Federal Manager's Daily Report

OMB Credits Technology Modernization Fund as It Hits Five Years

At the five-year mark of the Technology Modernization Fund, “it’s safe to say that the TMF works and it works well,” OMB has said in a blog posting on that fund, which provides up-front money to enable agencies to replace legacy systems rather than continuing to spend over time to keep them operating.

The fund “is game-changing in the way that it offers agencies repayment flexibility outside of the traditional budget cycle to tackle urgent IT projects . . . Traditional technology investments often occur within silos, resulting in duplication, inefficiency, and diminished innovation. The TMF Board leverages its birds-eye view to identify where an agency is on its IT modernization journey and prioritizes investments that will have the greatest likelihood of success.”

Currently the TMF manages nearly $700 million for 38 projects across 22 agencies, it says, noting that the administration’s budget proposal for fiscal 2024 requests another $200 million.

It cited projects including digitizing military service records held at the National Archives and Records Administration; a one-point login system at the VA for veterans to access services and benefits; improving the speed and safety of produce inspection by the Agriculture Department; improving security of records and customer service at SSA; modernizing the payment processing system at Customs and Border Protection; and more.

A key lesson learned, it said, is that “Project success increases when proposals are assessed by technical experts and funded incrementally. When the federal government has spent billions of dollars on failed and poorly performing IT investments, it’s imperative for us and our technical experts to constantly evaluate our approaches and course-correct as necessary to improve project success and maximize taxpayer dollars. Using an incremental investment approach ties funding to delivery of project milestones, so that agencies are held accountable and are given support where necessary.”

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