The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Specialty Crops Program helps buyers and sellers of all sizes in the U.S. produce industry to market their perishable products in the most efficient manner. The program offers a wide array of services that span from helping market the quality of products to ensuring that there is fair trade in the produce industry. These speciality crops are used in programs including domestic feeding programs, like school lunches, and military combat rations.
Currently, USDA AMS’s billing, inspection and certificate generation and issuance processes are managed through a combination of manual, paper-based processes and legacy information technology systems that are outdated and difficult to maintain. The inefficiencies of the billing, inspection and certification process cause substantial delays within the program, which are significant when dealing with perishable items.
Modernization of this system is required to ensure that perishable agricultural items are more efficiently moved through the inspection process ensuring the end consumer enjoys the freshest commodities possible. The added operational benefits include increased efficiency and improved customer service. However, modernization takes funding and time - this is where the Technology Transformation Fund comes into play.
Technology Modernization Fund (TMF)
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) is an innovative funding vehicle that gives agencies additional ways to deliver services to the American public more quickly, provide better security of sensitive systems and data, and use taxpayer dollars more efficiently.
The TMF was authorized by the Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017 and is overseen by the Technology Modernization Board, comprised of government IT leaders representing proven expertise in technology, transformation and operations. Agencies submit IT ..
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