{"id":10950,"date":"2018-08-01T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/01\/why-new-technology-modernization-funding-is-in-danger\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:34:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:34:03","slug":"why-new-technology-modernization-funding-is-in-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2018\/08\/01\/why-new-technology-modernization-funding-is-in-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Why new technology modernization funding is in danger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Senate looks set to vote on a general government appropriations bill in the coming week, added funding for the Technology Modernization Fund is in jeopardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the TMF is still in its infancy, the program\u2019s chances of receiving additional appropriations in 2019 look to be dwindling, as Senators want to see results before contributing any more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TMF was originally appropriated only $100 million<\/a> in FY18, less than half of the $250 million authorized in the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which was signed into law in December 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House appropriators chose to allocate $150 million<\/a> to the fund for FY19, which would grant the TMF the $250 million over the course of two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Senate is unlikely to include such funding in their version of the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[GSA] came back this year and asked for $210 million. We said no. We have not seen results from that program yet and we don\u2019t have any data on it. And I wasn\u2019t going to allocate $210 million to something that we don\u2019t know if it\u2019s working,\u201d said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TMF has had little time to prove its worth in advance of appropriations deliberations, as the board in charge of the fund held its first meeting in March 2018 and made its first awards totaling $45 million in June.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the projects receiving those awards will likely take months if not years before yielding demonstrable results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., called the first awards made by the TMF indicators of the program\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven these early stage successes, I was disappointed that the Subcommittee for Financial Services and General Government, the Subcommittee that the senator from Oklahoma chairs and I\u2019m a member of, provided no funds for the Technology Modernization Fund in the mark for this fiscal year 2019,\u201d Moran said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He acknowledged that the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration would need to do more in future to make public the proposals that are made to the fund and the details of the projects that are awarded money.<\/p>\n\n\n\t