TMF Board to Fund Modernization Projects With ‘Greatest Chance of Success’

The organization managing the Technology Modernization Fund will only award loans for information technology projects with the “greatest chance of success,” a federal official said. TMF is a government-wide program authorized in 2017 that finances modernization projects proposed by government agencies. 

Federal Chief Information Officer Clare Martorana, chair of the TMF Board, said that agencies must prove their ability to systematically achieve organizational change before they can be granted funding, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

TMF has so far received about $1.2 billion in federal investment, consisting of the initial $175 million it received through the annual budget process, an additional $25 million in fiscal 2021 funding and $1 billion through the American Rescue Act. The TMF Board has so far earmarked $408.9 million. 

“We have limited funding, so we have to invest in agencies that are committed to the framework of us building in an iterative manner,” Martorana, a 2022 Wash100 winner, said on FedScoop’s The Daily Scoop podcast. Martorana added that the TMF Board vets agencies based on the efficiency of their acquisition process. 

The TMF Board recently awarded loans to the Postal Regulatory Commission and the Selective Service System. PRC, an independent organization overseeing the U.S. Postal Service, received $2.6 million to finance the modernization of its internal and public-facing tools. The SSS, the agency in charge of mobilizing male citizens for national defense, received $5.9 million to modernize its registration, compliance and verification software.