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MGT Act rollout takes shape
The Of ce of Management and Bud- get issued its nal guidance for imple- menting central modernization funding under the Modernizing Government Technology Act and named a seven- member team to administer the fund. The moves came as new U.S. CIO Suzette Kent assumed her duties in late February.
The members of the Technology Modernization Board, which Kent will lead, are Alan Thomas, commission- er of the Federal Acquisition Service; Mark Kneidinger, director of federal network resilience at the Department of Homeland Security; Matt Cutts, act- ing administrator of the U.S. Digital Service; Social Security Administra- tion CIO Rajive Mathur; Small Busi- ness Administration CIO Maria Roat; and Charles Worthington, CTO at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Thomas leads the acquisition and procurement arm of the federal govern- ment, while Cutts helps direct a critical of ce in the White House that recruits private-sector technology professionals to the federal government. Roat has earned a reputation as a leader and driver of IT modernization, data cen- ter consolidation and cloud adoption at SBA, and she managed the Federal
Risk and Authorization Management Program in its early days. Kneidinger specializes in cybersecurity — a critical pillar of IT modernization — and leads outreach efforts for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program at DHS.
Suzette Kent
The team will oversee distribution of a planned $500 million to agency proj- ects over two years, as authorized in the MGT Act. The Trump administration asked for $210 million for the fund in its scal 2018 budget request, but the money has not yet been appropriated.
“The \\\[fund\\\] and agency IT working capital funds represent years of hard work between the administration and Congress to address our technology modernization efforts and provide the
necessary resources that will drive change needed to get us into the 21st century,” Kent said.
Agencies whose cloud migration and other modernization projects receive funding under the MGT Act will have to pay that money back into the fund as the projects advance. When submit- ting project proposals, agencies should consider feasibility, the reduction in outdated and insecure systems, cost savings, improvements to security, or “demonstrable and visible impact to the public in alignment with the agency’s mission,” the OMB docu- ment states.
The guidance re ects a strict poli- cy of repayment into the centralized fund. “Reimbursement is not contin- gent upon the achievement of project- related savings,” it states. OMB will act as a mediator if an agency fails to reimburse the central fund and if the General Services Administration and the agency in question cannot resolve the issue.
Still up in the air as of this writing is whether board members will have to recuse themselves from considering projects proposed by their own agencies.
— Derek B. Johnson and Chase Gunter
March 27
is the deadline for agencies to tell OMB if they plan to establish an IT working capital fund
FCW CALENDAR
4/3 Blockchain
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Jose Arrieta,
Treasury’s Craig Fischer and DHS’ Anil John are among the speakers at this ACT-IAC forum.
Washington, D.C. is.gd/FCW_blockchain
4/18 Cloud
5/8-9 Law enforcement
AFCEA Bethesda’s Law Enforcement and Public Safety
Technology Forum will focus on systems modernization and interoperability at federal, state and local agencies. Washington, D.C.
is.gd/FCW_lawIT
A wide range of government and industry experts will
explore security, migration and multi-cloud management strategies at FCW’s 2018 Cloud Summit.
Washington, D.C.
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