SAS Wins US Department of Agriculture Contract for up to Five Years

SAS^® technology used throughout USDA for research, conservation, food safety

CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SAS is helping the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) protect the food supply of all Americans and provide important agricultural and human services. A new enterprisewide contract, covering SAS^® Analytics software, services and training over the next five years, extends a 36-year partnership between business analytics leader SAS and USDA.

“This agreement underscores the importance of SAS Analytics to help USDA address priorities such as agricultural production, energy, conservation and food safety.”

USDA has used SAS software since the company’s inception in 1976, initially for agricultural research. Today, SAS is used extensively in 15 USDA agencies, several USDA offices and across all mission areas, including research, forestry and conservation, food safety and nutrition, farm services, marketing programs, and rural development.

“With increasing threats to the food supply, and threats to animals, plants and humans, as well as droughts and natural disasters, USDA’s challenges are increasingly complex,” said Karen Terrell, Vice President, SAS Federal. “This agreement underscores the importance of SAS Analytics to help USDA address priorities such as agricultural production, energy, conservation and food safety.”

Last year SAS was awarded a large contract to support Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) workforce planning initiatives. USDA also uses SAS in large programs such as Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE), National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) and Public Health Information System (PHIS). SAS Analytics also supports USDA core economic functions – such as county loan and crop insurance rate setting, bank health analysis, agricultural census and crop reporting.

Consolidating more than 50 separate SAS contracts, this enterprise contract supports easier cross-agency sharing of SAS technology and represents a potential value of $12.3 million if all option years are exercised.

For more than three decades, SAS has provided innovative solutions targeting the unique analytic needs of the federal government. All 15 US federal departments and 80 national governments worldwide use SAS software's analytic and predictive capabilities for critical initiatives such as performance management, budgeting, logistics, cyberdefense, combating fraud and improper payments, and threat assessment.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 60,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW^®. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2012 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.