Next round of TMF awards likely within weeks, says Clare Martorana
The next round of projects to receive support from the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) are likely to be announced within weeks, according to the federal CIO.
Speaking Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg, Clare Martorana said the Office of Management and Budget is working with agencies to ensure their project applications are in the best possible shape before being considered by the TMF Board.
“I’d say within weeks,” said Martorana when questioned about a timeline for the next round of funding awards. “We are working every single week on the portfolio. Right now we are looking at the backlog of projects, some of them less complete than others in their submissions.”
The TMF Board has received more than 100 proposals so far from hundreds of agencies. Of those requests, about 75% of those related to cybersecurity projects, according to Martorana.
The federal CIO said she was confident in the TMF project selection process because of the in-depth approach being taken to assess proposals.
“We’re adding a lot of rigor upfront to be able to choose projects that have the best chance of success and the best chance of us learning things from them that can be scaled across government,” Martorana said.
She added that OMB is focused on surrounding successful projects with capable people to ensure a high project success rate.
Late last month, the TMF board announced seven new projects in its first round of awards for agency IT modernization since the fund received a $1 billion infusion as part of the American Rescue Plan.
GSA received a total of $231.4 million for three projects, while DHS received $50 million and the Department of Education received $20 million to assist with the adoption of zero-trust architecture.
Under current Senate appropriations proposals, TMF would not receive additional funding for the fiscal year 2022. Lawmakers have also called on OMB also to provide further detailed strategic plans to explain how current funds will be used.
