Today the ATF sent out a letter detailing their plans for eForms. The good news is that they plan for eForms to return to service very quickly.
They took the time to explain why the existing eForms system became overwhelmed. The key statistics were:
- The number of registered eForms users has grown from 673 in 2013 to more than 10,000 today.
- The number of eForms submitted has exceeded 50,000.
- Since January 2014, approximately 50 percent of NFA applications have been submitted via eForms.
How are they planning to address the technical issues we were facing with eForms over the last few months? According to the letter, “ATF has engaged world-class private sector companies to assist in enhancing eForms capacity and functionality to provide industry with the most efficient service possible.”
They propose to bring eForms back online piecemeal starting this week with Form 6 and 6A. Forms 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, and 5300.11 will follow over the next several weeks with Forms 3 and 4 being reintroduced in “the short term.”
While we cannot be certain what “the short term” really means, it seems clear that the ATF is dedicated to returning eForms to service as quickly as possible.
The full letter is embedded below.
