Federal agencies are increasingly focused on modernizing legacy systems, reducing administrative burden, and delivering faster, more reliable services to the American people. For data-heavy missions—like those involving natural resource management—that means transforming siloed datasets into actionable intelligence. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Dynamic Soils Hub shows how artificial intelligence and cloud-based infrastructure can do exactly that.
Challenge: Disconnected Data, Limited Insight
For years, federal agencies managing complex natural resource programs have faced a common challenge: data is plentiful, but often fragmented across outdated systems, difficult to access, and hard to apply in real time. That was the case for USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which manages one of the most comprehensive soil data collections in the world, used by farmers, conservation planners, researchers, and federal agencies to guide land management, optimize agricultural practices, and support current environmental policy decisions across the U.S. For years, this valuable information was trapped in outdated, disconnected systems. Scientists and planners lacked the tools to:
- Easily access and combine data from different sources
- Analyze how conservation practices affect soil over time
- Make informed, site-specific decisions at scale
Approach: Delivering an AI-Enabled Platform for Analysis
Abt Digital Solutions, the technology arm formed by the union of TSPi and Abt’s digital and data team, is partnering with NRCS to design and deliver the Dynamic Soils Hub (DS Hub). This high-performance data platform supports USDA’s conservation mission and serves as a model for AI-enabled enterprise data modernization across government. Key elements of our approach include:
Result: A Model for Smarter, More Responsive Data Systems
DS Hub transforms how an agency can manage scientific data, making it faster to access, easier to analyze, and more actionable for field staff, scientists, and program leaders.
Benefits include:
- Unified data access for multi-terabyte datasets
- Reduced turnaround time for analysis
- Improved forecasting of resource risks and outcomes
- Expanded usability across technical skill levels
- Practical demonstration of how AI in government can drive mission success
The Dynamic Soils Hub serves as a blueprint for how federal agencies can modernize data systems to better serve their mission.
Whether your agency is managing land, people, programs, or capital, the path forward is the same: data that’s accessible, structured for analysis, and ready to power the decisions that matter.
Let’s talk about how we can help you build it.
Brad Wintermute
Senior Vice President, Delivery & Growth
Brad.Wintermute@tspi.net