The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in line to receive modest funding to boost IT and citizen experience modernization efforts in fiscal year (FY) 2024 under the FY2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill released by the Senate and House Appropriations committees on Sunday.
The appropriations package contains six spending bills that aim to maintain funding for a portion of government agencies funded past Friday, when the current continuing resolution spending agreement for those agencies is set to expire. The funding — if passed — covers spending for FY2024 which ends on Sept. 30.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations totals $26.2 billion of proposed spending.
Within that total, USDA’s Office of the Secretary would receive $58 million to bring to fruition several programs that will support its customers, with an effort to modernize the Farmers.gov site at the top of the list.
The bill directs the USDA Office of the Secretary to produce an IT modernization plan that “accelerates the continued implementation and expansion of the Farmers.gov system using the Enterprise Data Analytics Platform and Toolset.”
This expansion would enable USDA customers to: view their information, complete transactions, quickly review the status, and update tabular customer information; submit applications for Farm Production and Conservation programs and receive program payments for all USDA farm programs; complete their own applications, including electronic signatures and submissions, for all farm programs that require direct application; enable electronic income reporting between USDA and the Internal Revenue Service; and access and manage acreage reporting, farm records mapping, and farm records information within Farmers.gov.
If the measure is passed, the USDA Office of the Secretary has 60 days to produce the modernization plan.
In addition to those IT modernization efforts, the bill also highlights cybersecurity-related funding. The legislation would provide the USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer with $91 million, with $77 million directed specifically for cybersecurity-related efforts and requirements at the department.
