The Food and Drug Administration has made important progress in the last two years toward creating a more effective IT infrastructure, according to a preliminary report by the FDA Science Board’s Subcommittee on Information Technology.
The findings are notable because the panel lambasted the agency two years ago in a report that found that FDA’s computer systems could not support the agency’s main mission.
That earlier report, titled “FDA Science and Mission at Risk,” cited a range of problems, including decentralized and aging network servers, unreliable email systems, woefully inadequate disaster recovery programs and scientific computing capabilities that did not meet basic needs of the scientific staff.
But the most recent findings by committee strike a decidedly more positive tone. “The [agency’s] work greatly exceeded our expectations in terms of how much progress had been made putting together an IT infrastructure,” according to Dr. Sangtae Kim, head of the subcommittee which authored the report. “We saw a budget and a realistic plan to meet the challenges of a data-driven, science-driven agency.”
Kim said advances the FDA made in strengthening the IT infrastructure are largely due to its $2.5 billion, 10-year data center migration program. The Information and Computer Technology for the 21st Century (ICT21) program is a comprehensive, agency-wide IT modernization project that includes data management, data warehousing, IT infrastructure and IT security.
The final report is scheduled to be released in November.
By Elizabeth Laipson
September 25, 2009
Source: Government Health IT
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