The TMF is designed to provide up-front money to replace legacy systems. Image: wk1003mike/Shutterstock.com
Cybersecurity initiatives were the focus of most of the grants from the Technology Modernization Fund in fiscal 2023, accounting for 10 of 18 awards and more than $114 million of the $177 million awarded, according to the annual report from that fund’s oversight board.
Those projects “cut across agencies, address immediate security gaps, and improve the public’s ability to access services,” it said, and involve agencies including the EPA, FTC, SSA, USAID, DoD, HHS, HUD, Labor, Transportation and Treasury. Six others, totaling more than $55 million, focus on public-facing digital services, while the other two involve high-priority systems, it said.
Moving forward, the fund “will continue to make strategic investments to accelerate IT modernization while decommissioning legacy systems, strengthening cybersecurity, and enhancing digital experience to deliver a government that meets today’s expectations,” it said.
The TMF is a central government-wide fund designed to provide up-front money to enable agencies to replace legacy systems rather than continuing to spend over time to keep them operating. Agencies are then to repay the fund out of the savings. However, the GAO recently reported that only eight of the 37 projects funded since the program was created in 2017 have shown measurable savings, although most remain in progress and savings still are possible.
A bill (HR-5527) that recently cleared the committee level in the House and is ready for a floor vote would require agencies to report in more detail on their ability to repay the TMF before they could receive funding.
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