§ 8002 — Implementation Funding And Information Management

(1) The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Farm Service Agency, may use not more than $55,000,000 of funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation to cover administrative costs associated with the implementation of title I and the amendments made by that title. (2) The funds referred to in paragraph (1) shall remain available to the Secretary until expended. (3) Of the amount specified in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall use not less than $5,000,000, but not more than $8,000,000, to carry out subsection (b). (1) The Secretary of Agriculture shall develop a comprehensive information management system, using appropriate technologies, to be used in implementing the programs administered by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the Farm Service Agency. (2) The information management system developed under this subsection shall be designed to— (A) improve access by agricultural producers to programs described in paragraph (1); (B) improve and protect the integrity of the information collected; (C) meet the needs of the agencies that require the data in the administration of their programs; (D) improve the timeliness of the collection of the information; (E) contribute to the elimination of duplication of information collection; (F) lower the overall cost to the Department of Agriculture for information collection; and (G) achieve such other goals as the Secretary considers appropriate. (3) The Secretary shall ensure that all current information of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the Farm Service Agency is combined, reconciled, redefined, and reformatted in such a manner so that the agencies can use the common information management system developed under this subsection. (4) The Secretary shall enter into an agreement or contract with a non-Federal entity to assist the Secretary in the development of the information management system. The Secretary shall give preference in entering into an agreement or contract to entities that have— (A) prior experience with the information and management systems of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation; and (B) collaborated with the Corporation in the development of the identification procedures required by section 1515(f) of this title. (5) The information collected using the information management system developed under this subsection may be made available to— (A) any Federal agency that requires the information to carry out the functions of the agency; and (B) any approved insurance provider, as defined in section 1502(b) of this title, with respect to producers insured by the approved insurance provider. (6) This subsection shall not interfere with, or delay, existing agreements or requests for proposals of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation or the Farm Service Agency regarding the information management activities known as data mining or data warehousing. (c) In addition to amounts made available under subsection (a)(3), there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out subsection (b) for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2008.