Published reports indicate the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has implemented a hiring freeze and offered early retirement for its IT staff and will count on RPA as one way to minimize the impact of what it is calling a “strategic restructuring.” The agency said its goal is to “right-size” and modernize the IT workforce, according to USDA emails obtained by Federal News Network.
Part of that modernization includes the implementation of RPA bots, which are finding favor across the federal government.
“USDA’s continued effort to modernize information technology will require different IT specialist skill sets,” one of the USDA emails reviewed by FNN said. “As USDA IT mission areas close data centers and consolidate end-user support services, the Office of the Chief Information Officer will continue to evolve and restructure to support cloud technology, system testing, robotic processes automation (RPA) and machine learning.”
The USDA said leveraging technologies like RPA will enable it to restructure its workforce, giving it added flexibility to support the organization and its mission.