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2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
Table of Contents
Preface ........................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Agency-Wide .............................................................................................................................................................. 19
Purpose Statement .................................................................................................................................................. 19
OIG and GAO Reports ........................................................................................................................................... 20
Available Funds and FTEs ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Permanent Positions by Grade and FTEs ............................................................................................................... 21
Lead-Off Tabular Statement ................................................................................................................................... 21
Project Statement.................................................................................................................................................... 22
Geographic Breakdown of Obligations and FTEs .................................................................................................. 26
Classification by Objects ........................................................................................................................................ 27
Status of Programs ................................................................................................................................................. 29
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P
REFACE
This publication summarizes the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Throughout this publication any reference to the “Budget” is regarding the 2024 Budget, unless otherwise noted. All
references to years refer to fiscal year, except where specifically noted. The budgetary tables throughout this
document show actual amounts for 2021 and 2022, enacted levels for 2023, and the President’s Budget request for
2024. Amounts for 2023 estimated levels include: non-enacted amounts such as Full-Time Equivalent levels, fleet
levels, information technology investment levels, recovery levels, transfers in and out, balances available end of
year, and obligation levels.
Throughout this publication, the “2018 Farm Bill” is used to refer to the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.
Most programs funded by the 2018 Farm Bill are funded through 2023. Amounts shown in 2024 for most Farm Bill
programs reflect those confirmed in the baseline.
Pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, sequestration is included in the
numbers for mandatory programs in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
A
GENCY-WIDE
PURPOSE STATEMENT
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Working Capital Fund (WCF) was established in 1944, authorized
under 7 U.S.C. 2235. The WCF mission is to provide a financing mechanism to support services that the Secretary,
with the approval of the Office of Management and Budget, determines is more effective as central services within
the Department’s Agencies. The WCF is used to finance services provided to USDA and Non-USDA agencies on a
reimbursement or fee-for-service basis. USDA services over 100 Non-USDA Agencies* which reduces USDA’s
share of fixed cost. Centrally managed operations provide efficient, cost-effective, reliable, and transparent services
through economies of scale, extensive management oversight, and recurring Fund reviews. The WCF does not
receive appropriated funds.
*Some of the Non-USDA agencies include Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, Department of Labor,
Department of Air Force, Department of Army, Department of Interior, Department of Treasury, Office of Personnel
Management, Federal Election Commission, Government Accountability Office, United States Secret Service, and
Library of Congress. Other Non-USDA Agencies serviced consist of numerous Independent Agencies, Boards,
Commissions, and Foundations.
The WCF introduced four new activity centers in 2023, Personnel and Document Security, AskUSDA Contact
Center, Enterprise Cybersecurity Services, and Enterprise Data and Analytics Services. The WCF finances USDA
Activity Centers under five functional categories as follows:
Administration
• AskUSDA Contact Center (ACC)
• Human Resources Enterprise Systems Management (HRESM)
• Integrated Procurement Systems (IPS)
• Mail and Reproduction Services (MRS)
• Materiel Management Service Center (MMSC)
• Personnel and Document Security (PDS)
• Procurement Operations (POD)
Communications
• Creative Media and Broadcast Center (CMBC)
Correspondence Management
• Office of the Executive Secretariat (OES)
Financial Management:
• Financial Management Support Services (FMSS)
• Financial Shared Services (FSS)
• Internal Control Support Services (ICSS)
• National Finance Center (NFC)
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
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Information Technology:
• Client Experience Center (CEC)
• Department Administration Information Technology Office (DAITO)
• Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC)
• Enterprise Cybersecurity Services (ECS)
• Enterprise Data and Analytics Services (EDAS)
• Enterprise Network Services (ENS)
As of September 30, 2022, there were 2,605 permanent full-time employees, with 468 in Washington, D.C., and
2,137 in field offices.
OIG AND GAO REPORTS
Table WCF-1. In-Progress OIG Reports (audits pending closure)
ID
Title
601-0004-23
USDA Controls over Departmental Shared Cost Programs and Working Capital Fund
AVAILABLE FUNDS AND FTES
Table WCF-2. Available Funds and FTEs (thousands of dollars, FTEs)
Item
2021
Actual
FTE
2022
Actual
FTE
2023
Estimated
FTE
2024
FTE
USDA Fee for Service:
Administration ..............................
$47,849
150
$48,527
155
$65,515
210
213
Communications ...........................
6,004
9
13,085
10
5,769
13
15
Correspondence Management .......
2,636
8
3,859
15
3,844
19
19
Financial Management ..................
145,598
519
148,635
486
154,833
524
536
Information Technology ...............
803,340
1,273
859,425
1,290
834,565
1,513
1,522
Subtotal .........................................
1,005,428
1,961
1,073,531
1,956
1,064,526
2,280
2,305
Capital Funding Availability .........
15,513
-
16,560
-
51,773
-
-
Purchase Card Rebates ..................
-
-
13,453
-
18,302
-
-
Unobligated Balances Transfers ...
4,391
-
1,195
-
22,797
-
-
Technology Modernization ...........
1,545
-
3,060
-
-
-
-
Subtotal (USDA) ..........................
1,026,877
1,961
1,107,799
1,956
1,157,398
2,280
2,305
Non-USDA Fee for Service:
Administration ..............................
1,254
3
1,309
3
1,306
5
5
Communications ...........................
675
0
640
0
700
0
0
Financial Management ..................
173,241
593
180,865
619
188,577
684
696
Information Technology ...............
54,609
24
50,245
27
37,003
25
25
Subtotal (Non-USDA) ..................
229,779
621
233,058
649
227,586
714
727
Total Available, WCF ...................
1,256,656
2,582
1,340,858
2,605
1,384,984
2,994
3,032
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
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PERMANENT POSITIONS BY GRADE AND FTES
Table WCF-3. Permanent Positions by Grade and FTEs
Item
D.C.
Field
2021
Actual
Total
D.C.
Field
2022
Actual
Total
D.C.
Field
2023
Estimated
Total
D.C.
Field
2024
Estimated
Total
SES ..........................
9
4
13
8
2
10
6
6
12
6
6
12
GS-15 .......................
31
55
86
34
46
80
23
66
89
24
65
88
GS-14 .......................
66
195
261
78
182
260
68
229
297
72
229
302
GS-13 .......................
118
565
683
146
517
663
137
622
759
152
629
781
GS-12 .......................
40
645
685
89
579
668
100
729
828
104
732
836
GS-11 .......................
22
409
431
40
420
461
51
422
473
51
422
473
GS-10 .......................
6
1
7
5
1
6
1
4
6
1
4
6
GS-9 .........................
10
123
133
13
129
142
28
127
155
25
126
151
GS-8 .........................
5
35
40
3
29
32
3
33
37
4
33
37
GS-7 .........................
10
190
200
13
169
182
25
203
227
26
206
232
GS-6 .........................
13
17
30
8
23
31
7
23
30
7
23
30
GS-5 .........................
17
30
47
13
29
42
16
26
42
16
26
42
GS-4 .........................
2
5
7
1
3
4
2
5
7
2
7
9
GS-3 .........................
1
-
1
1
-
1
1
-
1
1
-
1
Other Graded ...........
10
10
20
15
7
22
14
18
32
14
18
32
Ungraded .................
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Total Permanent .......
360
2,284
2,644
468
2,137
2,605
481
2,512
2,994
505
2,526
3,032
Unfilled, EOY ..........
19
43
62
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Total Perm FT EOY .
341
2,241
2,582
468
2,137
2,605
481
2,512
2,994
505
2,526
3,032
FTE ..........................
341
2,241
2,582
468
2,137
2,605
481
2,512
2,994
505
2,526
3,032
LEAD-OFF TABULAR STATEMENT
Table WCF-4. Lead-Off Tabular Statement (in dollars)
Item
Amount
2023 Recurring Operations Estimate
a
$1,292,112,061
Change in Estimate
-420,279
Recurring Operations Estimate, 2024
1,291,691,782
2023 Capital Availability
$51,772,698
Change in Availability
+1,297,820
Capital Availability, 2024
53,070,517
2023 Purchase Card Rebate Proceeds Availability
b
$18,302,263
Change in Availability
-8,302,263
Purchase Card Rebate Proceeds Availability, 2024
10,000,000
2023 Unobligated Balances Transfer Availability
c
$22,797,164
Change in Availability
-22,797,164
Unobligated Balances Transfer Availability, 2024
-
a
This amount includes both USDA and non-USDA fee for service activities.
b
Under 7 U.S.C. 2235a, refunds or rebates received on an on-going basis from a credit card services provider under the Department of
Agriculture's charge card programs may be deposited to and retained without fiscal year limitation in the Department's Working Capital Fund to
fund management initiatives of general benefit to the Department of Agriculture bureaus and offices as determined by the Secretary of
Agriculture or the Secretary's designee, subject to further limitations under general provisions of annual appropriations acts that funds be spent
on capital investments.
c
The Secretary has authority to transfer unobligated balances to the WCF for acquisition of plant and capital equipment for financial,
administrative, and information technology services of general benefit to agencies of the Department of Agriculture. The amount for 2023
(unobligated 2022 funds) will not be known until the end of 2023.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
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PROJECT STATEMENT
Table WCF-5. Project Statement (thousands of dollars, FTEs)
Item
2021
Actual
FTE
2022
Actual
FTE
2023
Estimated
FTE
2024
Estimated
FTE
Inc. or
Dec.
FTE
Inc.
or
Dec.
Chg
Key
Fee for Service:
Administration ...................
$47,849
150
$48,527
155
$65,515
210
$68,433
213
$2,918
+3
Communications ................
6,004
9
13,085
10
5,769
13
7,198
15
+1,429
+3
Correspondence
Management ......................
2,636
8
3,859
15
3,844
19
4,021
19
+177
-
Financial Management .......
145,598
519
148,635
486
154,833
524
164,637
536
+9,805
+11
Information Technology ....
803,340
1,273
859,425
1,290
834,565
1,513
827,206
1,522
-7,359
+8
Subtotal ..............................
1,005,428
1,961
1,073,531
1,956
1,064,526
2,280
1,071,495
2,305
+6,969
+25
(1)
Capital Funding Availability
15,513
-
16,560
-
51,773
-
53,071
-
+1,298
-
(2)
Purchase Card Rebate
Proceeds .............................
-
-
13,453
-
18,302
-
10,000
-
-8,302
-
(3)
Unobligated Balances
Transfers ............................
4,391
-
1,195
-
22,797
-
$0
-
-22,797
-
(4)
Technology Modernization
1,545
-
3,060
-
$0
-
$0
-
-
-
Subtotal (USDA) ...............
1,026,877
1,961
1,107,799
1,956
1,157,398
2,280
1,134,566
2,305
-22,832
+25
Non-USDA Fee for
Service:
Administration ...................
1,254
3
1,309
3
1,306
5
1,363
5
+57
+0
Communications ................
675
0
640
0
$700
0
$666
0
-34
-
Financial Management .......
173,241
593
180,865
619
188,577
684
187,774
696
-803
+12
Information Technology ....
54,609
24
50,245
27
37,003
25
30,394
25
-6,609
+0
Subtotal (Non-USDA) .......
229,779
621
233,058
649
227,586
714
220,197
727
-7,390
+13
(1)
Total WCF ........................
1,256,656
2,582
1,340,858
2,605
1,384,984
2,994
1,354,762
3,032
-30,222
+38
Working Capital Fund
The Working Capital Fund (WCF) serves as the Department’s financing mechanism for provision of centralized
financial, information technology, administrative, and communications services. The WCF also serves as the
principal financing mechanism for investment in corporate-level systems and as the Department’s information
technology working capital fund under the authority of the Modernizing Government Technology Act.
(1) A net decrease of $30,222,000 and a net increase of 38 FTEs for reoccurring operations ($1,384,984,000 and
2,994 FTEs available in 2023).
The increase reflects estimates of costs in response to anticipated levels in service demand from USDA and
non-USDA agencies for WCF-supported services. Amounts shown for 2023 are estimates of costs only, and
USDA and non-USDA agencies will be billed their share of actual costs. The staff years represent activity
centers’ best estimate of the most economical use of human resources to deliver expected demand for goods
and services.
The funding change is requested for the following items:
A) An increase of $1,298,000 for purchase of equipment availability ($51,773,000 available in 2023).
The amount available in 2024 represents capital resources available to the WCF to support the purchase of
capital assets defined as those assets with an acquisition cost of at least $25,000 for equipment and at least
$100,000 for software, with a useful life of at least 24 months. Allocations are made to WCF-supported
activities up to the limits of availability in support of the provision of services with amounts allocated to
be repaid to the fund to preserve available capital.
B) A decrease of $8,302,263 for purchase card rebate proceeds availability ($18,302,263 available in 2023).
The amount available in 2024 represents the estimated proceeds to be deposited in the WCF under existing
legislative authority, plus any residual unallocated amounts from prior years. Amounts are allocated up to
the limits of availability for management initiatives of general benefit to the agencies of the Department,
subject to further limitations that might be imposed by Congress limiting spending to capital items.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
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Expenditures under this section are deemed a high priority by the Department and are in the following
table.
Table WCF-6. Purchase Rebate Expenditure Plan (In dollars)
Item
2023
2024
Amount Available .............................................................................
$18,302,263
$10,000,000
Allocated ...........................................................................................
17,735,000
-
USDA plans to utilize this funding flexibility to pay for critical investments that would otherwise not be
possible due to constrained budgets. Notification is herein provided to the Committees on Appropriations
of the intent to make the following investments, including a request to obligate funds transferred to the
Working Capital Fund in 2023 of the following allocation ($17,375,000):
APHIS Web Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) - $225,000
WBSCM is the USDA’s designated procurement system for food commodities and related services.
WBSCM supports all supply chain activities for domestic and international food aid programs, including
the ordering, procurement, tracking, delivery, and invoicing of American grown and processed
commodities and related services. WBSCM users are public business partners including commodity
suppliers, customers (food banks, schools, Indian Tribal Organizations, foreign governments, etc.) and
transportation vendors. This request will support the design, development, test, and deployment of a new
WBSCM purchase order process to properly support the Department’s Financial Management system
DATA Act reporting requirements for obligations related to financial assistance.
APHIS Operations and Reporting System (OARS) - $1,250,000
OARS is a modernization of the MIS2000 system which serves as the program’s official system of record
and authoritative data source for Wildlife Services (WS). WS delivers wildlife damage management
assistance to protect agriculture, human health and safety, property, and natural resources. WS assistance
is highly valued by constituents and stakeholders as evidenced by their willingness to pay for services
through cooperative service agreements, a unique funding mechanism to collect cost reimbursement
authorized by Congress. WS work, though valued, is at times controversial and subject to scrutiny by
advocacy groups. Changing societal expectations regarding management of public trust resources requires
a refinement of the data that WS collects regarding the damage cause by wildlife and the effort required to
manage that damage. The new system of record, the Operations and Reporting System (OARS) will fully
integrate with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to allow
increased granularity of geospatial reporting. Inclusion of base mapping layers of nationwide property
ownership data will help to ensure wildlife damage management activities are conducted only where
authorized by public and private landowners. The system is used to generate annual Program Data Reports
(PDRs) designed to meet congressional requirements and produce records in response to FOIA requests.
FSIS Modernizing In-Commerce Investigations & Evidence Collection - $4,000,000
FSIS Compliance Investigators play a critical role in FSIS’ mission to protect public health by ensuring
meat, poultry, and egg products in commerce are from approved sources, accurately labeled, held under
sanitary conditions, and unadulterated. Investigators document violations of the Federal Meat Inspection
Act, Poultry Products Inspection Act, and Egg Products Inspection Act so they can be addressed in the
criminal, civil, or administrative arenas to deter future violations. FSIS will develop software to produce
the ICS Smart Mobile App Investigations module of AssuranceNet and provide compliance investigators
with modernized tools to collect investigative data and upload evidence in a forensically sound manner to
accomplish their food safety mission. The initiative seeks to transition investigation field work to a fully
digital platform, largely eliminating the need for collection and maintenance of paper-based evidence and
chain-of-custody. This will eliminate many of the risks associated with safeguarding and transferring
physical evidence and reduce steps needed to establish legal integrity (i.e., identification, security, and
handling) that could affect the use of the evidence to support enforcement or legal actions.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
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FSIS Employee Service Section Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System- $2,100,000
The application will integrate the intake and tracking of employee inquiries and provide a common
workspace for HR professionals. This investment is critical to help FSIS to continue to perform its vital
food safety mission which is extremely dependent upon the approximately 8,000 frontline personnel that
are spread throughout the United States and its territories
. FSIS frontline personnel are short staffed, need
to perform inspection tasks and have limited time and access to phones and computers to execute
administrative functions. This makes it vital that FSIS has the capability to provide exemplary HR support
because it not only immediately adversely effects the morale and experience of employees, but also affects
retention of all employees which is a constant significant challenge for FSIS. HR currently utilizes manual
and nonuniform processes to track actions and activities from employees. The process is time consuming
and prone to errors. FSIS requires a system that has robust capabilities to automate tracking and response
activities for employee human resources inquiries. The system will enable employees to get consistent
reliable support, allow employees easily accessible answers to common questions, and will allow
employees to view their history of requests and answers.
NASS Integrated Modeling and Geospatial Estimation System (IMAGES) - $2,000,000
Climate change has increased the number and severity of extreme weather events that impact agricultural
productivity, supply chains, and the larger economy. As a net exporter of agricultural commodities, the
impacts are truly global. The USDA developed a robust data and analytics platform to enable timelier
assessments of climate impacts. Stronger computing infrastructure and tools enable NASS to integrate
administrative records, remote sensing, geospatial, environmental, economic, and survey data. NASS has
typically taken a survey-mostly approach to producing official statistics through surveys, censuses, and
some applications of the cropland data layer (CDL). Investing in this capacity with NASS ensures the
Department will have new, timelier, and more specific insights about weather events and related impacts
on the sector through integration of its own and public data assets. This investment helps NASS provide
new data layers for climate analysis across the department, expand its data portfolio beyond data tables,
and make new insights equally available to producers and stakeholders. It also supports cost resilience and
adaptive solutions to existing data collection programs.
NASS Equity in Delivery of Agriculture Statistics - $4,000,000
National Agricultural Statistic Services (NASS) has observed an increasing divide in how key agricultural
data is accessed. Many large media and NASS brokerage firms have created subscription services which
aggregate publicly accessible data and repackage it so that it is more readily consumed by farmers and
agricultural producers. This inherently creates a disadvantage for small producers who are often minority
operators. Restructuring our data, improving access, and better documenting available data will benefit all
data users. The Evidence-Based Policy Act of 2019 has mandated that federal agencies improve
accessibility to public data sources. This modernization and enhancement will also lessen the digital
divide between small and large producers, lower the need for producers to pay for publicly available data,
and create more equitable markets by allowing all participants to easily gain insights from the key
agricultural information NASS provides. NASS conducts Census of Agriculture every five years and
prepares reports covering virtually every facet of U.S. agriculture. NASS’ processing and release systems
employ several outdated technology components. This investment will facilitate enhancement and
modernization of NASS data release and publications of the Census of Agriculture.
RD Support for UniFi Replacement Providing an Advanced Streamlined System (SURPASS) -
$2,000,000
The SURPASS initiative will replace Unifi Pro Mortgage (UniFi) and enable automation and future
modernization and integration efforts to support the direct loan/grant processes. The new system will
support a highly automated online application intake and origination system for 502, 504, and 306C
loan/grant programs; collect complete data attributes needed by the Agency, including those identified in
the industry-mandated Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) changes necessary to make
eligibility and underwriting decisions; and process the loan applications through the closing of the loan
and construction management and conversion, when applicable. The system will provide a standard web-
based loan origination platform that allows consumers to complete and submit a loan application using
modern browsers. It will include the ability for applicants to pay credit report fees from the browser or
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
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mobile device and the ability for the applicant to electronically submit required documents and sign any
required forms in a legally enforceable digital/electronic format. Applicants will not be required to visit a
local Rural Development office to obtain access to the web-based loan origination system.
RD Customer Portal/Enhanced Correspondence (EnCorr) Upgrade – Single-Family Housing Direct
(SFHD) Program- $1,800,000
The investment will provide a modern customer portal that will integrate with the Sagent (Loanserv)
system to retrieve and update information based on the borrowers’ actions within the Portal. In addition,
the Portal must include integration with a document management system to allow the borrower to upload
and view documents related to their loan, a correspondence system to allow for online correspondence
(to/from borrowers), and integration with the tabular data warehouse to allow for reporting needs. Through
this investment, USDA will achieve several goals of Executive Order 14058, which aims to modernize
Government and services, promote transparency and responsiveness, and reduce administrative burdens
for public-facing functions. At Rural Development (RD) this investment will positively impact over
200,000 customers, and over 1,500 employees. There are many intangible benefits to be realized, such as
improved customer experience, administrative operational improvements, which will allow appropriated
funds to be invested in other modernization efforts, protection of personal data, and expediency. This
initiative will also support USDA’s Strategic Goal 6, Attract, Inspire, and Retain an Engaged and
Motivated Workforce that is Proud to Represent USDA, because enhancing electronic correspondence
would eliminate many tedious manual processes and would allow more employees to work remotely or
maximize telework days. Furthermore, RD would realize tangible savings of at least $4,400,990, in year 1,
with a total Return of Investment period of 1.3 years or earlier. This estimate is based on a conservative
adoption rate of 10 percent, on the first year of implementation. The expectation is that the adoption rate
would increase over time.
C) A decrease of $22,797,163 for unobligated balances transfer availability ($22,797,163 available in 2023).
No funds are included in the 2024 estimate. The estimate may change should Congress renew authority
provided in general provisions of the 2023 annual appropriations to implement transfers of discretionary
unobligated balances. Allocations would be made up to the amount available, consisting of amount
transferred plus any residual unallocated amounts from prior years.
Expenditures under this section are deemed a high priority by the Department and are estimated as
follows:
Table WCF-7. Unobligated Balances Transfer Availability Expenditure Plan (In dollars)
Item
2023
2024
Amount Available ............................................................................................
$22,797,163
-
Allocated ..........................................................................................................
16,082,933
-
USDA plans to utilize this funding flexibility to pay for critical investments that would otherwise not be
possible. Notification is herein provided to the Committees on Appropriations of the intent to make the
following investments, including a request to partially obligate funds transferred to the Working Capital
Fund in 2023 of the following allocations ($16,082,933):
OCFO FMMI Financial Intelligent Enterprise Transformation (FEIT) – $10,700,000
FMMI is the USDA financial system of record that provides online, real-time transaction capabilities,
allowing agencies to be financially accountable and transparent in their spending. With over 6,700 users
across 29 USDA agencies, FMMI is essential to providing financial services to Financial Management
Services customers. The current system is based on a Systems Applications and Products High
Performance Analytical Appliance (SAP HANA) database with an end-of-life scheduled for 2027. FIET
will transition FMMI to a state-of-the-art S/4HANA based platform including a full life cycle integrated
budget solution and S/4HANA based grantor solution.
OGC Electronic Records Management System (ERMS) – $5,382,933
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-26
To comply with Federal recordkeeping requirements, USDA will procure a comprehensive cloud based
electronic records management system (ERMS) to support the M-19-21 mandate and the M-23-07
mandate, which reaffirms the principles of the M-19-21 but extends the deadline to June 30, 2024. The
USDA ERMS will serve as the Department’s document and digital information asset management
repository and records management system. The USDA ERMS will sit over all existing systems and
software, allowing USDA to seamlessly conduct business in the systems we are already using, while
capturing the records we create as we work towards the USDA mission. The USDA ERMS can also
accommodate case management, workflows, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)/Privacy Act (PA), legal
holds, Continuity of Operations (COOP), classified records management and Controlled Unclassified
Information (CUI) business needs.
GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OBLIGATIONS AND FTES
Table WCF-8. Geographic Breakdown of Obligations and FTEs (thousands of dollars, FTEs)
State/Territory/Country
2021
Actuals
FTE
2022
Actual
FTE
2023
Estimated
FTE
2024
Estimated
FTE
Alabama .......................................
$3,399
8
$3,553
8
$3,050
8
$2,933
8
Alaska ..........................................
3,398
6
4,293
8
3,447
9
3,343
9
Arizona .........................................
5,715
12
7,636
16
5,552
15
5,360
15
Arkansas .......................................
4,556
11
5,588
13
5,338
14
5,133
14
California .....................................
17,191
36
20,736
41
16,411
43
15,808
43
Colorado .......................................
91,842
164
91,824
153
127,075
223
121,493
217
Connecticut ..................................
692
2
866
2
763
2
733
2
Delaware ......................................
1,533
3
2,078
4
1,525
4
1,466
4
District of Columbia .....................
194,942
340
167,090
287
231,940
481
250,457
505
Florida ..........................................
13,283
27
17,332
34
12,676
29
12,235
29
Georgia .........................................
10,409
23
12,650
28
9,914
26
9,532
26
Guam ............................................
991
2
996
2
763
2
733
2
Hawaii ..........................................
2,107
4
2,691
5
1,525
4
1,466
4
Idaho ............................................
6,383
15
7,389
16
6,101
16
5,866
16
Illinois ..........................................
8,687
19
18,565
36
6,863
18
6,599
18
Indiana .........................................
5,921
13
6,370
13
4,957
13
4,766
13
Iowa .............................................
12,423
29
11,270
25
10,921
29
10,520
29
Kansas ..........................................
9,670
21
50,270
93
7,759
21
7,648
22
Kentucky ......................................
5,713
11
6,346
12
4,576
12
4,399
12
Louisiana ......................................
395,978
915
399,549
886
350,990
999
361,394
1,011
Maine ...........................................
1,970
4
3,072
6
1,907
5
1,833
5
Maryland ......................................
41,981
82
66,869
118
34,152
91
33,362
91
Massachusetts...............................
2,613
5
2,267
4
1,144
3
1,100
3
Michigan ......................................
4,322
10
4,144
9
3,813
10
3,666
10
Minnesota .....................................
9,662
20
10,223
21
7,308
20
7,259
21
Mississippi ...................................
7,260
18
13,128
29
7,835
19
7,573
19
Missouri .......................................
170,200
339
127,505
242
238,394
416
230,711
415
Montana .......................................
7,726
18
7,791
18
8,470
17
7,816
17
Nebraska ......................................
7,244
17
9,104
20
8,022
21
7,951
22
Nevada .........................................
2,286
5
2,611
6
1,525
4
1,466
4
New Hampshire ............................
161
0
832
2
763
2
733
2
New Jersey ...................................
2,720
5
3,996
6
2,288
6
2,200
6
New Mexico .................................
11,834
27
12,713
27
11,484
30
11,128
30
New York .....................................
7,223
16
7,680
15
5,720
15
5,499
15
North Carolina..............................
16,155
34
16,634
33
15,380
33
14,483
33
North Dakota ................................
5,817
13
6,580
14
5,720
15
5,499
15
Ohio .............................................
5,951
12
5,898
12
4,576
12
4,399
12
Oklahoma .....................................
4,707
11
6,564
15
5,338
14
5,133
14
Oregon .........................................
7,628
17
8,141
18
8,852
18
8,182
18
Pennsylvania ................................
5,416
12
7,156
15
7,723
15
7,291
16
Puerto Rico ...................................
2,431
5
2,602
5
1,525
4
1,466
4
South Carolina..............................
5,283
11
6,296
13
6,564
12
5,983
12
South Dakota ................................
4,099
9
4,298
9
3,432
9
3,299
9
Tennessee .....................................
5,169
11
5,253
10
3,828
10
3,709
10
Texas ............................................
62,551
137
66,146
138
43,160
133
39,072
134
Utah ..............................................
6,510
13
6,902
13
4,957
13
4,766
13
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-27
State/Territory/Country
2021
Actuals
FTE
2022
Actual
FTE
2023
Estimated
FTE
2024
Estimated
FTE
Vermont .......................................
1,463
3
2,138
4
1,144
3
1,100
3
Virginia ........................................
8,185
16
24,739
40
13,972
21
12,449
21
Washington ..................................
7,030
15
7,434
16
6,101
16
5,866
16
West Virginia ...............................
2,617
6
4,503
10
3,432
9
3,299
9
Wisconsin .....................................
9,878
22
12,300
26
8,770
23
8,662
24
Wyoming......................................
2,280
5
3,646
8
2,669
7
2,952
9
Total, Obligations .........................
1,235,207
2,582
1,306,260
2,605
1,292,112
2,994
1,291,792
3,032
Capital Funding Available ...........
21,449
-
34,268
-
92,872
-
63,071
-
Total, Available ............................
1,256,656
2,582
1,340,528
2,605
1,384,984
2,994
1,354,862
3,032
CLASSIFICATION BY OBJECTS
Table WCF-9. Classification by Objects (thousands of dollars)
Item
No.
Item
2021
Actual
2022
Actual
2023
Estimated
2024
Estimated
Personnel Compensation:
Washington D.C. .........................................................................
$41,355
$54,817
$54,659
$62,448
Personnel Compensation, Field ...................................................
220,684
206,381
249,840
259,642
11
Total personnel compensation .....................................................
262,040
261,197
304,498
322,089
12
Personal benefits ..........................................................................
95,234
99,377
114,411
121,681
13.0
Benefits for former personnel ......................................................
54
132
131
129
Total, personnel comp., and benefits ...........................................
357,328
360,706
419,041
443,899
Other Objects:
21.0
Travel and transportation of persons ............................................
1,116
1,695
4,382
4,272
22.0
Transportation of things ...............................................................
1,344
1,755
1,870
1,882
23.1
Rental payments to GSA..............................................................
6,051
5,797
8,612
8,852
23.2
Rental payments to others ............................................................
2,479
2,625
3,182
3,239
23.3
Communications, utilities, and misc. charge ...............................
163,769
198,439
202,880
184,968
24.0
Printing and reproduction ............................................................
262
199
338
285
25.1
Advisory and assistance services .................................................
2,859
2,390
2,804
2,968
25.2
Other services from non-Federal sources .....................................
328,296
331,831
289,090
270,340
25.3
Other goods and services from Federal sources ...........................
141,238
138,433
132,194
137,026
25.4
Operation and maintenance of facilities .......................................
1,956
1,416
3,369
2,898
25.7
Operation and maintenance of equipment ....................................
202,315
204,985
191,432
200,280
26.0
Supplies and materials .................................................................
4,760
11,985
10,065
9,892
31.0
Equipment
21,434
78,373
115,723
84,059
Total, Other Objects .....................................................................
877,879
979,922
965,943
910,963
99.9
Total, new obligations .................................................................
1,235,207
1,340,628
1,384,984
1,354,862
DHS Building Security Payments (included in 25.3) ...................
1,992
2,462
2,119
2,145
Position Data:
Average Salary (dollars), ES Position ..........................................
185,548
189,476
189,476
189,476
Average Salary (dollars), GS Position .........................................
99,427
97,125
97,125
97,125
Average Grade, GS Position
12.6
12.6
12.5
12.5
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2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-29
STATUS OF PROGRAMS
The Working Capital Fund (WCF) is a financing mechanism that supports five functional categories
(Administration, Communication, Correspondence Management, Financial Management, and Information
Technology) across seven Departmental organizations. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), in
addition to its responsibilities in financial policy and operations, is responsible for the administration of the WCF.
The staff attached to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) supports the OCFO in fulfilling this mission.
Administration
Activities under this heading are managed under the Assistant Secretary for Administration and include the
following (all activities in Washington, DC, unless otherwise noted):
Current Activities
The Human Resources Enterprise Systems Management (HRESM) Division supports USDA’s strategic goals and is
aligned with the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Human Resources Line of Business (HRLOB). The
vision of OPM’s HRLOB is to create government-wide, modern, cost-effective, standardized, and interoperable
Human Resources (HR) solutions providing common core functionality to support the strategic management of
human capital. To realize this vision, USDA has moved to a Shared Service Center delivery model where HR
information system operations reside. The vision of HRESM is to improve mission delivery by deploying of an
integrated workforce system, which facilitates strategic and advisory HR service delivery and streamlined HR
transaction execution.
Integrated Procurement Systems (IPS) provides modern, integrated procurement automation tools to the USDA
acquisition community through the Integrated Acquisition System (IAS). IAS serves as the enterprise-wide
administrative procurement system for the Department and continues to prove its value daily. The Credit Card
Service Center (CCSC) is responsible for the planning, developing, and implementing its charge card program under
SmartPay3 and providing consolidated, Department-wide governance in this program to further USDA’s mission.
The Materiel Management Service Center (MMSC) (Washington, DC and Beltsville, MD) is responsible for the
general management and coordination of Departmental logistics operations and activities including forms and
publications acquisition, management, warehousing and worldwide distribution; excess personal property
accountability, reuse, sales and disposal; office and general supply acquisition, receipt and shipment of parcels,
warehousing and sales, as well as maintaining unified, coordinated supply support systems that meet the ongoing
and numerous emergency needs of various programs of the Department. MMSC also provides services to several
non-USDA agencies and activities for basic services, and operates the USDA Sales Center, which is part of the
Federal Asset Sales Program.
The Mail and Reproduction Services (MRS) is responsible for managing and directing for analysis, development,
evaluation, and promotion of improvements in the policies, plans, methods, procedures, and systems of the USDA
Mail Management Program, Departmental Mailing List System, Transportation Operations, and Copier/Duplicating
Operations. MRS is responsible for directing centralized printing and copier/duplicating systems, automated systems
providing mailing list services, package delivery, and chauffeur services, and a staff support system of divisional
financial management, program analysis, and administration. MRS has established excellent mail management and
print-on-demand programs through the implementation of the latest technology and has achieved cost savings
through best practices, postal discount programs, and centralized services.
The Procurement Operations Division (POD) (Washington, DC and Fort Collins, CO) provides the full range of
cradle-to-grave procurement support (acquisition planning, market research, solicitation, evaluation, negotiation,
source selection, contract award, contract administration, and contract closeout) to the Office of the Secretary ,
Departmental Administration (DA) and its Staff Offices, as well as other USDA agencies in support of Information
Technology services and other Department-wide procurement actions.
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
The HRESM collaborated with Office of Homeland Security (OHS), Office of the Chief Information Officer
Identity, Credential, and Access Management (OCIO-ICAM), Office Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), and Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) to deploy a modernized solution for the USDA submission process of appointees'
and applicants' fingerprints which streamlined hiring at USDA. This response improved the customer-employee
experience through autogenerated notifications provided to users as the selectee moves through the onboarding
process.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-30
HRESM implemented the “employee view” feature in the Government Retirement & Benefits (GRB) Calculator.
The “employee view” feature provides employees with personalized retirement and benefit information in easy-to-
read tiles and general agency benefit program offerings in a secure encrypted environment. The GRB Platform also
contains a powerful built-in “case management” feature, where HR users can create casework within the system to
facilitate organizing, processing, tracking, and reporting. HRESM coordinated training sessions and demonstrations
for over 150+ Retirement Specialists.
HRESM implemented several releases for the Enterprise Performance Management Application (EPMA) USDA-
wide and included significant enhancements to many employee and supervisory functions. These enhancements
improved the customer experience through a revised, user-friendly homepage and dashboard layout, and automated
routing of approvals and acknowledgments for performance plans, quarterly conversations, and appraisals.
Automated email messaging improved the customer experience by keeping employees and supervisors abreast of
uploaded documents, items awaiting approval, and notes. Supervisors benefitted from more options for copying
performance plans. Additionally, HRESM established upgraded, on-demand training materials that resulted in
positive customer feedback and bolstered the brand of EPMA. HRESM established an interconnection from EPMA
to NFC to automatically transmit (over 60,000) end-of-the-year ratings, saving 600,000 minutes of HR data entry
work hours (about 10,000 hours of saved time across USDA HR Offices).
HRESM initiated an EmpowHR Train-the-Trainer Cadre venture to solicit additional subject matter experts within
each agency to assist with the training backlog, which was a huge success. To date there have been eight successful
Basic EmpowHR training sessions have been delivered by our Cadre team that covered 120 employees.
HRESM, in collaboration with OCIO, improved several Chief Executive Officer (CXO) online dashboards.
Enhancements included the deployment of a new hiring dashboard and new data streams to create increased
visibility into USDA’s “Hiring” processes. USDA continues to support greater visibility into agency activity in “real
time” to drive trend analyses and comparisons to facilitate enterprise-wide, data-driven business decisions and,
ultimately, improved business processes. The CXO dashboards continue to be utilized by senior-level managers and
executives across the Department. They have eliminated the need for data calls and hours of data consolidation to
expedite reporting on information for over 90,000 employees.
In July 2022, HRESM released the dashboard for eTracker (executives) two months earlier than anticipated, to have
visibility on any “Open Requests” and “Complete Requests” to track and adjust specialists’ workload. In addition,
numerous improvements were made to the GS eTracker instance (non-Executive), on both the initiating side and the
HR side to promote greater efficiencies in utilizing the system and reporting.
IPS developed a web-based tool to capture procurement forecast data for the Office of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization (OSDBU) at the request of the Assistant Secretary of the Administration’s Office. The expected
benefit is that it will directly address strengthening procurement forecasting capabilities within OMB Memorandum
M-22-03. The application developed is user-friendly, easily accessible and should improve the data quality for
forecasting and result in small businesses being better able to identify contracting opportunities within USDA.
Effective April 4, 2022, the federal government transitioned from using Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)
to using the unique entity identifier (UEI) as the vendor’s authoritative identifier. The IAS Program completed on-
time changes in IAS to populate the UEI for existing vendors, and to receive the UEI of new vendors from the
System for Award Management (SAM) through the Financial Modernization Management Initiative (FMMI).
In coordination with OCIO, the IAS Team developed new interfaces and customizations for AgMax which will
increase compliance with the Acquisition Approval Request (AAR) process within IT Capital Planning and
Investment Control. This enhancement achieves improves IT contract spending oversight and adherence to the
Office of Inspector General audit fundings of AAR process adherence.
CCSC and OCFO completed a feasibility study called Payment Plus Proof of Concept. USDA is set to be the first
Federal agency to establish an electronic payment solution for contracts of this magnitude. The benefits to be
realized from the implementation are reduced transaction costs, secure e-payment transactions, saved time and
resources, speed of e-payments and complete visibility into the electronic payment process, and increased rebates.
MMSC recycling and re-use programs fully supported Executive Order (EO) 13514, Federal Leadership in
Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, dated October 5, 2009. In 2022, MMSC recycled 147,584
pounds or 66.94 metric tons of carbon equivalents were reduced which relates to the reduction of greenhouse gases
released into the environment.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-31
Consolidated Forms & Publication Distribution Center (CFPDC) took advantage of the web ordering and inventory
management system and used a new cloud-based system. CFPDC continued to provide expanded services to Food
Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to support the Covid 19 Pandemic Relief/Delivery of specialty items and new
personal protection equipment (PPE). CFPDC provided over $2.8 million in sales and administrative/PPE supplies
to the FSIS nationwide.
CFPDC filled a total of 34,568 packages with 359,920 units for FSIS. Total PPE items distributed were 247,636
units and 25,837 line items. CFPDC filled an additional 789 orders for USDA agencies consisting of 147,745 units
of COVID-19 test kits. CFPDC oversaw customer support of the Base Supply Center (Online Retail Supply Store)
and processed and shipped 8,316 supply orders, with 36,721 line items and 98,014 units.
The Centralized Excess Property Operation (CEPO) contributed over 1,165 units of recyclable electronics valued at
$.07 million that have no reuse or re-sale value to UNICOR, the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. recycling program
managed by the Department of Justice. Agencies are encouraged under the Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC) to
purchase greener electronic products, reduce impacts of electronic products during use, and manage obsolete
electronics in an environmentally safe way. Additionally, sold 291.4 tons of scrap metal for $47,628. CEPO
completed its eleventh full year as a Federal Asset Sales Center generating proceeds of $1.1 million.
CFPDC staff recycled 7,702 units of one-gallon hand sanitizer by donating to a non-profit 501C organization. CEPO
provided excess supply support to USDA and 11 non-USDA agencies in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
CEPO’s income from non-USDA customer agencies exceeded $1.3 million. CEPO disposed 57,310 units of excess
personal property valued at $28.2 million. Income from non-USDA agencies helps reduce overall costs to USDA
agencies for CEPO services.
CEPO provided excess computer equipment to schools and non-profit organizations. This program was created in
response to Presidential Order 12999 Computers for Learning Program (CFL) empowering America's children for
the 21st century. This program allows Federal agencies to transfer used/excess computers to schools and nonprofit
organizations for education. CEPO received and screened approximately 600 pieces of computer equipment daily.
The equipment selected for the CFL program is placed in a holding area for testing and repair before donation to
educational institutions. CEPO reissued 3,526 computers to 25 educational institutions saving them $2.3 million.
MMSC added a line of business in the form of the OCIO – CEC Depot. The CEC Depot has increased the
effectiveness and efficiency of USDA operations by being collocated in the MMSC warehouse thus using the
synergy of shared location and technical expertise of MMSC in warehousing, logistics, and shipping functionality.
CEPO supported the Depot in its mission to provide computer service to approximately 102,000 customers in more
than 3,400 field, state, and headquarters offices located across the United States, its territories, and protectorates
across the globe. CEPO processed 12,562 excess computers and perpetuals valued at $8.1 million in addition to
shipping over 20,000 packages for the CEC Depot valued at approximately $15 million.
MRS expanded its portfolio of offerings and introduced a new service, called “Print Pack Ship” (PPS) to
accommodate the “new normal” way of business caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Customers can submit
requests via email/online and have their printed products shipped to any location in the US and abroad, users will
then receive email alerts when the package(s) are delivered. As USDA implemented the max-telework policy during
the pandemic, the PPS service gained tremendous momentum resulting in the Duplicating Services shipping more
than 1,973 printed products to the Department’s state offices, field offices, and affiliates throughout the country and
abroad.
MRS introduced the new ColorMax8 automated envelope printing system which allows Duplicating Services to
print, package, and ship envelopes of various sizes and types with professional quality without delay. The
commercial performance and industrial strength of the ColorMax8 allows Duplicating Services to produce
envelopes of various sizes and types with professional quality that are delivered expediently. The simplicity of the
machinery’s setup provides for smooth changeovers between print orders with different requirements that can be
accomplished quickly. Integrating this efficient process into its automation stream allows the Duplicating Services to
print, package, and ship requested quantities without delay. Envelopes can be considered a first impression of the
USDA to some recipients and are integral to the dissemination of information to domestic and foreign locations, so
the integrity of the USDA return address containing the logo cannot be compromised and must be of the highest
printed quality. The ColorMax 8 Envelope Printing System has turned out to be a valued addition to Duplicating
Services portfolio. Duplicating Services has shipped approximately 1.1 million envelopes to domestic and
international locations.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-32
POD supported its customers with nearly $1.5 billion in new 2022 contract obligations for construction, information
technology solutions, civil rights, human resources, and financial systems support services. Approximately 67
percent of the obligations were set aside for small businesses, exceeding the USDA small business goal of 47
percent. POD increased small business participation through virtual outreach and introductory meet and greet
sessions with new and emerging small business vendors interested in doing business with the Department.
POD remains integral to USDA’s strategy to meet the Department’s small businesses goals. POD collaborates with
USDA Agency-level small business specialists to develop and share best practices for outreach targeting small
businesses. We support USDA mission areas to ensure they reach their small business goal baseline for the year.
POD participated in multiple local and virtual small business outreach conferences, including those in rural areas.
POD provided information on how to do business with USDA and met 900 new small businesses and vendors
identified as potential partners with USDA throughout all events.
POD exercised Option Year 1 for Enterprise Application Services (EAS), which enables all USDA agencies and
other Government agencies to achieve their missions by providing innovative, cost-effective, and secure information
technology solutions on a cost-reimbursable basis. EAS offers a full spectrum of professional services for
developing, maintaining, and supporting enterprise-class business applications, cloud services, geospatial
management, and distance learning services. POD spent $32 million since the contract award, including the Army
Contract Writing Solution Initial Deployment, Development, Operations, and Maintenance ($19 million for the total
initiative - $4 million in Option Year 1).
POD partnered with the OCIO Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC) to develop a new contracting solution
that will provide DISC Cloud Broker Officer the flexibility to offer its customers a well-curated, managed
commercial cloud computing and support services contract vehicle. The benefits include better cost controls,
scalability, proven secured verified cybersecurity, promoted reusability, and significantly enhanced the delivery of
required business functionality (i.e., speed to market) to enable USDA Mission Areas to be pro-actively responsive
to Congressional legislation. USDA will issue a commercial cloud computing and support services vehicle due to
the uniqueness of this acquisition which requires specialized skill sets to include in both contract support services
and an innate understanding of the commercial cloud services industry. USDA requires a Cloud Acquisition Support
vendor to provide expertise in developing the strategy and requirements. USDA completed its award for Cloud
Acquisition Support. This development directly supports USDA’s objective to Promote USDA Operational
Excellence Through Better Use of Technology and Shared Solutions by embracing shared cloud services, reflecting
best practices for increased data sharing and customer experience.
In support of DISC, POD awarded a competitive, negotiated task order to Epsilon, Inc., a Service-Disabled Veteran
Owned Small Business for the Data Center Colocation, Migration, and Support for ten years of performance.
Epsilon is working with the USDA to "close" the Goodfellow facility and relocate all the racks to the new facility.
The facility that will house our data center has 100 percent renewable sourced power, among many other climate-
friendly attributes. The total contract value over the ten years is $22.2 million. This full-service contract includes
CLINS for enclave buildout, support, floor space, utility scaling, and access to all major cloud service providers.
This full-service contract supports DISC and has significant capacity to onboard new customers as they deliver these
services across the USDA and Government. This award aligns with POD contract spending to support climate
change (Executive Order 14008 of January 27, 2021, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad).
Communications
Current Activities
Activities under this heading are managed by the USDA Office of Communications. The Creative Media and
Broadcast Center (CMBC) provides creative design, video, multimedia, and radio production studios, allowing
agencies access to technology and content development with shared cost efficiencies. CMBC clients can reduce
travel costs by delivering mission outreach and training to field offices and the public. CMBC helps ensure the
USDA brand value of “One USDA” guidelines and department regulations. CMBC promotes content marketing
development and the growth of social media outreach. CMBC’s creative services include field video production,
publication layout, illustrations, public service outreach, posters, brochures, websites, infographics, podcasts,
banners, trade-show exhibits, visitor centers, special media events, and creative development and delivery of
information campaigns. CMBC’s Core Services team provides USDA enterprise-wide benefits with maintenance
and support of the www.USDA.gov web portal and a variety of USDA websites, social media tools, and platform
accounts, such as USDA Facebook, USDA YouTube, USDA Twitter, USDA Instagram, and more.
2024 USDA EXPLANATORY NOTES – WORKING CAPITAL FUND
10-33
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
CMBC’s Core communications team provided key support for USDA messaging and outreach by developing web,
social media, and virtual strategies and prioritization. Core provided immediate responses for USDA coronavirus-
related activities and other high priority messaging around equity, climate, nutrition, and better markets. Specific
activities included virtual employee town halls, the launch of a digital magazine, stakeholder calls, pandemic-related
messaging, and improving information delivery and excellent user experience. In addition, Core reviewed and
helped monitor website content and social media across all of USDA’s digital channels. Using a centralized
communications approach, Core provided accurate and timely information from the Department vs. response from
all 29 agencies and offices.
The Office of the Secretary (OSEC) and Office of Customer Experience partnered with CMBC and OCIO on the
USDA’s Web Modernization initiative to create strategies, develop project plans, web design, and technical
migration for a common enterprise web application & services platform. The Web Modernization successfully
transferred most Staff Office websites from their different hosting environments to USDA.gov, saving hundreds of
thousands of dollars for design and development, maintenance, security, and adherence to the USDA look and feel.
In addition, USDA Web modernization reduces future costs for hosting, security, operations, and maintenance.
The development and administration of the OneUSDA is a cross-agency intranet, providing a one-stop for internal
communications to USDA employees. CMBC worked with USDA Mission Areas and Agencies to co-develop an
employee intranet based on user needs. Content included Employee Spotlights, Secretary messaging, Agency and
Staff office Intranet development, agency microsites, and strategic planning. The re-launch date has been extended
to the beginning of January 2023.
The CMBC Creative Leadership and Agency Mission Support provided both location and virtual creative
production services for USDA leadership and 25 agency program areas. Notable is a series of stories about
improving production practices for National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The initial phase of USDA
TV studio upgrade was completed. Sets were designed and installed, increasing options for video outreach and
training programs. The studio has remained operational during the pandemic to create leadership and training
messages.
Correspondence Management
Current Activities
USDA Office of the Executive Secretariat (OES) serves the OSEC by facilitating the official correspondence of the
immediate Office of the Secretary, maintaining the official records of OSEC in compliance with the Federal Records
Act, 36 C.F.R., the National Archives and Records Administration regulations, the Government Printing Office’s
(GPO) Style Manual, the Plain Writing Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the USDA DR 3060-001
Correspondence Management, and the USDA DR 3060-002 Secretarial Documents.
OES receives and analyzes all correspondence and Secretarial documents received and addressed to the Secretary
and Deputy Secretary, refers it to the appropriate agencies or staff offices for preparation of a response, as
appropriate, and coordinates and tracks the preparation, review, clearance, signature, dispatch, and archival filing of
responses. OES works with USDA agencies to ensure prompt delivery of reports and other documents requested or
legislatively mandated by Congress or the White House and provide editorial assistance as necessary to ensure
optimal quality.
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
OES continued efforts to upgrade the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) database in 2022. During the initial
phase, OES partnered with an expert project management company to define, research, analyze, and recommend the
requirements for the ECM upgrade. This partnership yielded a substantive list of over 200 requirements that was
developed through numerous meetings with our clientele and helped constitute an impressive evaluation team that
helped analyze 37 vendors to determine the preferred vendor for the database upgrade. Due to these achievements,
OES’ partnership with the project management company will continue throughout the upgrade’s conception and
implementation. The preferred vendor was selected and awarded the project at the beginning of 2023.
OES’ clientele services now include in-depth trainings on writing to the GPO Style Guide and utilizing Microsoft
PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. These trainings have been facilitated and taught by a third-party vendor and has
received positive feedback from our clientele. This is a win-win not only for OES, but department-wide because it
removed some lingering barriers to processing correspondence more expeditiously and the skills learned can be
applied to various areas outside of correspondence.
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Financial Management
Current Activities
In addition to its responsibilities for the administration of the WCF, the OCFO manages the following WCF
activities (all activities in Washington, DC, unless otherwise noted):
• Associate CFO Shared Services
• Financial Management Services (FMS) (Washington, DC, New Orleans, LA, and Kansas City, MO)
• Pegasys Financial Services (PFS) (Washington, DC and New Orleans, LA)
• National Finance Center (NFC) (New Orleans, LA)
• Associate CFO Financial Policy and Planning
• Financial Management Support Services (FMSS)
• Internal Control Support Services (ICSS)
Designated by the Department of Treasury as a Financial Shared Services Provider, Financial Management Services
(FMS) administers FMMI system to provide financial management services to USDA agencies. FMS is responsible
for providing accounting services; administrative payments processing and disbursement certification; standard
financial systems; Intragovernmental Payment and Collection (IPAC) Suspense Clearing; Property Suspense
Clearing and Inventories; Fund Balance with Treasury (Net); and Treasury reporting. FMS maintains the
Department-wide master data file for vendor payments and issues Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 to
government contractors. FMS also administers several other financial management systems to support USDA
agencies and organizations, including travel, personal property, real property, telephones, utilities, miscellaneous
income (1099 reporting), Automated Cash Reconciliation Worksheet System (ACRWS), Corporate Property
Automated Information System (CPAIS) Real Property management system, and the Online Tracking and
Reconciliation System for intergovernmental financial transactions. FMS supports the processing of USDA data
through other organization-owned systems, which include domestic travel, purchase card transactions, and
procurement activity using the IAS.
PFS was established to serve the financial management needs of multiple agencies as a shared service provider, with
the GSA as its largest client. PFS currently operates the Enterprise Financial Management Systems for GSA. This
includes Pegasys Financials, Financial Management Information System, Central Contractor Registry Connector,
Vendor Customer Self Service portal, and 20 support applications. In addition, PFS also maintains 40 interfaces to
GSA-managed systems that feed transactions to the core financials. The systems that PFS supports and maintains
currently process 100 percent of the collections and record 100 percent of the disbursements for GSA. The PFS
program and personnel will return to GSA in March 2023.
NFC processes payroll for over 600,000 Federal employees on a bi-weekly basis. Additionally, NFC provides back-
end processing and reconciliation for OPM government programs, including the temporary continuation of health
care coverage, balancing Federal employees’ election of health benefits with insurance carriers, and providing back-
end processing of insurance elections allowed under the Health Care Reform Act. NFC is an OPM-designated
Human Resources Shared Services Provider and continues to support Federal initiatives by fully participating with
OPM in executing its shared services role providing human resources, payroll, and data center services to Federal
agencies.
FMSS provides financial management administration, fiscal reporting, and budget execution services to WCF
Activity Centers and staff offices. It provides timely, reliable, and relevant funds execution, financial analysis,
financial advice, the status of funds reporting, budget formulation and forecasting as well as a dedicated response to
ad-hoc requests that allows its customers to make sound fiscal decisions in managing and maximizing their own
resources.
ICSS promotes and supports the USDA’s internal control program by assisting USDA agencies in their internal
control compliance efforts. As part of its services, ICSS plans and manages the Department’s annual assessment of
internal control over financial reporting and promotes best practices across the Department to gain consistencies and
efficiencies related to internal control for financial processes, administrative processes, and information technology.
ICSS provides training programs, group presentations, and other support services improve the Department’s internal
control program and to increase the Department’s awareness of emerging events and current trends related to
internal control.
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Selected Examples of Recent Progress
FMS completed prerequisite activities for the Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI) to FMMI
Intelligent Enterprise Transformation (FIET) program, including data profiling and cleansing, Information Lifecycle
Management (ILM), customer vendor business partner integration, and over six SAP MaxSecure services assessing
the current FMMI landscape and preparing for the transition to the S/4HANA landscape. These services, including
customer code analysis, technical architecture and infrastructure assessment, data volume planning, integration
assessment, and selective data transition (SDT) evaluation, provided valuable insight regarding activities and
requirements for FIET implementation beginning in 2023. This information will ensure FIET is executed in a
timely, secure, and effective manner enhancing FMS’s customer experience without compromising system
availability and integrity.
FMS developed and implemented an automated process to extract and process corporate collections from the
Department of Treasury’s Collection Inventory Repository (CIR). This new process provides a seamless transfer of
seven corporate collection types from CIR into the financial system and provides automated re-processing of
collections not passing initial processing edits. Approximately 3,400 CIR collections are automated through this
interface saving thousands of man-hours of manual research and processing annually and reducing the instances of
incorrectly entered documents and lays a firm foundation for automating individual agency collections.
FMS addressed several externally mandated compliance initiatives. FMS successfully implemented the System for
Award Management (SAM) Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in FMMI. This implementation allowed USDA to use
the newly established UEI generated by SAM.gov replacing the DUNS across the federal government. The
implementation was conducted over several phases and involved many interfaces: Cooperative Research, Education,
and Extension Management System (CREEMS), Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act),
ezFedGrants, Identity Authorization Service (IAS), Vendor/Customer Maintenance (PVND), SAM Inbound,
Business Partner to Customer synch, Vendor outbound to Forest Service, Vender outbound to NRCS, and Web-
Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM).
In accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11, Section 83, FMS created a standard
crosswalk to map the FMMI 4-digit Budget Object Class (BOC) to the OMB 3-digit BOC allowing USDA to
consistently report data to the external regulatory agencies i.e., OMB and Department of Treasury and creating a
table to produce standard data for the Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System,
DATA Act, and the High-performance Analytic Appliance Congressional Justification Report. Additionally, FMS
developed and conducted BOC training classes for over 2,100 users to bring awareness to the importance of using
BOCs.
FMS implemented changes to the non-FMMI File B and C DATA Act process to address processing concerns,
including an audit issue involving non-FMMI agencies sending account balances for File B, the requirement for
non-FMMI agencies to resubmit an entire file to make a correction to one document, and the limitation of submitting
files only once a month. The solution involved splitting the file submitted by the non-FMMI agencies into separate
files for File B and File C. By implementing these changes, FMS resolved the audit finding in addition to addressing
other processing concerns by allowing non-FMMI agencies to send corrections as updates and providing the ability
to send files anytime.
FMS supported General Accounting Office (GAO) with the government wide Financial Statement audit initiative by
providing documentation on the Central Accounting Reporting Reclassification Process (reporting of cash balances)
for USDA agencies using the FMMI System. Additionally, FMS security provides oversight and management of the
annual FMS SSAE SOC 1, Type II Audit. The FMS owned systems included in the 2022 audit were the FMMI,
Financial Statements Data Warehouse (FSDW), and Corporate Property Automated Information System (CPAIS).
All 334 requests were submitted promptly and included Standard Operating Procedures and data samples. This
successful audit will result in FMS receiving a clean opinion for 2022 based on the draft report received from the
independent auditor. Additionally, FMS supported GAO by conducting multiple walkthroughs of our internal
processing, transmitting activity, and reconciling with US Treasury. This audit served dual purposes, as GAO was
determining how improve their audit and trace transactional data through the Treasury’s system and determining the
best approach to audit the USDA transactional flow through Treasury’s system.
PFS implemented the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Contract Acquisition Lifecycle Management
(CALM) system to Pegasys Interface. This interface provides an end-to-end acquisition solution for GSA’s FAS
business lines not currently sending transactions to Pegasys via an interface. CALM will send requests, orders,
receipts, and estimated accruals at an itemized-line level. In addition, an integration was established between
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Pegasys and Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) to export vendors, itemized orders, invoice status and
import invoices submitted in IPP via vendors. These integrations are the first itemized transaction level interface and
first integration with Treasury’s IPP for Pegasys.
PFS implemented Greater G-Invoicing Phase 1A for GSA for its miscellaneous/Manual Business Lines (GSA as a
Servicer/Seller) and manually processed intergovernmental purchasing activity (GSA as a Requester/Buyer). The
additional functionality includes but is not limited to allowing users to create multi-Agency Location Code
(ALC)/group General Terms & Conditions (GT&Cs), to view additional detail about which ALCs and Treasury
Account Symbol (TAS) filters are associated with the Treasury Group via the Group Details model, ability to pull
Buyer and Seller initiated orders and automates accrual processing that is currently being done manually.
NFC continued to provide premiere services to the more than 600,000 employees serviced through the portfolio of
customer agencies. The performance and resiliency of the NFC workforce continued to provide valuable services to
our customers without interruption. The highly visible, critical, cross-cutting initiatives included:
• FY 2022 Federal Tax Processing and Forms for W2 and W2C
• FY 2022 Pay Raise Implementation
• Data Masking Obfuscation
• USA Staffing and Fingerprinting Integration
• Deferral, collection, and payment of Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Taxes
• MD-715 and 462 Reporting
• Produced 2021 Personal Benefits Statements for all employees serviced by NFC
• Incorporated CFC Payroll Deductions
• Processed Enrollments Prompted by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Open Season
• Implementation of Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce ($15 minimum wage for Federal
employees)
• Implementation and support of Executive Order on Cyber Security to strengthen USDA’s security posture
• Implementation of Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 for Student Loan Non-Taxable Payment
• Implementation of OPM’s Parental Bereavement paid leave entitlement
• Implemented enhancements to the Enterprise Performance Management System
NFC implemented a login security layer Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans
Apart to the Employee Personal Page during login as an added layer of authentication. NFC implemented an
Alternative Two Factor Authentication to provide an alternative two-factor authentication one-time passcode
verification method for non-PIV (Personal Identity Verification) card users and addressed and mitigated the Log4j
vulnerability that plagued the nation in early 2022. NFC, a major stakeholder, partnered with OPM, OHRM,
Department of Homeland Security and OCIO to successfully implement the integration and interconnection between
OPM’s USA Staffing and USDA’s EmpowHR system to facilitate a faster onboarding process for new hires. USDA
NFC also implemented additional Onboarding enhancements to the current USA Staffing integration. These
enhancements allow USDA HR and OCIO Internet Combined Administrative Management System to collect
minimal information to establish an employee record in EmpowHR at the “Tentative Job Offer” phase of the hiring
process. Prior practice was establishing a “Person of Interest” profile in Person Model once the final offer was
accepted. This functionality will allow for an expedited onboarding process which will grant new employees the
access and credentials needed to begin work sooner after being hired and reduce the need for costly and fragile paper
fingerprint cards. In response to the repayment of deferred OASDI taxes, NFC made improvements to its systems to
safeguard the integrity and customer data and its internal processing of Form W-2C.
USDA’s OCIO approved NFC’s completed elimination of Production Data in test environments. NFC developed
and presented an acceptable data masking solution that mitigated the risk of sensitive, personally identifiable
information in the development and test environments.
NFC is positioned to improve Federal retirement processing due to its integrated payroll/personnel system and large
customer base. For over 30 years, the Agency has worked collaboratively with OPM to carry out key services such
as health insurance processing and payroll/personnel processing, including retirements. During 2022, NFC
reconciled and certified 2,812 Life Insurance/Health Benefits/Retirement payments totaling $21.9 million, processed
24,881 annuity retirement cases and 68,989 non-annuity cases (a significant increase over last year’s (9,980) non-
annuity cases processed.
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The NFC team implemented improvements in the processing of retirement cases. Although, the Technology
Modernization Fund proposal was not granted, the NFC team implemented changes to reduce errors which
ultimately gets annuity payments to recipients sooner. NFC implemented automated checklist via of ServiceNow
portal. This allows the Agency Human Resource Officers to ensure retirement application packages contain all the
necessary documents and signatures to ensure retirement packages are sent to OPM timely and error free. NFC is
progressing in bringing a fully automated web-based end to end solution that will reduce the processing of
retirement cases from weeks to days, eliminating the current manual, paper driven process with a robust user-
friendly case management system.
NFC continues to offer two time and attendance solutions, Paycheck 8 and WebTA, soon to be replaced with
GovTA, the latest version of the vendor’s time and attendance solution. NFC continues to focus on implementing
customers into one of the two selected solutions based on customer requirements. During 2022, NFC tested and
implemented the Merit Systems Protection Board into Paycheck 8. NFC expects to implement 3 additional Paycheck
customers in the coming months.
WebTA remains the most widely used and offered solution of NFC’s portfolio of time and attendance solutions. In
2021, the vendor notified current providers of its plans to end support and engineering of its older solution and
transition to the latest and current GovTA solution. The end of life and engineering notification put NFC on the fast
path to find a solution for USDA, two of its largest customers, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and ten smaller agencies that were successfully implemented in late September. NFC
successfully implemented the following ten agencies into its latest GovTA solution:
• Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
• Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)
• Federal Elections Commission (FEC)
• Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC)
• Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
• Office of Congressional Workplace Right (OCWR)
• National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC)
• Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)
• National Endowment of the Arts (NEA)
NFC expects to implement Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security into GovTA in 2023
followed by USDA in the following fiscal year.
NFC exceeded USDA’s small business government contracting goals for 2022 with one exception. NFC dollars
spent and results are listed in the following table.
Table WCF-10. USDA Small Business Goals and Results 2022
Category
USDA Goal
Results
Dollars Spent
Small Business Concerns
47%
47.22%
$1,961,775
Small Disadvantaged Businesses
21.5%
26.27%
1,091,227
8(A)
N/A
4.15%
36,618
Veteran-Owned Business
N/A
2.22%
92,114
Women-Owned Business
5%
232.22%
923,168
Hub Zone Small Business Concerns
3%
45.95%
1,909,042
NFC completed several advancements and achievements in technology that benefited both customer agencies and
employees. More than 400 software change requests were completed providing new capabilities, improved
efficiencies, and/or modern techniques for mainframe-based applications and web-based applications that utilized
data hosted on the mainframe. Along with the software change requests, many projects centered around
legislative/regulatory updates from OPM, the Thrift Savings Board, and other agencies that operate under their
authorities were carried out to facilitate changes related to salary, e.g., pay plans, localities, new allowances, and
employee deductions such as taxes. Annual projects completed include the annual pay raise, personal benefit
statements, FEHB open season, fiscal year-end changes, year-end calendar changes, W2s, and annual union dues
updates.
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FMSS provided financial management oversight, budget execution and budget formulation services to Departmental
Administration Staff Offices (DASO), OCIO, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), Office of Partnership
and Public Engagement (OPPE), Office of Homeland Security (OHS) and the Office of the Secretariate (OES) in
support of the Department’s strategic goals. Administered fiscal resource management practices including timely,
accurate and effective high quality financial advice, funds execution analysis and reconciliation, budget forecasting,
resource planning, program spending analysis and fiscal reporting to include the monthly status of funds briefings.
FMSS was the co-lead with OHRM to gain volunteers to support Department of Homeland Security/Customs
Border Patrol Southwest Border mission. FMSS provided financial advice and assisted with the IAA process
between Department Agencies and DHS. This collaborative effort has met the Secretary’s goal of 80 volunteers.
FMSS, on behalf of the Department, coordinated with the Department of the Air Force Air Mobility Command
(AF/AMC) and the GSA on the Operation Formula Fly effort to bring critical baby formulas to the United States due
to resource shortage. FMSS executed an IAA with AF/AMC for $0.7 million and GSA for $41 million to fund this
critical initiative.
Internal Control Support Services (ICSS) awarded a contract to the Blake Willson Group to continue to assess
USDA’s maturity level in complying with the Office of Management and Budget guidance contained in the revised
OMB Circular A-123, Management’s Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control and
Appendix A to OMB Circular A-123, Management of Reporting and Data Integrity Risk. ICSS implemented several
recommendations to improve our level of maturity. ICSS is continuing to revise our governance oversight and
charters to expand to assessment of more program operations as opposed to strictly financial reporting. We
completed two pilot projects to test out the revised framework for an enterprise risk. Working with the Office of
Budget and Program Analysis, we have initiated the process of integrating internal control with Enterprise Risk
Management. The goal of the internal controls over reporting (ICOR) framework as it pertains to an entity-level risk
is to identify significant reports and internal controls for the purpose of assessing potential gaps in generating
meaningful data to manage/mitigate the risk.
Pilot projects to assess the new framework for an end-to-end business process started in 2021. The goal of the ICOR
framework for an end-to-end business process is to expand the annual assessment beyond financial reporting to
include assessments of program risk and controls. This body of work will inform the planning and scoping phase of
the annual ICOR assessment in the future. Scoping decisions will consider current requirements for financial
reporting as well as a timeline for incorporating the non-financial aspects of business cycles. The intent is to include
some non-financial business processes in the scoping for the 2023 assessment.
ICSS continued to refine and implement risk-based scoping, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative factors to
make scoping decisions for the 2022 annual assessment. This approach yielded risk ratings for business processes of
low, moderate, or high risk. Business processes with a rating of high risk were required to be documented and tested
for the annual assessment of ICOR.
Agencies and staff offices established target closure goals of 35 percent for Corrective Action Plans (CAPs). ICSS
assisted agencies and staff offices in exceeding the CAP closure rates. There were 82 CAPs closed by monitoring
and overseeing remediation of internal control deficiencies, 11 out of 16 agencies and staff offices met or exceeded
their CAP closure goals for the fiscal year.
ICSS completed annual spot testing of key controls for business processes that passed testing in 2022. Spot testing is
a quality assurance process performed by ICSS staff to validate the test results obtained by customer agencies and
staff offices. The processes subject to spot testing involved performing control tests for 104 controls covering 19
agencies/staff office. No exceptions resulted in changes to test results based on ICSS reviews.
ICSS conducted and completed the annual OMB A-123 Assessment across the Department.
Information Technology
The following activities under this heading are managed by the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and
are managed in Washington, DC, unless otherwise noted:
• Client Experience Center (CEC); (Washington, DC, and field operations nationwide)
• Departmental Administration Information Technology Office (DAITO); (Washington, DC)
• Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC), which includes:
• National Information Technology Center (NITC); (Kansas City, MO and St. Louis, MO)
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• Enterprise Application Services (EAS); (Fort Collins, CO)
• Enterprise Network Services (ENS); (Fort Collins, CO)
Client Experience Center (CEC); (Washington, DC, and field operations nationwide)
Current Activities
Under the OCIO, the Client Experience Center (CEC), provides comprehensive IT associated operations and
technical support services to more than 120,000 customers throughout the USDA. These customers work in offices
located across the United States, its territories and protectorates around the globe and are in more than 3,400 field,
state and headquarters offices located across the United States, its territories, and protectorates. The number of
customers grew in 2022 and will grow even more in 2023 and beyond.
CEC employs more than 1,500 Federal and contract staff members to deliver our extensive services and products.
Our employees’ Federal experience and education levels compare favorably to the overall Federal workforce.
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
CEC Enterprise Depot transformed a costly and labor-intensive process into a centralized, automated, and
standardized service for USDA laptops, desktops, and tablets. The Depot’s assembly-line approach helped deliver
impressive results for our customers: 24,500 devices imaged, and 9,000 devices excessed in less than a year. With
continuous improvements, the Enterprise Depot begins 2023 with an operating capability of up to 300 devices
imaged per day, 28,000 devices excessed, and 46,000 devices processed per year. The Beltsville, MD facility offers
an innovative partnership with the USDA Material Management Service Center that provides customers with best-
rate shipping, integrated excessing process, receiving space and storage for up to 25,000 devices. The Depot’s
efficient management of the USDA device lifecycle, from equipment storage and inventory to shipment and
excessing, is projected to save the Department $28 million over the next four years.
The CEC Centralized Help Desk (CHD) agents and Service Desk Operations (SDO) Federal staff handled 200,743
customer contacts this year for a variety of service requests and incidents. Of the 69,719 incidents that were resolved
this year, CHD agents most frequently provided solutions for software issues, requests for information, LincPass
exemptions and password resets. The SDO Federal team provided additional support this year, resolving 5,990 email
support incidents.
CEC obtained a 10-year $750 million Microsoft contract for Software as a Service (SaaS) enterprise business
solutions licenses supporting the USDA Enterprise Business capability requirements and set-aside 100 percent for
Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business. This award improved efficiencies, cost savings and achieved
software rationalization by eliminating duplicate capabilities across USDA. Upgrading to Microsoft 365
Government G5, CEC increased security posture, establishing requirements, and providing proficiencies for system
and network protection, compliance via Microsoft’s advanced security capabilities, ensuring all data is stored,
processed, and located in the continental United States of America. This award combined relative Microsoft
contracts and services into a single procurement providing alignment for periods of performance and improved
Microsoft funding visibility, such as Premier Services Support. With a fixed cost and pricing table for Mission
Areas, Agencies and Staff Offices are now able to accurately forecast near and far-term licensure and funding while
moving toward a single standardized product. Based on the Independent Government Estimate, this contract will
save USDA approximately $250 million over ten years. It directly supports the Secretary and the Administration’s
commitment to small businesses.
End User Support and Foundation Services rates were reduced significantly due to multiple factors, including End
User Consolidation, which led to greater economies of scale. CEC realized significant savings due to contract
consolidation and volume discounts on licenses, which were higher than anticipated. CEC also was able to
significantly reduce the cost of our Enterprise Business Services contract by renegotiating the base year costs and
extending the term to ten years. These savings were passed on to the CEC End User Customers via rebates totaling
$21 million.
CEC has partnered with Mission Areas to increase LincPass enforcement for USDA customers. The LincPass
Enforcement project is an effort to enhance efficiencies, enforce current CEC security policies, and lead to improved
and consistent customer experience. LincPass enforcement will reduce one of CEC’s top service requests for
password resets and enable the Centralized Help Desk to respond to other service request types more efficiently. As
of September 2022, 54 percent of USDA user accounts were enforced.
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CEC’s newest data protection solution partnered with OCIO’s Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC) to
implement Backup as a Service (BaaS). This effort will move CEC to an Operating Expense (OpEx) cost model
versus a Capital Expense (CapEx) cost model, which will provide cost savings to CEC customers. All CEC legacy
CommVault backup data (Service Center Agency (SCA) and CEC data), excluding End User Consolidation (EUC),
was transferred to the DISC BaaS in 2022. In 2023, CEC will work with EUC agencies to determine which other
existing data protection environments can be integrated into the DISC BaaS solution. This solution will streamline
data protection for customers and enable the pivot to an OpEx model versus the current CapEx model, which will
allow the flexibility to scale up or down without incurring large capital expenses.
CEC has begun migrating the St. Louis Data Center to a state-of-the-art facility in Chicago, Illinois. CEC worked
closely with the (DISC, the ENS and the Information Security Center on the migration schedule with an expected
completion date of the first quarter in 2023. This migration has included hundreds of hours in planning and
preparation which has involved cabling diagrams, initialization of new circuits, standing up the CEC network stack,
and logistics of moving physical equipment. USDA employees will now have the benefits and capabilities of using a
state-of-the-art data center while meeting the government requirements to close the St. Louis (Goodfellow) location.
The 2022 Gartner study revealed USDA customers would like more tools to help them solve common IT problems
without involving a technician. Using Gartner’s data and analysis, CEC launched the new Self-Service Enhancement
project in March 2022 to increase the accessibility and number of self-service capabilities available for our
customers inside Digital Workplace (DWP). CEC incorporated direct customer feedback to deliver two noteworthy
new self-service tools: My IT Support Tickets, a collection of customer-focused guidance for managing an active IT
Support ticket, and the Adobe Acrobat DC Professional repair tool, allowing customers to self-resolve Adobe issues
inside the Software Center before reaching out to CEC for support. CEC improved customer awareness of self-
service options with regular Customer Service Notifications (CSN) and the addition of a self-service resource option
on the CHD phone menu. On average, 2,316 USDA customers per month used DWP self-service capabilities in the
last three months of 2022, representing a 23-fold increase over the six months before the CSN campaign.
Departmental Administration Information Technology Office (DAITO); (Washington DC)
Current Activities
DAITO provides centrally managed, value-added IT solutions to DASO to meet governing bodies and users'
functionality, accessibility, and compliance requirements. DAITO ensures consolidated, streamlined, and
comprehensive IT offerings to allow DASO to focus on its core mission and values through a suite of Investment
Compliance, Security Compliance, Customer Service Compliance, and Service Delivery/Operations Support
services.
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
Established objectives and expected outcomes to support securing OCFO/NFC Time and Attendance environment to
meet Executive Order 14028 (Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity), establishing the future state of operations for
all OCFO/NFC information technology (IT) Projects and incorporating security compliance requirements into
overall NFC systems and applications. Tasks/Items completed within the 90 days:
• Completed Security Assessments on 10 of 11 expired NFC Systems
• Issued 30-day Conditional Authorization to Operate (ATO) GovTA for 30 days to support migration from
WebTA. (34 Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms) were identified) Future GovTA system
releases/versions will be reviewed to ensure compliance measures are implemented
• Conducted 11 Privacy Threshold Analysis (PTA) and completed Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA)
• Completed 11 Business Impact Assessments (BIA)
• Closed out 16 dated POA&M’s
DevOps Team successfully assisted the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) with the Performance Work Statement
development and procurement process of the selected “FEITH” system from technical perspectives. The Electronic
Records Management System (ERMS) will provide the capability to manage electronic and physical records
according to National Archives and Records Administration records lifecycle requirements across the enterprise
using a federated approach. The ERMS will also provide an electronic document repository that will automatically
and securely allow users to efficiently and responsibly: capture, index, manage, retain, categorize, find, access,
apply holds, group, share, label, and execute disposition of information.
In support of Federal Acquisition Regulation closeout policies, unliquidated obligation reduction, and OMB
Frictionless Acquisition goals under the President’s Management Agenda, Office of Contracting and Procurement,
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with DAITO technical oversight, instituted extensive closeout process automation via RPA bots and custom
programs. Since the May 2022 implementation, over 2,300 awards have been closed in an automated fashion which
has saved significant CO manual work.
Through implementation of an innovative RPA contract file upload bot and other supportive measures, IAS
electronic contract file compliance increased from 80 percent in 2021 to 87 percent in 2022 which supports OMB’s
paperless mandate.
In coordination with OCIO, DAITO oversaw the implementation of a new data interface between AgMax and IAS,
and front-end validations for IAS in September 2022 which enforces compliance with the AAR process within IT
Capital Planning and Investment Control and more accurately reports IT spend to OMB.
Implemented DISC Disaster Recovery services for the Enterprise Web Application Platform Services platform and
participated in the DISC August Contingency Exercise, which will ensure four hours of backup and recovery in four
hours in case of a disaster. Implemented a more robust website database backup to every three hours to prevent data
lose due to a network or DNS connectivity issue. This will also give another layer of security for all sites on the
platform.
Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC); (Washington DC, Kansas City MO, St Louis MO, Ft
Collins CO, New Orleans LA) which includes
:
National Information Technology Center (NITC); (Kansas City, MO and St. Louis, MO)
Enterprise Application Services (EAS); (Fort Collins, CO)
Current Activities
The DISC office is a departmental turnkey solution provider with cloud hosting and application development
services that has aligned its strategy and operational execution with the objectives outlined in the USDA Strategic
Plan as well as to achieve excellence in the OCIO Strategic Initiatives.
The technologies available from Enterprise Hosting Solutions (EHS) allow government users to access business
delivery applications 24 hours a day and seven days a week using a hybrid cloud architecture connecting the USDA
on-premises enterprise data centers with the commercial cloud. The EHS assures the confidentiality, integrity, and
availability on all applications and data via supported cloud architectures. EHS cloud architectures enable access
from customer locations throughout the United States via secure private and public networks that support their
business requirements and service needs.
The EHS Cloud Platforms include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Professional
Services (PS). These services, as defined by the DISC Service Catalog, are developed, and managed using the
industry standard Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) v4 Service Management Framework and are
secured to align with NIST 800-53, FedRAMP Moderate, FISMA High, and DoD Impact Level 4 security controls.
Enterprise Applications Services (EAS) provides enterprise applications development and support to USDA and its
partner agencies and has been doing so for nearly 40 years (since 1981). EAS is a fee-for-service organization
operating solely on funds provided through IAAs. EAS offers a full spectrum of professional services to custom
build, launch, and support world-class business applications. EAS supports application development on numerous
Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies such as Salesforce, SharePoint, Oracle, Java,.Net and Drupal. Agile
methodology provides flexibilities to meet customer needs and provide quicker product delivery. EAS streamlines
these services to provide a direct and efficient customer resource throughout the DevSecOps lifecycle.
As part of EAS, the DSC group establishes and manages the enterprise processes, resources, tools, and best practices
for SaaS platforms at the USDA to include Salesforce, ServiceNow, MuleSoft, and Akamai. Managed platform
services include Enterprise Management, Business & Technology Support, Release & Configuration Management,
Operations & Maintenance, Platform Management Services, and Security.
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
DISC completed the final phase of awarding all infrastructure, data center and migration support services to a
commercial location for the St. Louis Data Center Migration on November 30, 2022.
DISC completed NFC Platform as a Service (PaaS) migration and retirement of services in the security boundary of
NFC general support systems. Successfully upgraded mainframe operating system and power access in Kansas City,
implemented alternate mainframe software products to save $0.4 million annually. Implemented automated
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solutions to achieve savings of $.04 million annually for load balancer lookups, PaaS Linux/Windows VMware disk
expansion, detection of Log4j vulnerabilities and resolution without customer interaction, storage
provisioning/management of Kubernetes/OpenShift Enterprise Container Platform, and Domain Naming Service
(DNS) provisioning.
DISC updated USDA Cloud Policy, recommendations for USDA Cloud Strategy, USDA Cloud Reference
Architecture Input, and USDA Cloud Acquisition Inventory. DISC is currently assessing the need to stand up a
DevSecOps community of practice.
DISC completed the assessment and design phase for its Service Delivery Modernization effort and queued this
effort for e-Board approval.
DISC partnered with USDA Chief Data Office (CDO) to evaluate enterprise data infrastructure
alternatives/architectures via DISC cloud portfolio that enable increased enterprise data accessibility and data
sharing between mission areas, CDO (business intelligence and data analytics), and Enterprise Geospatial
Management Office (EGMO) (geospatial imagery) thus reducing duplicative data sources and associated storage
costs.
DISC partnered with MRP to implement WBSCM proof-of-concept development environment within AgCloud.
Deployed and tested the initial infrastructure for Google Cloud Platform for FEMA Cloud Environment using
Infrastructure as Code and automation. Developed Cloud Strategy Roadmap with phase 1 defining a base set of
services to run a cloud operation.
Enterprise Network Services (ENS); (Fort Collins, CO)
Current Activities
The ENS division in OCIO DISC provides Department-wide telecommunications management support and a variety
of enterprise services, in addition to an integrated information system for inventory management, billing, reporting,
and validation. This enterprise system is used for engineering and streamlining the Department-wide
telecommunications network environment and ensuring that agency telecommunications network solutions are
compliant with Departmental program goals and objectives. ENS provides services to all USDA agencies to ensure
the acceptable performance of applications on the USDA enterprise network, network access to the public Internet
network and partner networks for mission delivery, and to allow application owners to manage risk and achieve cost
avoidances.
Selected Examples of Recent Progress
USDA’s OCIO appointed a team to manage and award the USDA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) $1.2
billion task order known as USDANet over ten years. USDANet will modernize and transform USDA’s entire wide-
area network (WAN) service into a fully integrated, secured network that is vendor owned, operated, and managed
under strong, centralized USDA oversight. The GSA EIS USDANet task order will consolidate multiple contracts,
streamline 17 networks to one, repurpose up to 200 mission area network staff, and eliminate USDA-owned and
managed network equipment. The initial project cost savings is $734 million. Technical and pricing negotiations
resulted in savings of $21.3 million over the contract’s life. Looking forward, USDA’s business partner Lumen, will
work with USDA mission areas to ensure that USDANet remains state-of-the-art and cost effective.
ENS will provide centrally billed and distributed services to mission areas for trusted internet access, remote access
services, domain name service, UTN gateways, cloud carrier service, and integrated network and security
operations. ENS has engaged mission areas and conducted five transition team sessions to review core USDANet
services. ENS received $64 million from GSA Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to assist with transition-
related expenditures.
Other accomplishments include completing service orders for the new Chicago data center (Goodfellow
replacement) backhaul circuits, UTN/USDANet gateway routers, and migration of alternative bandwidth
arrangements for 500 Lumen sites to the EIS contract. DISC received a Defense Priorities and Allocations System
priority rating authorization which will accelerate the delivery of critical network infrastructure. ENS upgraded
legacy Trusted Internet Connections circuits and hardware ENS led the effort to replace 3,800 end-of-life Cisco
routers with USDANet managed services that will allow FPAC and Natural Resources and Environment to avoid
$25 million in costs.
ENS’ 2022 e-Cycle Program for Wireless Devices shows that USDA recycled 7,329 devices, reducing 15,317
pounds of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.