The Technology Modernization Fund has agreed to financially assist the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and the Department of Agriculture with the agencies’ records system access and data protection, respectively.
TMF will donate $9.1 million to NARA to evolve and update the system for veteran family benefit requests and records management and contribute $4.4 million to the USDA for the installation of cybersecurity reinforcements in order to maintain a secure network of information, the organization said Monday.
“With the TMF investments in NARA and USDA, we’re moving the needle in deploying technology that is secure by design and building back trust in delivering a Government that meets today’s customer expectations,” commented Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer and board chair of TMF as well as a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.
TMF’s investment will be used to digitally migrate NARA’s paper-based fulfillment tasks for citizen and government agencies to a web-hosted platform. NARA is the official record facilitator of the U.S. and is subject to an annual 1.1 million records requests from veterans and their families in addition to eight million records attainment notices from more than 400 federal agencies and offices. TMF’s donation is aimed to move NARA’s legacy systems to the cloud and enable staff to meet requests needs remotely and securely.
Using TMF’s resources, the USDA intends to embrace a zero trust structure so that shared services and sensitive information may be safeguarded and websites that link users to solvencies are protected. New cybersecurity measures for the department will be instituted for increased threat monitoring, detection and response. The USDA is a hub for rural development activities and initiatives in forest management, nutrition, agricultural research and international trade.
“This is another example of the TMF’s approach to making smart technology investments that provide better service to the public and save money for taxpayers,” explained Robin Carnahan, General Services Administration administrator.