Hard Lessons: A CIO's Playbook For Consolidation
NEXTGOV/FCW, Tuesday, October 21st, 2025
Agencies are under increasing pressure to reorganize their operations. But done well, consolidation can bring economies of scale, better alignment and more agility.
When the Department of Agriculture launched its consolidation of back‑office operations from 2017 to 2018 among the Farm Service Agency, Rural Development and Natural Resources Conservation Service into a unified Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Business Center, I was serving as FSA's chief information officer (CIO). I saw firsthand how good intentions collided with organizational reality. As government again looks to reorganize agencies and merge corporate functions at scale, here are lessons I learned from being on the front lines.