Effective immediately, Combs will take over all official duties in the job. According to the department press release, he will coordinate integration, training and enforcement of all aspects of information management and information technology programs at USDA. Combs will also serve as management advisor and senior consultant on policies, standards and guidance. "Dave has demonstrated management and leadership skills that will serve our farmers, ranchers, employees and customers very well," said Johanns, in a statement released by USDA. "I am confident that his commitment and expertise in information management and technology will continue to help advance President Bush's eGovernment initiative."
According to the Bush Administration’s eGovernment website, the initiative was created for, “improving the management and performance of the Federal Government”. The program’s description says this kind of work is focused on areas where deficiencies were most apparent.
Last week, USDA Undersecretary Chuck Conner admitted to reporters that some areas of the agency have failed to meet technological expectations. When asked about the delay in some farm payments owed to producers, Conner blamed aging computer programs utilized by the Farm Service Agency.
“The computer software that we are using for the processing of a large portion of these payments is twenty years old,” Conner said. “In computer terms that is the Ice Age. We need to upgrade that system.”
A technology upgrade is planned as part of the agency's modernization plan, but no specific details have been released.
Combs previously worked for USDA in a similar capacity when he joined the agency in 2002 as the acting deputy chief information officer. He has also worked as special assistant to the administrator of the Rural Utilities Service.
Autor: Josh St. Peters
Quelle: Brownfield, 05.10.2005
