U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)

Under sub-contract to Financial Transaction Management (FTM) LLC, Tharseo IT provided Program Management and Technical Delivery services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Portal.
The SNAP EBT Portal provides the means for SNAP recipients to authorize transfer of their government benefits from a Federal account to a SNAP retailer account to pay for products received from Farmers’ Markets (FMs) and Direct Marketing Farmers (DFMs). The SNAP EBT Portal is used in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam.
Tharseo IT developed the SNAP EBT Portal with the online capability for FNS to intake applications from FMs and DMFs and verify eligibility against FNS Eligibility Rules. The application process includes a Memorandum of Understanding incorporating electronic signatures and allows for senior review of applications in the pipeline.
Upon approval of their applications, FMs and DMFs receive point-of-sale wireless card reader equipment from one of two pre-selected Equipment Providers with which to process SNAP payments. Tharseo IT provided SNAP EBT Portal integration for Equipment Providers using JSON/REST APIs for EBT benefits determination. We then used final benefits and equipment information from Equipment Providers to update the SNAP EBT Portal.
The SNAP EBT Case Workers can now access this eligibility data through the SNAP EBT Portal for the purpose of following up with applicants and responding to inquiries on application status, equipment orders or delivery status. Applicants can also log into the SNAP EBT Portal to check the status of their application at any time. Senior leadership at FNS can access monthly and weekly reports by Provider type, Farmer type, and date.
Tharseo IT integrated the USDA’s existing FNS SNAP database with a verification engine using a JSON/REST API and an eligibility engine deployed on the LAMP open source software stack that applies the USDA FNS business rules to qualify applicants. The LAMP stack (Linux, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL Relational DBMS, PHP programming language) is an open-source technology with no licensing cost which offers interoperability with multiple operating systems and servers.

Tharseo IT developed the customer-facing, secure, online interface in HTML/CSS/Java with a MySQL database stored on the Amazon Web Services cloud. End users of the system spanned government employees, Federal contractors, and commercial entities. Data access/security was carefully built into the system to allow key stakeholders to perform only the specific functions required by their role:
· Farmers’ Markets and Direct Marketing Farmers – Review program eligibility requirements and equipment options; create and account and submit an application; track application status and equipment delivery status.
· FTM Program Administrator – Review applications; update with data from Census.gov; refer the application to FNS for approval; run reports and perform administrative functions.
· FNS Program Administrator – Review and update applications; approve applications; access reports and key program metrics.
· Third-Party Equipment Providers – Access approved applications; update equipment delivery status and equipment return status.
Leveraging our deep experience with all FNS programs – including TANF, SNAP, and WIC – Tharseo IT has recommended a systems migration to Oracle GovCloud to rapidly modify and build interfaces for enabling WIC participants to utilize EBT at their local farmers markets, further promoting healthy nutrition for low-income families.

District of Columbia DC Health

DC Health promotes health, wellness, and equity across the District of Columbia, and protects the safety of residents, visitors, and those doing business in our nation’s Capital. Tharseo IT was entrusted by DC Health to integrate and migrate to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) GovCloud Gen2 two of its most critical public health systems:
1. DOCIIS – District of Columbia Immunization Information System
2. WIC – Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children
In an effort to focus staff resources on their core mission, DC Health needed Tharseo IT to help them “get out of the infrastructure business,” eliminating silos, consolidating physical IT resources, and maximizing efficiency of the software development process by streamlining the environment. In response, Tharseo IT delivered a successful migration of both the WIC and DOCIIS systems, which included detailed specifications for Architecture Design, Configuration and Access Control, and Migration Plans for both systems.
The WIC and DOCIIS systems share multiple components, including the customer-facing portal; helpdesk requests; an appointment scheduling and reminder system; assessment/certification capabilities; reporting; banking; and specific features that support State Agency processes for vendor management and financial management – like printing checks. DC Health’s goals were to:
• Migrate both systems into the Oracle Cloud exactly like they functioned “on-premise” (where they were originally hosted) and
• Securely migrate the on-premise database and public health data into the Oracle Cloud.
Tharseo IT not only delivered on these goals but exceeded expectations by increasing performance and productivity of both DOCIIS and WIC enterprise systems. Tharseo IT applied the most current industry standards to implement enhancements that addressed risk factors created by the previous on-premise solution – such as installing a Web Application Firewall to automatically block any unwanted or malicious requests that could cause the system to go down at any given time. System administrators and end users of both systems reported performance and speed improvements with the Oracle GovCloud solution. To cite a measurable example, one large internal report that took 45-60 minutes to run on the previous on-premise system is now able to run in 20 minutes in the Oracle Cloud.
Taking on the Challenge
When the project began, Tharseo IT quickly learned that there were several different project teams that needed to be engaged and work together as one to make the project a success. We proactively reached out to establish highly productive, professional relationships and continued to work closely with the network team, the application development team, business units, third-party providers, and senior leadership to establish the necessary access to individuals and the various IT system components that we needed to perform effectively for DC Health.
As stakeholders began to entrust us with their specific concerns, requirements, risks and issues, we negotiated carefully to create a win-win strategy that would prove to be the most efficient and feasible direction to accomplish the scope according to schedule. We maintained consistent communications with senior leadership and business units in order to manage expectations around delivery.
O&M and ROI
Moving to the Oracle GovCloud has saved DC Health 40% in infrastructure costs and 50% in development costs. The migration to a unified data layer enables DC Health to analyze data from multiple agencies for improved decision-making and mission acceleration. With this migration, DC Health stabilized their applications and was thus able to focus their resources on upgrades and innovation. Now the team can spend more time on implementing cloud solutions that eliminate the use of the expensive T1 Lines at client sites.
DC Health declared the Oracle Cloud “better than they ever thought it would be” and “strategically important” to achieving their mission for DC families. Tharseo IT gave the agency 24/7 access to data from anywhere, a high level of reliability, and enhanced the potential of the infrastructure. There was also a massive change in the interaction between various departments within DC Health as Tharseo IT led them to integrate their datasets, bridging the gap between multiple systems within the agency.

DC Department of Health Benefits Exchange (DC Access System) Development

Project Summary Description: DC Health Link – the District of Columbia’s health insurance marketplace – fell behind schedule and was at risk of losing its federal charter. The DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority (DCHBX) engaged the team lead by principals now at Tharseo IT to establish an agile program management office, re-architect the system, and provide development and quality assurance services. Tharseo IT principals transitioned the project to an agile delivery model, and recovered the schedule. As a result, DC Health Link was one of only four states that successfully launched on time for ACA Open Enrollment in 2013.
In the following years, the team became a critical partner for all of the government agencies that comprise DC Health Link, taking a lead role in strategy, enterprise architecture, grant management, web development, UI/UX, software development, project management, software quality assurance, data analytics and operations and maintenance for both the District’s Health Benefit Exchange and the city’s Medicaid eligibility system for the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF).

Tharseo IT principals also provided project oversight, storyboarding services, user interface design, editorial support, copywriting, Drupal and HTML programming, Dev Ops support, and project management for the DC Health Link web redesign efforts in 2015. The redesign incorporated integrating HBX’s new plan management system (Enroll App), re-implementing integrations with Oracle Identity Management, integrating a third-party product (Consumers’ Checkbook), and designing new landing page content for a smooth handoff to the Medicaid (and federal tax credit) Integrated Eligibility system. Our team was responsible for coordinating with all of the vendors to harmonize all the user interfaces and content using SOA and open source so that the site presented a unified and intuitive user experience for consumers, businesses, and Brokers.

DC Department of Health Benefits Exchange DC Access System Operations and Maintenance

Project Summary Description: After the successful deployment of the District of Columbia Access System (DCAS), the leadership and founders of Tharseo IT were engaged by the Department of Health Benefits Exchange (DCHBX) to establish a sustainable, new IT infrastructure and support model to serve all internal and external stakeholders of the Exchange. The challenge was to deploy a model that promotes excellence in customer service, ensuring maximum accountability with the most efficient use of resources to support new and existing Service Level Agreements (SLAs), new deployments and tiers of support.

The Tharseo IT leadership (under various subcontractors to DCHBX) developed a operations and maintenance roadmap with a clear and understandable work breakdown structure of DCAS. The support models satisfied the three governing agencies – DHCF, DHS and DCHBX. The support models included a map for integrating a variety of infrastructures, systems, platforms, software applications and call centers. They then defined the key roles and responsibilities required to provide exemplary support to keep this complex system running 24/7. The Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Team under Tharseo IT’s leadership team managed: 1) Infrastructure and virtual machines supporting all environments; 2) Cloud Integration with Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO); 3) Security Management – identity management, infrastructure security and compliance; 4) Defect, Issue, and Change Management across platforms and environments; 5) Operations & Maintenance Reporting. The plan was executed over a two-year period until the DCAS project was transitioned to OCTO. All of the systems and processes put in place by the Tharseo IT leadership still remain intact today.