U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

2004 Presidential Award for Management Excellence

Department of Agriculture - National Finance Center

E-Government
Innovative and Exemplary Practices

The mission of the Department of Agriculture’s National Finance Center (NFC) is to provide superior payroll, financial, and administrative products to government at a reasonable cost. NFC currently provides Federal payroll services along with other administrative and financial services to 134 Federal agencies.

NFC has always been ahead of its time by pioneering new technologies with the goal of serving all current and potential customers. As Federal agencies develop more Web-based applications, increased security assurance is needed for the information contained in these applications. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology provides a level of confidence to users when exchanging information over the Internet.

NFC began its PKI endeavors in November 1996 as a member of the Federal PKI Steering Committee. Since then, NFC, through its e-authentication initiative, has developed a vastly more secure and streamlined multilevel PKI. In July 2004, NFC was chosen as the only Government-owned, Government-operated preferred provider of PKI services. As such, NFC has provided its customers with better secure authentication for Web applications and desktop applications, improved customer service, and reduced program costs.

NFC’s online Web interface hosts registration forms and a vast array of information, allowing for a simpler, more efficient registration process and activation of certificates. Agencies thus have an easy and cost-effective way to provide end users with a multipurpose authentication credential from a trusted and proven service provider.

In addition to providing a quality product, NFC provides quality customer service. Through staff training, employee retention, and use of contract employees, NFC can quickly and effectively respond to its customers. A formal software inspection process enables NFC to further increase the quality of its applications by identifying problems earlier in the life cycle, thus reducing production errors and improving customer satisfaction. Furthermore, NFC offers 24/7 help desk support.

NFC’s product reduces the time needed to process purchase orders, which reduces late fees. Also, agencies save money by not having to build and administer their own certification authority. On a broad scale, NFC negotiates savings for its customers by pooling buying resources among Federal agencies and providing volume pricing.

NFC aims to keep growing its customer base and providing quality products and services to government agencies at a reasonable cost. To accomplish this objective, NFC will continue to successfully implement technological advancements and cultivate a technical staff that supports the delivery of quality products and services.