WASHINGTON - Congressman Joe Baca, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Forestry, held a hearing on the status of information technology systems at the United States Department of Agriculture.
The Subcommittee heard testimony from the USDA’s Chief Information Officer and from the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Administrator, as well as from agriculture organizations interested in improving USDA’s IT systems.
“Efficient and cost-effective information technology programs at USDA are critical to the successful delivery of literally thousands of nutrition and farm programs,” said Subcommittee Chairman Joe Baca. “Today’s hearing provided an excellent opportunity to understand the scope of technological problems at the Department, and collaborate on the important steps that must be taken to resolve them. We must work to improve technologies at USDA. The American people deserve a system that promotes better constituent services, prevents program fraud, and serves as a good steward of taxpayer dollars.”
“Technology continues to advance at a dizzying rate. To serve farmers and agricultural producers more efficiently, USDA must integrate technological advancements into its existing infrastructure,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Fortenberry. “Congress has provided support for these efforts, and it is important we ensure that necessary reforms provide a reliable, secure system so that all stakeholders can have confidence in the delivery of our farm bill programs in a timely manner.”
Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html. A full transcript of the hearing will be posted on the Committee website at a later date.
Source : U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture