Lawmakers propose $100M for TMF in 2023 appropriations
House appropriators have included $100 million in new funding for the Technology Modernization Fund in draft budget legislation for the 2023 fiscal year.
The proposed sum is included in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government funding bill, which provides annual funding for the departments of Treasury and Justice, the Executive Office of the President, and other independent agencies, including the General Services Administration and Small Business Administration.
If approved, it would provide additional funding to support modernization projects with a multi-agency impact and would be the latest backing for the central fund since it received $1 billion as part of the American Rescue Plan.
Earlier this March, the White House 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.
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.
The legislation will be marked up on Thursday by the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, before being sent to the full committee for further scrutiny.
The draft legislation was issued this week, alongside several other draft 2023 funding bills, including the defense funding bill, the homeland security funding bill and the agriculture-rural development-FDA funding bill.
In March, 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.
