On January 30, 2023, the Data Liberation Project sent the Department of Agriculture a request for two categories of records:
- Records fulfilling 44 U.S. Code § 3511(a)’s requirement to “develop and maintain a comprehensive data inventory”
- Records fulfilling 44 U.S. Code § 3505(c)’s requirement to “develop and maintain an inventory of major information systems”
On July 26, 2023, the USDA emailed its response 📄: “The [Office of the Chief Information Officer] searched for records responsive to your request between January 1, 2013 and the present. The search identified one excel spreadsheet responsive to your request. The spreadsheet is being released to you in full, with no exemptions applied.”
The spreadsheet lists 2,985 active, proposed, in-development, phasing-out, and retired databases and information systems. Its 23 columns provide a range of attributes about each system, including:
NameAliasesLifecycle statusOwning AgencyDescriptionApplication TypeLive dateExpected decommission date
(Not all systems have all attributes listed.)
Here is an example entry from the spreadsheet:
| Column | Value |
|---|---|
Name | Electronic Disqualified Recipient System Application (EDRS) |
Aliases | E-DRS |
Lifecycle status | Active |
Owning Agency | FNS |
Sub-Agency | (None) |
Workflow Contact | [email address] |
Description | The eDRS application provides authorized users with a single, user friendly and web based interface for accessing the most up to date and comprehensive data on disqualified Food Stamp recipients. This system centralizes and improves upon the earlier DRS |
Application Type | Server-based Application |
Component Type | Application |
Acronym | E-DRS |
Business Point of Contact Name | [name] |
Business POC Email Address | [email address] |
Internal: Actual decommission date | (None) |
Internal: Expected decommission date | 2030-10-09 00:00:00 |
Internal: Live date | 2018-08-09 00:00:00 |
Internal: Expected decommission reason | Expected replacement/obsolescence |
Internal: In Development From | (None) |
Internal: Phase Out From | 2030-09-11 00:00:00 |
AgMax Migration | Yes |
Authority to Operate (ATO) effective date | 2020-08-11 00:00:00 |
Authority to Operate (ATO) expiration date | 2023-08-11 00:00:00 |
Authority to Operate (ATO) status | Approved |
Build | Custom-built |