USDA Makes Progress in Modernization as Center of Excellence

A top official at the General Services Administration said the Department of Agriculture is moving forward with its modernization efforts to consolidate data and call centers, FedTech Magazine reported Monday. The progress comes after USDA received the federal Center of Excellence designation from the White House. 

The agency reduced its data centers from 38 facilities to two, while its call centers will be consolidated into one by end of July, according to Anil Cheriyan, director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services and head of Centers of Excellence program.

“That’s progress, and that’s something we’re hoping to achieve,” he said at the 2019 GITEC Emerging Technology Conference in Annapolis, Md. “That whole client experience is about to change.”

USDA also intends to accelerate the process of grant farm loans from 12 months to less than a day. Cheriyan said GSA hopes to replicate the modernization success of USDA as well as the other CoE agency the Department of Housing and Urban Development across the government. He hopes to name another CoE agency in 2019.