I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5527 

To amend section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2018 to increase the effectiveness of the Technology Modernization 

Fund, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 

Ms. MACE (for herself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To amend section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 to increase the effectiveness of the Technology Modernization Fund, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Govern5 ment Technology Reform Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REALIGNING USE OF FUNDS WITH ORIGINAL CON2 GRESSIONAL INTENT. 

3 Section 1078 of the National Defense Authorization 

4 Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115–91; 40 U.S.C. 

5 11301 note) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (b)— 

7 (A) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

8 follows: 

9 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

11 shall, in accordance with recommendations from 

12 the Board, use amounts in the Fund for the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(i) To transfer such amounts, to re15 main available until expended, to the head 

16 of an agency for the acquisition, procure17 ment, and operation of information tech18 nology, or the development of information 

19 technology when more efficient and cost ef20 fective, to— 

21 ‘‘(I) modernize, retire, or replace 

22 legacy information technology systems 

23 used by the agency; 

24 ‘‘(II) enhance cybersecurity and 

25 privacy at the agency; 


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1 ‘‘(III) improve long-term effi2 ciency and effectiveness of agency in3 formation technology; or 

4 ‘‘(IV) improve the ability of the 

5 agency to perform the mission of the 

6 agency and deliver services to the 

7 public. 

8 ‘‘(ii) To provide services or work per9 formed in support of— 

10 ‘‘(I) the activities described in 

11 clause (i); and 

12 ‘‘(II) the Board and the Director 

13 in carrying out the responsibilities de14 scribed in subsection (c)(2). 

15 ‘‘(iii) To fund only programs, projects, 

16 or activities, or to fund increases for any 

17 programs, projects, or activities that have 

18 not been denied or restricted by Congress. 

19 ‘‘(iv) To transfer such amounts only 

20 for programs, projects, or activities that 

21 will be reimbursed to the Fund to the ex22 tent necessary to ensure total amounts in 

23 the Fund are no less than the amounts 

24 needed to keep the Fund operational until 


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1 the Fund sunsets pursuant to subsection 

2 (g)(1). 

3 ‘‘(B) TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF

4 FUNDS.—The Administrator shall, in accord5 ance with recommendations from the Board, 

6 suspend or terminate funding for any project 

7 with respect to which the head of an agency 

8 provided fraudulent or misleading statements 

9 about such project (including fraudulent state10 ments about technical design, the business case, 

11 or program management with respect to the 

12 project) in the application or proposal for 

13 amounts from the Fund for such project.’’; 

14 (B) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking 

15 ‘‘$250,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$50,000,000’’ 

16 and by striking ‘‘fiscal years 2018 and 2019’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2024 through 

18 2030’’; 

19 (C) in paragraph (5)— 

20 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

21 (I) in clause (i)— 

22 (aa) by striking ‘‘or (B)’’; 

23 and 

24 (bb) by striking ‘‘(3)(C)’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘(3)(A)(ii)’’; and 


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1 (II) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘, 

2 consistent with any applicable re3 programming law or guidelines of the 

4 Committees on Appropriations of the 

5 Senate and the House of Representa6 tives.’’; and 

7 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i)— 

8 (I) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

9 (3)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

10 (3)(A)(ii)’’; and 

11 (II) by striking ‘‘the solvency of 

12 the Fund, including operating ex13 penses’’ and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘total amounts in the Fund are no 

15 less than the amounts needed to keep 

16 the Fund operational until the Fund 

17 sunsets pursuant to subsection 

18 (g)(1)’’; 

19 (D) in paragraph (6)— 

20 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

21 (I) in the matter before clause 

22 (i), by striking ‘‘subparagraphs (A) 

23 and (B) of paragraph (3)’’ and insert24 ing the following: ‘‘paragraph 

25 (3)(A)(i) and before any services or 


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1 work are provided under paragraph 

2 (3)(A)(ii)(I)’’; 

3 (II) in clause (i)— 

4 (aa) by striking ‘‘unless ap5 proved by the Director’’; and 

6 (bb) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

7 inserting a semicolon; 

8 (III) by redesignating clause (ii) 

9 as clause (iv); and 

10 (IV) by inserting after clause (i) 

11 the following new clauses: 

12 ‘‘(ii) which shall include terms of re13 payment that require the head of the agen14 cy to reimburse the Fund for funds trans15 ferred under paragraph (3)(A)(i) at a level 

16 that ensures total amounts in the Fund 

17 are no less than the amounts needed to 

18 keep the Fund operational until the Fund 

19 sunsets pursuant to subsection (g)(1); 

20 ‘‘(iii) which shall include terms of re21 payment that require the head of the agen22 cy to fully reimburse the Fund for any 

23 services or work provided under paragraph 

24 (3)(A)(ii) in direct support of the project;’’; 

25 and’’; and 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

2 (I) by striking clause (i) and in3 serting the following: 

4 ‘‘(i) for any funds transferred to an 

5 agency under paragraph (3)(A)(i), in the 

6 absence of compelling circumstances docu7 mented by the Administrator at the time of 

8 transfer, that such funds shall be trans9 ferred only— 

10 ‘‘(I) on an incremental basis, tied 

11 to metric-based development mile12 stones achieved by the agency through 

13 the use of rapid, iterative, develop14 ment processes; and 

15 ‘‘(II) after the head of the agency 

16 has provided the Director any infor17 mation the Director is required to re18 port pursuant to paragraph (7)(A)(i); 

19 and’’; and 

20 (II) in clause (ii)— 

21 (aa) by striking ‘‘subpara22 graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

23 (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

24 (3)(A)(i)’’; and 


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1 (bb) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

2 (6)’’ and inserting ‘‘this para3 graph’’; 

4 (E) in paragraph (7)— 

5 (i) in subparagraph (A)(i)— 

6 (I) by inserting ‘‘the written 

7 agreement entered into under para8 graph (6),’’ after ‘‘description of the 

9 project,’’; and 

10 (II) by inserting ‘‘(including doc11 umented market research into com12 mercial products and services)’’ after 

13 ‘‘used’’; 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

15 (I) in clause (i)— 

16 (aa) by striking ‘‘estab17 lishing’’; and 

18 (bb) by striking ‘‘the cost 

19 savings associated with the 

20 projects funded both annually 

21 and over the life of the acquired 

22 products and services by the 

23 Fund;’’ and inserting the fol24 lowing: ‘‘the amount repaid to 

25 the Fund in accordance with the 


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1 terms established in the written 

2 agreements described in para3 graph (6);’’; 

4 (II) in clause (ii)— 

5 (aa) by striking ‘‘reliability 

6 of the cost savings’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘total cost savings’’; and 

8 (bb) by striking the semi9 colon and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

10 (III) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; 

11 and’’ and inserting a period; and 

12 (IV) by striking clause (iv); 

13 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

15 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘the 

16 greatest Governmentwide impact; and’’ and 

17 inserting the following: ‘‘the greatest im18 pact on modernizing, retiring, or replacing 

19 Federal legacy information technology sys20 tems; and’’; 

21 (ii) by redesignating clauses (i) 

22 through (iii) as clauses (ii) through (iv), 

23 respectively; and 

24 (iii) by inserting before clause (ii), as 

25 so redesignated, the following new clause: 


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1 ‘‘(i) the ability for the head of the 

2 agency to ensure repayment of funds 

3 transferred from the Fund to the head of 

4 the agency, in accordance with subsection 

5 (b);’’; 

6 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘to 

7 improve or replace multiple information tech8 nology systems’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘to 

9 modernize, retire, or replace legacy information 

10 technology systems under subsection 

11 (b)(3)(A)(i)’’; 

12 (C) in subparagraph (F), by inserting after 

13 ‘‘subsection (b)(6)’’ the following: ‘‘or the iden14 tification of fraudulent or misleading state15 ments about the project (including fraudulent 

16 statements about technical design, the business 

17 case, or program management with respect to 

18 the project) in the application or proposal for 

19 amounts from the Fund for the project’’; and 

20 (D) in subparagraph (G), by inserting 

21 after ‘‘operating costs of the Fund’’ the fol22 lowing: ‘‘to ensure total amounts in the Fund 

23 are no less than the amounts needed to keep 

24 the Fund operational until the Fund sunsets 

25 pursuant to subsection (g)(1)’’; 


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1 (3) in subsection (c)— 

2 (A) in paragraph (5)— 

3 (i) in subparagraph (B) by striking 

4 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

5 and’’; and 

6 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 

7 (B) the following; 

8 ‘‘(C) a senior official from the Cybersecu9 rity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the 

10 Department of Homeland Security, appointed 

11 by the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infra12 structure Security Agency, with the approval of 

13 the Director of the Office of Management and 

14 Budget.’’; and 

15 (B) in paragraph (6)(A)— 

16 (i) by striking ‘‘shall be—’’ and in17 serting ‘‘shall be 4 employees of the Fed18 eral Government primarily having technical 

19 expertise in information technology devel20 opment, financial management, cybersecu21 rity and privacy, and acquisition, ap22 pointed by the Director.’’; and 

23 (ii) by striking clauses (i) and (ii); 

24 (4) in subsection (d)(2)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub2 section (b)(3)(A) and for products, services, and 

3 acquisition vehicles funded under subsection 

4 (b)(3)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(3)’’; 

5 and 

6 (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting after 

7 ‘‘and reduce waste’’ the following: ‘‘and ensure 

8 total amounts in the Fund are no less than the 

9 amounts needed to keep the Fund operational 

10 until the Fund sunsets pursuant to subsection 

11 (g)(1)’’; 

12 (5) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 

13 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; 

14 (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol15 lowing new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FEDERAL CHIEF IN17 FORMATION OFFICER; AGENCY CHIEF INFORMATION OF18 FICERS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) AGENCY INVENTORY.—An agency Chief 

20 Information Officer, in coordination with stake21 holders and other agency officials, shall provide to 

22 the Federal Chief Information Officer— 

23 ‘‘(A) on or before the first September 30 

24 that occurs after the date of the enactment of 

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1 form Act of 2023, a list of high-risk legacy in2 formation technology systems used, operated, or 

3 maintained by the agency, in accordance with 

4 the guidance issued under paragraph (4); and 

5 ‘‘(B) on or before September 30 of each 

6 year after the first year in which the list is pro7 vided under subparagraph (A), any updates to 

8 such list. 

9 ‘‘(2) LEGACY FEDERAL IT INVENTORY.—The 

10 Federal Chief Information Officer shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) on or before the first December 30 

12 that occurs after the date of the enactment of 

13 the Modernizing Government Technology Re14 form Act of 2023, compile a Legacy Federal IT 

15 Inventory on the basis of the each list provided 

16 by an agency Chief Information Officers under 

17 paragraph (1)(A) that includes information 

18 about each high-risk legacy information tech19 nology system used, operated, or maintained by 

20 an agency; and 

21 ‘‘(B) on or before December 30 each year 

22 after the year in which the Legacy Federal IT 

23 Inventory is compiled, update such Inventory on 

24 the basis of each update to the list provided by 


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1 an agency Chief Information Officer under 

2 paragraph (1)(B). 

3 ‘‘(3) PRIORITIZATION LIST.— 

4 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Chief 

5 Information Officer shall— 

6 ‘‘(i) not later than 90 days after the 

7 date on which the Federal Chief Informa8 tion Officer receives the list required by 

9 paragraph (1)(A) from each agency Chief 

10 Information Officer, compile, on the basis 

11 of each such list, a list of 10 legacy infor12 mation technology systems that present the 

13 greatest security, privacy, and operational 

14 risks to the Federal Government; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) not later than 90 days after the 

16 date on which the Federal Chief Informa17 tion Officer receives updates under para18 graph (1)(B) from each agency Chief In19 formation Officer, update the list required 

20 by subparagraph (A) on the basis of each 

21 updates to the list provided by agency 

22 Chief information Officers under para23 graph (1)(B). 

24 ‘‘(B) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

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1 eral Chief Information Officer compiles the list 

2 required by subparagraph (A), or updates such 

3 list, the Director shall submit to the Committee 

4 on Oversight and Accountability of the House 

5 of Representatives, the Committee on Home6 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

7 Senate, and the Comptroller General of the 

8 United States, a report (which may include a 

9 classified annex) containing— 

10 ‘‘(i) such list (including any update 

11 made to such list under subparagraph 

12 (A)(ii)); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) each list provided by an agency 

14 Chief Information Officer under paragraph 

15 (1)(A) (including any update made to any 

16 such list under paragraph (1)(B)). 

17 ‘‘(4) GUIDANCE.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

19 days after enactment of this Act, the Director 

20 shall issue guidance on implementing the re21 quirements of this subsection that shall, at a 

22 minimum— 

23 ‘‘(i) prescribe an appropriate format 

24 for list to be provided under paragraph 

25 (1)(A); 


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1 ‘‘(ii) prescribe the information to be 

2 included in the Legacy Federal IT Inven3 tory required by paragraph (2); 

4 ‘‘(iii) provide guidance on how an 

5 agency Chief Information Officer should 

6 identify high-risk legacy information tech7 nology systems that, at least, requires 

8 agency Chief Information Officers, in co9 ordination with other agency stakeholders, 

10 to identify as a high risk legacy informa11 tion technology system any outdated or ob12 solete system of information technology 

13 that is critical to the agency such that the 

14 loss or degradation of the system would 

15 create a security, operational, or privacy 

16 risk to the agency or would otherwise im17 pact the ability of the agency to perform 

18 the mission of the agency, effectively de19 liver programs, or conduct business; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) provide guidance on how existing 

21 reporting structures can be used to submit 

22 the Legacy Federal IT inventory required 

23 by paragraph (2). 


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1 ‘‘(B) UPDATES.—The Director may update 

2 the guidance issued under subparagraph (A) as 

3 the Director determines necessary. 

4 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) AGENCY CHIEF INFORMATION OFFI6 CER.—The term ‘agency Chief Information Of7 ficer’ means a Chief Information Officer des8 ignated under section 3506(a)(2) of title 44, 

9 United States Code. 

10 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFI11 CER.—The term ‘Federal Chief Information Of12 ficer’ means the Administrator of the Office of 

13 Electronic Government.’’; and 

14 (7) in subsection (g)(1), as so redesignated, by 

15 striking ‘‘On and after the date that is 2 years after 

16 the date on which the Comptroller General of the 

17 United States issues the third report required under 

18 subsection (b)(7)(B),’’ and inserting ‘‘After Decem19 ber 31, 2030,’’. 

Æ 


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