CDFA Director of Information Technology Robert Schmidt (R) and NASCIO President Dugan Petty.
Leveraging information technology through partnerships with agency programs is a key to success at California Department of Food and Agriculture, which recently received a 2012 Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology in State Government from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). The award recipient was the Video Interact Project (VIP). It’s basically a portable cart, providing two-way, interactive video conferencing that enables CDFA employees to communicate with peers over the Internet. It facilitates communications between urban and remote rural offices. The project demonstrates that government truly can do more with less.
Another CDFA IT initiative, The Emerging Threats Project, was honored as a finalist in the same awards program. The project facilitates the monitoring of animal disease and dairy food safety for threats that can cause disease in humans, the death of millions of animals, and huge economic losses. Its web-based, GIS-enabled features provide CDFA and its partners with accurate animal population information and milk safety surveillance information at all times. Significantly, this system will not only be useful under emergency conditions, but it will also support day to day business operations related to food safety inspections and livestock and poultry disease testing. This daily use will ensure that the information remains current, and will also avoid duplication of effort and improve data integrity.
It is rewarding to work alongside our business partners during these projects. We are honored to receive this award for our outstanding information technology achievements in the public sector. The IT projects were recognized as they exemplify best practices, support the public policy goals of state leaders, assist government in innovatively executing our mission, and provide cost-effective service to citizens.
About the NASCIO Award:
NASCIO annually honors information technology initiatives that make exceptional contributions to state government operations. An organization of state Chief Information Officers and information technology executives from the states, territories, and the District of Columbia, NASCIO is in its 24th year of recognizing innovative IT projects.