Independent Project Oversight Report (IPOR) Rating

Green
- Satisfactory, no corrective action necessary.
Yellow
- Caution, risks/issues exist. There may be a need for corrective action in the near future.
Red
- Escalated for immediate corrective action. There is a significant risk to the health of the project.
Blue
- Not enough data is available to make a determination about the project health.
No Report Available - Indicates that a Report is not available for publishing for the reporting period.

8570-089 Emerging Threats 2 (ET2)

The California Department of Food and Agriculture, Animal Health and Food Safety Services (AHFSS) Division, is proposing to replace their existing Emerging Threats system to correct and eliminate multiple deficiencies that have arisen over the maintenance and operations life cycle of the system and to provide an enterprise-wide solution for all programs within the AHFSS Division.

Project Details

Agency / State Entity	General Government / Food and Agriculture, Department of
Total Cost	$50,178,609
Last Approved Start Date	12/04/2025
Last Approved Finish Date	12/29/2028
Criticality Rating	High

IPOR Reporting Period	Overall IPOR Rating
07/01/2026 - 07/31/2026	Green

Independent Project Oversight Dashboard

Key Questions

Is the project on track to satisfy the customer's business objectives?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?Yes

Project Overall Health	Comments
Green	During the July 2026 reporting period, the ET2 project status remained Green. The Project Team successfully executed Release 1 go-live and continued to work on Release 2. • Release 1 (Payment Gateway Interim Solution) went live on July 20, 2026, after completing User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Production Push, and Smoke Testing. • The Project Team is now supporting Hypercare to address any issues and also implementing enhancements identified. • The Project Team celebrated go-live and recognized the individuals and team for delivering Release 1 successfully on July 28 2026. • Release 2 (Authorization) Sprint 2 was completed on 31 July 2026. Now, the Core Data effort is in Pre UAT. • IPO noted that all the scheduled tasks are on track and does not have any concerns at this time.

Project Overall Health

Comments

Green

During the July 2026 reporting period, the ET2 project status remained Green. The Project Team successfully executed Release 1 go-live and continued to work on Release 2. • Release 1 (Payment Gateway Interim Solution) went live on July 20, 2026, after completing User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Production Push, and Smoke Testing. • The Project Team is now supporting Hypercare to address any issues and also implementing enhancements identified. • The Project Team celebrated go-live and recognized the individuals and team for delivering Release 1 successfully on July 28 2026. • Release 2 (Authorization) Sprint 2 was completed on 31 July 2026. Now, the Core Data effort is in Pre UAT. • IPO noted that all the scheduled tasks are on track and does not have any concerns at this time.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	During the reporting period of July 2026, the ET2 project status continues to be Green. • The Executive Steering Committee meeting was held on 7/10/2026 with good participation. • The Project Team, IV&V, and IPO provided project status and assessments respectively. • Release 1 update was presented and the Project Team received approval to move forward with the go-live. • The CDT Oversight team does not have any concerns at this time.
Time Management Green	During the reporting period of July 2026, the ET2 Time Management Focus Area status remained Green as the Project Team continues to perform according to the published Integrated Master Project Schedule. • The Integrated Master Schedule was baselined and is maintained on a regular cadence. While the detailed tasks are being updated, there is no change in the project milestones. • The Release 1 go-live was implemented according to the schedule with some consideration given to the ease of implementation by timing it with the weekend. • The Project Team completed Release 2 (Authorization) Sprint 2 on 31 July 2026. • IPO noted that the Project’s execution is on plan according to the Master Project Schedule and has no concerns at this point.
Cost & Contract Management Green	The ET2 Cost and Contract Management Focus Area remains Green during the reporting period of July 2026 as the project cost continues to remain under the approved budget. • The cumulative project execution cost by the end of July was $8.0 million out of the total project planning and execution cost of $50.2 million. • The total project cost is $50.2 million which includes $4.1 million in planning and $9.9 million in future costs. • IPO recommended that the Project reports total project costs including the planning costs which the Project is not currently including in the Monthly Status Report. • IPO will continue to closely monitor the Project’s execution and adherence to cost and contract management plans as the Project progresses.
Scope Management Green	During the reporting period of July 2026, the ET2 project’s Scope Management Focus Area status remains Green as the Project Team continues to work on the approved scope. • There were no new change requests issued during this period. There are a total of Five Change Requests: • One Change Request (CR #1) was approved. • One Change Request is awaiting a response from USDA. • Three Change Requests were closed. • The monthly Change Control Board (CCB) meetings are being conducted on a regular basis. • IPO will monitor the Project’s execution and adherence to the Scope Management Plan as the Project progresses.
Resources Green	The ET2 Resources Focus Area status remains Green as the Project is fully staffed, and no positions remain vacant. • IPO has no concerns over resources management at this point.
Quality Green	During the reporting period of July 2026, the ET2 Project Quality Management Focus area remains Green as the Project Team continues with the implementation of the system. • The Release 1 went live successfully after completion of UAT. The production push was successful followed by the Smoke testing. • Release 1 is supported with Hypercare for any issues identified during ~30 days after the go-live. • The Project Team is also implementing a few enhancements requested by the CDFA to Release 1. • The CDFA completed the code review for Release 1 and Core Data with System Integrator (SI). • Release 2, Authorization use cases identified with corresponding features for Sprint 2. • IPO noted that the Final Implementation Project Plans lacked the approval history in the document. IPO recommended including the approval history with reference to the method of approval and supporting documentation within the each Project Plan. • IPO will monitor the Project’s execution and adherence to the Quality Management Plan as the Project progresses.
Risk And Issues Green	The ET2 Risk and Issues Focus Area remains Green as the Project Team began using Risk and Issue Logs to track risks and issues identified. • The Project Team is monitoring 22 open risks and three open issues. • The Project Team identified one new risk. • The Project Team closed two issues during this reporting period and identified one issue related to departure of the Lead Business Analyst. • The IPO does not have any concerns about risk and issues management at this point.
Transition Readiness Green	This status area of the Project is Green as the OCM vendor executed Communication and Training effectively, and developed a Job Aid for the Release 1 go-live. • The OCM communication and delivery of Release 1 training and educational material for internal/external stakeholders was very well executed. • The OCM held effective Release 1, Payment Gateway Interim Solution, training session for End Users, Admins, Internal and External Users. • The OCM held Recognition and Celebration event on July 28 206. • The CDT team is attending OCM meetings to get more awareness of the execution. The CDT Oversight Team considers OCM efforts to be very effective and has no concerns at this time.
Conditions For Approval Green	• Within 90 calendar days after November 21, 2025, Approval Letter, which was February 21, 2026, the CDFA shall develop and submit to the CDT an Integrated Master Project Schedule that incorporates both State and System Integrator (SI) deliverables, milestones, and activities. The schedule shall reflect a clearly defined and logical critical path and adhere to the Project Management Institute (PMI) Schedule Management best practices and California Project Management Framework (CA-PMF) standards. The schedule shall be developed and maintained using Microsoft Project. • No later than 60 calendar days prior to the initiation of testing activities by the SI, the CDFA shall submit the approved ET2 Project Test Management Plan to the CDT. With concurrence by IPO, the Integrated Master Project Schedule was submitted to the CDT for review on 3/13/26 and the draft ET2 Test Management Plan was submitted to the CDT for review on 3/18/26. The CDT provided comments and feedback on both with no major concerns identified with either. The Project indicated that CDT comments on the draft Test Management Plan are being incorporated into the final version. Both conditions in the ET2 Project Approval have been satisfactorily met.
Corrective Action Green	• There are no corrective action plans in place.

Project Approval Documents