II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2164

To establish responsibility and accountability for information technology

systems of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 30, 1996

Mr. LUGAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To establish responsibility and accountability for information

technology systems of the Department of Agriculture,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Department of Agriculture Responsibility and Account6 ability Act of 1996’’.

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

8 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM CONTROL BOARD
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Sec. 101. Findings.

Sec. 102. Definitions.

Sec. 103. Information Technology System Control Board.

Sec. 104. Mission of the Board.

Sec. 105. Duties of the Board.

Sec. 106. Powers of the Board.

Sec. 107. Review by Office of Management and Budget.

Sec. 108. Technical amendment.

Sec. 109. Termination of authorities.

TITLE II—ADMINISTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Sec. 201. Administration of Department of Agriculture.

TITLE III—EFFECTIVE DATE

Sec. 301. Effective date.

1 TITLE I—INFORMATION TECH2 NOLOGY SYSTEM CONTROL

3 BOARD

4 SEC. 101. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) the Office of Management and Budget esti7 mates that the Department of Agriculture will spend

8 $1,100,000,000 for fiscal year 1996 and

9 $1,400,000,000 for fiscal year 1997 on information

10 technology and automated data processing equip11 ment;

12 (2) according to the Department of Agriculture,

13 as of October 1993, the Department had 17 major

14 information technology systems under development

15 with an estimated life-cycle cost of $6,300,000,000;

16 (3) both the General Accounting Office and the

17 Office of Management and Budget have categorized

18 the information technology programs of the Depart-
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1 ment as high risk due to lack of management and

2 financial controls;

3 (4) the General Accounting Office, the Office of

4 the Inspector General of the Department, and inde5 pendent contract studies have shown that the De6 partment’s information technology decisions have

7 been made in piecemeal fashion, on an individual

8 agency basis, resulting in a lack of coordination, du9 plication, and wasted financial and technological re10 sources among the various offices and agencies of

11 the Department and costing hundreds of millions of

12 wasted dollars over the past decade;

13 (5) over the past 10 years, committees of Con14 gress, the General Accounting Office, the Office of

15 Management and Budget, and private consultants

16 have repeatedly pointed to the lack of strong central

17 leadership and accountability as the fundamental

18 reasons for the Department’s failure to make in19 formed decisions on critical information technology

20 investments;

21 (6) committees of Congress, the General Ac22 counting Office, the Office of Management and

23 Budget, the Office of the Inspector General of the

24 Department, and private consultants have—
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1 (A) strongly criticized the Department over

2 the past 10 years for ignoring business process

3 reengineering; and

4 (B) pointed to the Department’s refusal to

5 use an industry accepted methodology as key to

6 its failure to develop a technology platform that

7 services the entire Department;

8 (7) the Department’s role in regulating agri9 culture in the United States was substantially re10 duced by the FAIR Act;

11 (8) the Department has failed to adequately as12 sess the impact of the FAIR Act will have on the

13 needs of its customers;

14 (9) the Department has continued information

15 technology procurement absent future business need

16 considerations and workforce requirements resulting

17 from the FAIR Act;

18 (10) the Department continues to approach the

19 technological changes brought about by the Act

20 without studying the changes in the context of the

21 business processes of the Department;

22 (11) because the Department has failed to im23 plement the internal changes necessary to effectively

24 address the deficiencies raised by committees of

25 Congress, the General Accounting Office, the Office
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1 of Management and Budget, and the Office of the

2 Inspector General of the Department over the past

3 decade, it is necessary to establish a single entity

4 within the Department with both the responsibility

5 and authority to make decisions regarding informa6 tion technology planning and procurement; and

7 (12) having an Information Technology System

8 Control Board to control the Department’s informa9 tion technology planning and procurements will—

10 (A) provide the Department with strong

11 and coordinated leadership and direction;

12 (B) ensure that funds will be spent by the

13 Department on information technology only

14 after the Department has completed the re15 quired planning and review of future business

16 requirements; and

17 (C) force the Department to act as a single

18 enterprise with respect to information tech19 nology, thus eliminating the duplication and in20 efficiency associated with an independent agen21 cy-based approach.

22 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS.

23 In this title:
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1 (1) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the In2 formation Technology System Control Board estab3 lished under section 103.

4 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’

5 means the Department of Agriculture.

6 (3) FAIR ACT.—The term ‘‘FAIR Act’’ means

7 the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform

8 Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–127).

9 (4) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM.—The

10 term ‘‘information technology system’’ means all or

11 part of each system of automated data processing,

12 telecommunications, information resource manage13 ment, or business process reengineering of an office

14 or agency of the Department.

15 (5) OFFICE OR AGENCY OF THE DEPART16 MENT.—The term ‘‘office or agency of the Depart17 ment’’ means each current or future—

18 (A) national, regional, county, or local of19 fice or agency of the Department;

20 (B) county committee established under

21 section 8(b)(5) of the Soil Conservation and

22 Domestic Allotment Act (16 U.S.C.

23 590h(b)(5));

24 (C) State committee, State office, or field

25 service center of the Farm Service Agency; and
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1 (D) multiple offices and agencies of the

2 Department that are currently, or will be, con3 nected by an information technology system.

4 (6) TRANSFER OR OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.—

5 The term ‘‘transfer or obligation of funds’’ means,

6 as applicable—

7 (A) the transfer of funds (including appro8 priated funds, mandatory funds, and funds of

9 the Commodity Credit Corporation) from 1 ac10 count to another account of an office or agency

11 of the Department for the purpose of funding

12 any activity of the Department regarding plan13 ning, providing services, or leasing or purchas14 ing of personal property (including all hardware

15 and software) or services for an information

16 technology system of an office or agency of the

17 Department;

18 (B) the obligation of funds (including ap19 propriated funds, mandatory funds, and funds

20 of the Commodity Credit Corporation) for the

21 purpose of funding any activity of the Depart22 ment regarding planning, providing services, or

23 leasing or purchasing of personal property (in24 cluding all hardware and software) or services
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1 for an information technology system of an of2 fice or agency of the Department; or

3 (C) the obligation of funds (including ap4 propriated funds, mandatory funds, and funds

5 of the Commodity Credit Corporation) for the

6 purpose of funding any activity of the Depart7 ment regarding planning, providing services, or

8 leasing or purchasing of personal property (in9 cluding all hardware and software) or services

10 for an information technology system of an of11 fice or agency of the Department, to be ob12 tained through a contract with any office or

13 agency of the Federal Government, a State, the

14 District of Columbia, or any person in the pri15 vate sector.

16 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

17 the Secretary of Agriculture.

18 SEC. 103. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM CONTROL

19 BOARD.

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—An Information Technology

21 System Control Board is established in the Department.

22 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall consist of 3

23 members, of whom—
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1 (1) 2 members shall be appointed from the pri2 vate sector by the President by and with the advice

3 and consent of the Senate; and

4 (2) 1 member shall be the Secretary.

5 (c) QUALIFICATIONS OF BOARD MEMBERS.—Of the

6 members of the Board appointed by the President (other

7 than the Secretary)—

8 (1) 1 member shall have—

9 (A) extensive private sector work-related

10 experience in the field of total quality manage11 ment; and

12 (B) at least 5 years of demonstrated work

13 related experience in a full range of activities

14 with large organizations involving information

15 strategic planning, strategic quality planning,

16 and strategic process management, including

17 business process reengineering and business

18 process improvement project-related experience;

19 and

20 (2) 1 member shall have at least 15 years expe21 rience and industry-recognized credentials in the

22 field of planning and managing the specification, de23 sign, and implementation of information technology,

24 telecommunications, and information management

25 systems in the private sector.
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1 (d) COMPENSATION.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Board ap3 pointed by the President (other than the Secretary)

4 shall—

5 (A) be a limited term appointee (as defined

6 in section 3132(a) of title 5, United States

7 Code); and

8 (B) be paid an annual rate of compensa9 tion that does not exceed the annual rate in ef10 fect for positions at level V of the Executive

11 Schedule.

12 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—A member of the Board

13 (other than the Secretary) shall not be governed

14 by—

15 (A) the provisions of title 5, United States

16 Code, relating to appointments in the competi17 tive service; or

18 (B) the provisions of chapter 51 and sub19 chapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, or any

20 other provision of law, relating to number or

21 classification of General Schedule rates.

22 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 5316

23 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding

24 at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘Limited term appointees of the Information

2 Technology System Control Board, Department of

3 Agriculture (2).’’.

4 (e) CLERICAL AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL.—Notwith5 standing any other provision of law:

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board is authorized to

7 obtain and employ such clerical or other support

8 personnel, including detailees from an office or agen9 cy of the Department, as are necessary to enable the

10 Board to carry out this title. The Secretary shall ap11 prove the transfer of each detailee selected by the

12 Board.

13 (2) MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISORY DU14 TIES.—The Board shall have general management

15 and supervisory authority over all clerical and sup16 port personnel and detailees selected by the Board.

17 (3) SPECIFIC DUTIES.—In the case of clerical

18 and support personnel and detailees selected by the

19 Board, the supervisory and management authority of

20 the Board under paragraph (2) shall include the ex21 clusive authority (unless expressly delegated by a

22 unanimous vote of the Board) to—

23 (A) establish and control workloads, qual24 ity of work, and work content;
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1 (B) approve bonuses, step advancements,

2 and promotions; and

3 (C) discipline employees for unsatisfactory

4 performance or conduct.

5 (f) BOARD VOTING PROCEDURE.—Except as other6 wise provided in this title—

7 (1) a decision or action of the Board shall require at least a 2 8 ⁄3-majority vote in favor of the deci9 sion or action; and

(2) if at least a 2 10 ⁄3-majority vote on a decision

11 or action is obtained, the Secretary shall carry out

12 the decision or action of the Board.

13 SEC. 104. MISSION OF THE BOARD.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall—

15 (1) develop and implement for the future a

16 blueprint for a single platform information tech17 nology system of the Department that is coordinated

18 between the offices or agencies of the Department,

19 eliminate duplication, and are cost effective; and

20 (2) provide the strong central leadership, plan21 ning, and accountability that is needed in light of

22 the substantial changes created by the FAIR Act

23 and reorganization and downsizing initiatives al24 ready commenced within the Department.
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1 (b) SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE BOARD.—The Board

2 shall ensure that—

3 (1) information technology systems of the De4 partment are designed to coordinate the functions of

5 the offices or agencies of the Department on a de6 partmental basis in contrast to the current practice

7 of individual agencies designing and procuring infor8 mation technology systems that service only a single

9 agency;

10 (2) information technology systems are de11 signed for field service centers—

12 (A) to best facilitate the exchange of infor13 mation between field service centers and other

14 offices or agencies of the Department;

15 (B) that integrate the changed missions of

16 the Department in light of the FAIR Act and

17 reorganization and downsizing initiatives of the

18 Department; and

19 (C) that are cost effective; and

20 (3) a technical architecture is established that

21 serves the entire Department.

22 (c) BUSINESS PLAN.—

23 (1) APPROVAL; REPORT.—Not later than 90

24 days after the date the last member of the Board

25 appointed by the President (other than the Sec-
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1 retary) is confirmed by the Senate, the Board shall

2 approve and report to the Committee on Agriculture

3 of the House of Representatives and the Committee

4 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Sen5 ate a business plan to carry out this section through

6 March 31, 2002.

7 (2) FAILURE TO REPORT.—If a business plan is

8 not approved and reported in accordance with para9 graph (1), notwithstanding any other provision of

10 law, the transfer or obligation of funds available to

11 the Department for the purpose of funding any ac12 tivity of the Department regarding planning, provid13 ing services, or leasing or purchasing of personal

14 property (including all hardware and software) or

15 services for an information technology system of an

16 office or agency of the Department shall be prohib17 ited until the business plan is reported to the Com18 mittee on Agriculture of the House of Representa19 tives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,

20 and Forestry of the Senate.

21 SEC. 105. DUTIES OF THE BOARD.

22 The Board shall—

23 (1) review, evaluate, and approve (or, at the op24 tion of the Board, develop) each plan or design for
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1 all or part of each information technology system of

2 each office or agency of the Department;

3 (2) exercise exclusive authority to approve each

4 transfer or obligation of funds to be used to acquire

5 all or part of each information technology system

6 (including all hardware and software) for each office

7 or agency of the Department;

8 (3) ensure that major information technology

9 systems of the Department, where appropriate, re10 sult in improvements to the operations of the De11 partment that are commensurate with the level of

12 investment;

13 (4) ensure that the information technology sys14 tem of each office or agency of the Department

15 maximizes the effectiveness and efficiency of mission

16 delivery and is focused first on specific improve17 ments to core business processes (the strategic proc18 ess management architecture) of the Department;

19 (5) ensure that the information technology sys20 tem of each office or agency of the Department

21 maximizes quality per dollar expended, and maxi22 mizes efficiency and coordination of information

23 technology systems between offices and agencies of

24 the Department;
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1 (6) ensure that planning for, leases, and pur2 chases of the information technology system of each

3 office or agency of the Department most efficiently

4 satisfy the needs of the office or agency in terms of

5 the demographics, program, and the number of em6 ployees affected by the system; and

7 (7) ensure that funding used for planning or

8 purchasing of the information technology system of

9 each office or agency of the Department is used in

10 the most effective manner.

11 SEC. 106. POWERS OF THE BOARD.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c) and not13 withstanding any other provision of law, the Board shall

14 have the exclusive authority (except as expressly delegated

15 by a unanimous vote of the Board) to—

16 (1) review, evaluate, and approve each plan or

17 design for each activity or regulation of the Depart18 ment regarding planning, providing services, leasing,

19 or purchasing of personal property (including all

20 hardware and software) or services for the informa21 tion technology system of each office or agency of

22 the Department;

23 (2) develop (or, on a unanimous vote of the

24 Board, direct employees of an agency or office of the

25 Department to develop) a plan or design for an ac-
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1 tivity of the Department regarding planning, provid2 ing services, leasing, or purchasing of personal prop3 erty (including hardware and software) or services

4 for the information technology system of an office or

5 agency of the Department; and

6 (3) approve each transfer or obligation of funds

7 to be used for the purpose of funding any activity

8 of the Department regarding planning, providing

9 services, or leasing or purchasing of personal prop10 erty (including all hardware and software) or serv11 ices for the information technology system of each

12 office or agency of the Department.

13 (b) REPORT TO BOARD.—An employee directed by

14 the Board to develop a plan or design under paragraph

15 (2) of subsection (a) shall report to the Board on actions

16 taken to carry out the paragraph.

17 (c) BOARD NOT SUBJECT TO CONTROL OF SEC18 RETARY.—The Board (including a decision or action of

the Board approved by at least a 2 19 ⁄3-majority vote) shall

20 not be subject to the control, direction, or supervision of

21 the Secretary.

22 (d) EXCLUSIVE AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any

23 other provision of law, the Board shall have the exclusive

24 authority to exercise all powers described in subsection (a)

25 during the period—
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1 (1) beginning on the earlier of—

2 (A) the date the last member of the Board

3 appointed by the President (other than the Sec4 retary) is confirmed by the Senate; or

5 (B) March 31, 1997; and

6 (2) ending on March 31, 2002.

7 SEC. 107. REVIEW BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDG8 ET.

9 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg10 et may review any regulation or transfer or obligation of

11 funds involving an information technology system of the

12 Department.

13 SEC. 108. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.

14 The second sentence of section 13 of the Commodity

15 Credit Corporation Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714k) is

16 amended by striking ‘‘section 5 or 11’’ and inserting ‘‘sec17 tion 4, 5, or 11’’.

18 SEC. 109. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITIES.

19 The Board and all other authorities provided by this

20 title (other than section 108) shall terminate on March

21 31, 2002.
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1 TITLE II—ADMINISTRATION OF

2 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

3 SEC. 201. ADMINISTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRI4 CULTURE.

5 Section 735 of the Agriculture, Rural Development,

6 Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Ap7 propriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104–180; 110 Stat.

8 1604), is amended—

9 (1) in subsection (a)(2)—

10 (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking ‘‘or’’

11 at the end;

12 (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking the

13 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

14 (C) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(H) any employee who, on separation and

16 application, would be eligible for an immediate

17 annuity under subchapter III of chapter 83 or

18 chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code (or

19 another retirement system for an employee of

20 the agency), other than an annuity subject to a

21 reduction under section 8339(h) or 8415(f) of

22 title 5, United States Code (or corresponding

23 provisions of another retirement system for an

24 employee of the agency).’’;

25 (2) in subsection (c)—
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1 (A) in paragraph (2)—

2 (i) by striking subparagraph (B) and

3 inserting the following:

4 ‘‘(B) shall be paid from appropriations

5 made available for salaries and expenses of the

6 agency;’’;

7 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs

8 (C) through (E) as subparagraphs (D)

9 through (F), respectively;

10 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph

11 (B) the following:

12 ‘‘(C) may not originate from funds of a

13 mandatory account (including funds of the

14 Commodity Credit Corporation) that are trans15 ferred to the salaries and expenses account of

16 the agency;’’; and

17 (iv) in subparagraph (D)(ii) (as so re18 designated), by striking ‘‘in fiscal year

19 1997,’’ and all that follows through

20 ‘‘2000’’; and

21 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Septem22 ber 30, 2000’’ and inserting ‘‘March 31, 1997’’;

23 and

24 (3) by striking subsection (g) and inserting the

25 following:
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1 ‘‘(g) PERIOD.—The authority to offer separation in2 centive payments under this section shall apply during the

3 period beginning October 1, 1996, and ending March 31,

4 1997.’’.

5 TITLE III—EFFECTIVE DATE

6 SEC. 301. EFFECTIVE DATE.

7 Except as provided in section 106(d)(1), this Act and

8 the amendments made by this Act shall become effective

9 on the date of enactment of this Act.

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