From Coleman Garrison, Director of Government Affairs for NACD
To state associations of conservation districts:
As NACD continues to engage with the Biden Administration and incoming USDA officials, among the topics up for discussion is the effectiveness of NRCS administrative functions during the past several years. This is particularly important since many of these functions have been transferred to the FPAC Business Center under the prior Secretary of USDA.
While NACD staff have spoken directly with some members to gather their thoughts, it would be helpful to get a more robust set of responses from across the country. Your candid observations and/or concerns in areas like grants and agreements, human resources, information technology, or office leasing would be helpful as these discussions continue. A paragraph or two in response to this email should suffice and we would appreciate any responses by the end of the week if possible.
Conservation district folks can share their thoughts with Coleman at .
From Mike Brown, Executive Director for NASCA
To state agencies:
The National Conservation Partnership is entering into discussions with USDA about a number of topics. Among them will be the effectiveness of administrative functions during the past several years, particularly since many of these functions have been transferred to the FPAC Business Center. Would each state agency provide a paragraph or two sharing your experiences in this arena? We would expect that the most serious impacts to your operations and to those of your districts would be associated with payments and contract/agreement execution. This is not meant by any means to be an indictment of NRCS or FPAC. We are simply trying to get a better feel for your experiences with USDA since the reorganization. Thank you for taking the time to respond, and please feel free to be candid.
State agency folks should reach out to Mike at .