Nurturing a New Industry

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service at the Technical Service Provider Assistance Training Conference, Reno, NV
November 16, 2004


Thank you, Ron (Marlow). I am happy to be here today to talk about some of the accomplishments of the Technical Service Provider process and what I hope we can accomplish during the coming years.

It is hard to believe that we have been working to design and build the Technical Service Provider process for close to three years now! But we have. Some of you have been involved from the beginning. Others have become involved at various times during the process. Regardless of when you became a part of the TSP team, I want to thank you for you contributions to getting this important part of the 2002 farm bill up and running.

This morning I want to talk a bit about our goals for the Technical Service process with regard to accomplishing the workload emerging from the farm bill, the relationship between what TSPs do and what NRCS employees do, how TSP operates in the marketplace, the importance of diversity in the TSP process, and the e-government aspects of TSP.


Brief History of TSP

Some of you may remember that I became Chief of NRCS the same week that President Bush signed the 2002 farm bill -- setting us in motion toward implementing a Technical Service Provider process. We continued that effort through the summer and fall of 2002, and came out with the interim final rule for the Technical Service Provider process almost exactly two years ago. I signed the final rule last week, and we hope to publish it within a few days. I thank you for all the effort that went into that process.

When we first started talking about non-NRCS providers, we were calling the process by the name “third-party vendors.” How many of you remember those days? Former Chief Pearlie Reed anticipated the need to get the third-party vendor process going very quickly, so he started the process before the farm bill even became law. He assembled a team to work with producers and other stakeholders to find out what a third-party vendor system should look like.


Helping Accomplish the Farm Bill Workload

The concept of Technical Service Providers was pretty sketchy at first. At that time, we were already using our existing processes for obtaining the services of third-party vendors, allowing us to expand the use of outside help even while we were constructing the new process. And, we were already working to reassure NRCS employees that Technical Service Providers were not part of an out-sourcing effort. I said then, “The goal of the third-party vendor program is to use private sector resources to help get the job done. Third-party vendors will not replace NRCS employees.”

We cannot repeat that often enough: third-party vendors will not replace NRCS employees. We still have employees who worry about their jobs in the face of the growing use of Technical Service Providers. We must continue to reassure our employees that TSPs exist to provide additional help, not to replace the NRCS workforce.

We should regard TSPs as another tool to help us do our job. Pick-up trucks, GPS units, and portable computers didn’t replace NRCS employees, and neither will TSPs. In fact, the NRCS workforce is larger today than it was when we started using TSPs.

As I’ve said before, “NRCS will still have plenty to do, providing the service landowners have come to expect, and fulfilling the inherent government responsibilities assigned to our agency. Third-party vendors will be important because they will expand our capabilities well beyond what we can do ourselves.


Creating a New Cadre of Conservation Service Providers

As time went on, we began to realize more fully just how important -- and how big -- the technical service provider process was going to be. You may remember that Deputy Secretary Moseley officiated at a National Technical Service Provider Summit via satellite television in November of 2002. He said then that “the Farm Bill’s formal mechanism for paying for outside help is one of the law’s most significant and innovative features, that USDA was “determined to make it work and succeed for farmers and ranchers,” and that we were “creating a whole new industry of conservation service providers.”

Just as Deputy Secretary Moseley predicted, you have created a new cadre of conservation service providers. You have brought in nearly 2,100 providers who have been certified, and another 1,300 who are in the certification process. These numbers are impressive, but we still need more Technical Service Providers, and we need to work toward verifying 100 percent of the submissions that are awaiting certification.

During the first year of implementing TSP, we had a target of $20 million for work performed by Technical Service Providers – and you obligated nearly $24 million. In 2004, we doubled the target to $40 million, and you obligated more than $48 million -- despite receiving the money late in the fiscal year. I have asked the State Conservationists to obligate at least $45 million in FY 2005, and I am confident that -- once again -- a number of States have the workload and the appropriate TSPs to exceed their targets.

I think we can say that we have succeeded in our goal of creating a whole new industry of conservation service providers, both in terms of number of providers and dollars obligated. Our use of technical service providers to help us implement the farm bill is the largest effort in our history to rely on the expertise of others, rather than always doing the job ourselves. I thank you for your hard work in making this happen.


A Market-Based Solution

The Technical Service Provider system is designed to be a market-based solution to the challenge of implementing the 2002 farm bill. As Deputy Secretary Moseley pointed out at the TSP Summit, “the TSP concept is very efficient. Because it has a market orientation, it falls in line with the goals of the President’s Management Council, to use the private sector where it makes sense.”

We have become increasingly successful at reaching this goal of using the private sector where it makes sense. In 2003, we succeeded in obligating about a third of our TSP dollars to individuals and businesses in the private sector. In 2004, more than half of the dollars went to the private sector. Since the size of the pie doubled between 2003 and 2004, that means we are actually obligating three and a half times as many dollars to the private sector. Thank you for your contributions to this great success.

I also want to thank everyone involved in the process of developing the not-to-exceed rates for TSP. These rates are a major part of what makes TSP a market-based process. The TSP process is intended to save taxpayers money, not to cost them more. That is why the farm bill sets the full NRCS cost of providing services as a ceiling for the amount producers can be reimbursed as part of their farm bill program contracts. Our obligation is to make sure our cost computations are inclusive, so that not-to-exceed rates are realistic for the Technical Service Providers.

NRCS has now gone through the rate setting process twice in an effort to ensure that the not-to-exceed rates are based on the best possible information about the cost of NRCS services. The current rates should be valid through the end of FY 2005, but we must use this time to develop the methodology we will need to adjust the rates as appropriate in the future. The bottom line is that the rates must reflect the marketplace.


Diversity in Technical Service Providers

One challenge we faced from the beginning was to create this new industry of technical service providers that reflects the diversity of America’s agricultural producers. I stressed this challenge soon after the interim final rule came out – nearly two years ago at the National Organization of Professional Black NRCS Employees training conference in Texas.

I said, “We must be sure we have a diversity of technical service providers, and we must be sure our technical service providers do a good job of serving all farmers and ranchers. We can’t – and won’t – let conservation languish in underserved communities.”

I think universal access to Technical Service Providers – particularly private sector providers – remains one of the major challenges facing the Technical Service Provider system. We have had only limited success in signing up minority service providers. And we have not had as much success as we had hoped in signing up enough providers in some of the most rural parts of our Nation. Rounding out our cadre of private sector Technical Service Providers is one of the major challenges of 2005 and beyond.

We have a number of tools available to help us fill the gaps in the Technical Service Provider community. One is to work as closely as we can with the recommending organizations to help them increase their membership in underserved communities. We are short of TSPs for certain practices, so we need to look at ways to recruit more TSPs to offer their services in planning these practices. In some cases, we may need to look at the technical service categories.

We also need to look at the whole certification process to see if there are barriers that are preventing some Technical Service Providers from participating in the process.

We also need to increase our own outreach efforts in underserved communities. As a first step, we have started translating TSP materials into Spanish. But we need to be creative and come up with a variety of approaches tailored to reach this objective.


e-Government and the TSP Process
TechReg

One of the factors behind successful implementation of the TSP process is our reliance on information technology in all parts of the program. From recruiting, to certifying, to training, to matching up producers with providers, the TechReg site does it all. TechReg is an outstanding example of how government can serve the public more effectively through electronic means. I congratulate everyone involved in developing and improving this site.

Now that the Technical Service Provider process is well established and working smoothly, we can take the time to evaluate and improve the TechReg site to make sure it has the right information and is as easy as possible to use.


TSP Express

I would also like to congratulate you on the successful implementation of the TSP Express electronic newsletter for Technical Service Providers. The newsletter is an excellent tool for keeping TSPs informed of the latest developments in the program and a good tool for recruiting more TSPs.


Conclusion

I hope I have remembered to thank you for all of your accomplishments. If not, I apologize. Just let me say that the entire TSP effort has been amazing, and I appreciate your hard work to design and implement this process.

The first phase of implementing the TSP process was one of discovery. We were finding our way. We brought the TSP process through rapid expansion – leapfrogging growth. The second phase involves improvement and refinement.

We face a number of challenges in the future operation of the TSP process:

• Prepare for scrutiny. Assume each decision could be on the front page of your local paper. Assume that you will have to explain your decisions to mom at Thanksgiving dinner.

• Who are the TSPS? Are they our traditional partners, are they new colleagues, are they NRCS retirees?

• What work has been done? What have we purchased?

• How do we measure success in the TSP process? What reporting measures are meaningful?

• Are we providing our administrative services effectively. This is very, very important.

• Verify 100 percent of the submissions that are awaiting certification.

• Develop the methodology for adjusting the rates as appropriate in the future.

• Increase our outreach to rounding out our cadre of Technical Service providers in under served geographic areas, among underserved populations, and in underserved conservation practices.

• Review our technical service categories.

• Remove any barriers in our certification process.

• Upgrade the TechReg web site.

• Make sure all farmers and ranchers know how to make use of Technical Service Providers.

• Obligate 45 million to TSP activities during FY 2005.

• And finally, remind employees than TSPs are not taking their jobs.


You have done an excellent job of developing and implementing the Technical Service Provider Process. You have created a new cadre of conservation service providers. Now, the task is to improve the process and ensure that it will continue to meet the needs of farmers and ranchers and the NRCS in the future. Today’s session will lay the foundation for that effort.

Thank you.