[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LUGAR:
  S. 2116. A bill to clarify and enhance the authorities of the Chief 
Information Officer of the Department of Agriculture; to the Committee 
on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.


the usda information technology reform and year-2000 compliance act of 
                                  1998

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, today I introduce the USDA 
Information Technology Reform and Year-2000 Compliance Act of 1998. 
This legislation aims to centralize all year 2000 computer conversion 
and other information technology acquisition and management activities 
within the Officer of the Chief Information Office of the Department of 
Agriculture. Centralization is the most efficient way to manage the 
complex and important task of ensuring that all critical computer 
functions at the department are operational on January 1, 2000. It is 
also a wiser and more cost effective way to construct an information 
technology infrastructure to enable USDA's hundreds of computer systems 
to interoperate, which unfortunately they cannot now do.
  The Department of Agriculture is charged with enormous 
responsibilities and its year 2000 readiness is crucial. It has a 
diverse portfolio of over 200 federal programs throughout the nation 
and the world. The department delivers about $80 billion in programs. 
It is the fourth largest federal agency, with 31 agencies and offices. 
The department is responsible for the safety of our food supply, 
nutrition programs that serve the poor, young and old, and the 
protection of our natural resources. Since forty percent of the non-tax 
debt owed to the federal government is owed to USDA, the department has 
a responsibility to ensure the financial soundness of taxpayers' 
investments.
  The dentralized approach to the year 2000 issue at USDA has led to a 
lack of focus on departmental priorities. In fact, none exist. No 
planning to assure the continuation of the overall mission of the 
department has occurred. Each agency has been allowed to determine what 
services, programs and activities it deems important enough to be 
operational at the end of the millennium. This decentralized approach 
has also led to a lack of guidance, oversight and the development of 
contingency plans. At a hearing before the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry on May 14th, the General Accounting Office 
reported that eighty percent of the work remains to be done in the ten 
component agencies reviewed. Responsibility for keeping the mission-
critical information technology functioning should clearly rest with 
the Chief Information Officer.
  In fiscal year 1998 alone, USDA plans to spend approximately $1.2 
billion on information technology and related information resources 
management activities. The General Accounting Office has chronicled 
USDA's long history of problems in managing its substantial information 
technology investments. The GAO reports that such ineffective planning 
and management have resulted in USDA's wasting millions of dollars on 
computer systems.
  Last year, I introduced S. 805, a bill to reform the information 
technology systems of the Department of Agriculture. It gave the Chief 
Information Officer control over the planning, development and 
acquisition of information technology at the department. Introduction 
of that bill prompted some coordination of information technology among 
the department's agencies and offices. However, component agencies are 
still allowed to independently acquire and manage information 
technology investments solely on the basis of their own parochial 
interests or needs. This revised legislation is now needed to 
strengthen that coordination and ensure that centralized information 
technology management continues in the future.
  This legislation further requires that the Chief Information Officer 
manage the design and implementation of an information technology 
architecture based on strategic business plans that maximizes the 
effectiveness and efficiency of USDA's program activities. Included in 
the bill is authority for the Chief Information Officer to approve 
expenditures for information resources and for year 2000 compliance 
purposes, except for minor acquisitions. To accomplish these purposes, 
the bill requires that each agency transfer not less than five percent 
of its information technology budget to the Chief Information Officer's 
control.
  The bill makes the Chief Information Officer responsible for ensuring 
that the information technology architecture facilitates a flexible 
common computing environment for the field service centers based on 
integrated program delivery and provides maximum data sharing with USDA 
customers and other federal and state agencies, which is expected to 
result in significant reduction in operating costs.
  Mr. President, this is a bill whose time has come. Unfortunately, 
USDA's problems in managing information technology are not unusual 
among government agencies, according to the General Accounting Office. 
I commend the attention of my colleagues to this bill designed to 
address a portion of the information resource management problems of 
the federal government and ask for their support of it.
                                 ______