Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the acquisition and use of field-office computer systems by the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), focusing on: (1) whether USDA, SCS, and FmHA are pursuing the feasibility of sharing computer resources for collocated field offices; (2) whether SCS and FmHA are pursuing the feasibility of using smaller, less expensive computers than originally planned for their field offices; (3) whether SCS is employing a cost-effective approach to acquiring applications software for its field-office computers; (4) what SCS has done to show whether field-office automation will improve service to farmers and other land users; and (5) the FmHA assessment of interfacing its field-office computers with states' automated lien systems.
GAO found that: (1) SCS and FmHA are considering conducting a sharing test, but will independently acquire computers for collocated offices; (2) SCS and FmHA are considering the use of smaller, less expensive computers for field offices not located in the same city; (3) SCS could save an estimated $13.7 million by acquiring smaller computers available under the current contract; (4) FmHA determined that the smaller computers available under the current contract would not meet its needs; (5) SCS is not cost-effectively acquiring applications software for its field-office computers, since it is allowing its state offices and other units to independently develop some software that could duplicate efforts; (6) SCS plans to evaluate the impact of field-office automation on service to farmers and other land users in the spring of 1987; and (7) FmHA has not determined whether its computer systems can interface with states' automated systems to determine whether the same equipment or crops are being used as collateral for more than one loan, but will evaluate this possibility after it installs all of its field-office systems.
