FDA builds secure, AI-ready data foundation on Databricks for Government
The FDA developed HALO, an enterprise data platform on Databricks and AWS GovCloud, to modernize its fragmented data landscape and provide a secure, governed foundation for AI and analytics. This initiative allowed the agency to scale to over 6,000 users, improving SQL query speeds by 30%, reducing compute costs by 20%, and decreasing data provisioning time by 75%. HALO, leveraging Unity Catalog and FedRAMP High authorization, enables responsible AI for critical regulatory work without disruption. The implementation provides a blueprint for other government agencies seeking to operationalize secure AI in highly regulated environments.
- →FDA builds HALO, a secure, AI-ready data foundation
- →FDA achieves substantial operational gains and user growth
- →Enabling responsible AI for federal regulatory use cases
- →Blueprint for secure AI in government
Notes (4) ›
- FDA builds HALO, a secure, AI-ready data foundation
The FDA developed HALO (Harmonized AI and Lifecycle Operations for Data), an enterprise-grade data platform powered by Databricks on AWS GovCloud, utilizing Unity Catalog for unified, secure, and governed AI and analytics. This addressed their fragmented data landscape and high operational overhead, supporting mission-critical regulatory work.
- FDA achieves substantial operational gains and user growth
The HALO platform scaled to over 6,000 users, delivering a 30% increase in SQL query speeds, a 20% reduction in compute costs, and a 75% decrease in data provisioning and sharing time. This modernization consolidated over 40 data sources, improving collaboration and security posture, with user adoption projected to exceed 10,000 by 2028.
- Enabling responsible AI for federal regulatory use cases
The FDA integrated HALO with its enterprise AI platform, Elsa, to support AI innovation at scale. A flagship use case, MARS, uses Databricks and Elsa to help reviewers analyze vast volumes of structured and unstructured information for drug and device applications, accelerating informed regulatory decisions and reducing data wrangling time.
- Blueprint for secure AI in government
The initiative highlights core building blocks for secure, mission-critical AI workloads in FedRAMP and IL5 environments. Databricks showcased a security reference architecture and Terraform-based deployment model, designed to help customers quickly establish hardened, audit-ready environments with controls like PrivateLink and customer-managed keys.
https://www.databricks.com/blog/how-fda-building-secure-ai-ready-data-foundation-databricks-government
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