transmission mechanics stay the same. Filers continue to send drawback claims through ACE under CATAIR. The CSMS does not invent a new ABI message set, a new claim type, or a new privilege form. It relocates where accepted ACE work is processed and which email aliases own specialist communication.
If your broker portal still shows a legacy drawback office name on acknowledgements, treat that as a display lag until CBP and software vendors refresh labels. Rely on the CSMS routing table for outbound human email, and on ACE for the claim itself.
Internal RACI suggestion
Trade compliance owns the IOR-prefix contact map and pre/post cutover matter tagging. Brokerage operations owns transmit confirmation and reject handling. IT / ABI owns any hardcoded office email fields in claim software. Counsel owns privilege and ruling packages that must land in the correct new-request inbox.
A 15-minute standup the week of a routing change beats a month of silent misroutes. Put the CSMS table in the shared drive and in the claim checklist, not only in a Slack bookmark.
- Drawback consolidated under the PNGM Center on October 6, 2025.
- Effective April 22, 2026, ACE drawback claims route to PNGM, Team FDK.
- Specialist email follows the first character of the importer of record using the CSMS table.
- Pre-April 21, 2026 filings and paper pre-ACE claims stay at the original office.
- PNGM: Thomas.J.Kendrick@cbp.dhs.gov; policy/ACE tech: OTDRAWBACK@cbp.dhs.gov.
- CSMS #68577428 - Drawback Transition to the Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Minerals Center · U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- Centers of Excellence and Expertise Directory · U.S. Customs and Border Protection
This article is for general information and is not legal or tax advice. Drawback eligibility depends on your specific facts, and final refunds are determined by CBP at liquidation. Consult a licensed customs broker or attorney for your situation.