WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that has been selected as one of the five large business awards by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Mission Area in a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) to provide software development services and help support USDA's digital modernization journey. The estimated worth of the combined task orders to be separately competed under this BPA – which over 30 vendors competed on – is $620M over the next five years.

Under this BPA multi-award, IBM can compete to work with the Mission Area to help modernize legacy applications that support the conservation programs administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Services Agency (FSA). 

"Technology has incredible potential to transform the way governments serve citizens and accomplish critical missions. IBM is proud to have the opportunity to work with the USDA to help achieve higher levels of digital modernization," said Jay Bellissimo, IBM's General Manager, U.S. Public Sector and Federal Market. "Our team is ready to bring our experience in application modernization to help FPAC deliver modernized systems that assist the conservationists in helping farmers and ranchers reduce soil erosion, enhance water supplies, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitats and reduce damage caused by natural disasters." 

This award follows the 90+ year history between IBM and USDA across a variety of projects with FPAC, the Forest Service, the Food Safety and Inspection Service and Agriculture Marketing Service. 

USDA provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy. FPAC supports U.S. farmers, ranchers and other stewards of private agricultural lands and non-industrial private forest lands. Under FPAC's guidelines, agencies implement programs designed to mitigate farming risks, conservation programs and technical assistance, and commodity, lending, and disaster programs.

About USDA 
For more information visit  https://www.usda.gov

About IBM
For more information visit www.ibm.com

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Francisco Pelayo
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SOURCE IBM