Last-minute push to reauthorize Technology Modernization Fund in NDAA falls flat
Efforts to include the reauthorization of the Technology Modernization Fund in the National Defense Authorization Act fell flat in negotiations, leaving the fund’s future uncertain just days before its expiration.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee submitted a bipartisan letter to include TMF reauthorization in the fiscal year 2026 NDAA. But the language did not make it into the negotiated bill text released Sunday evening.
The failed efforts cast further doubt on the future of TMF, which was created in 2017 to fund technology projects across the federal government. The vehicle serves as a revolving fund but is scheduled to expire Dec. 12 unless Congress reauthorizes it. Should it expire, the TMF will no longer be able to invest in new modernization projects at federal agencies.
Funding for the TMF has bipartisan support in the House, but has also faced pushback at times from congressional appropriators.
Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and the late Gerry Connolly, D-Va., repeatedly sounded the alarm on the fund’s expiration, reintroducing a bill last April to reauthorize the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which first launched the TMF in 2017 as part of the 2018 annual defense spending bill.
The TMF bill would extend the program to 2032, but it has not advanced out of the Oversight Committee. Virtually the same bill passed the House last year but did not make it out of the upper chamber.
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee said last week that TMF reauthorization is a “high priority,” has industry support and is also a shared priority with the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget.
When asked about TMF’s future in the wake of the NDAA text, a committee spokesperson said the panel plans to “advance a reauthorization bill at a scheduled markup in the new year.” Nonetheless, this would not prevent TMF’s expiration Friday.
Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, who took over as the Democratic co-sponsor with Mace following Connolly’s death in May, said in a statement that nearly $200 million in funding for new projects will “disappear overnight.”
“The TMF is one of the government’s most effective tools for improving cybersecurity and modernizing outdated systems,” said Brown, who serves as the ranking member of Oversight’s Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation subcommittee.
Meanwhile, Senate appropriators set aside $5 million for the TMF in the chamber’s fiscal 2026 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill, while the House version did not allocate any money to the fund. A Senate aide told FedScoop it is not likely this bill will be brought to the floor before the end of the year.
The General Services Administration, which houses the TMF and distributes the funds to agencies, is pushing for the reauthorization.
“The TMF has saved 378 million work hours for Americans and delivered billions in cost savings,” a GSA spokesperson said. “Without reauthorization, the administration’s priorities around shared services and AI adoption will falter, cybersecurity improvements will stall, and we risk losing critical modernization momentum. We’re actively working with Congress to secure the authorization this program needs.”
Earlier this year, the GSA indicated that the Trump administration is looking to sidestep the appropriations process to refill the fund on an annual basis by transferring unused funds from agencies. The proposed model would pull up to $100 million from other agencies.
Traditionally, the sitting administration asks Congress to fund the TMF.
Under the Biden administration, Congress greenlit a $1 billion injection into the fund in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan. However, Congress rescinded $113 million of that last year.
