White House proposes extra $300M for Technology Modernization Fund in 2023
The Biden administration has asked lawmakers to approve an additional $300 million in funding for the Technology Modernization Fund as part of the president’s fiscal 2023 budget request.
The request for extra funding comes as the board of the federal IT investment fund continues to assess project proposals from federal agencies as it decides how to spend the remaining sum of $1 billion provided as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) 2021.
“With the continuously evolving IT and cyber landscape, these investments are an important down payment on delivering modern and secure services to the American public, and continued investment in IT will be necessary to ensure the United States meets the accelerated pace of modernization,” the White House said in budget documents.
According to the White House, the fund provides value for money for the American taxpayer by tying project funding for IT capital investment to the delivery of project milestones and by providing funding in tranches.
Earlier this month, Federal CIO Clare Martorana said the TMF board was taking a methodical approach to investments in federal agency projects and that the fund had $766.1 million left to distribute.
Initial project proposals take 100 hours to review and move to the second, final phase: a full project proposal, where agencies must demonstrate their commitment to the board‘s performance- and milestone-based transformation process.
Since the fresh funding provided through the ARP, the TMF board has received over 120 proposals requesting more than $2.5 billion in support for technology projects from 40 federal agencies.
According to the budget document, the TMF Board has invested in 20 initiatives across 12 federal agencies since the fund was first established in March 2019.
Once a project has been funded, experts on the board of the TMF meet with the relevant agency project team on a quarterly basis to confirm that projects are on schedule and that milestones are being met.
The President’s budget has now been submitted to Congress, where the proposed allocation of funds to federal agencies will be debated and eventually authorized by lawmakers.
This story was featured in FedScoop Special Report: Inside Federal IT Modernization - A FedScoop Special Report
