Report: The fund should require full reimbursement over time from funded agencies, as envisioned. Image: Godlikeart/Shutterstock.com
Neither the House and Senate versions of a general government spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year would provide any additional funding for the Technology Modernization Fund, while the Senate version would go even further by rescinding $290 million previously authorized but not yet allocated.
The Biden administration had requested $200 million for the fund, which provides agencies with up-front money to make major upgrades rather than continuing to maintain legacy systems, with the agencies then to reimburse the fund with the long-term savings they achieve. The GSA recently announced several new projects to be funded with that money, bringing the total over the program’s five years to about $750 million.
The fund received $50 million in regular appropriations for the current fiscal year in addition to the $1 billion provided in the 2021 American Rescue Plan pandemic relief law. However, further funding is facing the spending restrictions in the recently enacted law to suspend the federal debt ceiling; the Senate action in essence redirects previously approved funding toward other priorities.
A report from the Senate Appropriations Committee says that the committee “supports the goals of the TMF, but believes the fund should require full reimbursement over time from funded agencies as envisioned in the Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017 Act so that the fund can be self-sustaining. GSA is directed to report to the Committee no later than 60 days after enactment of this act on the reimbursement level required for each investment that has been funded to date.”
That follows a GAO report of last year finding that of seven projects funded in 2018 and 2019, only two had reported long-term savings, and even those were not well documented.
Comments from committee members when considering the parent bill indicated that some way might yet be found to avoid a claw-back of previously authorized money for the fund.
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