Yesterday I spent time with former senior government leaders discussing a very hot topic in federal IT circles. We recorded content for an upcoming podcast series looking at the Modernization of Government Technology (MGT) Act.
Our three experts were all Government Marketing University ambassadors, and we were brought by GMarkU founder Lou Anne Brossman as part of GMarkU’s Federal View podcast series. The Federal View series offers commentary and insights from former government trailblazers who served in senior leadership roles, sharing first hand accounts of dealing with digital transformation, cloud computing, IT mandates and a lot more. These experts look beyond the IT hype and talk about how they would prioritize their time and budgets today.
Our panel yesterday consisted of:
Kimberly Hancher, former CIO at EEOC
Karen Britton, former Special Assistant to the President, CIO at the Executive Office of the President
Martha Dorris, former Deputy Administrator, Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, GSA
The passage of the MGT Act last December promises to be a catalyst for IT transformation. The MGT would allow agencies to put money saved through improved IT efficiencies into working capital funds. These funds could be accessed for up to three years, to fund efforts to modernize agency technology. There would also be a centralized fund – the Technology Modernization Fund – that agencies could tap into for modernization.
More than $500 million will be made available in the TMF to improve government services, which would then be repaid over a five-year period with the expected savings from IT transformation. The Office of Management and Budget is now accepting submissions from agencies seeking funds to modernize their outdated technologies under the terms of the MGT Act.
That’s the general outline, and as stated above OMB says it’s ready to accept submissions. But this being federal IT, there are still many questions around exactly what the processes will be around the MGT and IT transformation. The OMB has put out a memo purportedly outlining implementation of the MGT, and it’s a great starting point.
In the discussion, our experts discussed:
- How the Technology Modernization Fund and working capital funds are often confused
- TMF money is a LOAN that an agency needs to repay – WCF savings can be kept by the agency
- TMF money cannot be used for any modernization effort already underway
- Not many agencies have set up WCFs yet – USDA and GSA are two
- OMB has not explained exactly how proposals for TMF money will be evaluated, only saying they will consider “financial, technical and operational criteria.”
- As of today, there is no money! Congress has not approved any MGT funding
Participating in conversations like these is a lot of fun, and makes me a better consultant to my B2G clients. I’ll update this post with the MGT podcast once it’s live.
Update 3/28 – the passage of the Omnibus 2018 spending bill allocated $100 million to the MGT. Via Federal Computer Week, “a drop in the bucket but a step in the right direction.”